Parn Tandalorn - The Great Archive

Near the headwaters of the Tandalorn River there is a strange and magical community, high in the mountains, that is dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge.  This is the site of the fantastic Great Library of Parn Tandalorn.  It was settled by a group of monks and priests from the Olmart Empire that accompanied the first settlers to come into the Valley, south of the great river.  They brought with them soldiers, as well as their own families, seeking to establish a new community, in the strange and dangerous land of the Valley.

Parn Tandalorn

It was here, with the various artifacts and ruined sites of the Old Ones, that the Archivists thought they could study and make sense of what the world was like before the advent of Man.  To understand what the Archivists (the original settlers of the Great Library and the community there) understood about man, it is important to understand how they viewed Man's place in the world.  This was, of course, very different than the understanding that the inhabitants, with their knowledge of the three goddesses, and some of the subjected peoples of the old empire - such as the Lass Indol and their goddesses of the Seasons.  The old orders of the Olmart empire see the coming of man as some fulfillment of the element of magic.  The old races were not enough - the Elves themselves are magic, the Dwarves capture magic, the Saurials sing of magic, but only Man can create magic.  Hence, the element itself was responsible for bringing man into the world.  So, they came to study the Old Ones and find out what they could about them, and see whey there were passed over by Magic and why Man was chosen/birthed instead.

In coming into contact with the artifacts, and surviving learning, of the Old Ones, the Archivists learned something very, very different.  The Old Ones were enthralled, and worshipped (largely out of fear) their own elemental god.  There were immensely powerful beings, from another dimension, that were bent on the destruction of reality.  The Old Ones believed that by supplication and appeasement, they could keep them (the elemental gods) pacified until their knowledge of magic advanced to such a point that they could imprison them.  This they did, but at a cost.  Great structures were build by Ba'a Zarn the builder, in order to serve as the locks on the dimensional prisons that the elemental gods are imprisoned in.  These structures are part of the world, in the Valley, and the Archivists are beginning to learn the secrets of the Great River, the King's Highway, Fire Mountain, and the Tears of Heaven.  But not all the secrets, not yet.

The Archivists do know that after the elemental gods were imprisoned, that the young gods and goddesses of the world began to awaken - with the help of The Krunge, and Mika, and Earnissa.  Bronc and Photoss escaped, and became the two Warrior gods known as the Storm King and the Sun King, and their people (the Storm King barbarians in the north, and the Sun King barbarians in the south) have flourished, albeit the tainting of the Sun King by his diabolical mistress has led to a certain strain of chaos and evil that has suffused the culture of the Sun King barbarians.  The three goddesses have awoken, and even the forces of the seasons that the Lass Indol venerated have become goddesses.

Something else that the Archivists realize, that much of the remainder of the Valley (the Westroners, the Northerners, the Southerners and many of the non-humans) is that there is still a taint of power from the elemental gods loose in the world.  There are, in secret, and in shadow, pocket of worshipers who feel as if they can gain power, by serving the four sleeping horrors.  Some, the mad and those deranged by evil, see the bringing about the destruction of the world through the doings of elemental god magic, as a desirable goal.  These are the evil forces that the Archivists are arranged against.

Alas, however, the Archivists, in their quest for magic and knowledge, and their desire to exist as a separate community, has led them into a secluded and isolationist state.  They live, alone in their community of towers, schools, halls of study, and dens of magic, without any real thought to intervention in the outside world.  Let the petty barons fight over lands and holdings.  Let the Elves bicker over the boundaries between Faery and the world.  Let the Dwarves hollow out all the mountains, and make war against the orcs and goblins they find there.  The Archivists have much more important things to do - at Parn Tandalorn.

Lands to the West - The Omart Empire

To the west, in the lands where the Westroners first arrived from, today there exists a vast, powerful nation called the Omart Empire.

Crossbow Guards of Imperial Priests

The Omart Empire has stood for thousands of years, and is ruled over by an Emperor and his court of advisors.  The current Emperor,  Velaxia Dur, has sat on the Ethereal Throne for nearly 2000 years.  It was his enlightened policies, over a millenia ago, that allowed the men of the Sea Marches to begin their pilgrimage into the valley.  Velaxia Dur is kept alive through the use of magic.  Some - those unfriendly to the throne - have suggested that he may no longer be human, but something else.

