Mapvember 2022
There are wonders in this world, friend, more than you could see in a lifetime. All you need to do is look for them.
1. Crater - The home of The Ghostwalker Dwarves. In the crater of an extinct volcano lies a Jungle maintained by the magic of Cloudtusks as it is one of the few places they go to birth their young.
While the natural phenomena that lead to the formation of the Ghostwalker Catacombs can be viewed individually elsewhere in the world, in no other area have they all come together. A caldera lake was mostly drained through tunnels that appear to have a pattern similar to those one see's on the victims of a wizards lightning strike, or less often (and less grusomely) in a field after a natural occurance of the same. We will talk of the caverns later though.
The crater, a tropical paradise carved from the top of a mountain. plants that one would expect more in a jungle or rainforest surrounding the central lakes and climbing the craters walls. One would expect this to house elf clans instead of being the eastern dwarfhome for the Ghostwalker clan.
And the lakes, truly a wonder, 3 lakes separated by jagged ridges, each its own self contained ecosystem with different and unique aquatic species.
Admittedly the greates wonder though, is to simply sit back and watch the adolescent Cloudtusks play with eachother. The ghostwalkers guard them almost as fiercly as they guard the World Tree.
2. Cavern - And the caverns. Truly a maze of labrynthine proportions. Despite the water above and the altitude at which most of the accessible vents are located, the caves are surprisingly warm and dry.
The dwarves who live here can seemingly come and go through these caves at will, as I have never seen any scaling the crater walls to leave on patrols, yet after my 3rd time needing to be rescued, I have determined that going beyond the Watcher's Chamber, the entrance to the cave system proper, is not for me. I simply lack the dwarves innate sense of direction underground.
At least I can spend time studying the torches in the chamber. They are obviously magical, and I think they correspond to either individual dwarves or squads out on patrol.
And they have a living map of the caverns and catacombs. It sits inverted, looking like a crystal tree in minature, but over the months i have seen it change, branches cut off only to hear later of a cave in, others growing slowly, day by day as mines are extended.
5. Shield - The Shield of Feywillow is one of the greatest marvels of magical engineering in the world. A shifting wooden fortress spanning hundreds of miles, that has been responsible for rebuffing more invaders and poachers than any guard patrol.
Through closely guarded druid magic the Shield is able to determine friend from foe. Animals can come and go through the Shield at will, presumably due to also being saturated with the magic of the forrest. People, however, are met with shifting mists, unpassable brambles, steep ravines opened up in the middle of well documented roads.
The only way through the Shield is tokens from the Feywillow. It is not enough to have such a token, the druids pair the token with the person, so stealing one, or getting one through other nefarious means, will avail you little. Should you manage to aquire someone else's token and attempt to breach the Shield you will, if you are Lucky, find yourself turned around and headed back the way you came. At worst you will likely end up in a Prison Tree, and good luck with that.
12. Ruins - On the border of the Myrdhor Desert and the Sapphire Sands are a series of ruins of mysterious origin. Dubbed the Ruins of Refuge, neither The Graceful Blossom Trading Company nor Frejya Stormsong know of their origins. They are used by patroling bands of Ghostwalkers to shelter during the day. While the series along the desert's borders are the most famous, there are records of others spread through out the Myrdhor, although with the shifting of the sands none of these other claims have been substantiated.
The ruins are hallowed ground, anathema to the undead creatures seeking access to the World Tree in the Sapphire Sands, but no god or religionhas taken credit for this feat. There is also the issue of violence, or rather, what happens to those who attempt to perpetrate it within the walls of the ruins. They... vanish. There are records dating back nearly to the fall of the Giant Empire. People disappearing mid-swing of a fist or swipe of a dagger. Even violence for the sake of hunting is not allowed, but butchering an animal killed elsewhere is fine. The only clue found that might be related to how the magic works is poem fragments that have been found in at least 4 of the ruins. "With sweat and stone this house was built......... With blood and bone it was defended.......... inside these walls by writ of ████████ violence shall be ended."
16. Nebula - On the darkest nights, once every 5 1/2 years when all 3 moons are new, there is in the sky, the faintest of nebulas visible. The Demon's eye, or in some cultures God's eye is the faintest blotch on an unremarkable corner of the the night sky. Not even visible unless the light of the moons is absent from the sky. To some to be born under this sign is the gravest of curses, and mothers would kill a child rather than let it live, to others it is the greatest blessing, marking the birth of a great hero or leader.
22. Corrupted - As Shim looked out he knew that karma had finally caught up to him. Sure, he never participated in any of the killin' and pillagin' but he was the one that kept The Tainted Dream seaworthy, patching holes, fixing sails, enchanting the wood to be fire resistant. Now it looked like the pirating days were done for good.
Shim hadn't ever seen the the island ahead before, none had, for who would dare sail so close to those corrupted shores. The last vestiges of the Necromancer Wars lived there, and worse, depending on the rumors you listened to. Shim listened to all of them, thats how you stayed alive, and learned interesting things.
Things that even now, were running through Shim's mind. Rumors of undead sharks, or the zombies of previous crews rumored to patrol the sea floor in these parts. Perhaps it would be quicker than that though, some ships just simply, disappeared.
Looking back to where they had come from he could see it, the line in the water, signifying the area where the corruption had been turned back those thousand years ago. A working of druids and wizards to change the currents of the worlds oceans. There was no way back to those clear waters. The only way the currents and winds both would push The Tainted Dream was closer to the corrupted shores.
Now that he glanced at said shores, he couldn't look away. The corrupted trees seemed to loom threateningly over the shore, promising a cruel fate to any that set foot on the rust-colored sands of the the Blighted Isle.
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