Barony of Ungams - And the City of Harp

In the Nightside Region, there is a barony, one of the younger, southern Baronies, settled only a short 600 years ago.  It is currently ruled by Baron Virondis Pulchky, also known as the Music Baron, from the City of Harp.

The capitol city of Ungams is an interesting place, as it contains some very fascinating locations, and also because of where it is located in the Valley.

It is near the Nell Nod forest, and all of the different threats that come out of there, and it is also located near the edge of influence of the Sun King Tribes.  In the plains around the Barony, the Khozaki people dwell, with their great herds of riding lizards, the Fethta.

Along the edge of the Nell Nod Forest, the Temple of Light was built by Padre Kelvin, in the year 603, about three hundred years before the establishment of the City.  At that time, there were only scant and dispersed settlers in the region, often living in fortified hillforts, or they were purely nomadic.  At this time, the Westroners in the area were in a state of constant strife with the Khozaki people, and it often turned into violent raids and small scale warfare between settlements and nomdic groups of the two cultures.  The only thing that brought them together was horrific Mass Frenzy of the Sun King barbarians in the 8th century.

Within the city is the great Cathedral to Saint Horace, called the Stone of Life.  The Cathedral is itself built as a series of tiered semi-circles, the front (outer edge of the circle) of all of them forming a smooth face to the front, forming the face of the Cathedral.  This face is decorated in the typical fashion of Westron Cathedrals - lots of fluted and decorative pillars; stained glass windows; gargoyles along the various levels of roofs and balconies.  The top of the Cathedral, along the front outer edge, has multiple towers and steeples, all topped with gargoyles.  Most of the gargoyles of the Stone of Life Cathedral have the faces of Animals, rather than devils or grotesques.  The back of the cathedral, is as mentioned, a set of tiered steps - 8 stories high - and each story having an open semi-circular balcony.  At the center of a circle that the semi-circle building would form, there is a flat green park, with radial walks covered in decorative white pea gravel.  At the center of the radial works - the center of the park - there is a rising white obelisk coming out of the ground.  All up and down the obelisk are carvings of the various different types of animals (non-magical) of the Valley.  Every point of the semi-circular building is equidistant from the Obelisk.  The Stone of Life, as it is called, is key to the worship services of the Order of St. Horace.

One of the domes at the top of the Palace of Seven Harmonies

The seat of power is the Palace of Seven Harmonies.  This is at the heart of the City, on the tallest of the five Harp Hills that make up the base for the city.  The center hill, called Oldoon, has the Palace built on top of it.  The Harp Hills are what give the name of "City of Harp" to the capitol.  Underneath the hill of Oldoon, however, exist the Dungeons of Suel Sonas.  Suel Sonas was a vizier, then an official title in the City of Harp, in the first century after the founding of the Barony.  It was thought that the growth of the Barony would be enhanced if there was a place to put convicted criminals, including those that practiced crime out among the nomads and settlers.  So, Suel commissioned a group of Dwarves to come and build the underground penal site.  The dungeons were named for him, and although he passed away several years before the dungeon was completed, still it was named for him.

The current ruler, Virondis Pulchky, is 8th regent of the city and the barony to hail from the Aeryfell family.  Within family tradition, each new generational member, and especially those who are considered for the Throne in Ungams, must exhibit some musical talent.   Baron Pulchky, when he came to the throne, was already an accomplished player of the large Hawm flute.  He had done a number of compositions, and his playing is most excellent.  He continues, as Baron, to play whenever possible.  He, more so than any of the early Aeryfell barons or baronesses, patronize the musical arts.

Mairse Reeds - Dangerous flora along the Moa Thola River

Mairse Reeds are a type of tall thin plan that grow thickly on both sides of the Moa Thola  and Erando rivers - far, far to the south, almost to the Holabrian Mountains.  The area where these reeds grow is located in both the far eastern part of the Nightside region (on the western banks of the Moa Thola, and along both sides of the Erando), and also in the far western part of the Shale March region.  In both cases, along the banks of the Moa Thola, and along the banks of the Erando, the Mairse Reeds grow in the low lands, and also up in to the Shale Hills and the lower slopes of the Holabrian Mountains.

