STONEFROST VALE 5: FROSTHEARTH VILLAGE


Hook: Stonefrost Vale... You have heard the name, as it's been on the tongues of most rumour mongers, as of late... Something happened there. An unusual, gray-white, thick mist crept in overnight. Those who didn't escape were claimed by it (a few outlying farmers and woodsmen). The first signs were fleeing wildlife, which led to bad hunting. The survivors of the village didn't stick around long enough to discover what the mist did, but, those who didn't make it had begun to act strangely, despondent, then vanished, mysteriously after a few days... They figured the arrival of the cloud had something to do with the unwelcome visitor who settled the high mountain valley south of Frosthearth a few years ago. He hadn't done anything, initially, so they left him to his strange business... After fleeing, the whole village relocated to the nearest settlements, moved in with family and friends, if they had any. Some moved into the free woods to the north, and lived off the land. The lord and lady became guests of the local township's royal family. A call has been put out, for the aid of those who would investigate why the village was beset by the mist.



Details: Frosthearth Village is actually a hamlet, but, it is referred to as a village. It's mostly comprised of farmers and has no real business. Before the mushroom spores flooded the vale, husbandmen, farmers, and woodsmen operated out of the countryside on behalf of the local lord, Sir Alŵyn, a Marcher Lord and Knight of the Realm. After the villagers fled, it was occupied by imps serving under Mydron. The kobolds are stationed there to protect the village against any potential intruders. Frosthearth is located in the hinterland near the northwestern edge of Cailbor where it meets the eastern edge of The Wilderness north of Ravenhöl Forest. There, a low string of glacial mountains and hills, the Marcher Wolds, which include the southern Hundred Headed Mountains (an exaggeration, but referring to the plethora of small, craggy hills mostly comprised of limestone, sandstone, and grit dotting the landscape among the lower hills), respectively, remain the home of several wilder Taryŵnish settlements headed by the descendants of old Taryŵnish chieftains (relegated to low-born knights of Calibor). An old frontiersman, Dylad the Stag, living in a light forestland north of the village, in the southernmost region of the untamed Great Vale where The Wilderness, Calibor, and Antŵra meet, gathered any woods- and huntsmen and willing bodies about him as a crossbow-armed guerilla unit, called The Woodsmen, to harry the imps in an attempt to reclaim Frosthearth. Their symbol is a gray stag's head inside a blue disk. The spores make it nearly impossible to attack the village head-on, but, on still days, when the spores aren't being blown down into the area, they are able to make small attempts on Frosthearth. The Imps are led by the cunning imp, Drágnász the Vile, a large (for an imp, heavy creature possessed of slightly more courage than most others of his kind. They occupy the village homes, which are of stone and wattle and daub construction, with thatched roofs, except for the manor, which is mostly limestone, with a green-shingled roof. The imps have the village trapped and use ambush tactics to harry any intruders, trying to lead them into said traps (mostly pit traps with wooden spikes lining them). The buildings are still intact, but, not well-cared for. Weeds grow in every garden, which is wrecked, and all livestock not taken have long been slaughtered, trash is strewn about, and light damage has been done to several homes from careless impish behaviour.


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