Hex Crawl 23 #4: The Notch Pass

 1 hex southeast of Alakran. Featuring a new hex graphic for the Scarp...

  

Where Nama'a the Road of Flowers crosses the impassable red sandstone range of the Scarp, there is a pass, 200 feet above ground level, known as the Notch. For as far back as anyone can remember the kings of Wahattu have held a gated fortress there, simply called the Notch Fort, to guard the border with Dulsharna and tax the once-considerable trade from that land of orchards and bronze.

The east wall blocks the whole pass, and the road zigzags up in front of it, climbing a steep slope. The massive gate takes ten men to open, but no traders have come for years since the forces of the Chaos gods and demons overran Dulsharna. In decrepitude and complacency the garrison of the Notch Fort has declined to barely 50 men, and these not of the best, because the remote outpost is used as a banishment destination for incompetent or insubordinate troops in the larger Wahatti army.

To put it plainly, the Fort is poorly maintained, the defenders have poor morale, and if the various demon-worshiping forces that have settled in southwest Dulsharna ever united, they could take the place at great cost. It will take diplomacy with the Eastern Military Governor to get him to replace or supplement the current commander, Bezaz known as the Gnat Snatcher, with a better-led and -trained company from legions such as the Obliterating Fists or the Radiant Spearpoints of Dawn. The spark might be evidence of a threat or of gross malfeasance.

Plot points and events:

1. Pe-Khawy (see hex #1), the loose woman of Alakran, shows up at the back gate demanding redress for mistreatment by some of the troops on furlough.

2. The supply caravan arrives from the west -- a convoy of 20 ox-drawn carts in the winter rainy season (when watering them is easier) or a string of 10 camels at other times, protected by 10-20 bored soldiers of the Military Governor's household. The caravan can also be met as it passes through Alakran or on the western Road.  

3. Bezaz has corruptly and illegally been selling excess grain and beer to Leetakh's gnoll pack to the northeast, in exchange for coin and scrap bronze looted from Dulsharna. The gnolls leave the government-marked clay jars as evidence in their camps and middens.

4. Twenty-five desert lizardfolk, or Dry Khila as they are called, approach from the east seeking passage. They show clay tablets of an ancient pact they made with the kings of Wahattu to sponsor and shelter them for past generations' services, and say they will pass through peacefully to settle with others of their kind in badlands to the West. It looks suspicious, but they will not cause trouble on their journey. The western allied tribe, the Shuraru, has been peaceful for centuries. What the pilgrims do when they join the Shuraru is another thing ...

5. Bezaz takes mercy on a feral human youth who approaches every few days from the east. Previously he has ordered food thrown to the lad but he is considering taking him in as a kind of good luck charm. Hex #12 will show who the boy really is ...

6. Mutiny! Sick of whippings, jailings, and forced starvation as punishment, 40 of the troops turn on Bezaz and send him fleeing through Alakran back home. They have not figured out their next move exactly, but they might take over Alakran or move south-east to settle in an abandoned orchard or oasis of Dulsharna. After that, it's a race to get the Governor to send a new company before the gnolls and Khila find out there are only 10 loyal soldiers left ...