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View Full Version : [City] Wyrm's Breath (abandoned)



Cantankerous
2005-07-01, 04:51 PM
NOTE: I believe it was stated that one could submit multiple entries. I want to abandon this one, and start on another entry soon. Please do NOT vote for this entry. Like you were going to in the first place.

Hey, guys. First time contesting. Good luck to you if you're competing as well. :)


Introduction:

After having for some time in the cold, barren, north, your map and your eyes tell you that you have finally reached the remarkably warm city of Wyrm’s Breath. Unlike the rest of this frozen, blasted landscape, the town, strangely, has a wonderful aura of warmth all around it. You sense this warmness almost immediately after you near the town gates. There is only the thinnest layer of snow in this town, and only the shortest icicles hang from the roofs of the buildings. As you travel further around Wyrm’s Breath, you can tell that this is a small city with an amazing statue of a gold wyrm in the town square. It stands to colossal, majestic proportions, and is decorated with gold, silver, and precious gems.


Statistics:

Small city; population: 7,200 (92% humans, 3% dwarves, 2% halflings, 1% elves, 1% gnomes, 1% other ); gp limit: 13,000 gp; total wealth: 4,600,000 gp; full-time guards: 80; conscriptable individuals: 380.



Background Information:

About 200 years ago, a mighty gold wyrm came to the harsh and blasted northern reaches, where there was little besides the never-ending cold and the monsters suited to it. This noble dragon, named Aurrextevvim, was unlike his brethren in that he wished to carve out his domain in regions that other of his kind would not even think of stepping foot (so to speak) in. Aurrextevvim had come to the north primarily to bring justice to the various monsters and orc tribes who inhabited that land. Immediately, this wyrm found himself beset by frost giants, orc raiders, and perhaps worst of all, many white dragons, all led by a great white wyrm who called himself Frostenteeth. Aurrextevvim thought that he’d made a huge miscalculation in entering the north.

But not all was without hope. For several allies came to his help. Courageous and experienced adventurers had heard of Aurrextevvim’s various exploits and battles, and came to assist him in his fights against the evil creatures of the north. Within less than a decade, Frostenteeth had fled, and the once-hardy clans of frost giants and orcs had all but disbanded.

Aurrextevvim, then, decided that he would make his lair in the north, but was also unwilling to forsake his allies, the number of whom had swelled to nearly a thousand. And so he decreed that a city would be built in this north, where anyone would be able to survive and live decent lives without fear. Many voices questioned the wyrm’s wisdom – the north was simply too harsh and bitter for ordinary men and women to settle down. However, one of Aurrextevvim’s oldest allies, an archmage named Errol, had already devised a plan. He crafted a powerful magic statue of Aurrextevvim himself, which radiated wonderful warmth all around the statue. Soon, the snow around melted, and people began to live in this new town, named Wyrm’s Breath.

Over time, Errol passed away, and Aurrextevvim felt old age looming. The latter, after having ruled Wyrm’s Breath for three score years, he left, and deemed the growing town be ruled by a council, and the council be headed by a prince. Since then, Wyrm’s Breath has been a haven for weary adventurers, as well as a quickly growing small city.

Wyrm's Breath is named so for Aurrextevvim's breath, which brings warmth to an otherwise cold land.



[i]Physical Description: Wyrm’s Breath, for the sake of practicality, borders the ocean, but the monument, the statue of Aurrextevvim, lies precisely in the city’s center. The city is a rough circle from there. The city is guarded by fairly high city walls and three main gates.

Wyrm’s Teeth may be roughly divided into three districts:
-Docks: this is where most of the taverns and inns are located. Most of the poor reside here. The docks district is the poorest district, and is as populous as the mercantile district.
-Mercantile: this where most of the trade goes on. Trade caravans are often found here. The lower-to-middle class resides here, so it is as much residential as commercial. This district is found opposite the docks.
-Hoard: nicknamed because it is rumored to be where Aurrextevvim once kept his hoard. This is the wealthy district, located in the center of the town. Council buildings, homes of the nobility, and the temples can all be found here. PC’s will have to go here to purchase the more expensive items Wyrm’s Breath has to offer.


Arts and Culture: The harshness of the north necessitates survival, and therefore art and culture have shown little development here. Most art consists of scenes of heroes or Aurrextevvim himself defeating giants and white dragons, and a festival is held every midwinter to celebrate the defeat of Frostenteeth. Rumors abound of various eccentrics who live away from Wyrm’s Breath (far away enough from its warmth effect) and spend their time sculpting statues of ice.


Economics: The major industries are fishing, salt, and metalworking. The first two require little explanation, since Wyrm’s Breath is near the ocean. The last is due to the rich deposits of iron, gold, and silver found in the mountains about two days’ travel from the city. The city grows little crop, and most of the grain is imported from the south.


Religion: Religion plays an average part in the individual’s daily life, as well as in the city itself. Aurrextevvim is not worshipped, and the only dragon worship that goes on in the city is from the insidious cultists who revere the white dragons (see below). Gods of travel are popular, due to Wyrm’s Breath’s distance from most civilization, and so are gods of heat and warmth. Examples may include Fharlaghn or Pelor. You may wish to consult Frostburn for further information on deities of cold regions.