The vast areas where the Reeds grow is curious in that no other vegetation grows there, and although

it is near to both rivers, the ground remains hard enough for there to be vast mounds and tunnel complexes dug out of it.  In that environment live large colonies of Thri-Kreen.  This race of insect warriors are particularly dangerous because of their mastery of their own weapons - the double bladed gythka polearm and the three bladed throwing chatkhca.  In both cases, the Thri-Kreen are keen to employ a particular type of venom that they make combining their own caustic mandible saliva with a type of think sap or resin that they collect from the Mairse Reeds.  This is then deposited in the tunnels of their underground complexes, and allowed to harden and crystalize into a tough form that allows it to be sharpened into blades, and worked into all sorts of weaponry.

Braving the haunts of the Thri-Kreen in the Mairse Reed jungles are various tribes of Sun King warriors.  They go there to collect Mairse Reeds to make weapons out of, and also to harvest large bundles of the reeds to use in making their strange Mairse Boats.  Collecting a few of the reeds for the use of constructing spears is simple enough, and is seen as a rite-of-passage into adulthood by many clans of the tribes, but harvesting enough reeds to make a boat is an operation that will require all the members of several clans to work together.  First is the harvesting and bundling, then the transport of the reeds.  All the time, the group is subject to attack by Thri-Kreen warriors, as well as rival groups of Sun King barbarians.  A typical harvesting operation will take somewhere between 10 and 14 days to complete.  After the first few, attacks by the Thri-Kreen can be expected almost at any time of day or night (the Thri-Kreen do not sleep).

The Moa Thola is thick with Mairse Reed boats manned by crews of Sun King barbarians.  This is the reason why many of the trading and fishing vessels along the Moa Thola have on board armed contingents, and sometimes even rangers from the Sunguard, there to protect against the hungry cannibal crews of the Mairse Reed boats.

Double-prow Mairse Boat, in the edge of the Shale Hills

Jesting Birds - Encounter on the Tiazarr River

In the Nightside region of the Valley, where the Tiazarr river bows out to the east, almost reaching the Nell Nod forest, there is a very curious relationship among two animals that has developed.

The first is the Jesting Bird.  These are very large, but slim, flighless birds.  They can reach 10 or 12 feet in
height, and are very slender.  They spend their days, mostly, among the slender greywillow trees that grow in small clumps in the riparian earth on the eastern banks of the Tiazarr.  The Jesting Bird has long grayish legs, and a long grayish beak, and would blend in with the tall, smooth trunks of the greywillows, except for the very light colored plumage of the birds.  They vary in color, between white and very pale blue.  During cooler months, this will darken, the white becoming itself a dark gray (much darker than the bare gray branches of the greywillows), and the blue species becoming a dark blue.  This dark color only lasts for a few months, and when warm weather returns, the darker plumes are shed, and lighter ones replace them.  During this process, a light, airy fluff forms on the tails of the males, and it is used to attract the females.  The Jesting Birds are usually quite amiable, and will not be scared off too easily.  They will approach people and riding animals, and they make a strange koo-klucking noise while tilting their heads from side to side.  With their great height, they can look down on a person riding a horse quite easily.  Encountered in the environment they love so much between the banks of the Tiazarr and the Nell Nod, they are often in family groups of 2-12 adult birds, and depending on the time of year, could have half again as many chicks, ranging from two to six feet in height.

With the long thin beaks that they have, it would be natural to think that the Jesting Bird gets meals from the banks of the river - either burrowing creatures, or fish.  This is not true, but to see what the Jesting Bird eats, taking a look at the other animal that partners with it is a necessity.

In the same region of the Valley, there exists a small winged mammal.  It is very similar to a bat, and is

sometimes called the Fool's Bat.  The Archivists at Parn Tandalorn, certain rangers and druids, and other sages will refer to it, however, as the Cenotaph Bat.  These creatures are quite small, smaller than a human hand, even with their wings extended. And they fly almost silently, lacking the flap-flapping common to bats.  What makes them so dangerous is that they have a curious magical effect to their bite (it doesn't seem to be a physical poison, just some magical effect of the creature itself).  This effect will render the victim quite immobile for 1-4 turns (each turn, remember, being 10 minutes).  A saving throw vs. paralysis is allowed, but with a -2 - the effect is quite strong.  The Bats seem to feed off of the warmth and life force of warm blooded creatures, so once they paralyze a victim, a dozen or so bats will come and roost on the body.

