Wiifandra- Old One Mistress of Ba'a Zarn the Builder

A little known figure from the era of the Old Ones is that of the mistress of the last king of the old ones, Wiifandra.

From the sketchy accounts that still survive, and those that have been pieced together by the Archivists at Parn Tandalorn - mostly from surviving images and translated texts inside ruined sites of the Old Ones, it appears that Wiifandra was imbued with great magic powers, but that she sometimes disagreed with her consort, Ba'a Zarn the Builder, especially on matters concerning the Elemental gods.

Images that have survived that depict Wiifandra, depict her in one of two ways.  Within Old One sites, she is shown riding in a very large chariot (befitting her large size, as of all the Old One race), and it is being pulled by two gargantuan cats, similar (and probably the same) as the great plains cats (of the Shattered Plains) that are allied with, and ridden by, the Aublan Cat Riders.

The Archivists at Parn Tandalorn have surmised that one of the reasons for Ba'a Zarn to have build the King's Highway, was for the purpose of Wiifandra, and others of his clan, to be able to ride their chariots up and down the length of the Valley.

The other depiction of Wiifandra, is that of a powerful sorceress, aiding the Shagmen of the Darkearth Plains against the coming of the Storm King Barbarians.  These images are amongst the oldest of the surviving images in old settlements, and the barrow mounds of Jarls, among the Storm King Barbarians.  In such images, she is shown assisting the Shagmen against the Storm King Barbarians.  Curiously, in the images, the Shagmen are often depicted as being more sophisticated and advanced than they appear today.  In modern times (approximately 1500 W.M.) the Shagmen are quite primitive, much like our modern concept of a Neanderthal man.  And yet in the imagery that survives, they are depicted as tool users empoying quite sophisticated weapons and armor.  This may have been an attempt by the early Storm King Barbarian Skalds to show their enemies as being more powerful and advanced than they actually were; or the Skalds might not have been present at the battles, and only drew warriors in the way they were familiar; or (most intriguingly) something might have happened to the Shagmen from those earliest times, almost two millenia ago, when Wiifandra first fought for them, and then she disappeared (shortly after the disappearance of the other Old Ones).

Wiifandra, helping the Shagmen (right) against the Storm King Barbarians (left)

 It is rumored that as the advances of the Storm King Barbarians grew more and more intense, with their fleets of dragonships coming out of the north, down the various rivers out of the Destriel Mountains (especially the Greywater), that the Shagmen were beaten back.  A single lone strong point survived, and this was around the cliff-side Solitude of Aether - the last home that Wiifandra used before departing the Valley.  It was located along the southern shoreline of the Great River, as it passed next to the Jazzan Mountains, under the Falls of Arning.  There was a transplanted colony of Shagmen living in caves near the River, and they served and worshipped Wiifandra.

The Solitude of Aether, along the southern shoreline of the Great River

When Wiifandra departed, many of her loyal Shagmen departed with her, and the rest were changed in some way.  Some Archivists claim that they became the Shagmen we know of today, in order to hide the memories of Wiifandra and her magic, others say that those located at the Solitude of Aether were changed into something else.

The biggest secret about Wiifandra, and where she departed from her consort, Ba'a Zarn, was that she was a completely devoted worshiper of the elemental god, The One Beneath the Waves.  She not only worshpped the sleeping god, but she used her considerable magic to create and contact followers of his, and also to imbue the knowledge into the Shagmen.  This is not known, currently, to the Archivists, or to anyone in the Valley.

When she left, some of the things that Wiifandra left behind, were a number of spells related to the worship of The One Beneath the Waves, as well as contacting and serving the servitor races of that elemental god.  Also, she left behind some of her personal magic items.  She left behind the Staff of Aether, the Bracers of Deep Knowledge, and the Tiara of Darkness.  The location of these is not known, but they are each of a powerful (artifact) level.  Many of her spells are assumed to be located in copies of the Book of Zargo Zar the Sage.

