:: Random Location—Kaawa by the Way, Forest Thorp ::

As you march along the trail, fallen pine cones crunching beneath your feet, the tall trees towering above you, the sound of trickling water meets your ears; your first sign that Kaawa is near. Soon after, you come upon the characteristic piles of stone that flank the trail, the cairns standing both as gate and sentinel for what lies beyond. The trail continues past the cairn, but you take the less-traveled path through the underbrush. The air turns crisp, and clear, and you know that out into the wood just a little more is the spring that supplies the inhabitants of the thorp.

Only just before you emerge from the green does the burbling of the spring give way to another sound. No, many sounds: many people laughing at the same time, the trill of a tinflute, a boastful voice, and then a melodic response. As you pass between the small, sturdy houses from behind, you smell the sweet, nutty wafts of a food vendor selling honeyed pine nuts. You enter the clearing proper and see a simple stage that has been built out of cloven trunks where an acrobat deftly flips several times before feigning a botched landing. The small gathering of local folk laugh in concert again. Your heart lifts: you've reached Kaawa by the Way.

:: Random Item—Key of Kannux ::

Key of Kannux

by Wm Jay Carter III, 6/18/15

a seraph

Tool: Locks/Picks

Culture: Seraphim

Condition: Dirty, Appealing

Color: Tomato Red

Keyword: Liquid

As you march along the forest path you occasionally hear the heavy thud of someone chopping wood. Soon enough you pass a cottage where a dark-haired man is doing just that, the muscles of his bare back flexing beneath his pale white skin with every downstroke. He stoops to gather a few logs and when he stands you see a badge of black metal fixed to his chest, carved with delicate appealing swirls.

Uncertain how the badge manages to stay attached to bare skin, you greet the man and ask about the curiosity. Without responding, the pale man drops the wood in his arms and rips the badge away from his body, revealing a long serrated wooden spike that oozes with thick liquid the color of ripe tomatoes. He offers it to you, evidently unaffected by the fresh wound the spike left behind. “Perhaps you’d like it for yourself,” he says, his dark eyes becoming hungry, his teeth sharpening by the moment. “I won’t need it any longer…”

:: Random NPC—Wyrtweard, Stranger of Darkness ::

Wyrtweard (“Plant-Guard”)

by Wm Jay Carter III, 5/28/15

Race: Stranger (Minor God from Another World)

Age: Venerable

Gender: Male

Stature: Average

Physical: Short Neck

Outwardly: Cheerful

Inwardly: Domineering

Profession: Gardener

Magic: Avatar—Darkness

Catchphrase: “Hello! What exactly brings you to my neck of the woods?”

You turn the map around in your hands, convinced it has somehow changed while you weren’t looking. The canopy of the dense jungle seems to choke the light of day into a dull haze, preventing you from gaining your bearings. Resolving that staying put could not possibly be better than pressing on, you step over one of several identical patches of shaggy ink cap mushrooms, choose a direction, and start walking. Suddenly, you are met by an invisible wall. No, not a wall, but a crumpled—yet infinitely sturdy—old man whose head seems to have collapsed onto his shoulders with nothing in between. He was so well integrated with the shadows that you did not notice him before. “Hello!” he says with a light laugh, as if he were greeting you at the entrance to a festival on a sunny day. “What exactly brings you to my neck of the woods?”