Valley of Headless Men

"The Valley isn't a place to go lightly. Some say there's treasure or a rich vein up there, but if you spend the night, like as not we'll be pulling your headless corpse out the next morning. The name wasn't a joke, we aren't that imaginative."
~Alorek, Ranger of the Hopewell Aspirants

Geography

The Headless Valley is nestled inside of a deeply split mountain. The mountain itself is roughly 8,000 ft. high, with one peak 1,000 ft. higher than the other. The split is 600 ft. from the base of the mountain, and dips into an oblong 'bowl' valley that bottoms out 300 ft. lower than this rim. The bowl itself is 8 miles by 6 miles, and contains a dense pine forest.

Ecosystem

The Valley of the Headless Men contains a dense evergreen forest that never quite shakes the low-lying fog that drifts through the boughs. The whole place is deafeningly quiet except during thunderstorms, at which time the wind sweeps the forest and nothing at all can be clearly heard.

Fauna & Flora

Only the pine trees and a few small, quiet birds exist in the Headless Valley.


There is a flowstone golem sliding through the trees tasked with the following command: "Kill any living creature that enters the forest without saying the phrase, "Hen'ghe jognog" (I am without regrets). The golem's primary method of killing is to 'suck' the head off using its fluid-stone body to engulf the target. It then brings the head back to the Tomb of the Scorpion, where a pyramid of skulls can be found in the atrium.

Natural Resources

The pines in the Headless Valley are ancient. The wood would be dense and sturdy, if it could be harvested.
There is a Georima that produces a rich vein of copper, gold and tin; basically natural bronze. The Griefless Host has a mob of zombies mining this vein in a claustrophobic mine shaft.

Tourism

Visitors sometimes enter the valley searching for a rumored treasure hoard. They typically die within a day, but they never make it more than a week.

Alternative Name(s)

Headless Valley

Type

Valley

Location under

The Barrier Mountains

Included Locations

• Tomb of the Scorpion

Owner/Ruler

Suc'mor the Griefless

Owning Organization

Griefless Host

Contested By

• Hopewell Aspirants