The Flats
Stonetop sits on the easternmost edge of the Flats, a rolling tallgrass prairie that stretches all the way to the Huffel Peaks, the Foothills and the Steplands.
Impressions
Always
- A southerly wind, ever present
- Mountains looming on the far horizon
- A sky so big it beggars the soul
- Birds of prey, or carrion eaters, floating high above
- Clouds, always in motion: high and wispy, or big and fluffy, or massive and dark like an anvil ready to drop
Spring
- Patchworks of hopeful green, pale white, dry yellow
- Carpet of last year's grass, folded flat by wind and heavy snow
- Soft crunch and pop underfoot
- A damp chill in the wind, smell of rain and wet soil
- Chirp chirp chirp, warble
Summer
- Green and yellow stems topped with a riot of flowers, rippling and bobbing in the wind
- The itch and scratch of nettles, thistle, and stiff sandpaper stalks
- Constant noise: birdsong, insect-buzz, rustling grass
- Relentless sun, unbroken by shade
- A wall of rain, rolling towards you The prairie is dotted with small hills, outcrops, and the occasional copse of trees huddled against the ceaseless wind. Winding streams cut through the soil. But mostly?
Just mile after mile after mile of grass.
Autumn
- Crinkle, snap, and rustle with every step, every movement
- Stiff stalks, gold in the low sun, nodding in the breeze
- Lonely chitter of birds, unseen
- Morning frost, or thick blankets of fog
Winter
- Snow billowing in the wind, obscuring everything
- A white expanse, still as death, poked through with grassy stubble
- The cold, wet, exhausting trudge through waist-high drifts
- The squeak of snow underfoot on a bitterly cold day
The Gwead
Villagers call the Flats-grasses the Gwead ("the Weave" or "the Weaving"). It's a bewildering array of species. Some are short and wispy, others thick and taller than a tall man. They bloom in a myriad of shapes and colors, and sport every manner of prickle, thorn, and seedpod.
The Gwead will not be tamed. Burn the grasses, plow the soil, tear things up by their roots—it doesn't matter. The Gwead always come back, thicker and hardier than before. And sometimes, it seems, the grasslands take their revenge.
- When was the last time anyone tried to plant crops beyond the Old Wall?
- What uncanny fate befell them?
Why can crops be managed within the Old Wall, but not beyond? That's for you to decide. Maybe…
- magic tied to the Stone makes the land more pliable, easier to tame;
- something buried beneath the Old Wall keeps the Gwead at bay;
- something about the soil keeps the Gwead from taking root; or
- whoever built the ruins on which Stonetop was founded, they made a pact with the spirits of the Gwead.
Questions
- Who among you has ventured deep into the Flats? What did you see there that no one quite believes?
- Aside from sticking to the roads, what keeps the pack drakes at bay?
- Which of you has seen a prairie fire up close and personal?
- What flower, root, seed, or stem that can be found on the Flats is particularly useful? How so? Why is it so hard to harvest?
Places
Hooks
- A herd of wild horses is seen north of the West Road and east of the Highway, close enough that they might be captured
- Someone is sick, and the cure requires a rare plant that grows deep in the Flats
- Gwead-grasses have started taking root inside the Old Wall, getting hard to weed out, and folks are all sorts of worried
- A traveler's companion was lured off the roads by nosgalau and hasn't returned; the traveler offers a sizeable reward if the PCs can help
Terrain
Pick 1 or combine 2, or have someone roll the Die of Fate ().
| 1 | Ash field, burnt stalks, recent wildfire |
|---|---|
| 2 | Barren ground: sand, stone, dust |
| 3 | Burrow, dugout, or warren |
| 4 | Sodden soil, mud, or standing water |
| 5-6 | Dense thicket of tall (5'-8'), stiff stalks |
| 7-8 | Open meadow, grass waist-high or shorter |
| 9 | Low ridge, embankment, rise |
| 10 | Tree(s), savanna, shrubs |
| 11 | Rocky outcropping, boulders, jagged stones |
| 12 | Gully, sinkhole, crater, fissure (maybe full of water) If you like, roll for size/scope/intensity. |
Discoveries
For any of these, pick 1 or have someone roll the Die of Fate ( or ).