Barony of Henn and the City of Shadows

Henn is the name of a barony in the northern parts of the Rising Land region.  The capitol city is also known as the City of Shadows, and has a population of 18,000.  The Barony, and the city, are both about 1200 years old.

The city of Henn has three major trade towns associated with it.  These are located on roads going to nearby Baronies.

The first, Aldrop (pop. 6,000) is located on the road southwest to Scallen.  The road stops at the Two-Moon River at the independent town of Riverport, but about a third of the way between Henn and Riverport stands the town of Aldrop.  Aldrop is known for the strange community of Gnome herbalists (the Leaf Guild of Mika) that live in the outskirts of the town, and also for the very old (over 1000 years old, almost as old as the City of Shadows itself) Shrine of the Seasons.  This is a a Lass Indol shrine that venerates all four of the Lass Indol demigoddesses, Neuvirra Oss (demigoddess of Spring and Planting), Elongar Suu (demigoddess of Summer and Growth), Olimo Vis (demigoddess of Autumn and the Harvest), and Frigia Nor (demigoddess of Winter and of Feasting).  Even though these four have long been brought into the Westron Church, the community that lives at the Shrine of the Seasons has a distinctive Lass Indol feel to it - preferring to wear the clothing and eat the cuisine of the ancient Lass Indol, when they were part of the Olmert Empire.  Given the nature of the Shrine, there are often visiting clergy that are dedicated to Kyclos present in Aldrop.

The second town, in the Barony, is along the road that goes north and then east to Huygen the City of Light.  This town, Tor Alis (pop. 4,000), is built on a tall, bald hill at the foot of the Jazzan Mountains.  The Huygen Road there passes around the base of the hill, but there is considerable traffic up to the heights of the town.  The town of Tor Alis (named for Alis hill) is in site of Mount Soluto, where the hermitage of the Eagles of Jazzan is located.  Because of its proximity, it is often a meeting place for members of the Eagles order, and also others who would have dealings in the lands surrounding the Jazzan mountains.

The third town of the Barony is Octoris (pop. 3,500) located on the road south to Pellorix.  It is located along the Pellorix Road, about half way between the City of Shadows, and the northern edge of the Redsmoke Woods.  The town is known for two main reasons. The first is the monastery (the Harmonious Reflectory of Order) located inside some curious crystalline caves, just outside of town, that is run by an order of St. Ermo.  These monks have dedicated their lives to the study of mathematics.  For some reason, the monastery have attracted a lot of retired soldiers and masons who have chosen to make a study of the philosophy of numbers.  The monastery is rare in that it is in fairly frequent communication with the Archivists of Parn Tandalorn.  The second thing that Octoris is known for is School of Bonbonis - a school for training young persons of worth, and wealthier men at arms, the fine art of Archery.  It was originally established by Bonbonis, a woodsman of exceptional skill with the bow, from the Redsmoke Forest.  On his retirement from the life of a Woodsman, he had acquired a fair amount of wealth, was annointed officially as a Lord by the Baron of Henn, and settled in Octoris (rather than constructing a castle or keep, Bonbonis instead built the School for archery).  He was joined by a number of his compatriots and companions from his early life as an adventurer and woodsman.

In addition to the population of the dependent towns, there are approximately another ten or twelve thousand people, mostly farmers and members of very small nameless villages, that make up the Barony.

The capitol city of Henn itself is the seat of the branch of the Church, under the division of Nadene, that venerates St. Jaspar.  The great Earthroot Cathedral is here, built out of a very large stone formation that makes up the western edge of the City.  The stone, called the Earthroot, has legendary properties, and is supposedly a ward against the return of the elemental gods of the Old Ones.  The Church, in its official position on the elemental gods, has chosen not to recognize this, and instead considers the stone to have been placed here, far from the Jazzan Mountains, by a band of prescient Storm Giants, that foresaw the coming of Jaspar Wilderman, and his ability to make stone alive, and work it by the gifts of his great strength ('like that of a Storm Giant' it is said).  It is not known if this story, or the one about the ward against the elemental gods is true, but the second is the position officially taken by the Archivists of Parn Tandalorn, and the former is the position taken by the Church.  One of the more visible of the properties of the Earthroot is the presence of the Thousand Sons of the Earthroot.