The Empire maintains a strong military presence in and around the western entrance into the valley, and are
frequently encountered in the western parts of the Shattered Plains.  Military patrols are common enough, and these are often accompanied by members of the Omart Imperial Priesthood.

Omart military patrols are almost exclusively infantry, usually formations of pikemen, supported by companies of crossbowmen.  Their captains will sometimes ride fine horses, but this is often viewed as an extravagance by those truer to traditional Imperial manner.  There are no horses in the Empire of the Risen Sea (the old name for the Omart Empire, before the structure of the city of Omart), and they are creatures found only in the Valley.

Olmart pike formation, marching south toward the Great River, in the Shattered Plains

The Imperial Priesthood has three orders of Priests - The Sept of the Red Pearl, the Sept of the White Jade, and the Sept of the Black Diamond.  These are different orders within the Imperial magical/religious structure responsible for maintaining magical hegemony over the many conquered islands of the Empire, as well as responsible for the maintenance of the Imperial Court, including keeping the Emperor Alive.

Nyagam Worm-Smokers - Chaotic Sorcerers of the Sun King Barbarians

Deep in the far southlands, where the chaotic worshipers of the Sun King spread terror and horrors, some of the most terrible and horrible are a group of chaos sorcerers known as the Nyagam Worm-Smokers.

Nyagam is the name of one of the abandoned temples of the Old Ones, thought that at one time it was constructed to serve the worship of their elemental god, the Earth Weaver.

The temple is actually a large compound, similar to our real world temple sites in South America.  The structures at Nyagam are in alignment to predict and observe certain astronomical phenomena - the rising of the Three Moons, the alignment of the Spheres, and the Summer Apogee of the Sun.  But where Nyagam differs from the sites in our own world, rather than being massive stone step pyramids raised high up over the plains, the structures at Nyagam are like inverse step pyramids, each layer dug down into the earth.  The whole structure is lined with stone, and there are doors into the earth at each layer, revealing tunnels and structures going deep underground.  In all there are 13 such structures ranging from the tiniest, nicknamed "The Little Bird" all the way up to the largest, which is called "Temple of the Moons".

Dwelling in the earth surrounding the structure, are a peculiar species of large worms.  They are large, growing to 30 or 40 feet in length, but retaining a body diameter of only 4-5 feet.  They have a light green body that gives off a faint luminescent glow, and are completely legless.  They have a hard chitinous plate over their head, and huge mandibles, reaching out as far as 9 feet wide, pulling victims into their mouth.  There are no sensory organs apparent, other than the vast array of tiny tentacles, forming a cloud of feelers out 3 feet in every direction around the head.  The Archivists at Parn Tandalorn have discovered that the Old Ones referred to these as Infinite Worms, but most simply call them Nyagam Worms.  It is thought that these might be related to purple worms, for their size approaches that of those hideous monsters.  But the worms of Nyagam are a bit smaller, and different. Time around one of these creatures is magically altered, sped up, so that those in the vicinity of of a fully grown Nyagam worm experience reality at a rate sped up to approximately five times normal time.  Physical effects, such as those that require exposure (magic cast outside their time-warping field, any fire, any acid, and so on) do not seem to have an effect on Infinite Worms, they are immune to all of those.

The earth surrounding the Nyagam site is, as mentioned, full of these worms.  Unfortunately, it is also the site of a massive number of Sun King barbarians.  They come because they believe that this is a holy site.  Some of the priest-leaders of the barbarians come here and hold court, and seek oracles and inspiration from the weird things in the temple structures.  But mostly, throngs and mobs of sun king peasants come here.  The ecology is a grisly and sickening one - the weak, slow, infirm or elderly are killed and eaten.  Overall the population is quite ill not very well fed on this horrible cannibalistic diet.

A type of sorcerer that lives among the Sun King Barbarians are known simply as the Nyagam Worm-Smokers.  These individuals almost always appear as tall gaunt men, with their heads completely clean-shaven.  They, as an order, share spells and knowledge with each other, and seem to practice a sort of telepathic communication.  It is not known if that telepathy extends to any other outside their order.   They are immediately apparent, for wearing rich red robes, among the Sun King barbarians which are normally barely dressed.