| 1 | Change of terrain (previous column) and roll again |
|---|---|
| 2 | A chance for insight into a threat or danger (e.g. tracks that reveal numbers, whereabouts, etc.) |
| 3 | An encounter (see below) |
| 4 | A point of interest (next page) |
| 5 | Useful or valuable flora |
| 6 | A piece of the Ruined Tower (next page) |
| 1 | A shade, called up at the Crossroads, or the pyped that it's become |
|---|---|
| 2 | A spirit of the wild, curious or indifferent |
| 3 | Critter(s)—fox, skunk, stoat, hares, prairie dogs, starlings, vultures, etc. —curious, annoying, maybe just cute |
| 4 | Beast(s)—ground sloth, giant ibis, shellback drake—big, majestic, mostly indifferent |
| 5 | A herd: aurochs, deer, wild sheep, wild horses, etc. |
| 6 | A band of Hillfolk, or maybe just their camp |
Pieces of the Ruined Tower
Scattered far and wide, for miles and miles from the tower itself, as if flung by some impossible force. Likely buried or at least overgrown.
| 1 | Metal instruments or tools, possibly giant-sized, rent asunder, twisted, or surprisingly intact |
|---|---|
| 2 | Worked stone, or chunks thereof |
| 3 | Stone covered in scorched runes, possibly a bit of the Broken Roads |
| 4 | A jagged piece of "indestructible" makerglass, cracked and broken |
| 5 | Aetherium ingot, crackling with power |
| 6 | A shard of the Storm Orb |
Point of interest
| 1 | A place corrupted by the Things Below |
|---|---|
| 2 | A tomb, ruin, or artifact of the Barrow Builders |
| 3 | A battlefield or remains (next column) |
| 4 | Enigmatic terrain: crystalline growth, sheet of smooth/broken glass, geometric patterns, unnatural colors, grass growing in strange patterns, etc. |
| 5 | A location important to the Makers: meeting place, fortification, shrine, etc. |
| 6 | A site sacred to the spirits of the wild |
Battlefield or remains
Older ones lie well-buried, so ask yourself how they might be discovered (burrowing animals, erosion, earthquakes, excavation, etc.)
| 1 | Primordial: from the very shaping of the world |
|---|---|
| 2 | Truly ancient: from the time of the Makers |
| 3-4 | From the Time of Cataclysm: when humanity rebelled and woke the Things Below |
| 5-7 | From the days of the Barrow Builders |
| 8-11 | Recent: Hillfolk, bandits, travelers, beasts, etc. |
| 12 | Very recent: the buzzards and crows still feasting Picking through the remains might yield valuables or artifacts, but might rouse the ire of ghosts or revenants. |
Dangers
Hazards
- Nasty turn in the weather: lashing wind, bitter cold, blistering heat, sleet/ hail/rain/snow; lightning
- Lack of shelter, water, or wood for a long-burning fire (try dried aurochs dung, if you can find it)
- Hidden holes/burrows, twisting an ankle or worse
- Getting lost (lack of landmarks, tall grass and rolling terrain, hard to keep to a straight line)
Prairie Fire
Instinct to run unchecked across the land
- Start with just a few crackling flames, a column of smoke
The Gwead is prone to burning, sparked by lightning, an errant flame, or (if you believe the tales) Hillfolk intentionally setting the Flats ablaze. Early spring, late summer, and early autumn are particularly prone, especially after a few weeks without rain.
• Grow implacably, creeping outward
• Smother the landscape in choking smoke (debilities)
• Hit them with a wave of heat ( damage)
• Linger and burn for minutes or hours ( damage, messy)
• Tear a crimson line, faster than you can sprint, bonfire-hot ( damage, ignores armor, messy)
• Run out of fuel, or get smothered by rain
Something interesting: To really spread and burn hot, a prairie fire needs years of built-up fuel, dry conditions, and steady wind; even then, it can only burn at its hottest for a short period of time.
Something useful: Seek the Makers' Roads, or barren ground, or low-lying patches that still hold some moisture. Failing that, seek patches of grass that burned in the past year. Worst case: seek a narrow point in the fire-head and run through it, into the ash-fields behind.
Also: pray.
