Wednesday 3 May 2023

Hex Crawl 23 #122: The Green Vales of Regret and Envy

Five hexes northwest, one north of Alakran.

 

A green area in the Dhuga hills, where the surrounding prominences channel the winter's rain into an aquifer that nourishes rich growth of grasses and bushes in flatland and valley. Yet nobody lives here, for it is forbidden to dig a foundation or build a well within sight of the two springs Assammu and Innimmu. Their twin rivulets join to birth Tuame, the heretofore nameless river whose drying-up propelled the Band of Bronze into adventure. The meadows and river are called by the people of Nekai "Regrets" and by the other Dhuga villagers "Envy."

For the people of Nekai enjoy exclusive grazing rights to the meadow, and during the day two dozen or so of their shepherds and goatherds with their flocks roam the area. The hillsides echo with their songs, while the people of other villages -- Yotai eight miles to the north, and formerly Za-El to the south -- shun the place and grind their teeth. Within living memory the three villages contended for rights to the meadows in a great organized melee involving every citizen from age fourteen to seventy. Nekai easily prevailed, for the stoutest fighters of Yotai and Za-el were smitten by dysentery in the night, and the rumors inevitably followed that it was done by foul play.

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