The order of sorcerers, which refer to themselves as the Brothers of Hazerun (Hazerun is the demon prince son of Photoss, the Sun King, who is the god that these barbarians worship), have a curious relationship with the Nyagam Worms.  They protect the worms, and even help to create new habitats for them.  In return, they steal some of the young born to the worms, and these are ritually killed and their bodies are left to dry out.  Once the bodies are dried out, the sorcerers retain certain parts (the details of this grisly practice are vague), and then smoke them in braziers, while breathing in the smoke, and participating in rites to the Earth Weaver.  (note that the Church does not recognize that the cult of the Earth Weaver is still alive, even in this fashion, so it is only by the word of the Archivists or other sages, that this story is true).  This practice grants the Worm-Smokers (the Brothers of Hazerun) a very strange and peculiar ability.  Up to three times a day, the regular Worm-Smoker, has the ability to warp reality.  He can change one attribute of reality at a time, for upt to a number of hours equal to half his level.  So a sixth level Worm-Smoker sorcerer, could change one attribute of reality (for instance, making his surroundings Hot, or changing the sky to Cloudy, or making Iron soft, etc) for up to three hours at a time, but he could do this three times per day.  This is dangerous enough, but the real horror for those who hunt and fight against the evils of the Sun King Barbarians, is that the Brothers of Hazerun almost never travel singly, but always in groups.   So imagine a group of five or six such sorcerers, each with the ability to change three attributes of reality (either one at a time, or all three at once).  Reality around this group would be completely shifting and unpredictable.

The ability that they can use three times per day can be done all at once, with overlapping time durations, or it can be done at three different times.  In order to consider the ability and its limits, word the change in such a way so that there is a noun that is part of reality (Elves, Sky, Iron, Cheese) and then some modifying word that changes an attribute of that (all Elves are Small; the Sky is Cloudy; the Temperature is Hot; Cheese is Ubiquitous).

The Sunguard rangers are always on the lookout for Nyagam Worm-Smokers, and hunt them down whenever they have word of them being found, they are just too dangerous.  In addition to their grisly cannibal habits, and their ability to warp reality, they are, after all, experienced spell casters.  And they are often accompanied by adult Nyagam Worms, as well as armed bands of Sun King barbarians.  A horrific encounter for any crusading warrior trying to make the south a safer place.

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

The Legend of Longlance Karew

This is one of many legendary stories about the paladin of Scallen, Longlance Karew, and his sidekick the fighter/rogue known simply as The Bluejay.  It is an old tale, as most legends are, taking place deep in the south of the Rising Land region, and concerning the founding of the barony of Kof Karn.

Approximately two centuries following the first migrations of Westroners out of the Olmert Empire and into the Valley, a pilgrimage led by the mystic (Efeck the Jade, formerly of the Azure Court) made it's way far to the south, where the winds howl north out of the Holabria Mountains, into the neck of land between the Two Moons river and the Tandalorn River.  There is a rift there, which became known as The Cradle, and it was there that Efeck the Jade told his followers that the stars had decreed they should settle.

The problem with the location, although this did not seem to trouble either the stars nor Efeck the Jade, was that the area was overrun by a tribe of Sun King barbarians.  This particular tribe was under control of a vile creature of chaos, The Walking Man, and his vile army of followers.  The Walking Man himself was a giant of a man, with six fingers on each hand, and instead of a head, featured a bright red octopus instead.  When he spoke, it was the sound of a dead body being dragged through gravel.  When he went into battle, it was a blur of deadly steel, as he wielded two great curved khopesh blades in his human hands, and another eight axes with his eight tentacles.  As horrible as the Walking Man himself was (and still is, he is still alive, even though it has been 1300 years since this story) his army of Sun King worshipers was even more horrible.  In addition to the usual mobs of flesh-reavers (the near-animal crazed worshippers of the Sun King, who would move around in frenzied mobs, looking for humans - and demi-humans such as elves and dwarves - to tear into pieces, and then consume), the army of the Walking Man also included dozens and dozens of the headless, as well as Nyagam Worm-Smokers, Illithids, and a whole menagerie of nightmare chaos creatures.

