K’Tarik, Sanctuary of Scattered Souls

K’Tarik is an adventure location, based in Aventyr but usable in any game system or setting.

Savior of the People

Decisions made, the great battle

When Lieutenant Waychon of the Chonians disobeyed his captain during the most recent and major battle with Baevonia, he had already signed and served his own exile orders. Waychon’s reasoning in doing so, was to save those under his command and their families, for he knew the battle was over before it began. After fleeing the battle on horseback, protecting survivors, Waychon looked back to see his captain and commanders cut down by the enemy forces; bowing his head, he rode off through a cloud of dust, cast as sapphire motes against the rays of the setting sun.

K’Tarik, a new home

After weeks moving from location to location, in search of water and food, Waychon settled here, at K’Tarik, the site of a strange temple and giant-sized gateway built into the side of the Baevonian Mountains. The Chonains have thrived here over the past month or so, building some rudimentary structures, planting gardens, tending crops, and beginning to settle into at least some semblance of their former lives. Of course, things are never easy in the Disputed Territories of Aventyr and an ancient evil stirring in the temple, rumors of orc hordes gathering in the mountains above, and the constant threat of a Baevonian attack all weigh heavily on Waychon and his settler’s hearts.

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Location: K’Tarik, Sanctuary of Scattered Souls

K’Tarik was once the site of a celestial gateway, ages before humans evolved on this planet. Adjacent to the gateway is the Pillar of the Planes, a strange temple and planar powerhouse added by the Grekians during their reign.

1. The Approach

After sneaking past the ogres in Ogre Valley and traversing a series of caves filled with booby-traps and stealthy Chonian soldiers, one emerges at the base a gentle hillside and a mountainous scene split asunder by a stunning slender waterfall. Grapes and berries grow wild on the hillside. Chonians tending to the vines will flee from any strangers, immediately summoning soldiers to converse with the outsiders.

2. Makeshift Village

The Chonian’s have a few structures which appear to be hastily constructed and only used for daily chores and activities. One building is a stable and is home to horses owned by the former Chonian militiamen. There are almost 200 Chonians here, living both in the Gateway of Antiquity and the Pillars of the Planes locations. In the daytime there are typically 3d10+20 Chonians in area 2 while the rest are in areas 3, 4, and 5.

3. Reincarnation Falls

Nicknamed by the Chonians settled here, this magnificent waterfall brings the most valuable commodity of all, clean water. The base of the beautiful waterfall is deceiving, appearing as a shallow pond but it is deeper than any here realize. Most of the water travels straight down a rocky tunnel at the bottom of a pond, while the rest trickles over the edge of the pond and down the hillside. The underwater tunnel leads about 1/8 mile into the Underworld where a tribe of eighty aquatic ahooling use the water to bathe, swim, and hunt. Anyone, other than an ahooling, attempting to engage this settlement will be attacked en mass.

4. Gateway of Antiquity

These gates stand as a testament to time and harken back even before the Grekians settled in this region. No one knows exactly who or what built the gates or what they were used for. Inside is a hall roughly 50 feet wide and 500 feet long, when the hall stops it breaks into a T, with doorways leading into large chambers 20 feet wide and 100 feet long. When the Chonians arrived, there were no ruins, rubble, debris, or any sign that anyone ever lived and dwelt here. Now, the Chonians have set up shop and live here, they even camp and sleep here. Stone gates, 10 feet thick, provide protection for the Chonian settlers throughout the night. The gates are opened in the morning and closed at night by pressing a single button set with an arcane rune.
Those who are perceptive and inquisitive may find a small rune at the T where the great hall dead-ends. Could the rune open a gateway to another plane? Summon whomever lived in these halls? Or perhaps it is trap? Only foolhardy adventurers would dare attempt to find out!

5. Pillars of the Planes

This location is fully detailed in Mini-Dungeon Monthly #6. This is where the majority of Chonian soliders and priests are holed up. Waychon, Wo’Lan, Requn’Ma, and Iu’Opp are the most prominent figures and detailed in the sections ahead.

6. Goat path into the Baevoninan Mountains

Any characters attempting to take this route will be stopped by villagers, if they continue, they will be immediately fired upon by all Chonian soldiers. The goat path is treacherous and only five successful DC 18 Acrobatics (Dexterity) or Strength (Athletics) checks will prevent one from falling, possibly to their death. On up and over the rise, a clear path into the mountains can be found, this way leads directly into orc territory is peppered with bands of orc raiders that are mostly active at night. Those attempting to take this route will eventually gather the attention of the orcs which blow their warhorns, carrying the sound up and into the peaks where hordes of orcs gather and then spill down the mountainside, an unstoppable, riotous mob, of outraged, territorial killers.

Important Characters

Waychon

NG human fighter 4

Waychon is the leader of this settlement, thrust into the role as soon as he abandoned the Chonian army on the battlefield. The lieutenant-commander of the Chonian army, who is now holed up in Keep Doom, watched that day, as Waychon withdrew and their commander and captain were slain, he has cursed Waychon ever since. Waychon is very much living in the past and knows his actions may have saved many men but also put to death his superiors and their forces. Although he regrets this mistake and thinks of it often, he’s been so busy getting the Chonian settlers safely to a source of food and water that he tends to escape into his work.
Waychon will not let anyone into this village unless they can prove they have something valuable to offer and are not affiliated with the Baevonians in any way, shape, or form. If he receives word of anyone approaching the village, he will summon his six best warriors, and ride on horseback with full armor and weaponry, bows out and at the ready resting at their side to begin conversing. If conversation is impossible due to differing languages, he summons Wo’Lan to translate.

