Surrounding Locations

The Laboratory of Dr. Mundacri Dr. Mundacri is (possibly was) one of the finest alchemists of this age who left Salt in Wounds to pursue their research outside of the city’s environs (and in a more controlled environment) by setting up shop in a derelict manor and orchard that had been abandoned when the taint of the Tarrasque soured the land. Provided with men & material, the brilliant researcher vivisected dozens of mutated vagrants and hundreds of exotic beasts to divine their secrets. Before their correspondence with some
fellows based in Sage’s Row stopped, Mundacri claimed to have mastered controlled mutations, spliced together numerous chimeric creatures in addition to ‘seizing command the fundamental vital force present in the blood of all to create life itself.’ That, however, was several months ago and no one has heard from Mundacri since; not their friends or their (increasingly impatient) financial backers. The laboratory of Dr. Mundacri is comprised of a main house, servant house and guest house, as well as tens of subterranean chambers dug to house experiments, supplies and staff.

The Camp of the Mammoth Wardens The Mammoth Wardens are the remaining fraction of the tribe of Stone Giants who escaped enslavement and now eke out an existence amongst the mountains that ring Salt in Wounds, their numbers increased somewhat by the inducted members –mostly ‘small people’ druids and rangers who have ties to the Circle of Release. The camp moves monthly (on moonless nights) and the tents that comprise are continually re-painted to blend into the surrounding environment. In addition, the camp exercises extreme fire discipline (to eliminate or hide any smoke) and makes regular use of hidden caves amongst the crags. It is to this mobile camp that runaway slaves and others fleeing Salt in Wounds often seek, although most die of exposure before ever locating it.

Heartsblood Marsh Read more about Heartsblood Marsh here, about the Fungal Sieve at its heart here, and about the monsters that reside there here. 

Shatter Peak Mass Grave Forty miles east of Salt in Wounds, the binding armies first made battle against the Tarrasque. Adopting a fighting retreat, thousands died in the long valley, a trail of slain stretching leagues until the Tarrasque was finally bound. In the chaos following the battle (where the binders struggled with what to do after failing to find a way to permanently kill the beast) uncountable corpses were left to rot where they lay, or became buried in snow & frost. Clerics & adventurers have managed to clense most of the area surrounding the city, but there are vast fields where the dead were never granted proper rest and so the land is haunted with all manner of undead: including many powerful disembodied spirits forever raging at the glut of a wicked city whose very existence mocks their sacrifice. Shatter Peak is claimed to be where the battle began; after the Tarrsque unexpectantly knocked over a mountain top and caused its greatest carnage of the day in the resultant landslide. Witches and necromancers have huts all throughout the area; plying their trade with living and sentient dead alike.

The Pool of All Forms In a hidden cave, past an area of stalagmites jutting forth like teeth where a man can scarcely squeeze by, is a perfect pool of what – at first glance- appears to be water. A visitor who stares at the pool can –by focusing on a single image- coax the liquid to float in the air and take any form their so visualize. Any attempt to remove the liquid fails (it grows increasingly heavy when it moves away from its source). Distraction –or the visitor leaving- causes the liquid to sink back into it’s pool.

High Rock Altar Ten miles south of Salt in Wounds –in a secluded plateau that offers an incredible view of the city – is a primitive seeming altar of basalt, teeth and thorns from an unknown plant. This is an altar to Tuska, and –though usually undefended- will be inevitably rebuilt or restored by the local flocks of harpies if destroyed or otherwise defiled. Tuska’s faithful meet here regularly, and use the altar is filled with carefully encoded scrolls Tuska’s devotees sometimes use to send messages back and forth.

Verdant Fields An extravagance of a Third Merdidian house aristocrat, the Verdant Fields are a pastoral manor built into the side of a mountain where the wealthy of Salt in Wounds can live in an imitation of traditional life. Incredibly powerful (and costly) magics that must be continually refreshed keep the local climate for the few acres of farm impossibly pleasant, and all manner of luxury fruits and vegetables are grown here.   

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