Cutview Bandit Hold...

(Preface: If you are in my gaming group do not read further.)

The Cutview Bandits' Hold a small keep on top of a remote corner of the Wildgold Plains. They made a moderate living by robbing travellers on the roadways to the south but mainly they just try and get by. A few in the hold who are in charge seek a greater fortune and have grand plans of raiding Lunard Crypt to the south. More recently those plans have been on hold due to the recent arrival of the Thunderhoof Centaurs and their war with the invading Defilers. As far as the bandits are concerned they want the centaurs to win... but just barely. Defilers are bad and if they look to be winning the bandits will help drive them out if they can. But they’d rather go back to a time before the defilers and centaurs - when the Winter Witch had just recently fallen and had pulled troops out of this location which allowed the roving bandits to move in.

PC could help bandits loot the Lunard Crypt
PCs could recruit bandits to work with them against the Defilers.
PCs could get targeted by the bandits on their way through.
PCs fledgling nation could be harassed by the Bandits.

External Plots leading here:
Undead of Lunard Crypt should seek some treasure back from the Bandit Leader. They seek the Key but do not know the Bandits do not yet possess it. Thunderhoof herd can seek either an alliance with the bandits or seek to wipe them out. Defilers seek an alliance with the Bandits against the Thunderhooves. Winter forces to north seek to buy them off with treasure from the Dualfold Crypt that will aid them in plundering the Lunard Crypt. Deliver magical forge dust to the gnome craftsman here.

Internal Plots beginning here:
Bandit second in command seeks aid from Dualfold Crypt (Winter forces already plundered it - will lead PCs to moving against winter forces or forging an alliance with them) Need someone to explore it. Bandits need to meet with Thunderhooves to decide to ally with them or move against them. Bandit leader greedily seeks to plunder Lunard Crypt and asks the PCs help. Bandit leader needs someone to meet with the Defilers since one of them going to visit them would bring the Thunderhooves down upon them.

So I need to make NPCs for all these plots to have plenty to work with.

Cutview Hold Forces:
Ilbreth Fullshare - Bandit Leader (eladrin bralani- Elite Controller) - Seeks the Shield of Numenor. With this item in their possession the bandits will not be eliminated by other forces in the adventure. PCs can always wipe them out though.

Arlinsie - Second In Command (hamadryad witch controller) - Seeks men to travel to Dualfold Crypt to obtain the key which will allow the bandits a chance to obtain the Shield of Numenor. Has been casting divinations and reading the stars to determine the key's whereabouts.

Annix - Seeks Peace with Thunderhooves (Eladrin Skirmisher)- wishes to calm the bandit who seeks war with them. His brother was captured by them in a skirmish in the plains. Seeks his brother's return to calm him.

Secundus - Seeks War with Thunderhooves (Satyr Elite Soldier)- They have his brother and he wants them all dead and his brother returned. Wants to raid the Thunderhoof village to rescue him.

Lyrendia - Seeks to Convince the Bandits to avoid the Crypts (Hamadryad brute) - Convinced that the dead should lie silent she seeks someone to find out what causes the dead of Lunard Crypt to attack their forces in the plains beyond in hopes of ending the conflict. Also believes that perhaps new leadership for the bandits is required. Can accompany the PCs on a diplomatic mission to the undead, since he knows the ancient chants to keep them at bay.

Nabira Fullshare - Head Looter (Elite Winterborn Skirmisher) - Has raided Lunard Crypt before. Can guide the PCs past the roaming undead around the crypt and can lead them to the back door he had discovered earlier which needed a key. Younger sister to the bandit leader.

Reed - Head Diplomat (Pixie lurker) - A well-spoken individual who can travel with the PCs on a mission of diplomacy to either the Thunderhooves or to the Defilers

Pine - Winter Forces Colluder (Pixie skirmisher) - will attempt to make off with the treasures the PCs gain and take them to the winter forces to the north. (lurker type to appear when PCs appear to be close to their goal of recovering an item OR defeating the bandits).

Alistair Sparkstriker - Gnome Craftsman (Winterborn gnome Soldier) Creates the weapons for the bandits, refines ore taken from the small mine below the Hold. Has connections to the winterborn gnomes at the oasis. Maybe a mission to deliver some magical forge dust exists in the Oasis area.

- Bandit Scouts (Eladrin Skirmishers) The rank and file guards of the Hold.

Roaming Forces:
- Bandit Scouts (Eladrin Skirmishers) will attempt to rob the PCs but will not fight to the death.