In the face of this wretched army that followed the Walking Man, and inhabited The Cradle, the mystic Efeck the Jade had convinced his followers (who were unused to such horrors, back in the civilized lands of the Olmert Empire) that this was where the stars had decreed that they should settle and make a new life.  It was the recipe for disaster.

Illithids in the service of the Walking Man

In the year 214, after the beginning of the Migrations, the followers of Efeck the Jade were following his advice, and the advice of the leader of the main body of Pilgrims - Kof Karn - in building shelf farms (as they would become to be called), on the terraces of the side of the Cradle.  Down in the heart of the cradle, the site that would eventually become the "City in the Cradle" (later renamed Kof Karn in honor of the "first pilgrim" as he is remembered) was being surveyed, but it would be five years still before it would be settled.

With the first shelf farms being constructed, terraces were marked off, crops were planted, and the business of settling the thousands of settlers was well under way.  When the army of The Walking Man descended on the hapless pilgrims.  A sort of a defense was put up, with Kof Karn forming a make-shift militia, and several of the pilgrims having had experience as men-at-arms while back in Olmert, however it had been years now since they left, and these were few were old and tired.  Efeck the Jade, and his acolytes, were trained as warrior monks, and they helped to stiffen the defenses, but it wasn't enough.  The raids became a disaster, and all looked lost, as farm after farm fell to the raiding cannibals, their sorcerer-masters, and horrid monsters of chaos.

Then, out of the north, came help unsought for, and unexpected.  A column of crusading wing-knights, from the City of Birds (Scallen), came riding down into the Cradle, having crossed the Two-Moons River the night before, and riding steadily to the aid of the Westroner pilgrims.  The column of wing-knights was magnificent - the wind blowing through the wings and bells at the backs of the knights; the men at arms all bedecked in the silks and colors of the knights they served, and the bards of Scallen playing the mighty warpipes! The column was led by a paladin lord named Longlance Karew, from the City of Birds, and he had intelligences of the onslaught planned by the Walking Man.

The knights put the flesh-reavers to flight, and pursued them as far as their mighty warhorses would permit, attempting to kill as many of the abominations as possible.  The men-at-arms defended the farms and pilgrims, and the paladins with Longlance Karew pursued the Nyagam Worm-Smokers, who were shifting reality as they fled, and also the Illithids, and the monsters of chaos.  Longlance Karew, and his companion the Bluejay (a dextrous swordsman, who was rescued from a life of crime as a rogue by Longlance), pursued the Walking Man himself.  Long they rode in pursuit of this terrible evil, south, and further south, into the Holabrian mountains.  Pursuit through the mountains continued, even while the noble horses of Longlance and the Bluejay perished (legendary animals known as Black Dragon, and Trotter), they continued in pursuit, far south, untill they reached the Fircarran Peaks, and the lake at the source of the Two-Moons River.  Here, the Walking Man descended deep into the earth, into the ancient Old One dungeons of Spirran Deep.  Relying on the might of Longlance's magic sword Virtuos, and the marvelous magical flute of the Bluejay known simply as the Feather Flute, they were able to bring down part of the mountain on the entrance to Spirran Deep, trapping the Walking Man underground.  As far as the Archivists at Parn Tandalorn are concerned, that is where he remains until this day.

The tradition of the Wing-knights fighting against the Sun King barbarians in the south was not just a one time event, under the leadership of Longlance Karew.  Following this crusade, a number of knights out of Scallen, and some of the other Baronies, formed a loose association known as the Sunguard.  As it grew over the years, it became less a military order of knights, and more of an information and intelligence sharing association of Rangers.

Knights of Torisch - Knights of the Barony of Hogle

The Knights of Torisch are an order of knights that are headquartered in the First City, of the Barony of Hogle, in the

Shattered Plains.

They are allied with the Aublan Cat Riders.

Torisch of Ockett was the first Prince of the Granite Hold - the castle built by his Father (Sir Tuneyer of Ockett), the origin of the city and Barony of Hogle.  The name of the Barony comes from the name of Sir Tuneyer's family (technically, without his title from the Westron Lands, he would be Tuneyer Hogle; but he was also the lord of the Ockett Fiefdom, that he left when coming to settle the Valley).

