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.