Monsters
- Cougars or wolves, come out of the Great Wood
- Hillfolk, if they're of a mind to do violence
- Spirits of the wild
- The nosgalau, whatever they are
- Ghosts, revenants, or shades, called up at the Crossroads or lurking near old battlefields
- Blue magpies, messing with the PCs
Aurochs
HP 14, Armor 2 (thick hide, tough)
Damage gore (close, forceful, messy, 1 piercing), kick/trample (hand, forceful)
Instinct to spook or to get angry, in equal measure
- Send an attacker flying
- Stampede (area, forceful, messy)
- Wheel suddenly, with surprising grace and speed
- Keep going past when it should be dead or dying
Big, powerful, wild cattle with horns longer than your arm and thicker than your hand can grip around. Even the does have big horns, and aren't shy about using them.
They winter in the Steplands, in small bands of 3-5 adults. In spring, though, they come down to the Flats, form up into herds of 30 or more, and graze and graze and graze. They'll break up into smaller bands by midsummer, then head back into the hills before first snow.
The Hillfolk hunt them, riding at the flanks of a herd and picking off one or two with arrows, keeping their damned distance. You do not want to get too close to one of these things, especially not after you wound it.
A full-grown aurochs carcass (immobile), properly butchered and transported back to town, counts as 1 Surplus. A ◇◇ pair of aurochs horns is Value 1.
Bandit
HP 6; Armor up to 2 (hides, shields)
Damage spears (close, thrown) or slings (near)
Instinct to survive at the expense of others
- Prepare a deception, to lure travelers from the roads
- Spring an ambush when their prey takes the bait
- Take captives or slit throats, so that no one escapes to tell tales
- Flee into the grass if things go south
The magic of the Roads and the open terrain make a life of banditry far from easy, but somehow, they crop up every few years.
Might be Hillfolk, disgraced or desperate, but more often than not, they're scoundrels who'd rather bleed their fellows than scrape by up in Gordin's Delve.
Bandit Chief
HP 8; Armor 3 (hides, shield, skill)
Damage spear (close, thrown, 1 piercing) or bow (near)
Instinct to make the best out of what they've got
- Suss out what people want or need
- Exploit a weakness, opportunity, or loophole
- Cut a deal
- Ruthlessly expand/preserve their power
Most bandit gangs struggle to find victims or shelter or both, and quickly die out or disband. The clever ones last a few seasons, but eventually folk catch wise and grow wary, and the bandits' schemes start to fail.
But every generation or so, a leader crops up who's cagey enough to turn a gang of bandits into a serious threat.
What does the chief possess that makes them such a threat? (pick 2 or 3)
• Agents in Gordin's Delve and/or Marshedge
• A way to overcome the wards on the Roads
• Magic that can compel/lure/scare travelers off the Roads
• Magic that hides their crew, or changes their appearance
• Well-trained horses, or some other form of mobility
• A fortified hideout
Beznpol
HP 12; Armor 3
Damage burrowing talons (hand), needle teeth (hand, messy, 3 piercing)
Special Qualities acid-proof
Instinct to constantly search for food
- Dig up serious quantities of soil
- Bound out of the grass and onto prey
- Spray a stupefying musk (reach, area, debilities)
- Curl up into a ball of hard, jagged scales (4 armor)
Great big armored mustelids, like a cross between a stoat, a badger, and a pangolin, but like 6 feet long not counting the tail.
They roam the Flats digging up burrows of just about anything, but they especially love to stir up a hlomren nest and chomp chomp chomp. They're far from the top of the food chain, though. If startled, they'll spray musk and attempt to flee. If cornered, they'll curl up and hope the attacker grows bored.
A skilled tanner can turn a pair of hides into a magnificent ◇◇ beznpol scale coat (2 armor, warm, protects against acid, Value 3). Hillfolk champions are known to wear them.
Frythanc
HP 16; Armor 0
Damage swooping talons (hand, close, forceful, grabby), beak (reach, disadvantage)
Special Qualities incredible eyesight, terrible hearing
Instinct to wait for the right moment
- Soar on thermals, thousands of feet up
- Swoop down like a thunderbolt, snatching up prey
- Drag prey up to 30 or 40 feet with slow, mighty flaps—then drop them
Great scaly birds, wings like 40 feet across, sky blue and white feathers on their undersides to hide in the sky. They're said to roost in the Huffel Peaks but hunt the Flats, snatching up the unwary—man, woman, deer, horse—and dropping them to the ground. The drop usually kills or cripples its prey, and then it alights to dine at its leisure.
