The Second Age - Places of Interest

Villages and Towns

Ash Grove: A small village of 350 inhabitants, mostly human, but with a strong presence of half-elves. Known for it's Meystival, a celebration of the Primal Spirits on the 13th of Mey every year, where thousands of people from the nearby villages and farms flock to Ashgrove to celebrate for 3 days and dance around their ancient obelisk.

Slag Fort: A village built on pontoons. It takes a certain man to live on the edge, with trolls as neighbors, but the good people of Slag Fort have none the less chosen to do so. Outsiders tend to few them as somewhere in between odd and mad. They live off the land, hunting rare animals in the swamp, especially the Slag Frog, a human sized frog that produces both a potent poison and a powerful painkiller.

Fallcrest: The second biggest town of the area, only dwarfed by Laketown. For years it has functioned as the first line of the defense against attacks from the North. For years, there was little need for it, but then, 22 years ago, the Bloodspear Orcs came down in force from the Hollow Hills and sacked Fallcrest, moving on south: Luckily they chose to move on Laketown, and were exterminated by General Balthazar at the Battle of the Red Pines. Since then, there has been a lot of rebuilding, but they are far from done and there are still ruined buildings in town.

Deerfield: Is not so much a village as a big collection of tents, where a large number of hunters live. They are sworn to the Ancient ways, forsaking the strappings of civilization, but otherwise accepting any person of any race that wishes to live like they do. They are lead by the Council of Clover, which consists of the 5 eldest female members. Aside from humans, Deerfield has an extraordinary large contingent of Goliaths, halflings and elves, the former who ended up there during the Godswar.

Miner's Gate: A small fortified mining village which has more guards than miners. Placed on top of the iron mine that is vital to the economy of Laketown, where lots of dwarven miners work. It is a place where no one enters without permit, a grim place of hard men. Such a place has to be run by a hard man, and that is precisely what Captain Tork, a huge monster of an half-orc, is.

Yorkpoint: Founded during the height of the Godswar, when some eladrin families fled the war in the Feywild, Yorkpoint is a village built more than 150 feet above ground in the tall oak-trees of the forest. The York river runs through the village and the village serves as guardian of the way to the wild east. The eladrins still run the town, but it is open to all races, as long as they behave by eladrin standard.

Laketown: Once the thriving capital of a new-founded kingdom with more than 10.000 inhabitants, Laketown now barely holds a third of that. Gone are the kings as well, and although some noble families still wield considerable power, the power was completely given back to the people 12 years ago, when it was decided that Laketown would attempt to be the first democratic town of Draegor. Opinions vary on how that is going, but at least so far, the town still stands and remain the biggest force in the western part of Draegor.

Sandpoint: Run by a council of paladins, Sandpoint is by far the most ordered and orderly village you will ever encounter. Both it's street and walls are uniformly the same size, planned from the beginning. Founded shortly after the Godswar by 3 paladins of Ioun, Raven Queen and Bahamut, Sandpoint, with its barely 1000 inhabitants, is dominated by the sumptuous tri-god church in the center market square. Every 10 years, they hold the Trigodlon, a contest sponsored by the three churches in order to find the most crafty, sneaky and brave heroes.

Knaves Hollow: One of the first Laketown governors after the Godswar, Jeremy McCracken, got the brilliant idea that all prisoners and rejects of Laketown should be shipped elsewhere. That didn't work too well, and soon after, the prisoners staged a coup and took over the prison. After several years of battle across the lake, Knaves Hollow was accepted as a legit town and its leadership acknowledged. Lots have happened since then, of course, but some still consider it a place where gambling, whoring and other illicit things set the tone and run the town.

Brynport: Also known as Fishtown or Fishport. Almost half of the town seems to works with fish, catching it in the Lake of Reflection, which has an abundance of all sorts of tasty fish. They catch so many fish in Brynport that they could feed most of the area, which they actually do.

Natural Areas

Swamp of Death: In the old days, the Swamp of Death was full of hydras and trolls. Ever since the Godswar, things have been quiet and not much has come out of the swamp. But most people still avoid the place, except the people of Slag Fort.

The Shadow Forest: While some forests can seem dark and menacing, the Shadow Forest truly is both. All trees are ashen grey, with no leaves. Despite the lack of leaves, the area is always dark as if it is in the middle of the night. Some say that the darkness comes from the veil to the Shadowfell being exceptionally thin here, but so far, it is just talk. Very few people enter the forest and even fewer come out alive. The Shadow Forest was not always like this, before the Godswar, it was a normal forest.

Hollow Hills: The Hollow Hills to the north are called so because of the many caves that riddle the area. Uncountable monsters live here, and no one knows exactly what they all are or in which cave they live, seeing that some of the caves a miles deep. There are however several tribes of orcs that make their home in the Hollow Hills.

