Locations/BloodyHills

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the Bloody Hills

History of the Hills

The Bloody Hills were not always called such; their origin is in the tumultuous time after the rise of the Scarlet Empress, when the Dragon-Blooded daimyos and generals of the Threshold were banding together for the sake of blood and conquest. They would come to be called the Seven Tigers, and the oldest and wisest of these was Skri Shanash. Shanash waged a quick and bloody war along the Southern Threshold, removing rival warriors and claiming sole rule over some of the greatest and most impressive cities on the Southern Shore of the Inner Sea. Warstriders under her command added to the destruction already inflicted upon Chiaroscuro, gouging out a lesser general who had gone rogue. It was her legions that captured the Lap, and it was her that invited some of the other greater leaders of that era to meet there and proclaim their allegiance and cooperation.

She personally removed the head of a emissary from the one who would be called the Scarlet Empress, sending him back to the Blessed Isle as a warning. In the weeks that followed, her troops moved to the lands now held by Harbourhead and the Dobi Nation, intent on rooting out a few last holdouts in the South and securing their position. One evening, just a few hours after the sun had fallen and after a particularly trying battle, Shanash and her Legion had camped out in the hills between the coast and the savannah, near a Water Manse that they'd claimed from it's former holding.

That was when the rain fell. It didn't fall in gentle drops, though. It fell with wet whistles and the shearing of flesh and blood; it fell like a thousand scythes, ripping through the Legion and all it's men. The next morning, the hills were flooded with bloody water and the remnants of a previously strong Legion. A few survivors managed to get away, fleeing with tales of terror at the sudden revolt of nature, but the hills did not care. Scavengers roamed through the hills for decades since, fending off hungry ghosts for the chance to take home some mostly-intact weapon or a long-lost piece of a Warstrider. Slowly, over time, however, the living essence of the land bled away and the Underworld seeped in.

The Shadowlands Today

The Bloody Hills are located about 600 miles Southeast of the city of Kirighast, and are a strange landscape indeed. In the South, water can be a rare and precious thing, and the Bloody Hills and it's Wailing Fen are a reliable source of such. Even so, travelers do not stop here to drink and herders do not bring their animals here to water.

The water is only ankle deep in most places, though it can be deceptively deep in certain places -- even enough to swallow an incautious man hole. Reeds and weeds are everywhere, as are flowers and vines of various colors -- blacks, purples, reds and grays predominate. Almost all of it is poisonous, of course, but they are not the only danger. Venomous snakes and disease-carrying insects predominate. Some larger predators lurk as well, and the half-eaten carcasses of their kills (mostly herd animals that wander too close) stand still in the murky blood-colored water. Even in the absence of such "fresh" meat, however, the water always seems...tainted...with blood, and even those who drink it (always after boiling it, usually several times) complain of the coppery aftertaste.

The hills themselves have worn down over the years, but still predominate -- islands amidst the fens, ringed by reeds and many thorn-bearing plants. Some are close together, the marsh little more than a small channel navigating the trough between two hills. Others are further apart, separated by flooded lowlands that never dry or drain despite the sweltering heat that infests the region.

No one lives within the Bloody Hills; even ghosts stay clear, for the Hungry Dead infest the place. Even so, those few explorers brave enough to jouney far within the area speak of a great wooden hall in the midst of the fens -- surrounded by the deepest water, and a veritable wall of reeds and poisonous (even carnivorous) flowers and vines. Whomever might dwell in such a hall, however, is wholely unknown.

The nation of Harbourhead has little dealings with the Bloody Marsh; their nearest town is well over 200 miles away, and the few trade routes that wind through the area keep some distance away. The Dobi Nation lairs a bit closer, with the small village of Kepri only a half-days journey away. Occasionally a young lad will brave the hills, looking for one of the fabled Blood-Rose Blooms or some lost treasure of the First Age. If they're smart and keep their activities to the day, they might even survive, but more still perish of disease or stay too late and feed the hungry dead.

Of Interest in the Bloody Hills

Disease in the Bloody Hills is a matter worth more than a little consideration. The fens are a particularly harsh breeding ground for all manner of ill diseases and the creatures that carry them. Every day of trodding through the water requires a Stamina + Resistance roll to avoid catching some horrible disease of the storyteller's choice. This is difficulty 2 if the character is one-protected, and difficulty 1 he is outfitted to slog through a swamp and otherwise takes care to avoid the threat of disease. Injuries in the Bloody Hills are considerably more likley to become infected and add +2 to the roll to avoid infection, and (for mortals only) are at +1 difficulty to recover from.

Blood-Viper's are the most common and dangerous snake in the Bloody Hills. Not found outside of the Shadowland, they are none the less quite dangerous to anyone who wanders too freely within the hills. Five feet long, both thick and muscular, they are quite dangerous on their own but are considered even more so due to the deadly venom they utilize. They have the following stats:

Physical Scores of 3/3/3, Willpower of 2. Health Levels of -0/-1/-2/-4/Incap. They attack with their bite, which has a Speed of 7, Attack pool of 7, and a Damage pool of 3L + poison. They have the following abilities: Athletics 2 (Swimming +1), Awareness 2, Brawl 3, Stealth 2 (Swamp +2). If they inflict at least one level of damage, they also inject their poison. The Morpheus/PoisonForMe rules for the poison are: Deadliness of 10, Potence of 2, Interval of 1 minute, and Speed of 2.

Blood-Rose Blooms are said to be the most beautiful of all the flowers that grow in the bloody marsh. Their beautiful blood red petals shine in the early morning light, and their green stems are straight -- and nearly covered in wicked thorns which slice open unwary flesh. Anyone touching a Blood-Rose unprotected has to soak 2L damage (this can be reduced to 0 by soak). More interestingly, however, is that the vine seems to bleed itself. If it's stem is torn or cut open, real human blood seeps from within. This blood is particularly attractive to hungry ghosts, and adds +1 dice to any Occult rituals to summon or bind them. It is not particularly attractive to the higher souls or Abyssals, however. A Blood-Rose's blood can typically be acquired for Resource ** in Kirighast and other nations near a shadowland where they grow, and higher away from such locations.