Runia - Bandit Scout Leader (Hamadryad Elite Controller) will call off the attack or will talk to the PCs seeking information on happenings the PCs know of. May invite them back to the hold.

The Gnomes of Lanternwood...

(Preface: If you are in my gaming group do not read further.)

The city of Lanternwood is in a giant sinkhole in the earth. Great trees grow at the bottom of the sinkhole and a waterfall spills over the top to land far below. Here the gnomes have carved homes in the walls several stories high and narrow, using the excavated rock to build buildings on the cavern floor beneath the huge trees. A series of bridges acts as the roadways while below lies the tangled massive roots of the trees. There are a few clandestine places down here but many of them were flooded when the snows began to melt. Now the gnomes have been fighting off a myconid infestation due to the abundant moisture.

The gnomes have also dug tunnels mining the veins of gold in the region. But it is the water, not the mines, which open the cavern up to the feydark beyond - the water running to the Deep Sea far beyond. But access to the feydark brings many other dangers. Drow raiders, Cyclops slavers and more have kept the gnomes on their toes. But it is the recent activity of the Fomorians which are of primary concern.

The fall of the Winter Witch put a massive halt on the city of Wardorb’s food exports to surface areas where nothing could grow in the eternal snows of the region. And with this halt came a recession. And the decadent fomorians like this not at all. War against the rich city of Lanternwood was declared and now the tunnels and caverns between the two cities is a war zone. The gnomes have begun to use their abilities to utilize the fey ley lines to transport goods long distances instantaneously to become a hub of trade, replacing in many ways the fomorians though with a lesser concentration on food and more on the running of weapons and the transport of materials needed to rebuild the realms of the surface.

All of this puts the city at odds with Uld Toreth which has just begun to tear down the standing stone circles which are used to transport things along the ley lines. With that and the city of Aurora seeking to infringe on the gnomes various mining sites the gnomes are in a precarious position of serving everyone and fighting everyone (in anywhere from a diplomatic way to outright war to covert missions of sabotage).

The gnomes are run by a council of six elders known as The Crystal Council, elected from their peers though largely the individuals of the council are politicians for life.

Prion Purereign - The head of the council whose sole concern is the welfare of the gnomes over all others.
Beryl Betrationer - The council’s main diplomat to the feywild’s other races.
Valorus Veildeep - The military general leading the war against the fomorians of Wardorb.
Karina Keenbroker - The vizier of trade who spends most of her time coordinating the vast network of gnomish traders.
Elgor Egothane - A rather self-serving representative of the Winterborn gnomes - once a toady to the Winter Witch but now independent and seeking the expansion of Lanternwood’s power. Likely if a coup were to happen he would serve whoever was the victor. Nominally he is there to represent the winterborn gnomes who will now swear loyalty to the Council and renounce the Winter Witch but mostly he seeks to grow his own wealth and power. The other gnomes on the council tolerate his selfishness so long as his bids for power are turned towards external matters and not internal overthrows and so long as he continues to provide gnomes to fuel the war effort and to bring in wealth from the winter witch’s former holdings.
Loremaster Ledgedoraith - Representative of the undead of the vast Utopus library which is carved into a cavern adjoining the city. Comprised of long dead gnomes and eladrin alike this member of the council does not mingle with the living gnomes. The undead that reside within the library crypt pass on the information of old to the Crystal Council to guide its way. Many outsiders who learn of this unusual arrangement have used it as justification for why the gnomes are not to be trusted and are evil though that is not necessarily the case. Though it has been rumored that troublesome criminals have been given over to the undead for their feasting pleasure. Whether or not this rumor is true is another matter.

Wardorb and the Feydark...

(Preface: If you are in my gaming group do not read further.)

The Watcher Below

Deep in the subterranean caverns of the Feydark lies the city of Wardorb. The fomorian city perches on a massive column of rock in a tall, narrow cavern which has a river of fiery lava running through it. The lava enters the chamber in waterfall fashion and turns into a river flowing and curving around the base of the column before it exits once more through a tunnel. The lava cuts deep in to the rock cavern floor. On the side of the cavern away from the freestanding column, lies the fields of mushrooms and other feydark crops that is tended to by slaves.

Near the entrance of the chamber stands a tall tower topped with a massive eye that looks to be made of a ball of lava with a slitted pupil. It alternatively watches over the fields and back out the entrance to the cavern, darting back and forth with its orange-red spotlight gaze. A massive stone bridge arches over the lava flow far below and at the far end of the bridge stand two more eye towers. The city lies atop the column of rock.