Now, what makes the Cenotaph Bat so dangerous in concert with the Jesting Bird, is that the Bats tend to roost in the same Greywillows that the Birds often nest and graze near.  And when a victim comes near by (any mammal, human, demi-human, or humanoid will do), it is often set on by a half dozen or so (1d6 +2) of the Bats.  Once the Bats have had paralyzed the victim, and the body fills up with a dozen or so bats, then the Jesting Birds will come in.  The Jesting Birds, you see, are blood drinkers.  They will use their long beaks to pierce the paralyzed bodies, and begin draining blood.  Once they make a successful hit against the armor class of the paralyzed victim, they begin draining blood at the rate of 1 point of constitution per round.  Given the large size of the Birds, they can only manage to get 2 or 3 birds - at most - feeding off of a man-sized body at one time.  The worst aspect of this habit of the Jesting Bird, is that the victim, although paralyzed, is quite conscious and aware of what is happening during the entire ordeal...

The reason for the name of the Jesting Birds is that once they have drained a victim of all of its blood, then they will do a little strutting dance around the body, and sing a different song.  Rather than the usual "koo-kluck! koo-kluck!" that they do when just roosting or waiting for a meal, once they have fed then they will sing a song that goes "koo-Ha! koo-Ha! koo-Ha! Ha! Ha!".  It sounds, disconcertingly like laughter.

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Name: Jesting Bird
No. Encountered: 2-12
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 80'
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: 1 Kick, 1 Beak Stab (self defense)
Damage: 1-6 (kick); 1-4 (stab)
Save: F3
Morale: 9
Hoard Class:VI (remains on dead victims)
XP: 75
If the Jesting Bird successfully scores with a Beak Stab, then next round it will begin draining Constitution from the victim, 1 point at a time.  It takes 1 full week to recover a point of Constitution lost in this way, although a Cure Light Wounds will restore 1 point, and a Cure Serious Wounds will restore 1d6 points.

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The Cenotaph Bats, on the other hand, are completely silent, all the time.  Especially when flying or hunting, however.

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Name: Cenotaph Bats
No. Encountered: Swarm of 1d6+2 per mammal larger than a house pet.
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120' (fly)
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 0 (1hp)
Attacks: 1
Damage: A successful hit does no damage, just requires a save vs Paralyzation.
Save: F1
Morale: 7
Hoard Class: None
XP:15

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Croshan the Tyrant - Wicked leader of "The Society"

In the eastern reaches of the Nightside region, where the murky depths of the Nell Nod forest finally give way to the Khozak plains, there is a region that is controlled by an ogre warlord that terrorizes a wide swath of countryside.  The ogre is named Croshan the Tyrant, and is extraordinary for an ogre in several ways. First, he is intelligent - more so than most of his ilk.  Second, he is a planner and user of resources.  Third, he has a wicked, wicked partner.

In a patch known as the Cowslip Fields, on the northeastern edge of the Nell Nod, there is very large, treeless meadow.  At the center of the meadow, jutting up out of the ground, is a large rock formation, maybe 200 feet across, and approximately 80 feet high at its tallest.  It is all rock, although some small scrubby trees grow in and around it, probably of a similar type (only smaller and sickly looking) to those found in the Nell Nod.  In the base of this rocky formation there is an opening to a large (very large) cave that extends far below the surface.  This cave is the lair of Croshan the Tyrant, and it is referred to (by inhabitants of the region) as the Horrible Cave.

Croshan lives there with a group of humanoids that are loyal to him, that he refers to as "The Society".  At the top of the hierarchy are a group of twelve highly trained bugbear warriors.  These are all recruits/expatriates from the bugbear tribes that dwell within the Nell Nod.  Croshan refers to these 12 bugbears as the "Brothers of the Society".