The capitol is called the City of Shadows for the reason of the fantastic shadows that the city is always in.  These shadows are cast by a cloud of great stones, ranging in size of a small farm pig, on up to the size of a massive windmill, or castle keep.  These float on the air, and rotate, slowly but irregularly, in a circular pattern around the Earthroot, at a height of approximately 500-1000 feet.  It is not known what keeps the stones up, as experiments by magic users from the eight Schools of Magic have not revealed the nature of the magic.  Due to the rigorous nature of the experiments, however, most feel sure that the stones are not going to fall.  They rotate in a radius of approximately a mile or so, but the larger stones are closer to the center.  The movement of these causes a constant shifting pattern of shadows to dance all across the city, hence the name "City of Shadows".

The largest of the stones rotating around the Earthroot, are the Thousand Sons.  There are many more than a thousand of these stones, but the larger ones (the named ones) are called the Thousand Sons. One of the more interesting, Aqualith (the Water Stone) has a small spring of water located on it, and it is constantly producing a fresh gurgling of water up out of it.  This water gathers in small pools on the upper surface of Aqualith, a stone of perhaps 20 yards across the long face, and 5 yards wide, and which is floating lengthwise upright.  However, the water, since it is constantly being produced, is always trickling down as a waterfall down the side of Aqualith.  Once it falls the hundreds of feet to the city, it has mostly dispersed into a fine misting drizzle, however it is enough water to keep the city incredibly lush, and full of the most bountiful trees and gardens.

The current ruler of the city is Lendara Astern of the Moontusk family.  The Moontusk family has been involved as one of the leading families of Henn since they came out of the Olmert Empire, approximately 500 years ago (in a later wave of colonisation).  Her full title is Majestrix Lendara Astern, Baroness of Henn, Queenchief of the Moontusk Diamond, and Protector of the Earthroot.

Eagles of Jazzan - Order of Rangers in the Central Valley

The Eagles of Jazzan are an order of Rangers that patrol the regions all around the Jazzan Mountains, but also out as far as the Harp Woods to the northeast, and the Two-Moons River to the southwest.

Hundreds of years ago, before the Barony of Ungams was established, and the cathedral (The Stone of Life) of St. Horace was built there, there was a monastery established to St. Horace in the Jazzan Mountains.  This monastery, known as the Hermitage of Understanding, was located high up on the peak of Mount Soluto.  It was dedicated to an understanding of the natural world, gained through meditation and communing with peaceful animals.  It was founded by Sir Horace Avento of Macester, who renounced his knighthood, his family lands, and all claims to wealth and worldly prestige.

Sir Horace Avento of Macester, choosing the path of the Monastic, and giving up Majestia

The brothers of the Hermitage engaged with a group of knights and men-at-arms in the War of Establishment, against the demon hordes from the Two-Moon River, attacking the newly established city of Henn.  All of the brothers of the Hermitage, who mostly fought in the form of giant bears, were slain except for Horace.  During the fight, Horace, in the form of a giant bear wielding the magic sword Majestia was responsible for slaying a demonic creature, he later found out was a polymorphed innocent, mind controlled into joining the fray.  After the battle, he was totally stricken by grief, and would have died of a broken heart, if he had not been visited by a seraph of the goddess Nadene.  The seraph, one of Nadene's cupid-like angelic messengers, saw in Horace a very good man, and an selfless and peaceful soul, other than his grief over the loss of the brothers in the fight against Noxecatt's demons.  Because of this compassion by the seraph, and the understanding of Nadene for Horace's connection with nature, and especially animals, he was made into an immortal.  In fact, he was made the patron saint of Animals.

