Arrando Hill

Arrando Hill is the site of an ancient stone circle (Lerrandish), thought to have been constructed by the Old Ones. It is the summer home of a group of wandering Striped Ones (five foot tall Raccoon People, one of the Forest Folk). They camp here, in a variety of tents and wagons (pulled by oxen, no horses), and gather pollen-honey from the surrounding fields full of giant bees, all summer, leading up to a festival bringing on the advent of Autumn - at which point they travel south, "chasing the summer" as they put it.

 

Arrando Hill is in the Bartaloo Region of the valley, which is located south of the Great River, and between the Pellet Water Run, and the Two-Moon River.  The Hill itself is located at the northwestern edge of the Falcon Woods, in a plain where the hill stands alone.  The edge of the Snake Grove section of the Falcon Woods lies approximately 10 miles southeast of the Hill.  There are no habitations nearby, but the local Putarra-Gnome clans (and their herds of talking Axebeaks) avoid the hill and its surrounding plain, as if it were haunted.  Their name for the opening is the Cursed Plain.  Several rumors and legends about the area include the idea that ghost herds of the long gone horses of Bartaloo haunt the Cursed Plain.

The Striped Ones, of course, are not interested in the Putarra-Gnomes, and pay no attention to their myths and dire warnings about herds of ghost horses and haunted hills.

The Putarra-Gnomes are Mika-Born, and speak a heavily accented Kurakka Kurad as well as Westron.  Otherwise their resemblance to other Gnomes is only in shape and size.  They are dark skinned, typically, live in small clan villages in the open lands of Bartaloo (both north and west of the Falcon Woods, as well as south of the woods).  The Putarra clans have semi-domesticated a curious breed of Axebeaks that roam the open lands of Bartaloo.  These are somewhat more intelligent than typical Axebeaks, having the ability to speak.  They also have developed a strange resistance to magic (+3 to saves vs. spells, wands, rods, staves - immune to sleep and charm spells), and can share a telepathic link with their bonded Putarra-Gnome rider.

Friction arises every year between the Striped Ones and the Putarra-Gnomes.  Sometimes it devolves into open combat between the two groups, but usually it can be settled with single combat (to the blood, not to the death), or by the payment of were-geld.

The hill itself has a sequence of hidden chambers and dungeon layers beneath it, but they only open at certain times of the year (revealed by a magic flute, called the Song of Lerrandish, made out of the same strange stone material the standing stones of the circle are made out of).

From Whence the Forest Folk

Regular Old School gamers will recognize the regular player character races in this setting.  There are, of course humans of various cultures, Dwarfs and Elves (both of a rather Tolkienesque flavor), Halflings (closer to Hobbits than to Munchkins or Dufflepuds), and Half Elves and Half Orcs.  More on the last two later...  However, there are other races, of a distinctive flavor, within the setting that might be appropriate as player character races, or some certainly as foes.

These are, of course, the Forest Folk.  A collection of several anthropomorphic races that dwell within the forests of the Valley of the Old Ones, usualy within the larger forests near the Great River.  These races are:

• Hedgehog People - Peaceful folk, ranging in height from 4-5 feet tall.  They tend to build small peaceful communities, and are known for their masonry skills.
• Mouslings - A tiny folk, most being about 2 feet tall.  They build great nest complexes underground.  On very good terms with certain fairy folk, as well as the more earthy sort of gnome.
• Striped Ones - Resembling a five foot tall Raccoon, these are a wandering people.  They tend to have large family groups that travel around with colorfully painted wagons pulled by small oxen.  They have a well deserved reputation for being thieves.
• Squirrelkin - Four foot tall squirrel people, being particularly good at climbing, as well as archery and other ranged combat skills.  These build tree house compounds deep in the forests where they live.
• Badger Folk - Imagine a bulky six foot tall anthropomorphic badger. These are almost always encountered solo, but one is bad enough.  Given over to weapons mastery.  In their youth they will form temporary bonds for mating, but then spend most of their lives roaming and questing. 
• Wolflings - Vicious hunters, the wolf people are semi-nomadic, having both summer and winter villages.  They will range far afield from their villages to hunt for food, and are not too particular about what they choose to eat, especially when times are hard.
• Stoatmen - Bipedal stoat-like humanoids given over to cruelty and torture as entertainment.

While some of these may seem childlike and fanciful, they in fact have a place in the Valley of the Old Ones.  They are created beings, being the results of magical experimentation and spell craft by the long dead wizard, Han-Kar Vaunn.  The sad and lonley thing about the forest folk is that since they are races of beings created by a mortal, they have no souls.  Some scholars of magic and such affairs considered them to be cursed beings.  This means that a lot of restorative magic cannot affect them.  Equally, however, it means that certain magical attacks are also ineffectual against them, including some undead life and level draining attacks.