Croshan's partner (see below) has also gifted him with another group of loyal followers.  There is a flock of approximately two dozen harpies that nest in and around the cave.  These are loyal to Croshan and his partner, but often taunt and molest the bugbears when they can get away with it.  They are the spies and scouts of Croshan, and serve to provide early warning of any attempts to attack the Horrible Cave.  These flying terrors are referred to by Croshan as the "Sisters of the Society".

Finally, the loyal members of Croshan's Society includes a group that he refers to as the "Thousand Children of Croshan".  It is not sure how many there are, but the Children of Croshan are Gnolls.  These have been captured, in raids, as children both from the gnoll tribes in the Nell Nod, and also from the Furlingga tribes far to the west, near the Greywater River.  In the second case, there is actually a slave trade that moves along the Great River, with gnoll cubs being captured on the outskirts of the Furlingga territory, and travelled east and sold to the Society, in exchange for the amber mined out the a chamber deep underneath the Horrible Cave.  The chamber is referred to as the Whale's Rest, as it contains (confusingly) the petrified remains of numerous whales, as well as both amber and large deposits of non-petrified ambergris.  These are raised as loyal to Croshan, and organized into "battles" which spend time patrolling the fields in a very large perimeter around the Horrible Cave.

Croshan's enemies include two different subterranean nations that he has encountered deep in the bowels of the earth beneath his cave, and also two different groups of surface dwellers.  The subterraneans that he has great difficulties with include a Morlock colony, and a vast underground city of Duergar.  Occasional treaties exist with both, but warring back and forth is the norm.  Raids against both, by members of the Society, bring up interesting treasures and magic - most of which are claimed by the Brothers, Sisters, or Croshan himself.

The two surface dwelling peoples that Croshan has the most to worry about are the Fethta riding Khozaki nomads, and also the clerics and fighting men that are in service of the Temple of Light, some 100 miles southwest of the Horrible Cave.  The Temple of Light is the original temple built for the Order of St. Kelvin.  The Order of St. Kelvin has two types of clerics, the Light Bringers and the Light Holders.  The traveling, adventuring sort (the Light Bringers) ally themselves with human and elven rangers, and occasionally Paladins of various friendly orders.  In addition, companies of woodsmen (both archers and clubmen) that are loyal to the Order of St. Kelvin will join in on campaigns against the Horrible Cave.

The secret weapon of Croshan, and the thing that has made much of his empire building possible, is his partner (some say illicit lover), the hag-witch known as "The Ghasting Woman".  This creature was once a human spell caster that was transformed into a diabolical Night Hag.  In addition to her abilities as a Night Hag, The Ghasting Woman also has the spell casting abilities of a 6th level magic user, and she retains an intelligence of 17.  She employs a magic ring of Command Human, one of Regeneration and also has a Broom of Flying.  She uses here abilities to try and charm (or kill, if charm is not possible) human commanders.  She has collected quite an assortment, and has them serve Croshan, where their will is slowly broken down, and they are willing to do more and more in service of The Tyrant. Charmed slave warriors make up the front wave of almost any large military operation on the part of The Tyrant.  The Ghasting Woman takes her name from the fact that she actively seeks out and eats human children.

Croshan himself is a remarkable ogre.  He has attained an incredibly high intelligence (19), has seven hit dice, employs a two handed sword (although for him it is one handed), and has a number of interesting magic items.  First, a suit of magical armor that he got once in a bartered trade for a captured Duergar princess.  The armor will magically fit anyone who wears it, and it is treated as chainmail +2.  The next item that Croshan employs is a magical two handed sword, which he employs one handed.  It is a +2 two handed sword, that once belonged to a family of warriors from Ungams.  The sword was called ":Paragon" and in the hands of a lawful or neutral good wielder provides a 10' radius of Protection from Evil.  Finallly, the last item in the hands of Croshan is a very large shield of magic resistance.  It grants Croshan with a +2 to all saving throws vs. magic spells or spell like effects, and also grants him a 20% chance of magic resistance.  In the hands of Croshan (or another evil being), the sword wails and cries in horrible agony whenever he wields it.  This has the effect of rendering all foes within 20' of Croshan of having -2 to hit, and -2 to saving throws.