Valley of Bones

Typing in notes created when I was a teenager...

Description

There is an intense and endless silence here, like a cloak of emptiness. There are no sounds, no cry of birds or buzzing of insects, no small skittering or scrape, not even the rustle of wind through the trees to give evidence of life.

The trees have a gray and wintry look about them, and even the leaves that should soften and color their bones bear the look of a scarecrows rags. Scrub brush and sawgrass rub against their trunks, with bramble bushes twisted together in a desperate effort to reach the sunlight.

The mist is everywhere, a deep and pervasive sea of gray that shuts everything vibrant away. It hangs limp in the air, unmoving as it smothers trees and brush, rock and earth. A screen that blocks away the sun's light and warmth. There is an inconsistency to it, in some places it is thin and watery and merely gives a fuzzy appearance to what it seeks to cloak, while in other places it is as impenetrable as ink. It brushes the skin with a cold, damp insistence that whispers of dead things. As if to prove this fact, a crunch underfoot reveals bones, a number of them scattered about.

Information

The cliffs all around the Valley of Bones are home to a variety of vicious creatures (Harpies, Perytons, Gargoyles). They will not normally be encountered unless they are disturbed, perhaps by a loud noise, such as combat. Harpies will attempt to lure prey into dangerous areas obscured by the mist (crevasse, other monsters).

Within the valley are many rare and terrible encounters. Humanoids (Gnolls, Bugbears, Ogres, Goblins), Minotaur, Ghoul, Displacer Beast, Manticore, Leurocota, Ettin, Hill Giant. In the center of the valley in a marshy area is the dreaded Catoblepas. All around the area are signs of its terrible breath with horrid stenches, withered plants and dead animals (adding to the plethora of bones already in the valley). Wandering in the territory, but avoiding the Catoblepas is a Bulette. The Bulette is attracted to sounds, and will attack until it obtains a meal.

In the valley at the edge of the Catoblepas territory, the waters of the swampy ground turn into a small stream which flows down into yet another sub-valley. This one is rocky (which may provide some safety from the Bulette), but the waters disappear somewhere down in the mist. The floor along the stream choked with gnarled vegetation and yet more bones, bones everywhere, crunching underfoot. A chill breath of wind emanates upward, bringing the sick odor of rotting flesh and a horrible droning howl assails your ears, the dies away along with the wind. The yellow-white skulls seem to leer at you, daring you to join them.

Descending deeper into the valley reveals a small hillock, also a pile of bones, rising ten feet high. The bones at the bottom are old, but become fresher toward the top and peaked by a freshly dead (last several days) orc, which has been mangled and shredded.

At the end of the valley the stream disappears under a rock. Above this lies the remains of a causeway, now broken and crumbled that leads to a large stone double doorway within an arch, with a symbol in the keystone barely visible in the misty gloom. Upon closer approach, this is revealed to be a permanent Symbol of Pain. Beyond the door lies forgotten halls of Ela Dar and Aposto, protected by a permanent Guards and Wards spell.