Both Sir Tuneyer and  his son Torisch were of the Lass Indol people, and as such,they venerated the four goddesses of those people. In the early days of the migrate, before the understanding of the relationship of the Three Goddesses to the Valley, and the structure of the Church of the Three Goddesses become much more formalized, there were many who were worshippers of the Lass Indol goddesses.  Torisch himself was partial to Neuvirra Oss, the goddess of Spring and Planting.

When the extensive presence of evil creatures (as well as diabolical forces and curious sorcerous monsters left behind by the departed Old Ones) became known, it was decided that an order of questing knights would be formed in order to proactively find evil and vanquish it, before it became a threat to the new Barony and its land and holdings.  The young prince, strong of arms and admired by the fighting men of Sir Tuneyer, would be at the head of the order.

There were no orders of Paladins at the time, so the idea of holy knights of Neuvirra Oss was not in mind when Sir Torisch formed the order, but instead they became a large company of knights, having forsworn personal property, and loyalty to Sir Torisch instead.

The order exists to today, as an example of a non-church aligned order of knights that fighting men of the valley can be associated with.

From the earliest days of the order, however, they had a very important ally.  That was the friendship between the Knights and the Aublan Cat Riders.  These were a barbaric people, by Westron standards.  A group of nomadic clans, that did not build cities or permanent holdings, did not work metal, and did not have learning (either religious or magical).  They did, and still do, have a singular relationship with the great plains cats of the region.  These plains cats are similar to the great saber cats that sometimes roam down out of the Destriel Mountains (especially in the Darkearth Plains region, but really all across the north).  The plains cats, however, instead of the only the tawny color of the Saber cats, are sometimes orange or white and sometimes striped somewhat like a great tiger.  With their friendship with the Westroners, and especially the Knights of Torisch, the Cat Riders now had metal weapons and armor made available to them.  Gifts of this sort where enough to bond a Cat Rider for life.

The Cat Riders were a great ally to the Knights, and participated in a lot of quests and adventures with them. One of the main foes for both forces, however, are the cannibal-cultists of the vampire lands that emerge from the Caves at Groben.

The vampire lands are the name of an underground realm, peopled by cannibalistic human barbarians, and held in sway to a trio of vicious devils.  These poor souls are often thrust into the wars between the Gray Dwarf kingdom of Deep Delving and the vast Black Goblin Empire.  When pressures mount too high, migrating bands of the human cultists and barbarians will emerge, and have to be dealt with by the Knights and their Cat Rider allies.

In addition, the primitive men, the Oordut, who live in and around the icy upper levels of the Groben Caves, sometimes will frenzy (the shamen-chiefs of the Oordut are typically peaceful, but occasionally, for some inscrutable reason, they will begin attacking the more civilized lands around their own icy reaches), and this demands the attention of the Knights and the Cat Riders.  The very small Keepi-keepi people who dwell among the rocks scattered throughout the region are thought to be similar to the Oordut - except that they (the Keepi-keepi) are so much smaller.

The Cat Riders are known as the Aublan Cat Riders for the one thing in their culture that passes for

a permanent holding.  Usually the clans are divided up into two "nations" - the Northern Hunt, in the plains north of the King's Highway, and the Southern Pack, from the plains south of the King's Highway.  The whole region is referred to as the Aublan Valley.  Each summer, for a week before, and a week after the summer solstice, representative warriors from all the clans will gather at a particular spot of the King's Highway, on both sides of the mighty mound.  At the top of the mound, along the Highway, at this point, there is an ancient structure of the Old Ones.  It is a very tall alabaster tower, with a ringed round wall around it.  Written on the wall, in several locations, is the word Aublan. It stands in the middle of the mound of the King's Highway, dead center in the highway itself, with the road passing on either side.  There is neither gate nor door through the ringed wall, but inside there is an opening into the tower.  It is said to be the home to a curious race of dormant gargoyles, yet the rite of passage of a young member of the Cat Rider clans who want to become a clan chieftain, or a Khan of either the Northern Hunt or the Southern Pack, is that they must climb to the top of the tower of Aublan, awaken one of the alabaster gargoyles, and do battle with it.  It is not known what other secrets the tower of Aublan holds, but it might be worth exploring, by the brave and prepared.  But not when the massed clans of the Cat Riders have gathered for their summer ritual.

