And a number of smaller locations with some adventure seeds....
Smaller Polities in Northern Octzel (ca. 2092 AW, Age of Strife)
Stetson
This
roadside town is a famous pitstop for overland caravans and travelers looking
for a break from the harrying experience of traveling across the Great Divide
in the Loroden Mountains to the south. Stetson is the location of an enclave of
Wardens of Halale, and is noted for having a vast, ancient ruin just south of
the town which dates back to the ancient days of the Halic people who occupied
the land before Hyrkanian occupation drove them to extinction. Stories of
ghosts haunting these ancient ruins are mostly unfounded, but it is noted by some
that necromancers and cultists to the chaos gods have on several occasions seen
fit to enact ancient rituals of sacrifice at the hangman’s tree along the road
which marks the path to the ruins. The last such event led to an all-out purge
by the wardens who spent weeks hunting down cultists to the serpent god Lazar.
Prior to that, rumors of arcane rituals committed by members of the Black
Society from the capitol have led more than one scholar to conclude that there
must be something really, really interesting about that ancient tree.
Adventure Seed in Stetson:
The Dead Tree: few truly understand why
the dead tree is so important to the strange cults that lurk in the region. The
scholar Idominus Vetheren of the Capitol would like to
know, and will mount an expedition to investigate both the tree and the ruins,
with the blessing of Stetson’s wardens. Little does he know that the tree
itself is tainted with the blood of something terribly ancient and evil buried
beneath the land, from which the roots of the tree have drawn the black blood
of chaos for many an age. The lost Halic City of Kharamos was destroyed twelve
hundred years ago by this ancient evil, in the name of the old Octzellan king
Donn-Dadera, who sought to wipe the Halics off the face of the earth…
Diom
The town of
Diom is mostly regarded for its famous Tall Tales Inn, where merchants and
nobles often travel to enjoy some time in the country. It caters to a generally
more opulent crowd, but the Inn itself earns its name from the many professional
bards and their tales of derring-do that make much of the tavern portion of the
inn so entertaining. The tavern is believed to have been more of a shanty in
the past founded by the Ederlon Family, but earned a reputation when the
Empress Phyxillus Usyllyses and her traveling companions frequented the tavern
a century ago, regaling its denizens with tales of their adventures at a time
before the Empress had ascended to rule the Empire. The inn’s current
proprietor is Kiriney Lesean-Denera, a woman of aristocratic demeanor who is
single and portends to be of elven blood (though she in fact an aasimar of
indeterminate age).
Adventure Seed in Diom:
The Bounty and the Bard: the sylenic
bard Chops Madur has come to play at Diom, but last night in a bout of intense
revelry he was kidnapped by unknowns! Was he taken by the amorous noble woman
Verithra Elas Tetra, who fell in love with his voice? Or was he kidnapped by
local brigands who plan to ransom him for money? Or did he wander off and get
snagged by local orcs or goblins, who happen to find sylenic halflings a
delicacy?
Indor
Indor is a
rough fishing port and crafting town, and has little identity outside of its
place as a town of tradesmen and artisans who engage in business too stinky,
dangerous or uncomfortable for city life. Regular barges take goods too and
from the city every day, and the fields around Indor are constantly being
worked to meet the harvest needs of the Capitol.
Adventure seed in Indor:
Coastal Pirates: a group of
self-proclaimed pirates have begun harassing barges moving to and from the
Capitol, but they are using a sleek three-master schooner which is alarmingly
fast and agile. The pirate captain call shimself Shandro Ward, and a bounty has
been placed on his head to stop the onslaught of piracy.
Smalton
Smalton grew
over the last century from a lone village that had at one time been a
sequestered getaway for Octzellan nobles to a more robust township,
specializing in some renowned vineyards. The original founder of the town,
Orlus Smalton, eventually went on to forge a large family, which grew to the
several hunded people the town represents today. It is a remarkably quiet
location other than the wealth that pours in from decadent nobles of the Capitol
seeking respite from the “rough life of the city.”
Adventure seed in Smalton:
The King is Coming: the King of Octzel
has decided at long last it is time to visit this luxurious resort called
Smalton! The procession is immense, the opportunities vast, and the mayor of
Smalton, Orlus III, needs mercenaries willing to scour the area to make sure
there are no threats from bandits, orcs, goblins or cultists to make the King’s
visit perfect.
Adin
This small
town provides much of the agricultural output to sustain Urlu, and is also in
the middle of the Western Woodlands, which are variously claimed at times by
the orcish Warlord Faragor, who has ruled from his Iron City in the Under
Realms for a decade now, and at other times by the Khitteck Spider Queen Ikiriot,
who preys on human and elf alike in the region. Adin is also close to the elven
home of the Sylveinurien village Woodhome, or Syliedurias, which no humans save
a few wardens have ever visited.
Adventure Seed in Adin:
The Demon: Allu Dias is an ancient
glabrezu demon that was summoned forth by the orc shaman Morgados, to harry and
destroy Adin. In a mishap, Morgados was slain, his spirit and body taken
possession of by Allu Dias, who now walks as the shaman and seeks to manipulate
the warlord Faragor into not merely razing Adin, but Urlu beyond…
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