0910 Golokstone

Old, thick-boled trees creak and groan. The soil is orange, as if soaked with blood.

• Terrain: Tangled forest (3), High Wold
• Lost/encounters: 2-in-6. Off-road encounters are 2-in-6 likely to be with 1d3+1 bramblings patrolling the region.
• Ley line Lamm (p18): Arcane spell-casters feel observed by a pitiless malevolence.
• ### The Jaunty Horn (Inn)

A high-gabled inn that spans the Ditchway, bridge-like. At the rear, a wide yard and stables bustle with caravans.

Sign: A curled bugle with a portrait of Lord Ramius (p65) engraved at its head. (The folk of the inn are Ramius loyalists, proudly retaining his portrait on the sign.)

Common room: A broad, low-beamed space rammed with round tables, with hundreds of horseshoes cladding the walls. The proprietor Jesibelle Nag and her husband Mollish serve tables while their 7 children run and play. A 6′-long drinking horn hangs above the bar—downing a whole horn is a challenge the locals use to settle disputes.

Guests: Common travellers, merchants, and surly guards.

Services at the Jaunty Horn

Lodgings and food: Of common quality (DPB).

6′ of ale: 4 pints of Keye’s Balm (DPB) in the horn. 4sp.

Golokstone

A 10′ square slab of yellow sandstone, split down the middle, lies at the centre of a glade of lofty silver birches, surrounded by a maze of circuitous paths.

Guardians: The Audrune Aethogrym, along with 7 bram blings (DMB) that roam the hex.

Fungal ring: Dense patches of scarlet, 2′ high toadstools encircle the stone; they release a 20′ diameter cloud of spores if anyone approaches. All within must Save Versus Blast or experience vivid, religiously-tinged hallucinations for 1d6 Turns (–4 penalty to Attack Rolls and cannot cast spells). Aethogrym and his bramblings arrive after 1 Turn to evict the intruders.

Inscriptions: Drunic runes describe the arcane spell Arcane Eye in addition to the inscription “Scry, Drune, all Dolmenwood spread wide. Speak, Drune, voice of the Aegis.” See Ley Lines and Standing Stones, p18 for details on learning the spell.

Peering into the split slab: Reveals an impossibly fathomless vista of swirling black and purple mists dotted with glinting points of silver, like stars.

Scrying: Casting Crystal Vision or Arcane Eye while gazing into the vista brings about a trance, lasting for 1 Turn, wherein the spell-caster has a vision of Dolmenwood in its entirety and may choose to zoom into any one hex, gaining an insight into the hidden features there.

Drunic speech: Uttering Drunic words into the vista opens a channel of communion to the Drune Aegis (p54).

Jesibelle Nag—Jaunty Horn Proprietor (Level 4 Fighter)

A stout, muscular human woman in her late thirties, with a knotted brow and a wide, gurning face. Dresses in sheepskin jerkins, striped pantaloons, and purple felt boots, always leaving her heavily bangled arms bare. Jesibelle is a retired fighter who bought the Jaunty Horn with the profits from her adventures.

Demeanour (Lawful): Boastful and belligerent, but unerringly loyal to those who earn her respect.

Speech: Brash. Woldish.

Desires: To best tough-looking warrior types in bouts of arm-wrestling or drinking contests. To experience the thrill of adventure “one last time.”

Possessions: Purple felt Boots of Weft-Striding (p406). A golden Holy Mace (p412) concealed behind the bar.

The Audrune Aethogrym

A towering (6′6″) human man of robust build, with shaven head and staring eyes as pale as moonlight. Wears a brass ring through his nose and dresses in the traditional night-black cloak and hood of his order. As guardian of Golokstone, Aethogrym is charged with deterring intruders, but favours words over violence.

Demeanour (Neutral): Temperate, genial but stern.

Speech: Slow, hearty rumble. Woldish, Caprice, Drunic.

Desires: To defend Golokstone at all costs. To track down the fairy who spies on his daughter Pollith (see 0810) and ensure that he does not continue to do so.

Possessions: A bone bracelet, carved with mushrooms, which allows him to sense intruders at Golokstone and teleport to the vicinity.

Combat stats: Audrune (DMB).