Rumblecusp
Rumblecusp
Dominated by the volcano that gives it its name, the island's shallow white sand beaches and rare trees create a tropical paradise. At a distance, it is dominated by a wild mountain range, with thin switchbacked ridges giving it the odd appearance of an opening flower. In its center rises a massive mountain with a lazy trail of smoke drifting from its peak. The majority of the island is dense, lush jungle, surrounded by a faint ring of white sand beaches against rocky cliffs.The jungle is so dense that it seems to rise and roil with the landscape, rising up over mountain ridges. Some of the trees push up and cause strange tower-like structures that grow much larger than all the others surrounding them. There is a bit of an orange glow from a faint magma trickle near the zenith of the mountain, and a fissure from which the smoke emerges.
From the southeastern inlet, a faint mist lies over a large portion of the outer jungle, giving the island an almost dream-like quality. Beneath the water are sandbanks that wind out beyond the beach, looking like white tendrils beneath the ocean. Rising above the mist, the trees are extremely tall, a hundred or more feet up with thick trunks. A little further in, on the path toward the base of the massive central volcano of Rumblecusp, is a clearing holding a small village.
While in the mist there is this feeling over being watched... on the island every night the party will be required to make a wisdom saving throw of 14 or lose one item from their inventory. After 2 days on the island if they fail this wisdom save they will forget their life before the island and why they are here. Greater restoration or killing Vokodo will clear this.
Heading into the jungle there are flowers that catch the players eyes, they are these beautiful purple flowers no bigger than a rose, a wisdom save of 13 is needed, anyone who fails is compelled to eat them. If they are consumed the player takes 1d8 dmg and is poisoned.
Making their way in two displacer beasts will attempt to attack the party, however they are saved by Pono & Jaina, who will then offer to take them to the village.
Vo Village
The village, known as Vo, consists of about two dozen or more structures built across the ground and into the tree canopies themselves. There are networks of ropes and other long pulleys and cords that are bound between trees at a distance, and there are buildings held aloft about fifty or sixty feet off the ground, with bridges connecting them. Elements of it appear to be built of driftwood, or carved from local trees, or from pieces of ships that have been scavenged. The villagers wear tattered clothing, leathers, skins, hide, rusted chain, and nothing else. There are no accessories; it is bare-bones basic attire. There is no decor bringing it beyond anything functional.
There are heavy ropes tied to the higher trunks and branches, a massive tangle of treehouses built of makeshift scavenged materials, ship parts, local lumber, and intricately woven and grown vines and dried vegetation. A third of the buildings are built up above at different levels connected by bridges. Most of the structures are supported by thick, healthy green vines, braided, entwined, and tended to hold and wrap them as if the jungle itself had risen to support and help hold the village together, structure to structure. The buildings are diverse in styles, materials, and apparent age.
A central massive tree marks the middle point of the village, lush and perhaps 200-feet tall, with numerous levels of branches. In each of these branches, the vines have grown out to clutch another small homestead almost like a hand, and all of them have connected vine bridges. It resembles a high elven establishment mixed with nature, deliberate and balanced with the natural world around it.
Vilya - Half-elven religious leader. She is a tall pale woman with one of her legs being made out of vines and plants.
Pono - Human were-bear, hunter.
Jaina - Half-elven were-bear, hunter.
Lukash - Orcish leader in charge of building and organization.
Terra - Leader in charge of hunting.
Anola - Handles the mass cooking for the village.
Doron - Dwarven member of the Vo community.
Treece - Human 7-year-old, "protects" the village.
The Winding Core
The Winding Core runs from the northwestern side of the island underneath the mountain and then comes out on the southeastern side, which is where most of the villagers' mining is done. It is the location from which they mine beautiful gems, diamonds, and "various gifts from the land that we can refine". The Winding Core is also an entrance to the Underdark.
