Half-Pickle Marsh

When noted cartographer Abner Thornswallow drew his first map of Eastreach Province, he spontaneously commented that a narrow marsh on the province’s southeastern coast greatly resembled a halved pickle. The curious name oddly stuck, though most travelers just refer to it as “The Pickle.” Most travelers swear the expression to “be in a pickle” stems from getting caught in this malodorous and perilous wetland from where few ever return. When the Lowwater Road is the safest place in the Half-Pickle Marsh, that tells most people everything they need to know about the forsaken landscape. Bloated, shambling corpses wander aimlessly through the mud and vegetation seeking to exact revenge on the living, while hosts of demented creatures that include multiple flights of harpies and several prides of manticores hover above the muck preying on creatures bogged down in the damp soil. Bandits and fugitives seeking refuge from the authorities in Amrin Ferry and Eastgate sometimes take refuge in this festering marsh, though most outsiders quip that a lengthy prison stay is more accommodating than a single night in this disgusting place. These fearsome inhabitants share one common characteristic — they all avoid the marsh’s apex predator, Deathroll, a spiteful, temperamental old black dragon who dwells in a submerged aquatic lair a few miles from the Amrin Estuary. Despite the allure of tremendous riches, no adventurer has so far dared to tangle with the malicious reptile on his home turf.

Type

Wetland / Swamp