Borderlands of the Shadowed Keep
The Shadowed Keep stands at the end of an overgrown trail upon a wooded bluff overlooking a steep-sided valley. A small pack of wolves dwells in the wood as does a black bear. Characters wandering the woods may also encounter small hunting parties of bandits and goblins skulking in the gloom.
Beyond the Shadowed Keep, several other locations of interest lie in the woodland to the south of Dulwich. While this adventure cannot provide comprehensive detail of all these locales some of the more prominent and interesting are detailed below to enable further design and development.
Cartography: Tommi Salama
Local Features of Interest at a Glance
Beyond the Shadowed Keep, several other locations of interest lie in the woodland to the south of Dulwich. Many other sites of minor note stud the woodlands. Such locales include isolated cottages (the homes of charcoal burners, hunters and the like) as well as logging camps, bandit hideouts and so on. Additionally, characters exploring the woods are likely to encounter many of its denizens—some benign, some ambivalent and some malign.
Elle’s Mere: Elle’s Mere is a rarely visited, reputedly haunted place. Tavern tales, whispered rumours and local legends name the lake’s shaded waters as home to ghosts, water spirits and worse. Even the trees growing about the lake are said to come alive to slay those venturing too close to the lake.
Forest of Gray Spires: While not part of Ashlar, the Forest of Gray Spires forms its southern border. Deemed all but impenetrable, wild rumours cluster thickly about these brooding woodlands and the legion of strange, slender rock spires thrusting upwards from the plateau on which the forest stands.
Adventurers often use Dulwich as a base from which to explore the forest. Many of the legends hanging over the strange forest speak of ancient inhuman empires and their glittering treasures. The Picaroon Peninsula lies hundreds of miles west and south of Dulwich; no known land route exists through the forest, but that doesn’t stop the occasional explorer or traveller claiming to have forged such a route.
Shunned Valley of the Three Tombs: Hidden deep in the forest lies a marshy, boggy valley. Woodsmen and hunters shun the place—kept away by rumours of a terrible beast lairing within and of a ghost haunting the valley’s boggy mere. But, as well as great danger, treasures magical and mundane may yet lie unclaimed in the valley for three unexplored tombs, built by ancient hands, stand amid the mud and reeds. (For more about the valley, refer to Shunned Valley of the Three Tombs—an adventure for 1st-level characters).
Slaughter Meadow: This wide swath of undead-haunted greensward nestles amid the surrounding forest. Valentin Ironwolf won a great victory here when he defeated the orcs of the Severed Hand and the Blood Moon goblins at the Battle of Slaughter Meadow. Undead are said to haunt the old battlefield.
The Demon’s Bowl: Here, a steep-sided natural amphitheatre plunges downwards several hundred feet. A rugged outcropping of jagged rock at the bowl’s lowest point has given rise to numerous rumours of demon worship and foul sacrifices hanging over the place. A nameless hamlet of shacks and rude cabins straggles through the bowl. Some of the folk dwelling in the bowl suffer with leprosy; few visit the place, as a result, and Wido Gall’s troops stay well clear.
Tower of Kivutar: The bandits and goblins lurking in the southern woodlands have learnt to avoid the Tower of Kivutar. Herein dwells the wizard Kivutar Ilmarinen (LG old female human wizard 9). She is a recluse of sorts, but occasionally wanders the woods near her home to gather berries, herbs and other things she needs for her experiments. Despite a foul reputation, Kivutar is a good person and helps those in need if she can.
Valley of Bones: Piercing the foothills of the nameless range of tree-crowned hills rising up to form the mysterious plateau on which stands the Forest of Gray Spires the valley is a place rich in local legend. The kobolds of the Ebon Scales once claimed the valley, but Valentin Ironwolf annihilated them. The Valley of Bones is named for the battle’s aftermath.
Vongyth: Vongyth fell to the depredations of a pair of mated dragons two centuries ago. The dragons have since been slain by the Crimson Swords adventuring group, but adventurers still go missing searching for the ruin. It is generally assumed something terrible yet lurks in the eternal dark of Clan Nurthen’s fallen home.