Wednesday 2 August 2023

Hex Crawl 23 #199: Rovers of the Dhuga Hills 1: Ebelza the Would-Be Dharvi

 Eight hexes northwest of Alakran.

Although she's not particularly associated with this hex, I feel that Ebelza and some of the roving characters in the relatively hospitable but occasionally weird area of the Dhuga Hills need detailing. You can put her here as an encounter or have her, or some of the other Rovers this series will mention, show up when "lair" is rolled (1 in d20) moving into an otherwise empty hex.

She is camped out here, in a dugout trench in the dry plain, covered with a camel hide, pulling up dryland plants and hunting lizards and mice for her sustenance. She once had a plump figure, but now her flesh hangs loosely. She once had a flawless skin the color of burnt sugar, but now it is spotted and unevenly darkened from the sun. She carries a knife and a sling, both of which she can use passably well, and has shaved her head down to stubble.

Her name is Ebelza. Once a respectable townswoman of central Wahattu, she has been seized by a religious fervor which will not be slaked except by joining the Dharvi. She circles the plain, not daring to approach the Ship Rock, always gazing at its fortresses by day and its lights by night, jumping and crying out if she sees the outline of a guard looking down.

Eight times she has tried to climb the face of the cliff, and eight times failed. She knows it is pointless to try to climb the rappelling line on the south face -- the first time, they unceremoniously loosed it and she dropped ten feet. Her skills are meager but she is desperate to find a way. Exposure has addled her brain and she cannot conceive of simply approaching the rock from its lower side, miles away.

But she is sincere and the brothers and sisters of the Dharvi will likely take her in. A bounty of 100 xp each will accrue to adventurers who escort her there.

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