Being created beings (created by a mortal, that is) the Forest Folk have no deities that they call their own.  They venerate (those that bother) the Human Gods, Demigods and Saints.  This is especially true of the Hedgehog People and the Mouslings.  The Squirrelkin and Striped Ones are sometimes religious, sometimes not.  The Badger Folk and the Woflings, on the other hand, are Anti-theists.  They are aware of the gods, but begrudge them their worship.  Some even go so far as to openly make war against other Forest Folk (and Humans) who are religious.  The Stoatmen have female religious practitioners who worship dark powers, they are known alternately as Stoatwives or Stoatwitches.

Gorrem - City of the Ten Gates

The namesake, and chief, city at the heart of the Barony of Gorrem is also called the City of the Ten Gates. It has a population of 27,000. There are a number of towns that are reliant on it - these are the chief population centers of the Barony, along with each having its own supporting network of villages and farm country.

• Colvine (population 4,500) to the north
• Harwych (population 6,000) to the east
• Sallow (population 6,500) to the southeast
• Haventown (population 5,000) to the south
• Lightcastle (population 5,500) to the west
• Aldbridge (population 4,000) to the northwest

The Barony is located in the Wychwood (south central) region of the Valley, and its chief political neighbors are the Barony of Lynch (east, on the far side of the Tiazarr River); the Barony of Pellorix on the far side of the Ancelhenn Lake to the southwest; north across the Great River is the Barony of Na Kram.

Much of the Barony is forested, and in addition to the many human towns listed above, there are a large number of "forest folk" in the wooded areas of the demesne.  To the west (in the Redsmoke Woods) there are a large number of Hedgehog People.  To the east, in the Plum Woods and the Belley Woods, there are a number of Mouseling communities.  Also in the region between Belley and Plum is the Green Apple Commonwealth - a small Halfling county that owes fealty to the Barony of Gorrem.  In the forests in the northern reaches of the Barony, along the Great River, there are numerous forest settlements of Wolflings.

The Barony is not home to many Dwarves or Gnomes.  And the few Elven settlements that exist are deep within the forested regions of the demesne.

The current ruling family is the Household of Terrasund, with Baroness Catherine II on the throne.

The city is home to the Homehall Cathedral - maintained by a community of clerics and monastics of the order of St. Ermo.  The Tower Druaqua (Bardic College of Maelwyn) is there. Also within the walls of the city can be found Castle Tattelis - home of the Terrasund family.  Not really of political concern, but of possible interest to adventurers and explorers - the abandoned tower of Ordobrandt is also within the city, but it is guarded by city guard.

Within the walled fields surrounding the city, there is the keep and practice grounds of the Knights of the Malmen Rose.  The Knights are a chivalric (but not Paladin) order that has a loose alliance with Gorrem, but have a distinct arrangement where they do not have Feudal duty, but are rather allies.

The Ten Gates, as well as much of the city, are protected by the city watch, known as Gorrem Levy.  They are much more than a levy, however, as they are a regular full time soldiery.  Typical equipment includes ring mail, simple helmet, bardiche, and short sword.  The Gorrem Levy are (total) approximately 2000 strong, however only 800 are serving at any one time.  There are several towers both on the outer walls and located along the inner walls where these are housed.

In addition to the sites and locations already mentioned, the city is somewhat known for its Inns and Taverns, each of which boasts its own ales and beers.  There are competitive wars between the larger Taverns, each claiming to be the "Best in Gorrem" or "The Baroness' Favorite".

Week of Encounters Day 4: Terror of the Stoatmen

This encounter takes place in the Wychwood region of the Valley.  It could be just about anywhere that an untended forest exists, but here it is placed in the northern parts of the forest stretching along the Great River, just across from where the Greywater joins the Great River.

The player characters, while crossing a patch of woods on their way to a village for the night, come across a camp site that has been attacked. A storm as come up at the last minute, and what should have been the last hour of sunlight is rapidly darkening. The travelers are all dead, and their equipment has been taken. Worse, some of them, and their dead horses, have been partially eaten.

While examining the bodies, all of a sudden, a hail of arrows rains down on the party. Each member of the party is shot at twice per round, by a suitable number of Stoat archers who have climbed up high in the surrounding trees.

After the second round of this shooting, and whatever response the players offer up, some trap doors in the forest floor open up and 8 stoatmen warriors emerge to viciously attack the players.