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.

---

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.

---

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

---

Igo Umblar - Navigator of the Old Ones

Igo Umblar is probably best known today, when he is known at all, as the originator and constructor of the fabled Dungeons of Igo Umblar, located in the north among the River Jarls of the Storm King barbarians (near Icewall).  The Dungeons and the Icewall Steading are both located in the Darkearth Plains region, in the far, far north, near the Destriel Mountains (in fact, Icewall is pretty much at the edge of the Destriel Mountains).

Long ago, when even Ba'a Zarn was young, the Old Ones that peopled the world were hopeful that their ancient and elder gods, the elemental gods, would return to the world.  They did not have a regular religion, as such, but much of their pursuits revolved around contacting and communicating with their four elemental gods.  This involved long and intricate research and studies into magic, strange powers of the mind, understanding of the cosmic structure of the world and the spheres, and other forces that do not have a name today.

Notable and singular among the learned peoples of the Old Ones was Igo Umblar.  He was also called the Navigator.  Igo Umblar's gift was the construction of a cosmic flute, which when played, would create notes that not only could work great magic, but also could create resonances that went out past the sphere of this world, and touched the spheres of other worlds and realities.  In playing his flute - which he did at every dawn, at every starfall, and during every event of cosmic or natural consequence - Igo Umblar was sending out a signal for the elemental gods to navigate by, and to come to this world, returning to their people, the Old Ones.

Cosmic flute of Igo Umblar, with the captured star-being that is part of it

For millenia, Igo Umblar played his marvelous magical flute.  It was constructed out of wood from a bristlecone pine tree that was grown upside down from a floating stone (it is believed it was one of the stones circling the Earthroot at the City of Shadows).  Because the tree grew upside down, the wood from that tree has interesting properties in itself, but the notes that Igo Umblar plays were absorbed, changed, and let out loose again by the small captured star-being that was part of the flute.  The tiny magical creature would take the notes played by Igo Umblar, and turn them into the song of the elemental gods, singing and re-singing each note a thousand-thousand times in the space of the same instant, capturing those notes inside the magical wood of the flute, before letting out into the world.  The magical resonance is how the songs of Igo Umblar could reach out past the sphere of this world, into others.

While the Old Ones were certainly visited by many of the servitors and minions of the elemental gods, they never did return to this world.  Not yet.  However, once the Old Ones encountered the Elves and other folk of the Seely Court, and fought their war with them, Ba'a Zarn convinced Igo Umblar to use his flute to open up a road amongst the spheres, navigating a safe exodus out of the world for the Old Ones.  This was the last time the fabled flute of the star-being was played within this sphere, and the last time this reality resonated with the songs of Igo Umblar.

While he lived here, Igo Umblar dwelt in a magically constructed world underground, that he made with the amazing magic of his cosmic flute.  It was all underground, underneath what is now the massive Destriel Mountains glacier known as the Ice Father.  The underground realm had an entryway to the surface, through a massive castle in the ice and rock, but deep underground it contained amazing, magical dimensions.  Whole vast levels carved out of the rock and full of the stuff of other dimensions, other worlds.  In his magical astral contacts and wanderings, Igo Umblar did manage to contact and draw back many magical beings that were servitors to the elemental gods - the frenetic Gill'ios that worshiped the One beneath the Waves; the body-less star nomads that were mastered by their fear of the Lord of Fire; the mysterious thought-vampires of the Lady of the Air, and also the worm-maidens of the Earth Weaver.

Statue of Igo Umblar, constructed by one of the many magical races in his dungeon

These and many other creatures came back to live among the magic levels and domains in the Dungeons of Igo Umblar.  Many of these creatures came to regard Igo Umblar as a messianic figure, and were happy to serve him, in return for his bringing them out of service to the elemental gods.  Igo Umblar, whose goal was always contact and supplication of those very same gods, did not understand this.  But century after century of the paradox, and his mind began to crack.  In the end, it wasn't that all he did was to play his flute - all he COULD do was to play his flute.  The song took him over, and it was all there was left of him.  The last act he did, was when Ba'a Zarn came and begged him to sing out a path of exodus for the Old Ones away from the world-sphere that the Valley belongs to.

