So about 2 months ago I was supposed to post a blog post for Secret Santicorn. Specifically, "A neat little map built around Tomb of the Serpent Kings, with a few neighboring towns"
And now that the OSR discord is gearing up to do another exchange with Secret Jackalope 2020, my guilt grew so large that I ended up making this.
Sorry,
Isaak H.
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Wow look, an image that's actually relevant!
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THE TOMB
Mostly unchanged. If the players are quick, they might rescue a captured merchant, the new king of the fungus goblins.
MELBANY
Primarily a waypoint between St. Crane and larger towns to the north, Melbany has little of interest. A tavern, an inn, and a blacksmith capable of repairs, but not much else. However, there may be a spot of trouble, as a visiting merchant has disappeared in the night. Some say (correctly) he wandered into the "haunted" woods to the southeast, but the sheriff is convinced that another traveler, a hobbit minstrel named Cackleback Dubblehuff, murdered the merchant and dumped the body in the river.
ST. CRANE
A bit larger town than Melbany, St. Crane is surrounded by farmland. The local tavern( the Three-Legged Hen) serves decent food, and you might find the occasional foolhardy merchant there preparing to brave the southern path to Alstaria. The path winds through the mountains, and crosses the domains of yeti and snowmen. Still, it's a quicker path to Alstaria than any other (save for cutting across Lake Deep, but no one even tries that).
A single ruin of a keep remains to the south east of St. Crane, a remnant from back when this was a border. It was poorly manned in the past, due to the natural fortification of the mountains to the south, and as such quickly fell into ruin.
OLD MAN STUART'S
A small, poorly kept farm near the old keep. The players might encounter Old Man Stuart drinking at the Three Legged Hen in St. Crane. He claims to have seen a monster at night, ten feet tall and with claws the size of wagon wheels. He also claims that kobolds are casting demonic hexes that ruin the quality of the soil, and that Devlin the Swordkeeper is still alive and working in Alstaria as a Devlin the Swordkeeper impersonator. At least one of these is true.
THE OLD KEEP
I didn't label this because there were too many labels, so just... figure out where it is based on context. Currently, a shapeshifter is residing in the keep. A spy on the run from the authorities, they are resting and healing their wounds before they attempt to escape via the southern path to Alstaria, at which point they will have likely outpaced the speed of information and will be able to make it to the southern border. They might also just die in the mountains. They can transform into various animals, but not other humanoids. The shapeshifter's bear form is what Old Man Stuart saw at night.
LAKE DEEP
Home to a sleeping ancient nightmare. Those who attempt to cross it rarely survive, and those who do rarely speak of what occurs on the lake. While on the lake, illusions and reality shift into one another. Monsters, real and fake, materialize out of the fog.
THE THUNDERING HILLS
Called as such due to the sounds of thunder that often echo through them, even on cloudless days. It is said to be the home of the giant whose drumming woke Matthias the Sleeper, but actually it's the location of a hidden village of cowboys and gunsmiths who secretly perfect their craft, folding each revolver a thousand times, and training with them until they can hit the eye of a flying condor from a mile away.