They are, thank Tor, very rare, with only one mated pair hunting the Flats at a time.
On the other side of the Huffel Peaks, though… who knows?
Hlomren
HP 1; Armor 3 (carapace, size)
Damage acid-dripping mandibles (hand, messy, 3 piercing), acid glob (reach, messy, reload, 1 piercing)
Instinct to protect the colony
- Burrow into/out of/through loose soil
- Swarm over a threat
- Burst with acid when killed, damage (close, area)
These red-shelled insects look like a cross between an ant and a beetle, but the size of a small cat. They form colonies a few-hundred large, typically on higher ground. A colony will harvest all the dead grass in a few miles, hibernate through winter, and then relocate in spring to a part of the Flats that hasn't burned or been harvested in a few years. They mostly ignore people and other large animals, but they'll swarm if threatened.
Klezln
HP 16; Armor 3 (carapace)
Damage pincers (hand, close, grabby)
Special Qualities senses vibrations, strong burrower
Instinct to wait patiently for food
- Undermine the soil, creating a sinkhole waiting to happen
- Wait for prey to trigger its trap and get pinned in loose dirt, damage (grabby)
- Burst forth from the loose soil to snag a victim
- Drag it beneath the soil, to be crushed and supped on at leisure
Great big beetles that live out beneath the Flats, preying on large game like horses and aurochs. The Hillfolk know what signs to watch for, but they rarely tell outsiders. What better way to keep the Flats free of fools?
Pack Drake
HP 3; Armor 1 (quick reflexes)
Damage sawtooth teeth (hand, grabby)
Instinct to bring down easy prey
- Dart through tall grass, unseen
- Surround their prey
- Bite down and pull in one direction while a packmate pulls in the other (+messy)
Sneaky little dog-sized critters that prowl the Flats. Hunt in packs ranging from six to a couple dozen. Just the worst.
Questions
• What's the surest sign of their presence?
• What do all wise travelers do to keep them at bay?
• Which of you has seen them tear apart their prey? What haunts you about it to this day?
Shellback Drake
HP 16; Armor 3 (carapace, scales)
Damage snapping, bone-crushing bite (hand, close, grabby, messy, 1 piercing)
Special Qualities nearly blind, senses vibrations
Instinct to lash out at "food" in range
- Burrow into soil
- Wait for prey half-buried
- Withdraw into its shell (Armor 5)
Like a snapping turtle, but 6 feet long and 400 pounds, with big, badger-like claws.
Way faster than you think. It'll dig itself under a layer of soil, and wait long enough for the gwead to start growing over it. Then, when something comes near? SNAP!
An intact shell is worth quite a bit (immobile, Value 2). But good luck killing one without cracking the shell.
Thunder Drake
HP 20; Armor 3 (scales, crest)
Damage gore, trample, swat (hand, close, forceful, messy, 1 piercing)
Special Qualities lightning-proof, hard of hearing
Instinct to protect its turf
- Bellow (near, area, loud, forceful, reload)
- Burrow and gnaw through rock
- Sometimes: belch forth a bolt of lightning, damage (near, forceful, loud, ignores armor)
Sometimes, out on the Flats, you'll see what looks to be small hills in the distance.
I advise you to steer clear. They probably aren't hills, really, but huge piles of dirt that a thunder drake has moved as it digs. And hoo boy, you do not want to stumble into one of them on their home turf.
Something interesting: Thunder drakes eat mostly grass and shrubs, but they have a taste for certain ores. They spend their time grazing, sleeping, and digging up rocks.
Something useful: They particularly savor the taste of copper, and relish aetherium. If they find a source of it, they'll chew it right up and spend the next few days belching lightning bolts.
When you are near a thunder drake when it bellows, roll +CON: on a 10+, pick 1; on a 7-9, pick 2; on a 6-, all 3.
• Drop what you're holding and cover your ears
• Stagger back a few steps
• You're deafened and disoriented for a few moments
Wild Horse
HP 10; Armor 0
Damage trample (hand, close, forceful)
Instinct to panic
- Sniff trouble on the wind
- Run free!
- Vault over an obstacle
They roam the flats, in herds ranging in size from a half-dozen to a couple dozen.
The larger herds will give rise to a ceffylwraig.