Wo’Lan

LG human fighter 6, venerable (slow spell on self, indefinitely)

Wo’Lan harkens back to older and greater days gone by when the Chonian civilization was much more prominent in the region and had towns and villages peppering the landscape. In those days, he fought against the orc hordes of the Baevonian mountains, roaming bands of raiding kobolds, and sometimes, the Baevonians themselves though those battles typically resulted in the enemy being driven back up the mountainside and into their strongholds. Back then, there was an alliance with the Klavek Kingdom, which the Chonians kept like a card in their back pocket, calling upon the Klavekian’s might whenever the Baevonians got too bold or brazen. Over the years working side-by-side with the Klavek Kingdom, Wo’Lan learned the Klavekian tongue and thus, serves as Waychon’s translator.
Once a great warrior, Wo’Lan no longer practices his battle exercises and instead tends to the sick or injured as an aid to the clerics or helps children learn basic chores and farming out in the fields. He has gotten slow in his old age and needs to rest frequently. Even though Wo’Lan has hung up his blade, seemingly for good, he still has some spark left and is quite skilled with his magic Chonian longsword. Magic Chonian blades, once uncommon, now rare, are rumored to function only for those born and raised in the boundaries of former Chonia.

Requn’Ma

NE human fighter 3

An archer, Requn’Ma’s skills are unmatched by any living Chonian. Secretly part of a raiding band, her group attacks travelers on their weekly supply run to/from Lake Chonia.

Iu’Opp

LG human cleric

A cleric of Flaesuros, Iu’Opp is often found helping others in her community and breathing life back into those who have been injured, either physically or emotionally.

Threats to K’Tarik

Devil, Pillar of the Planes – Slowly confusing and manipulating Chonians from afar. Seeks to manifest a visit to the prime material plane and take dominance over K’Tarik.
Orc tribes, Baevonian Mountains – Working with a powerful ally to dam up the stream, thereby stopping the waterfall and crushing the ability for the Chonians to survive and provide for themselves.
Ahooling settlement, 1/8 mile below – If the flow of water stops (see Orc tribes), the ahool will emerge and attack in 1d4 days, assuming whomever they encounter is responsible.
Ogres, Ogre Canyon – Ogres typically provide a deterrent to unwanted visitors, but in 1d4 days, an ogre will wander into the caves below K’Tarik and attack the Chonian guards.
Baevonians, Baevonian Mountains – While the Chonians think their location is secret, the Baevonians are watching and waiting for the right moment to strike, after the Chonians have been driven down out of K’Tarik.

Welcome to Aventyr Adventures! A system agnostic series (with some D&D 5e) designed for GMs and players to enjoy the exploration of new lands together. These blog entries are 100% free for you to use along with existing Aventyr Campaign Setting content.

Explore and discover Aventyr, an exciting world where nature struggles to survive under the onslaught of so-called civilization, primal warriors summon powerful totems, and ancient secrets in the sky, sea, and depths of the earth wait to be discovered!

Explore Aventyr!

World Map: Locations Nearby

Wayward Inn

Lake Chonia & Grekian Ruins

Ruins of Wo’Mataja

Beldam of Stygian Glade

Ogre Canyon

Y’Quenar, Pillars of the Planes

Vasi’s Grotto

Baevonian Pass

~Credits~

Author Jonathan G. Nelson

Cartographer Jared Blando

Music Kevin MacLeod

Music from https://filmmusic.io
by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

THE CHONIANS & BAEVONIANS

The Chonians

Typical alignments NG, CG, N
Common Backgrounds Folk Hero, Hermit, Outlander
Basic Appearance Tan skin, brown and black hair worn long, almond eyes, toned muscles, wearing leather clothing and carrying hides on horseback yet also dressed with enough fineries to allude to ancient roots in civilization.

The horse-riding Chonians have long been nomadic warrior-archers, traveling from one place to another due to the dangerous and chaotic nature of the world in which they live. Many times, the Chonians have settled between the mountains and Lake Chonia, even giving these lands their name, but time and time again, the Baevonians marched down from their mountain strongholds to wage war and destroy everything the Chonians had built up over the years.

If attacks and war with Baevonia weren’t enough, the Chonians have the orcs to contend with, not just a few, or even a few hundred, but thousands of orcs which stream like rivers of bloodshed from the mountains and envelope the land in a cacophony of bent blades, rusty axes, and heads of enemies on pikes.

The Chonians only wish is to create permanent settlements for their people so they might practice the natural way of plains life like their tribal ancestors once did.

Unfortunately, some of the Chonian people would rather ride their mounts off into the dusty sunset, raiding and pillaging Baevonian traders and anyone who might have something of value or something to eat. These “bad seeds” frequently draw the attention of the Baevonian military which marches down out of the mountains to crush anyone responsible or harboring these criminals.

The Baevonians

Typical alignments LE, LN, LG
Common Backgrounds Acolyte, Soldier, Variant Criminal: Spy (within context of the law)
Basic Appearance Black hair cut short and covered by helm, dark eyes heavy with ages of war. A muscular and heavily-scarred body covered in finely made, heavy plate armor from head to toe, holding an ancient family blade in one hand, a shield with Baevonian crest in the other.

The mountain stronghold dwelling Baevonians, laden with heavy armor and weapons, protected by stone and steel, guard the lands of former Chonia with their lives, holding back the forces of evil and the tide of darkness that would otherwise wash over the known land.

Driven by a passion for lawfulness, the Baevonians seek order in all things, no matter the cost. Known to forge questionable alliances and dark deals just to hold their position in the world, forcing order upon others is not just expected, but required.

Punishment for breaking the law in Baevonian society is more than just what the local magistrate may deal out as a sentence, the guilty individual will be shunned from society to such an extent they typically commit ceremonial ritualistic suicide to appease the Axiomatic General or willingly take a position in the front lines in any major assault, hoping to either prove themselves or die trying.

Tag: Chonian