The Hermitage at Mt. Soluto

A band of men-at-arms who were impressed with the sacrifice of the Brothers of the Hermitage, decided to forsake arms, and take up a communal life themselves.  However, at this Horace saw the need for humans to not only understand the world - including those aspects of plants and animals that humans are capable of understanding - but also to participate in its defense.  So, he convinced the men-at-arms to become the Rangers of the Hermitage.  They were trained in the skills of tracking and dealing with natural magic and animals of all sorts.  These became the first line of defense, now, against the horrors that occasionally emerge from the Two-Moons River.

Since this first band was formed, there have been Ranger Hermitages set up in a number of wild places, sometimes preceding the migration to the east of the Westroners, and sometimes following it.  Eventually, a group of such hermitages came together to form the Northguard in the year 656.  The Northguard, because they work so closely (at times) with Storm King Barbarians, have dropped the connection to the order of St. Horace, however.

With a number of different Hermitages having been established, it has become traditional to name each such "order" by a name including a local animal to the location of the hermitage, as well as the name of the region that it is from.  Because of this, the Rangers of the original Hermitage have become known as the Eagles of Jazzan.

Sword Pommel of a senior Ranger in the Eagles of Jazzan

Eagles all carried a distinctive sword with an Eagle's head on the pommel.  Other than that they have no mark of office.  Other than human Rangers, the order also includes clerics of St. Horace, and also some Wood Elves from the Harp Woods, who join the order for a number of years, before deciding to return to their Arboreal retreats, or back to the Faery realm.  The range of the valley that the Eagles patrols includes the lands east of the Two Moon River, up to the Great River, and across to the Harp Woods. South, it extends to the city of Henn.  Within this area, there is a network of good creatures and human (and other) inhabitants that are friendly to the Eagles, and provide assistance (whether in the form of information or supplies, or more directly, as assistance under arms).

To this day, the Rangers of the order have as a sworn enemy the sorcerer Raebacc Stin, who has become a Lich and has a secret haunt in a location the Rangers have been yet able to find.  Raebacc Stin was the sorcerer, in the service of Noxecatt, who was responsible for the formation of the original body of diabolical forces that killed the original brothers of the Hermitage.  The magic sword Majestia, formerly owned by St. Horace (when he was Sir Horace) has also become lost over the years, and legends talk about it being in the possession of Raebacc Stin.

Week of Encounters Day 5: Living Skulls of the Purple Marsh

This encounter takes place in the Darkearth Plains region of the Valley.  It takes place just north of the Great River, where the Jazzan Mountains can be seen to the south, and the Harp Woods spread out to the North.

On the northern banks of the Great River, as it passes just east of the Jazzan Mountains, near the Harp woods, there is a swampy expanse that stretches for approximately 25 miles along the river. This swamp is called the Purple Marsh, named long ago for the semi-aquatic Narreck trees that clog the waterways of the swamp (the Narreck, when they flower, produce a purple floss that becomes airborne in the spring winds, and spread the growth of the trees).

The locals from the fishing villages that owe fealty to the Barony of Khomaes have long known that they should give the Marsh a wide miss. It is widely known that the normal dangerous Marsh inhabitants (trolls, lizardmen, dangerous large aquatic grazers such as the catoblepas and so on) are present, but these rarely leave the marsh to raid surrounding areas. When they do, the fighting men of Khomaes, led by Knights of the White Lady, often arise to contain the threat, and keep it limited to the marsh itself. The area is too large, and largely impassable to military units, for the soldiery to clear out the marsh - but they can keep the dangerous inhabitants contained.

Recently, numerous trading cogs from areas west of the Jazzan have been attacked by a string of piracy in the area of the Marsh. The Player Characters, traveling through the area, come across the wreckage of a cog that has washed up on shore. It was attacked, and the crew mostly killed, but a few survivors are found with the wreckage. They talk about an attack by a pirate ship that came out of the morning mists on the Great River, as the cog passed by a part of the Purple Marsh. The cog was carrying a heavy cargo of expensive clothes and other luxury items, meant for trade in Khomaes and Gorrem river towns. These trade goods have all disappeared. The player characters should be given a sense that tracking down the pirates will be quite profitable for them.

