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This week we remain in the Dreadlands, at the bridge outpost on the River Fearsome. The 60th Map of the Week is from the pending Jörðgarð (TM) campaign setting release "The Northwest."

Duke þráinn fears the other eight dark draugs a bit. He knows that some of them might unit to challenge him, and together, they might prove to be more powerful than he is. However, he doubts that such alliances ever will come to be. The light elves of neighboring Karelenland are another matter. The dark draug does not know how much danger there is that the Kareli might move against him one day, but if he does know that his remaining days will be short if the elves ever make him into their target. Even after centuries more of gaining new power, þráinn would be no match for the high elven magi, wizards and sorcerers.

Thus, he has a twofold reason for keeping the denizens of his duchy out of Karelenland. He does not want them to provoke the elves. He also doesn't want his humans who suffer under his tyranny to escape into the west. Their fear of the elves is a good preventative, but þráinn believes that his restricted zone and the soldiers that he has west of the Fearsome are a better preventative.

The restricted zone begins east of Treeherder's Shadow, at the point where the Fearsome changes its course from a westward flowing river into one that bends to southwest. From there, the river turns southward, flowing through Westgate into the Westsea.

þráinn maintains a large border fort in Treeherder's Shadow to prevent crossings into the Kareli lands. The human and orc warriors stationed there patrol the lands eastward from Treeherder's Shadow to the end of the restricted zone on the north bank of the Fearsome, and they also patrol the west bank of the Fearsome from the fort southward to the point where Osmowood's eaves come to the river, forming the Kareli border. From that point onward, the west bank of the Fearsome is taboo to the duke's host.

The River Fearsome Bridge is a small outpost maintained on the Fearsome at the crossing of the road from Nárgl's Mill to Treeherder's Shadow. There is a wooden drawbridge there on the west side of the Fearsome that always is kept up except when authorized soldiers cross from the east. The drawbridge spans half of the river.

The small outpost is manned by one human soldier (a sergeant in command) and six orc soldiers. They man it in 10-day shifts. Every 10 days, a new shift arrives to relieve the old one, coming with enough supplies to take care of their needs for the 10-day period. The guardpost has orders not to let any unauthorized persons or creatures cross the Fearsome.

There is a rowboat in the guardhouse. If travelers arrive on the east bank and claim to have a pass allowing them to cross, the sergeant on duty will send one of the orc warriors across in a rowboat to examine the pass. Such papers contain regularly changing codes that can be used to assure that such passes are not counterfeit.

You can get the map in two versions:

1. The Fractal Mapper (TM) 8 map in FMP format, fully editable, from our Jörðgarð web page (16 MB).

2. As a JPG flat map of 3000 x 2250 Pixels (4.2 MB), available above.

Both versions are released for personal and commercial use under the Open Game License Version 1.0a, which you can read on the Jörðgarð web site.

The Jörðgarð web site:

http://www.vintyri.org/joerdhgardh/joerdhgardh.htm

Next: The Dreadlands - Treeherder's Shadow Outpost.