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The Bog

"To bog someone: bury a body in the Bog — generally after an assassination." — Gamehead slang

The historical heart of Gamehead — a vast marshland threaded with ruins older than the city, unchanged since Krenald's pack settled here in 963. The [[Howlers]] are said to have allied with the woodland creatures of the marsh, who protect it from development. What the swamp protects in return, no one is sure. Dominant attitude: Pugnacity.

Day: An ordinary Lanever swamp. Animals avoid wanderers; wanderers avoid quicksand. The ruins are left to wildlife and the occasional reckless explorer.
Night: Profoundly strange. Mist rolls across the waterlogged ground, disturbing figures move at its edges, and the silence is broken only by the cry of the nighthawk. The [[Howlers]] patrol without mercy — criminals and vagabonds who try to hide here rarely get a second chance.

Locations

  • The Howler's Encampment (Pugnacity / Wolfen) — what began as a temporary shelter is now a true village, home to most of the Wolfen of Gamehead. The heartbeat of the Howlers' social and spiritual life.
  • Gildgreen (Style / Daïkinee) — a small inn managed by a group of Daïkinee recently arrived from Quithayran. The mosquitoes are a genuine plague; most stays are short. Useful if you need to disappear for a while without anyone asking why.
  • The Gamehead (Discipline / Wolfen) — the colossal skull of the titan defeated by Krenald, fixed atop a stair-shaped pyramid at the marsh's heart. The fief takes its name from this monument. The Wolfen assemble here for their most sacred rituals; the dead of the [[Howlers]] are interred inside the pyramid, guarded by a bloodthirsty spirit.
  • The Howler's Den (Subtlety / Howlers) — a rocky range of caves south of the main swamp, where Krenald withdrew after the death of his young. No visitor is permitted entry. The tunnels are rumored to connect to the sewers of Cadwallon — or further.
  • The Demise Hole (Subtlety / Dwarves of Mid-Nor) — a network of winding underground tunnels, originally believed to lead to a buried Cynwäll temple. The Circle of Explorers found instead [[Nurbald the Sculptor]] — a Mid-Nor dwarf from Ghieronburg who has filled the passages with sculpted corpses. One expedition member claims the sculptures are alive and mobile. No one has returned to verify this. The [[Howlers]] are worried about what might one day crawl out; no Wolfen is slender enough to go in and check.

NPCs

  • Krenald the Howler — the founding alpha, cloistered in the Den, mourning his dead cubs; technically still in authority
  • [[Nurbald the Sculptor]] — Mid-Nor dwarf; his workshop below is a morbid mystery the Howlers cannot reach

Hooks

Something from the Demise Hole

The Howlers have started finding strange marks near the tunnel entrances at night — not Nurbald's style, and too large for a dwarf. They will hire anyone slender enough to go in and report back. The question is whether what's down there wants to be found.

Sacred Ground, New Tenants

A group of [[Devourers]] has recently invested a ruined temple to the east of the Bog — close enough to the Gamehead monument to set the Wolfen on edge. [[Serdak]] has been seen meeting with their leader, the [[Apostle]]. Hadrax wants the Devourers removed before the next ritual assembly; the Duke's militia won't touch Gamehead.

Stink the Swamps

A fugitive is hiding in the Bog — someone important enough that their hunters are prepared to violate the Howlers' unspoken rules about entering. The free leaguers are caught between extraction, the Howler patrols, and whoever is doing the hunting.

See Also