The Silent Forest: The huge forest that encompasses most of the western part of Draegor. It's dark and scary and full of monsters. At night, it often goes very quiet, with no animal or other noises to hear. Some people believe it to happen just before the real monsters come out of the dark.

Skyfire Lake: Covering more than 30 square miles, Skyfire Lake is famous for it's many fish like the Skyfire Perch which get to weigh more than 400 lbs. Skyfire Lake got it's name after the Godswar, because of phenomenon that has been happening every 26 years on the 19th Awgost since then. At sunrise, a mile wide fire column rises from the middle of the lake, disappearing up into the sky. This lasts until sunset. Each time it happens, a lot of prophets and doom-sayers make their way to the edge of Skyfire Lake to see the happening and try to make some sense of it. Wizards, warlocks and other wielders of magic that cast a lot of fire-based spells often come here to witness the Skyfire because it is widely regarded as giving them power.

Lake of Reflection: Clear and calm are probably the words that describe the lake best. Widely known as one of the most beautiful places within hundreds of miles, and many weddings take place on the border of the lake.

High Rock Mountain: Before that was only one big lake here, but during the Godswar, Moradin, Bane and Melora fought the Keeper here. The Keeper was losing this battle, and in attempt to throw off the armies of good, he raised High Rock Mountains and the Volcano known as Keeper's Cauldron in the blink of an eye. While he still lost the battle, he did manage to get away. High Rock Mountain is an extremely steep mountain, more than 30.000 ft high, with the top half always covered in snow and fog on all but the clearest days. Odd and powerful monsters occasionally come down from the mountain, but know one knows what is up there, as no one has been stupid enough to try climbing to the top.

The Thunderspire Mountains: Ancient and mighty, the Tunderspire Mountains separate the western part of Draegor from the southern part. Unchanged for thousands of years, filled with valleys, ruins and monsters, the Thunderspire Mountains form a barrier to all but the bravest of souls. Few of the peaks break 15.000 feet.

Obelisk Valley: A small valley just south of the High Rock Mountain that was formed when the Keeper raised High Rock Mountain. But when it was discovered, it's 8 miles were already with a perfect row of marble-white obelisks evenly spaced out ever 33 ft.

Jade River: By far the longest of the 3 big rivers, Jade River has its origin in Thunderspire Mountains (just like the other rivers) and runs several hundred miles to the north, all the way up to Dead Man's Marsh.

Wild River: Rumored to have its origin in the Feywild, the Wild River lives fully up to its name. The spread is so great that it is almost impossible to navigate the river. Coming from up in the Thunderspire Mountains, it splits off, connecting with both lakes, but also disappearing into some caves south of High Rock Mountain. Where it goes from there, no one knows.

York River: Flowing from the Thunderspire Mountains and north, through Yorkpoint and all the way (almost) to the Swamp of Death, York River also splits in two and connects with Skyfire Lake. It is a river that runs at an slow and easy pace, and thus very easy to navigate. It is however almost 300 feet wide and very deep, making it almost impossible to pass, unless there is a bridge.

Devil's Tear: Named after the rare gems that was once found here, these hills are otherwise fairly normal, except for the many abandoned buildings after the Great Rush of 567, where thousands of people rushed to the hills after a sizable amount of Devil's Tear gems were found by the Muffin family. Most of those who got out alive came home with empty pockets.

Man-made Places

Castle of Flames (Ruins of): Once the home of the Sorcerer-Kings ruling the area, Castle Flame was like many other things destroyed during the Godswar when a portal to the Abyss was opened and demons poured in. Today it is just a huge ruin, which still, a 100 years later, is visited by treasure-seekers, who are looking for the fabled treasures of the Sorcerer-Kings.

Fortress Shieldmight: Shieldmight is an ancient fortress that has stood for thousands of years. Already there when the Draharians came close to 600 years ago, it was later restored by King Azul, King Azir I's great-grandson. After the Godswar, which is survived surprisingly unshattered, it has stood empty for many years, mostly due to no one being able or willing to pay for the upkeep necessary. Brigands of various sorts have used it for hideout, but 3 years ago, a tielfling named Leucis Firecold arrived and struck a deal with Laketown to take over the keep. So far, there has been no issue with Lord Leucis as he styles himself, but a lot of people fear his Red Riders. Recently rumors have started to emerge that Leucis claims kinship with Torn himself.

Bridge of Accord: Called so because according to the stories of the Godswar, it was here that the original gods met up shortly before the Primal Spirits came free and killed the Usurper Gods. The adventurer and chronicler (and notorious liar) D'agor Lubarion claims he witnessed the meeting and says it was called and led by none other than Asmodeus.