Wednesday, March 25, 2015

[Urbis] Locations of the Cold Frontier - Basalt Pillars, Adlet Lair, Musk Creeper Vale, Dragon Fossils

The small rivulets pouring down the northern flanks of the volcano have exposed numerous basalt pillars which now rest in odd angles against the ground - forming a veritable labyrinth that is hard to traverse. Swarms of giant fire beetles will crawl around the area, though they will normally be non-agressive towards visitors. The same cannot be said for the giant funnelweb spiders which lair here, and it is all too easy for a visitor to stumble across one of their cunningly camouflaged webs.

Among the cragged peaks of the Northwestern mountain range, the Adlets have chosen a single bare mountaintop as the center of their tribe's culture. Here, the cold winds blow almost constantly, and they have hauled a number of large boulders to this peak and painted it with the symbols of the various spirits they worship - Wendigo among them. At certain nights, the Adlets come here to dance and how in the wind. There are a number of caves halfway down the mountains which serve as their lair - as they are immune to the cold they don't need it to shelter from the elements, but they do keep their young here to protect them.

A small valley which has warmer climate than the surrounding areas has been infested by Yellow Musk Creepers, numbering 11 individual colonies. They primarily have local animals as servants, but a number of morlocks from the nearby Canyon of Faces have also been infected.

Those who travel along the canyon might spot a large fossilized bone sticking out of the canyon walls. Careful excavation - which is tricky, since it would have to dig deep into the walls of the canyon - will reveal two nearly complete (approximately 25 yards long each) skeletons of dragon-like creatures of an unknown species, apparently locked in a titanic struggle when they died. This would be the crowning exhibit of any museum of natural history, although selling the bones as magical ingredients would likely be more profitable - if the sellers can prove the provenance of the bones to the satisfaction of the customers, as scams revolving around selling dragon bones are rather common.


Note: A list of all Urbis-related posts can be found here.

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