---

Stoatmen Warriors
Num Appearing: 2-16
Alignment: neutral evil
Movement: 90'
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 1d+1 (6 h.p.)
Attacks: 3 (claw, claw, bite), or 1 weapon (preferred)
Damage: 1d4; 1d4; 1d6 - or by weapon (scimitar or short bow are common)
Save: T1
Morale:9
Special Abilities: Climbing and Burrowing.

Stoatmen are Forest Folk, and as such have no souls.  They are considered a cursed race.

---

The Stoatmen favor man's flesh for food, but will stoop to eat dwarves, elves, or even horses. The group of Stoatmen archers in the trees will stop firing once their comrades emerge from the warren, and will descend the trees to aid in the attack (mostly because they fear missing out on any meat).

There is a leader of this group of Stoatmen, named Bloodfang, who will unleash a sack of poisonous snakes into the combat if things begin going bad. These snakes attack as 2HD monsters, but only have 3 hit points. If they successfully attack, there is no damage, but a 50% chance of affecting the victim as per a sleep spell (save vs. poison).

If the Stoatmen are vanquished, then their warren holes can be explored. All but one of them are just simple ambush holes, however one leads to a small warren complex with three rooms, in succesion.

The first room has a Stoatwoman Witch (4th level MU) with two pet giant badgers.

---

Giant Badgers
Num Appearing: 1-4
Alignment: neutral
Movement: 90'
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 4d (22h.p.)
Attacks: 3 (claw, claw, bite) plus disease
Damage: 1d3+1; 1d3+1; 1d8
Save: F2
Morale:9
Will fight past death (until -10 hit points). If the giant badger scores a bite hit, then it will hang on and do an additional 1d6 points until removed or slain.

---

The second room has a bunch of stoatmen young feeding on a stash of rotting bodies of farmers and travellers.

The third room has a board of wood over the door, once removed those opening the door are attacked by two very large coyote spiders.

---

Coyote Spiders
Num Appearing: 1-2 (underground only)
Alignment: neutral
Movement: 90'
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 4d (20h.p.)
Attacks: 1, plus poison
Damage: 1d6
Save: F3
Morale:8
The coyote spider, if it scores a hit, injects a very potent poison. Unless the victim makes a saving throw vs. poison, they will start screaming horribly in pain, and spasming uncontrollably. This forces all of the rest of his comrades to make a saving throw vs. fear or they will flee the area. The spasming and screaming lasts for 1d3+1 rounds, but after the first round his comrades are immune to the fear. Each new victim, however, causes a save to be made. During the period of spasming, etc. the victim suffers a -4 on all combat rolls, and also a +4 to foes to score a hit.

---

If the spiders are slain, then the last room in the warren is revealed to have a treasure of 1,200 g.p. worth of jewelry, coins, and valuables in it.

Forest Abbey of the Hedgehog People (part 1)

(this is another posting that was originally on Gaming with Chuck - moved here)

One of the keys to the old school adventure I am dreaming up for MarsCon is the peaceful fantasy race known as the Hedgehog People. Their own name for themselves is the Roikkitikki, but everyone else just calls them the Hedgehog People, or just the Hedgehogs.

For visual inspiration, I take my cues from the marvelous artwork done for the Ironclaw rpg, especially the hedgehogs.

In my setting of "The Valley of the Old Ones" the hedgehogs usually inhabit relatively peaceful forests,near (but not too close) to the civilized lands of peaceful people. When encountered outside of their forests, they are usually in small groups consisting of monks and clerics of St. Brigid. They don't usually deal in magic, get along well with halflings and gnomes, admire humans of the better sort, but distrust the elves. Hedgehogs are excessively fond of feasting, and usually tend towards the pacifistic.

One of the very sad aspects of the Hedgehog folk is that they, like all of the Forest Folk, are a created race - dreamt of and given life by some long forgotten mad magician. Because of this, although they move through the world as other sentient beings, they have no soul.

For my scenario, the group in question is a community associated with the Abbey of Finch, in the Redsmoke Woods. This small forest lies along the Fernrush River, which is a southern tributary to the Great River. Nearest the Abbey, the Fernrush is about a mile wide, and is home to sporadic trade and fishing.

East of the forest, the rolling hills in the demesne of Gorrem Castle. The lands have been lawless for several years, and most of the villages and holdings have started looking to their own defense, without the castle to protect them. During this period, a number of bands of goblins have worked their way north into the Redsmoke and have been raiding out, threatening outlying settlements that were once under the protection of Gorrem. Finch Abbey has recently fallen to one of those bands, but there must be something more sinister at play, because of the degree of evil coming out of the former peaceful sanctuary. A band of raiding goblins couldn't possibly be responsible for the atrocities committed.

Maps and write-ups coming soon, subject to real life demands, of course!