001 - Area: Campground on Highcliff Pass

VTT tokens

18x16 VTT map (with grid) 18 x 16 VTT map (no grid)

The top of Highcliff Pass has a cleared area for camping, which has apparently been used as a military camp in the past, and offers a spectacular view of the valley that once held the city. The valley, however, is a scene of unspeakable devastation. The city, once home to hundreds of thousands of souls, is all but gone, the landscape surrounding it is criss-crossed with scars, most yards or tens of yards deep. In the center, where the great palace once stood, there is a vast churned up area of earth and stone surrounding a great hole.

On the outskirts of the city on the side across from the pass, there is a vast dark bulk, and it slowly becomes apparent to any observer that it is in fact the dead remains of an unimaginably huge creature. It's hard to imagine how it must have looked when it was alive, but the seven tentacles that stretch away from it must each be at least a mile long, and the main body is at least a half mile wide. The wind blowing up from the valley carries a stench of death and rot that cannot be missed.

Findings

Easy Perception - On the near side of the city's ruin, there is some sort of small encampment. It's not large, perhaps a dozen tents and/or structures.

Moderate Perception - Along the ridgeline that the campsite lies on, there is a short stone tower with a weathered green slate roof. It's about half a mile away. The particularly keen eyed might spot a thin wisp of smoke rising from it.

Difficult Perception - Amidst the tumbled earth and rock where the city used to be, a thin spire of stone sticks up into the air above the great hole at a 45° angle. It can't be the simple stone it appears to be, as such a construction would never support its own weight.

Easy Tracking - There is a narrow mountain footpath that runs along the ridge in the direction of the stone tower.

Optional Encounter

A small group of three men, clothing torn, and with madness in their eyes, fall upon the party. They are not exactly bandits, nor are they exactly refugees. Rather, they are locals who were driven mad by the events that occurred here two weeks ago. Two of them only speak in grunts and roars, but one of them occasionally chants "I have not been spared, I have been chosen!"