Wyvernen

A fortified village of 165 folk, Wyvernen is a strange mix. It includes a few farmers, a few ban dits and raiders, a few peat-diggers in the unique sunken peat bogs north of the village (which lie at the bottom of a four-mile-long gorge that drops almost six hundred feet to the peat beds), and a family of evilly-aligned gnomes who are cut-throats fled from Safeton. Ruling the community with a rod of iron, forbidding anyone from fleeing, is Hendred Blerrid, a 9th-level priest of Hextor who rides a trained wyvern and has an intense hatred of orcs. He constantly urges the village men to prepare for battle, and makes impassioned speeches luridly laced with images of orcish blood washing down the stone and wooden wall that now encircles Wyvernen.

Why Hendred hates orcs so much is unknown. Two orcish raids against the village have been driven off with ease, however; Hendred’s magic proved decisive. Thus, the locals have high morale and feel that they can hold on here. They also have a feeling of pride at the ease with which they fought off the orcs, and they sneer at refugees from less fortunate places. Wyvernen still manages to earn a little money selling peat to Safeton for fuel, although Hendred refuses to allow Greyhawk militia into the area around the village. He fully asserts its independence. Wyvernen’s stand against the orcs may be ultimately futile, but it is impressive for the time. Player characters encountering a battle here are faced with an intriguing dilemma: do they aid a blood-crazed priest of an evil Power against those who threaten many other less evil folk to the north?