Wavenair

This ragged camp is settled by 30-80 hillsmen. The number varies with season of the year; there are most in the fall, when they harvest swamp hay from the Mistmarsh. There are many sheep, goats, and a few scrawny sheepdogs around the patched-up tents. In a hillside to the west is a single, shallow cave where the Hermit of Wavenair dwells.

The Hermit never gives his name, and speaks rarely. He is an expert herbalist (Healing and Herbalism proficiencies, both checks failed only on a natural 20) who helps the hillsmen by tending to sick animals. They regard him with almost religious awe; a sick or lame animal is always healed by his hands, they say. The Hermit himself travels alone in the hills and Mistmarsh, apparently careless of his own safety, gathering plants for his tinctures and salves.

The Hermit certainly has druidic spellcasting abilities, but exactly who or what he is is a mystery. Some claim that he is a famous sage from Veluna, driven mad by some magical affliction; others say he is a druid exiled from the Cabal of Heirophants; still others say he is a Nyrondese from the Gamboge, fled during the wars (he appeared in Wavenair in late 582 CY).

Certainly, he is a powerful man. Hillsmen will tell those they trust that the Hermit was once seen to draw from his yarpick staff a bolt of lightning that shattered the ribcage of a hill giant attacking Wavenair (the Hermit owns a staff of thunder and lightning that can cast doublestrength bolts). If the speaker really trusts an adventurer, he may describe a famous wizard who visited the Hermit two years ago, and if that adventurer has seen (a portrait of) Tenser the Archmage, he would know that this was the wizard who came to call. Why? Only the Hermit knows-and possibly Mordenkainen, too.