Difference between revisions of "Great rocky fields"

Latest revision as of 02:45, 29 February 2016

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A centauress in one of the huge storms that frequently rock the zone

Danger: Normal
Sub zones: Sandfall maze, Orelosk plateau, Teferis forest, Abandoned Vishmital outpost
Inhabitants: storm manticores, stormseekers, greater stormseekers, centaurs, zebra centaurs, blue sphinxes, rock harpies, humans, lightning elementals, storm sprites, scorpisaïs, whaqas

A huge zone on the southwest side of the map, past the lake of illusions. These rocky plains stretch as far as the eyes can see. The grass is an interesting greenish blue tone and trees are huge, but scarce. Frequent and very powerful storms rock the sky. Most of the inhabitants of this place have a natural resistance to lightning. Predators are much less concentrated here than in other parts of Felarya, yet it's still a dangerous place as there are few places to hide and take cover. A lot of avian predators such as harpies, sphinxes and manticores take advantage of that to swoop down and snatch adventurers away. These fields are also home to a large number of giant centaurs who can easily outrun any vehicle and can sense prey dozens of miles away. The powerful tremors they produce when they gallop is frightening. Despite that, the great rocky fields remain the safest way to get to the city of Kelerm on the far west of the continent, as the other way would require traveling right through the much more dangerous fairy kingdom.

Orelosk plateau

Danger: Normal
Inhabitants: rock harpies, earth mouths, tunneler worms, earth elementals, naga
Characters: Garnet

Situated west of the Ascarlin mountains, bordering a forest, this plateau isn't very high but sprawls over a large area. The forest can be seen from its border, like an endless wall of green barring the horizon. It's the territory of an aggressive and organized colony of rock harpies who often hunt caravans, and sometimes raid nearby human settlements. On the southern, lower part of the plateau lives the naga Garnet. This part of the plateau changes very often, sometimes being radically different from one day to the next. Garnet's powerful magic reshapes the landscape at her command, forming intricate mazes, canyons, pits, and unpassable walls, to suit her mood and her strange games, and you can't really quite know what to expect when traveling here.

Teferis forest

Danger: Hazardous
Inhabitants: goro-goro, stormseekers, greater stormseekers, lightning elementals, Storm Sprites, shock beetles

Teferis Forest, also named Firebolt Forest is, despite its name, not actually an entire forest but instead several close growing patches of a strange alien animal plant known as the goro-goro. Found near the sulfur springs, close the border between the great rocky fields and the Akaptor desert, Teferis forest is a very strange sight. It's a truly alien environment, with bolts of lightning that can be seen arcing between the "trees", creating a constant screeching background noise, and the air itself appears thick with static electricity. The ground appears broken and ruptured due to the numerous roots that lay exposed near the surface. These roots are literally trip wires, and should something step on them an arc of lighting is sure to shoot down upon the intruder, giving them a nasty zap. While non-lethal, this defensive feature serves as an excellent deterrent to both larger predators such as centaurs as well as clumsy humanoids. More dangerous are those greater stormseekers building their nests in the Goro-goro trees, as well as lightning elementals and the Storm Sprites who view the area as a "playground".

View from on top of Sandfall Maze, between the canyons

Sandfall Maze

Danger: Normal to Hazardous
Inhabitants: sandfishes, glophorbias, swallower walls, scorching claws nekos, rock harpies, sandfall lurkers, earth mouths, tunneler worms, sand elementals, earth elementals

This place is situated in the western part of the rocky fields and sprawls out over a huge area made of sandstone. Sandfall maze is divided in to two parts:

• The surface, which is a long succession of cliffs, canyons and ravines. It forms a dangerous, crumbly labyrinth, filled with natural traps and inhabited by a huge colony of rock harpies. The ferocious neko tribe of the Scorching Claws lives here as well.

• The underground, accessible mostly through areas of quicksand, using sand-diving equipment. This part is truly immense and is much larger than the surface canyons, and a lot more dangerous. The most obvious danger is that the walls and ceiling are made of sandstone and can collapse at any time. Another danger is that sand has flooded entire parts of the underground caves, making it very easy to get lost, even with sand-diving equipment. Strange and dangerous creatures roam these silent halls and swim in the sand. The deepest layers are home to various elementals.

Abandoned Vishmital outpost

Danger: Normal
Inhabitants: Storm Sprites

In the southern part of the great rocky fields lies a huge but deserted military complex. This imposing fortress was an infantry training center as well as a radar outpost of the Vishmitals. Oddly, while the place is void of any trace of its former owners, a good part of the equipment and advanced technology there is still functional. For example laser turrets will deploy and open fire whenever a harpy approaches, and sentry robots roam the zone around the base, deeming everyone who approaches to be an intruder, and opening fire after the first warning to leave. The base is now a playground for a pack of storm sprites who are probably responsible for its fall in the first place. So far the Vishmital's attempts to reconquer it have all failed. Needless to say their rivals, the Ps'isol magiocrats of Negav, are not in a big hurry to help them retake it. Seeing the Vishmitals' efforts to retake the base, some have started to wonder if they didn't leave something very valuable behind there.

• Credits to Jasconius for the Teferis forest idea.