Page 70 - Critical Role: Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting

tal’dorei campaign guide

elves. The high priestess of the moon claims the annual rite that once defended the elves have grown pale and sickly
purifies Lyrengorn, and gives the wild elves long life. and are now attacking the elvenguard. Celindar requests
the PCs, as elf-friends, to venture into the Neverfields
lyrengorn adventures and seek out the Seed of Life, the last bloom of an ancient
treant named Cedargaunt, that may restore the withered
the impoSSible art
treants’ senses. The Seed of Life is worn on the neck of a
For low-level characters: While traveling through the frost giant jarl’s pet remhoraz within the Neverfields.
Cliffkeep Mountains, the cold becomes too much for the
PCs to bear and they pass out in the snow. They are healed
and rescued by a trio of Lyrengorn wyvern riders, but their othendin pass
roles are suddenly reversed when a massive horde of ice
goblins pincushions the riders in mid-flight. When the PCs This massive valley carved into the southwest section of
crash in the snowfields, they must try to learn the impossible the Cliffkeep Range was historically a proud territory of
art of wyvern riding before they are claimed by the blizzard. the indigenous stone giant clans that already warred with
the dwarves of Kraghammer. When the human expansion
the incorruptible light
pushed into the valley and discovered mineral-rich rock,
For high-level characters: While the PCs are in Lyrengorn, many battles ensued with the reclusive giants.
they discover a small community of dark elf refugees. They The volume of human forces eventually overwhelmed the
fled here from a monstrous, nameless source of aberrant clans, forcing them to retreat from their caves higher into
corruption that has been devouring their society for centu- the mountains to the northeast. This allowed the forces of
ries. The dark elves hope that the skyswimmers’ ceremony Emon to claim the valley’s resources and land for its people,
will cleanse them of the corruption and bouts of sadistic establishing Fort Daxio to defend it. However, since then,
madness that still plague them. However, strange accidents a slow rise in the bulette population maintains a constant
conspire to kill the skyswimmers and the priestesses, and threat to the northern fortress, as well as the local miners,
on the day of the solstice, a pair of aberrant Death Eyes rise gatherers, and travelers that attempt to pass through.
from the underworld and try to bend the Moonweaver’s
Ribbons to their evil purposes. othendin pass adventures

bite the bulette
the neverfields For mid-level characters: A tribe of stone giants and goli-
aths have taken up residence in an important choke
The farther north one goes into the Cliffkeep Moun- point of the Othendin Pass. They claim that they are the
tains, the taller the peaks grow and the colder the weather Stoneherders, a great druidic order that keeps the balance
becomes, until the snowstorms are so thick that no human between civilization and nature in the North. Fort Dax-
unprepared for their chill can survive. The spiky peaks grow io’s military presence here has kept them away for several
shallow, trading treacherous rock for glacial ice and the generations, but the unusual rise in bulette population
untempered fury of endless blizzards. No bastions of living has forced them to return. Their plan to thin the bulette
society exist this far north, though some brave, foolish herd requires the PCs’ aid in rounding up the beasts; once
warriors endure the elements here to hunt rare and pow- they have been assembled, the goliaths will tame as many
erful game or to seek lost relics from before the Calamity. as they can and move them elsewhere in the Cliffkeep
Rumors do speak of a time when this region once was green Mountains. Those that cannot be tamed will become fare
and temperate, where trees and ancient elven colonies held for the stone giants’ bulette-eating contest!
the land, and that many secrets of this era are now buried
deep beneath the icy wastes. Many that go seeking answers the pools of wittebaK
to these rumors never return. The few that do, however,
occasionally emerge with artifacts of intense power and
mystery, reigniting interest in the region and sending Wittebak was once a peaceful city of three thousand or
further generations to their doom among the ancient, ice- more rock gnomes, a safe haven for the small ones built
rimed ruins and plains of endless glacial wasteland. into the mountain rock and heated by a series of geother-
mal pools. The Wittebak gnomes weathered great wars
neverfields adventures by not getting involved, investing in contraptions and
laughter, rather than wars and empires. They found joy in
Seed of life
inventing complicated ways to simplify their daily lives.
For mid-level characters: Heroes of Tal’Dorei who have Yet, for all their efforts, trouble eventually came to them.
made themselves known to the elves of Syngorn may Around four hundred years ago, a displaced band of hill
suddenly find themselves contacted by Verdant Lord giants found fancy in the hot springs and began to set up
Celindar, leader of Syngorn’s armies. His report is grim; a new homestead on their banks. By complete accident, a
the warding trees of the Verdant Expanse no longer pro- flaw in the stonework of the gnomish city cracked under
tect the city, in fact, some have turned against it. Treants the force of the giants frolicking within the pools, and the

chapter 2: gazetteer of tal’dorei 69