Stairways and here and there small turrets wind down the side of the column to a small area of rock shore below where many massive forges have been gouged out of the stone column itself. Here cyclops craftsmen work to make the magical items for their twisted masters. Atop the column are constructed many palaces with bulging domed roofs. There live the Fomorians. Roadways twist and curve in between the structures and in places plunges down into the rock column. Quicklings hustle about on errands for their masters, cyclops patrol the streets within the column - tunnels and caverns which bustle like city streets. A massive area is carved in the rock and many homes, slave quarters, and other areas compose the bulk of the city. Those that survive are taken to be warped into fouler creations to fight next time or be paraded in the streets like pets for their dark, twisted masters. The Crooked Court convenes to discuss matters of magic production, to settle disputes between fomorians, and to pay homage to their all-powerful king, The Watcher Below.

Three main families of fomorians exist in Wardorb: the Orbaron Family, the Warpwright Family, and the Blazeye Family. The Blazeyes are currently in power and control the military (Cyclopian guardians of the city: Flame Eye Sentinals), the Orbarons control slave acquisition and food production, and the Warpwrights control the forges and trade. All work together because to not do so means they are deprived of protection, slaves and food, or magical items - all things no self-respecting fomorian will go long without.

 Cyclops found outside of the city are there for one of four reasons: they are slavers seeking new laborers, they are plunderers seeking new magical items, they are military patrols seeking more wealth, or they are outcasts from the city.

Outside the outer doors of the city is where roaming drow merchants and cyclopses and such gather to deliver wares in return for the wealth of the fomorians. And it also houses the cultivated underground fields of mushrooms and other feydark crops. These were widely traded to the surface world in the time of the Winter Witch when the frozen fields could not be sown. With the Winter Witch out of the way trade has slumped. The opulence the Fomorians once enjoyed has begun to show signs of falling and the fomorians have begun to get nervous. Talks have started of beginning a war if need be. Cyclops scouts have been sent by various fomorians to seek out new revenue streams - the circus of torture, excess, and constant gain must continue... or the drums of war shall begin...

PCs entering the city can expect to be ignored so long as they can get into the city undetected, move fast, and ask no questions. Posing as slaves rushing on an errand is not too difficult so long as they do not tarry. If they are detected trying to entering the city they will be fought and, once defeated, captured and enslaved in the arena (given their battle prowess, that is). Once they have defeated some creatures there they might get sponsored by a Fomorian who will be eager to learn of news above in order to advance his position. This can be the character’s “in” to dealing openly with the fomorians. Though attack on other fomorians will result in being hunted down in earnest within and beyond the city if necessary. Access to the King is strictly forbidden for non-fomorians save for the king’s own slaves who are hand picked from cyclopses only in order to ensure the king’s safety and their loyalty. Any stay in the city will result in a skill challenge to traverse it. Any fight within the city could lead to a lockdown of the city while a palace to palace search for those responsible occurs. The best way to think of the city is as a vast prison. The slaves are inmates, the cyclopses are the guards and the fomorians, the wardens. Life is cheap and cruel here.



Plots:

- Disrupt the forges/steal magic items - weakens the Warpwright Family
- Eliminate slaves/food production - weakens the Orbaron Family
- Weaken military targets - weakens the Blazeye Family
- Align with one of the houses/infiltrate slaves - Fight in the arena - a chance to assault one of the houses’ fomorians after they fight in the arena. Other houses will watch and not interfere as it will weaken one of their rivals. Aligning before hand will give the PCs an easy out afterwards. Not doing so will mean the PCs will have to escape on their own.
- Lead an assault on the city - weakens each house and begins open war with the PCs’ allies.
- Weakening a house will lead to infighting amongst the houses.



The Drow
But the city of Wardorb did not always belong to the Fomorians. The many roaming bands of drow elves of the underdark once dwelt within her walls. After they lost the war with the Watcher Below many drow were taken as slaves - the rest scattered. Raids against the city have occurred on occasion but the drow lack leadership right now. Many once raided the caravans headed to the surface with foodstuff for trade. Now that trade has died up raids to the surface have been on the rise. And raids on the fields of the fomorians. Not all drow are in such dire straights though. Some have established towns in areas of the underdark far from the fomorian’s reach. But as their reach grows longer, seeking trade, so too shall these communities be in jeopardy.