The Shaded Tangle
The Shaded Tangle lies along the path towards the entrance to Vokodo’s lair within the mountain itself, a cold place where color seems to be muted, where the mists grow cold. There is no sound of any birds or insects, and the temperature drop and loss of color feels supernatural, as opposed to just a barren location.
Carnivorous vines: Thin vines that dangle straight down, almost like curtains, that turn reddish at the tip. They are covered in tangled strips of decaying flesh holding an occasional bone, dex save 15 or take 2d8 dmg and the player is grappled.
This is probably caused by an opening to the Shadowfell, causing the plane to bleed into the area and bringing new wildlife and creatures on the island.
Vokodo's Lair
Vokodo's underwater lair lies deep under the volcano, reachable by only a few hidden and guarded passageways. The entrance normally used by Viridian runs through an area of poisonous gas before reaching a pool filled with breathable water. Beneath the pool is a tunnel lined with dangerous torchblooms from the Elemental Plane of Fire that leads downward to a gargantuan (at least a hundred feet across) underwater chamber of rough black glassy volcanic rock broken by heavy patches of torchblooms giving off pockets of light, in which Vokodo lurks. Some of the rock walls glow faintly orange with heat from the proximity of the volcanic activity. The torchblooms lining the tunnels can close them off when visitors are within the chamber. The chamber is covered in gold and jewels.
Whenever someone wanders too close to an entrance to the lair, there is a chance that they will become inexplicably drawn to the center chamber where Vokodo resides and know the exact way to get there. Inside the lair there is an
Vokodo
Vokodo is a gigantic creature that’s skin is someone akin to an octopus. Its body is made up of a large head with 3 eyes stacked on top of each other with a mouth that has several rows of teeth, it’s long body is covered in tentacles and fins.
He is the god of the island that looks over the people of Vo, he takes monthly presents in the form of valuable items to keep him happy. He will want the party's magic items
Vokodo is an Aboleth from the plane of fire who traveled the planes in search of powerful magical tomes in a bit to become stronger, he escaped the astral plane after fleeing something it was scared of (Cronus, a titan from the astral plane.) when he ripped through reality he crashed on the island pulling beings from across the different planes of existence (causing The Ruin). After Vokodo dies the water starts to heat up more and more giving a time limit on how much looting can be done.
Heaven Falls
Lying to the northeast, the Heaven Falls are forbidden to the villagers by Vokodo and are a mystery to the Vo people. They protect the ocean entrance to the interior of Vokodo’s lair with a waterfall that falls about 150 feet toward the sky before curling into the mountain itself. It arises from a rift to the Elemental Plane of Water from an opening at the bottom of the lagoon, before it breaks upon the cliff face, separating into small rapids, rivers and waterfalls that spill into multiple pools.
Behind the waterfall, there is a tunnel in the cliff face hidden by an illusion. The tunnel leads to a large cavern filled with multiple ships. According to Viridian, when travelers decide to stay on the island, they are instructed to leave their vessels there. Beneath the water in this cave is another entrance to Vokodo's lair, similar to the one on the other side of the island
The Ruin
The Ruin lies far to the north on the island in the middle of an area of gray, rock-filled emptiness that once held a jungle that has now rotted and then petrified. A heavy fog shrouds the entire region. There are a number of broken buildings like a small village. Some structures are mostly intact, but some are bare bones exterior, the corners and the bare remnants of where they once stood. In the center is a singular large obelisk-like spire that is a sheared off portion of a tower. The buildings of the Ruins are strange no one has ever seen these before they are almost alien. Sheets of ice form on their edges and the temperature becomes quite cold. The creatures within the ruins whispered of Silvered stars and drifting.
Swarms of mosquitoes and groups of undead tree-like creatures roam the location. A large ghastly creature, as well as a group of spectral figures, occupy sarcophagi within the spire. The bodies were buried with ornamental armor, weaponry, and trinkets, and an infernal script is detailed across the building and sarcophagi. The spectral creatures also spoke infernal.
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