Government: Wyrm’s Breath owes no allegiance to any nation, since it is rather far removed from most civilization anyway. The city is ruled by a council of twenty-four men, and is headed by one more person, who is called the prince. These twenty-five officially rule the city, but there are various other individuals with power, such as merchants. The city holds tenuous relations with the local barbarians, who are likely to aid the city against any enemies, but those enemies would probalby be the barbarians' anyway


Crime: Thieves’ guilds have found themselves unpopular. Most consist of greedy youths robbing strangers, but organized theft is relatively rare, due to the size of Wyrm’s Breath. It may increase over time, since the city is quickly growing. However, most of the crime costs of the white dragon cultists (see below) who rob the wealthy in order to appease their draconic masters and kidnap the innocent for sacrifices.


The Monument:

The monument is the aforementioned statue of Aurrextevvim. Its shape and size are almost perfectly matched with those of the dragon when he had it made. The statue is made mostly of stone, but the dragon’s eyes are made of bright and dazzling gems, the claws of gold, and the battle scars of silver. The statue radiates heat, so that Wyrm’s Breath is about 25 degrees Fahrenheit warmer then normal. Winter is still cold but bearably so; summer is mild. Weather changes according to the temperature – heavy snow becomes light snow, light snow becomes rain. The heat aura goes about as twice as far as the city gates do, and therefore Wyrm’s Breath can readily expand.



Power Struggles:

Unknown to nearly all the inhabitants of Wyrm’s Breath, Frostenteeth is not dead, or even near death. Since his defeat by Aurrextevvim, he grown more wary of the town, and is plotting a more clever destruction of it, since he fears Aurrextevvim’s return. He has gathered his children (some of which are not fully dragon) and drawn many frost giants and evil human barbarians to his call. Furthermore, white dragon worship has persisted in this region for centuries. Many of cultists who follow white dragons have pledged themselves to Frostenteeth’s service. They undermine Wyrm’s Breath itself, while Frostenteeth figures out a way to destroy the statue, which seems to be the one source of warm life in this blasted place. These evil monsters and men face little direct opposition, since most of the citizens are oblivious to this and Aurrextevvim is nowhere to be found. (Some suspect he has reached twilight; see Draconomicon for details.) The truth is, however, that the town council is aware of the increased kidnappings and murders by the cultists, but the prince, Darven Patellson is unwilling to take direct action, since he is worried about his own pride. He is consider getting a group of adventurers to take care of both the cultists and the monsters. In any case, few of the citizens have any idea what threatens them.

-Drakken Frozeneyes (Male NE human Wiz12) is the leader of the cultists. He is seen as a fairly normal man who just wants to be left alone, but the truth is that Drakken has killed and tortured many throughout his career. He is also researching various spells related to cold and dragons. Drakken lives in a normal building, but has constructed a vast lair underneath of which no one except his fellow cultists know.

-Syeda Winterlips (Female CE half-dragon human Bar9) is the right-hand woman of Drakken. She does the dirty work of kidnapping others for sacrifices. She is also on good terms with the local barbarians. She disguises her draconic heritage with a hat of disguise, and one of the cultist clerics casts undetectable alignment on her everyday. She is very sociable and is a well-liked warrior around town.

-Fiske Goldengarb (LE human Rog10) is one of the councilmen who in truth serves Frostenteeth. He aids the cultists and tries to obstruct action, but is unwilling to dirty his hands.

-Darven Patellson (Male LN human Ari11) is the figure primarily in opposition to the cultists’ activities. Over time, he will become readier to take direct measures against the cultists, including telling the people. As a result, fear may spread throughout the city, as people become unsure of who is a dragon cultist and who isn’t. (Remember that in this region, white dragon worship has persisted for centuries, although so far most are ready to dismiss any such claims).


Adventure Hooks:

Darven Patellson is finally taking action against the monsters. He offers the PC’s a handsome reward in order to investigate the ruins in which frost giants and white dragons may have found a lair. He notes that besides giants and dragons, there also may be hostile orcs or barbarians and a host of creatures of the cold north that most do not see (you may wish to consult Frostburn for such monsters). This is basically intended as a dungeon-crawling adventure, but it can work very well with the next one.

-A friend or relative of the PC’s goes missing. He or she has been kidnapped by the cultists. When the PC’s encounter the first cultists, they gleefully announce the coming of a great white wyrm and how Wyrm’s Breath will be crushed to smithereens. As the cultists operate within the city, and because the PC’s may face opposition from (apparently) legitimate characters like Drakken and Fiske, this can be more of a political intrigue adventure.

-The statue of Aurrextevvim is faltering, and Wyrm’s Breath may soon be unable to support her citizens. The PC’s are hired to investigate what’s going on. Why is up to the DM – it could be the machinations of the cultists (or even of Frostenteeth himself), or of some entirely different reason if the DM has no desire to work with the background of cultists vs. town council.

Personal notes:

-When I wrote this, Aurrextevvim was, in my head, dead as Wyrm’s Breath is concerned. You can choose to introduce him in your campaign if you wish, but that may simply create a deus ex machina scenario.
-Dragons were mostly an arbitrary theme with this. If you like, you can easily replace Aurrextevvim with, say, a powerful wizard, Frostenteeth with a demon, and the dragon cultists with demon worshippers. Of course, you’d want to change the city’s name then.
-The number of guards and conscriptable individuals is intentionally slightly higher than normal. This is due to the adverse conditions of the north.
-I didn’t want to mark specific locations (the ocean, the mountains) or name specific deities. I wanted Wyrm’s Breath to be a place that can be put in most campaign settings (certainly the big ones).