The survivors will describe the pirates as living men (human fighting men and thieves), but with skulls for heads. Living Skulls with no flesh, no skin, no eyes - but attached to the body and capable of a rude speech. The players have no concept of these skull men, nor have they encountered anything like it before.

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Living Skull
Num Appearing: Special (created creature)
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Movement: 60'
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 2d (10 h.p.)
Attacks: 1 (claw) or by weapon
Damage: 1d6 - or by weapon (claws are 40% poisoned)
Save: F2
Morale: special (commanded creatures)
Special Abilities: Similar to undead - can be controlled by Evil priests and clerics, but cannot but turned by Good or Neutral priests and clerics.

The claws of a Living Skull are poisoned 40% of the time. Every time a claw attack scores, there is a 40% chance that it is poisonous (does an additional 1d3 points of damage per round, for 1d6 additional rounds - save for half as many rounds).

Living Skulls are supernaturally strong, even if they are slow (if using initiative rules, they suffer are -2 slower than a typical human). Their strength gives them +1 to hit in combat with weapons, and +2 damage when using weapons.

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The searching and investigating of the players should lead them to a watery inlet into the Purple Marsh, that goes to a protected lake, surrounded by small islands and ridges of dry land, but the whole area is thickly forested with Narreck trees. The region is full of primitive bands of hunting lizardmen who are always seeking a source of fresh meat. On one of the larger dry land ridges at the edge of the lake, there is a small walled village, with some simple piers stretching into the lake. There are several galleys (the sort that would make good piracy vessels) moored here.

The village appears deserted. There are some wild denizens of the Marsh who have moved in where pirates and brigands once dwelt. Nearby is a solitary stone structure (all else is made of wood and bamboo), a squat round tower, with a large bronze brazier (25' across) on the exposed top floor. Examining this reveals that there is a dungeon complex underneath. Several layers, magically constructed, lined with marble and extending deep underground, past the water table levels of the swamp. Some areas of the dungeon are dry, and some are intentionally flooded as pools.

Within the dungeon is a society of cultists of the ancient Old Ones' deity, the "One beneath the Waves". These deranged beings seek to draw their deity back to the world, in order to destroy it. They have taken up with a clan of Kuo Toa (who dwell in the dungeon as well, within the flooded chambers, and elsewhere), and have perfected and cast a spell on the inhabitants of the brigand village on the surface. All of the men (and women and children - although the latter were mostly eaten by the cultists in cannibalistic rites) were transformed into "skull men" - mindless servants that are enslaved to the cult and do its bidding. These are strange hybrids of life and undeath, but are immune to the religious sway that modern priests and clerics would have over normal undead. While slow, like most undead, they fight very well and are persistent to the point of destruction.

The dungeons under the tower are quite well stocked with treasures of both the normal and magical types, and exploration of the site by the Player Characters would prove quite valuable. What to do with the knowledge of the Cult and their macabre invention is up to them.

Living Skulls are created by EHP's of the cult of the "One Beneath the Waves". It is a level 6 spell, taught only to priests of the cult, and it works as follows:

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Create Living Skulls (spell)
Level: 6
Duration: Permanent
Range: 30'
This spell turns incapacitated humans (it only works on humans) into Living Skulls. The created beings have no memory of their pre-converted life. The process removes all skin, hair, eyes, brain, muscle etc from the head, leaving an exposed skull. The created beings respond to simple commands (as with other simple undead) from their creator, although this can be a command to transfer their allegience (such as "Obey Igor").

The number of humans converted per application of the spell is equal to 1d6 plus the caster's level. All of the humans to be converted must be incapacitated (sleeping, knocked out, tied up, or something similar), and within the range of the spell.

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