Flooded Keep of the Astromancer - Week of Adventures Location 8

This location was originally written up as part of the River Jarl steading in the Sildur Reaches, along the western shore of the Greywater, south near the Great River. The name of the steading is Northwind. The name of this location is the Flooded Keep of the Astromancer. It was location 8 (bonus location) in the Week of Adventure Locations.

Adventure Location: Southeast of the Northwind Steading, along the road to Na Kram, there is a vale next to the road that was once the home to a small castle, early Westroner construction, that housed a wizard who was very much interested in the goings on of the stars, the moons, and the other interesting bodies in the night sky.  It is said he was called Kassar Nabarns, but usually is referred to as the Astromancer.  At one point he made a lot of pronouncements concerning the deities of the Old Ones, and even sent off for some of the Archivists of Parn Tandalorn to come and visit and review his knowledge that he was amassing.  Before that occurred, however, he was visited by an angry wizard - some say a necromancer - who led an army of dead warriors.  There was, of course, a wizard's duel between the two, and their followers and guards.  Something happened to the astronomer, and his whole home, vale and all, were subjected to a deluge of waters.

Remaining castle tower of Kassar Nabarns, the astronomer

 Only the topmost tower of castle remains above water, but it is widely rumored that the whole area (lake, tower, vale) are haunted by a number of beings.  Depending on which alehouse you frequent, these beings vary from ghosts of the slain, to lake devils summoned to protect the tower and its contents.  The Archivists of Parn Tandalorn never did arrive (they heard about the duel before traveling this far north), but who knows what knowledge or magic the astronomer was able to amass in his castle?  All before being beaten by the necromancer. [This is location 8 in the finally finished Week of Adventure Locations].

Roaming House of the Elkmen King - Week of Adventures Location 7

In the wide and open Fields of Aton of the Sildur Reaches, east of the Greywater River, there is a nomadic tribe of people that have merged with a roaming great herd of Giant Elk.  There, moving across the Fields of Aton, is the site of this adventure location - the Roaming House of the King of the Elkmen.  This was originally described as part of the River Jarl setting, in the writeup of the Steading of Mead Hall.  It was Location number 7 in the Week of Adventure Locations.

Adventure Location: East of Mead Hall, out across the Fields of Aton, between the Greywater River, and the Barony of Na Kram, roam the Mongrelbeast Herds.  These are herds of giant elk, as found in other regions of the valley north of the Great River, but the herds here have been affected by some foul strain of Old One magic.  A long time ago, a savage primitive people, similar to the Sword People north of the King's Highway in the same region, would wander and travel with the Giant Elk herds that have been trapped south of the King's Highway, since it was constructed.  These people, called the Elkmen, would wander with the herds, culling some now and again for food and skins, but mostly living with them in peace, and for protection.  The Elkmen had semi-domesticated some of the beasts to pull their great wheeled huts.  The king of the Elkmen lived in a massive giant wheeled hut called the Roaming House.

Giant Elk, roaming the Fields of Aton during winter.

However, at some point, something occurred to merge the the Elkmen with the Elks.  Now the herd consists of Giant Elks, Elkmen, and all manner of merged beings with attributes of both.  This includes, giant Elkmen, with the heads of elks; centaur-Elkman type mixed animals; giant elks with arms and hands sprouting out of their shoulders; Elks with Elkman type heads - all sorts of mixes.  These mixed beings are called Mongrelbeasts, and are barely tolerated by the tribe.  It is widely believed that the source of the magic that caused this change is an artifact of the Old Ones, and it is kept in the Elkman king's Roaming House.  In addition to merging the two beings - the Elkmen and the giant elks - into the Mongrelbeasts, the change also granted some of them fearsome magical powers, such as the ability to sound a horrid baying noise that has the power to kill, or a hoary breath that melts metal.  Each individual Mongrelbeast is completely chaotic and unpredictable.