Level 3: The New Frontier

Plot points/Scenes

• Over the crest of the next dune, you see about a mile distant what looks to be a massive earthworm. Judging from the distance, you'd estimate the thing to be at least a quarter-mile long. It snakes its way across the sand; maybe looking for food, maybe just wandering aimlessly.

  As it crests over a particularly large dune, the dune itself suddenly springs up and wraps around the midsection of the worm, pulling it down and attempting to draw it under the sands. The worm thrashes around, and it looks like it's too big for the sand-creature to pull underground completely, but it can't escape either, the sand seems to be sticking to the thing like glue. It looks like a stalemate.

  After a minute or two, the sand dune finally sinks back into the ground, allowing the worm to slide away towards the horizon.

• You blink the sleep away from your eyes and realize that you're being watched. About thirty yards away, mounted on a horse-sized iguana, sits an orc nearly twice the size of any you've seen before. He's clad in plate armor and is carrying a blood-caked spear in one hand. When he realizes you're awake, he

Relations

Allies

Swift Spear Gnolls

What humans would consider the most 'civilized' of the Wasteland's inhabitants, the Swift Spear gnolls have taken it upon themselves to keep the Trade Road safe from bandits as well as the multitude of monsters that prowl the wastes.

Neutrals/Bystanders

Bright Star Nkosi

Populating the regions to the east of the Trade Road, the Bright Star consider the Night Fangs to the west their mortal enemies, and attack them on sight.

Adversaries

Night Fang Orcs

Ruled by Orog Graurug, the Night Fang orcs are bandits and marauders of the worst kind. They attack without hesitation any travelers or caravan they see, regardless of numbers or strength. To offset the inevitable losses of such a reckless strategy, Graurug has roped several nearby orc clans under his rule, nearly doubling the size of his private army.

Backdrops

Locations

The Nameless Dungeon

The PCs awaken in the lowest depths of an unknown ruin, after a chaotic world-hopping adventure. The dungeon is mostly empty, though there are some passages that are inaccessible without flight or water breathing. The magic stone that seems to have brought them here has fallen inert, so their only means of escape is to make their way to the surface.

The Voiceless Wastes

A vast desert that is home to dangerous predators and even more dangerous humanoids, the Voiceless Wastes was once the site of an arcane catastrophe that touched the Weave itself, causing all manner of magical side effects.

Bright Star Village

The largest of the clan's settlements, it still houses less than one thousand people.

The Trade Road

The main route of travel into the northern territories.

Encounters

Roll once per day. 1d6 determines time of day: 1 = morning, 2 = evening, 3-6 = 1st-4th watch of the night, respectively

1d6+1d4 in the Wasteland or 1d12+1d8 on the Trade Road
2 Dune Mimic
3 That sand dune is snoring
4 Edimmu
5 Ant Lion
6 Bright Star hunting party
7 Night Fang raiders
8 Swift Spear soldiers patrolling (if on the Trade Road) or hunting down Night Fang marauders
9 Sandworm about a mile distant
10 Wayshrine to the Traveler
11 Merchant caravan headed south, accompanied by 1d4+1 Swift Spear guards
12
13 Tosculi bandits
14
15 Kinder pilgrims
16 Merchant caravan being robbed by Night Fang orcs
17 Merchant caravan being attacked by Tosculi slavers
18 Dau
19 Manabane scarabs
20 Glass Drake

Plot type

Chapter

Parent Plot

Part 2, Orientation

Related Characters

• Orog Graurug

Related Organizations

• Bright Star Clan
• Night Fang Orcs

Related Locations

• The Voiceless Wastes