Huffel Peaks

This range runs along the western edge of the Flats and the Steplands, connecting with the Whitefang Mountains in the north.

They're not as tall and menacing as the Whitefangs, but they are jagged things of granite and basalt, home to a number of volcanoes, and rich in minerals and ore.

Impressions

Always

• Slabs of jagged stone: impassive, looming, somehow still surprising
• Tall thin trees (aspen, pines, firs) in the lower slopes and valleys; windswept junipers higher up
• The stone-on-stone clink and thunk as rocks tumble down a slope
• A sense of being surrounded, cut off

The World's End

Beyond the Huffel Peaks lies a vast expanse of water. But what lies between the mountains and the sea? That's for you and your group to decide, and the answer might vary depending on which direction you go through the mountains. But perhaps one might find...

• mighty cliffs, pounded by relentless waves;
• a gentle slope, a bountiful lowland, vast sandy beaches, a mild clime;
• a chain of islands, some tiny, some quite large;
• a wine-dark sea, the civilized lands of the south to be found at its farthest shores;
• deserted ruins of the Tempest Lords, the Forge Lords or both;
• the Ustrina, in numbers far greater than anyone would suspect;
• an isolated people, their ancestors a mix of refugees from when the Makers fell;
• colonies from the civilized lands of the South, eking out a living;
• some combination of the above; or
• something else entirely.

Questions

• Who did you once meet who claimed to have reached the far side of the Huffel Peaks? Do you believe their stories about an endless body of water?
• What legendary treasure is said to be hidden in those peaks?
• How long has it been since one of the volcanoes erupted violently? How did it affect Stonetop/Gordin's Delve/the Hillfolk?
• You don't really think that there are dragons in the Huffel Peaks, do you?

Places

• Gordin's Delve
• The Labyrinth

Hooks

• Prospectors find veins of cinnabar near Gordin's Delve, and set about mining the lucrative, toxic stuff
• A draventao chases a Hillfolk band from their winter camp in the mountains
• Scouts and warbands of an unknown people start to appear in the Huffel Peaks
• A massive volcanic eruption throws ash across the region, causes strange sunsets and weather, spreads panic and superstition, and perhaps sets loose a powerful emanation of the Things Below

Terrain

Pick 1 or combine 2, or have someone roll the Die of Fate (d12).

Discoveries

For any of these, pick 1 or have someone roll the Die of Fate.

Dangers

Hazards

• Getting lost (maze of mountains, canyons, passes, and valleys)
• Sheer rock face to climb, and a reason to climb it
• Steep slopes, unstable footing (narrow paths, wet stone, scree, thin waterlogged soil, mud, crumbling rock)
• Flash flooding in valleys/on slopes
• An unexpected obstacle/hazard: go forward and risk it, or backtrack and lose half a day?
• Mudslides and rockslides
• Altitude sickness, especially near the peaks

Harsh mountain weather

• Baking sun, dry air, lack of water
• Fog banks/low clouds, blocking vision and soaking everything
• Buffeting wind, drowning out voices and keeping you off-balance
• Powerful gusts, threatening to toss you aside
• Rain and wind rolling up from below
• Rain and sleet pelting you, soaking you, threatening to wash you away
• Thunder or lightning: making you flinch/jerk/jolt, triggering rockslides
• Brutal cold and ceaseless wind, leading to hypothermia & frostbite
• Snow and ice burying a pass or trail, making narrow paths impossible
• Snow and ice building up, forming an avalanche

Volcanic activity

• Superheated air (d4 damage) or poisonous vapors (d4 damage, ignores armor), especially in enclosed spaces
• Searing hot stones (d6 damage)
• Steam vents/geysers (d8 damage, may be forceful)
• Scalding hot mud/water (d8 damage, ignores armor)
• Lava flows (d10+2 damage, grabby, messy, 3 piercing)

People

• Hillfolk
• Ustrina
• Laborers (miners, woodcutters) from Gordin's Delve
• Folk from Barrier Pass or the Whitefang Mountains
• Some southern adventurer or antiquarian, ruin-hunting
• Thraulgwyn, come up from the Labyrinth

Monsters

• Predators: cave bears, cougars, kleztigr, spitting drakes
• Frythanc, nesting or hunting over a wide valley/plateau
• A gouzadn, living far from people
• The ghosts and revenants of those who died up here, recently or in ages past
• Spirits of the wild
• Constructs left by the Forge Lords or the Stone Lords
• Magma worms near volcanic features
• A draventao, out for a rare hunt or squatting in some ruin