Hex Crawl 23 #7: The Bronze Tree

At the head of a valley with a stream that flows wet only in the rainy season -- circled by high hills and rocky outcrops, evident only to those who stand on the highest point of an adjacent 1-mile sub-hex, or who approach from the valley -- is the dread Bronze Tree.

It is in the form of a 25 foot tall cedar, with stylized bark and needles and symmetrical branches that begin 8 feet up the  trunk, which is 5' wide at the base narrowing to 2' at the crown. In a band where the trunk meets the floor, there is carved a circle of arcane glyphs. For those who can interpret them, let it be known that they are a charm to stop evil entities from passing through the ring. 

There is no apparent way in, but anyone reaching the top will observe that some kind of noisome bird (harpies, on a truly difficult nature knowledge check) once lived there; the upper branches are soiled with large splashes of droppings, and something has pierced and torn away a hole in the side of the topmost branch. Beyond the hole, the tree is hollow all the way down, with a somewhat ironic support structure of actual cedar struts and beams, blackened with age.

All reasoning beings who live within 20 miles shun the tree, knowing of evil legends surrounding it. The bronze represents a fortune in metal-poor Wahattu (easily 10,000 gp) but nobody thinks of salvaging it. Rightly so: there is a curse on the bronze that any tool made from it will rise to strike its wielder, and any ornament will render its wearer loathsome in sight. This curse is inscribed on the inside of the trunk where the band is.

Under the tree is another damnation tomb, one very late in the period, when the punishment extended to more mundane crimes and the edict on the dead was enforced by necromancy. Thus, in the chamber dug 10' beneath the tree are arranged 6 withered ancient corpses, their necks broken and heads turned backward that they may not enter the land of the dead. Each corpse is a vengeful shadow; but they may not pass up beyond the ring unless it is broken or the writings effaced. There are no grave goods or even clothing save for 6 leaden tablets detailing their names and crimes: these are a cartel of merchants from the western province of the Urig Empire, Pungatan, who defrauded the House of the Divine Emperor in the provision of cedar wood in the 6th Epoch, 700 years ago, when apparently bronze was cheaper to use as a building material. As historical curios an interested buyer will pay 100 gp each for the tablets.

 Banging on the tree will produce a loud sonorous gonging that (on successful morale tests) will bring curious goblins from the west and gnolls (hex #2) from the east. The gonging will take on unearthly undertones as the imprisoned shades wail and moan within.

Hex Crawl 23 #6: Gate of Alakran

Stretches of flat desert like this are not as barren as they appear on the map. Desert plants - low bushes, cacti and succulents - dot the plain, drinking in the winter rains, the foundation of an ecosystem that supports small creatures and tough grazing ungulates. This area in particular is safe and close enough to Alakran, one hex southwest of the village, to be a favored roam of the village herd of goats. 

This is also the location of a gate set in an eight-foot-high limestone wall running between the two ridges. The old paving stones of the Road of Flowers run through it. Once, within living memory, the gate made Alakran's valley defensible from the west. It is flanked by two ten-foot high statues of hawk-headed Hurru, the ancient Urig god of war, in pale gray limestone. Hieroglyphs show (for those who know their history) that the wall was built in the late Fifth Epoch -- only 1000 years ago!

Now, the doors are missing and there is no attempt to man or block the gate. On the crumbling walls near the opening, village children have drawn pictorial graffiti: vulgar doodles, pictures of goats, goblins, harpies and gnolls, and stick figures representing some of the main characters of the village (hex #1) -- although these latter identities are evident only to those already acquainted with them.