Valencia
The village of Valencia is dying.
Built upon the outer rim of a once-prosperous copper mine, Valencia dwindled considerably after the ore ran out. Most of the miners pulled up stakes and moved on to more promising locations. Those too poor to afford the trip across the Serobi Wastes remained behind, growing what they could in the hostile soil.
One hundred people dwell in this village, earning a meager living any way they can. Most are farmers, as poor as the dirt in which they toil, while a few work with wild desert mustangs or scrounge the last traces of metal from the copper mine. Once a month a wagon arrives from Tonada, bringing vital trade goods such as linen, alcohol, and fish.
Connected to:
- Home base for Bandvong and his army.
- Baron Misael Castillo
- Juan Silva - spiritual advisor and protector of Valencia
Valencia is really nothing more than a smattering of earth-colored buildings on the rim of a played-out copper mine. Most of the structures are fashioned of stone, slate-roofed and bleached white by the sun, with ringlets of dirt stirring in the dusty lane that serves as the town's central street. You see a few humans and a dwarf or two sitting in the meager shade afforded by open doorways, some mopping the sweat from their faces, some just staring at the waterless sky. Curtains hang listlessly in windows devoid of glass, and the air ripples in the distance as it boils in the heat. As you approach, an ancient man with skin like dry leather gazes up at you, shielding his eyes from the sun. He looks at you as if you're nothing more than an approaching mirage.
The atmosphere pervading the town is one of thirst and weariness, and the DM is encouraged to impress upon the players the heavy weight of desperation that hangs almost palpably in the air. Of the village's one hundred inhabitants, fifteen are children, twenty are elderly folks, and the remaining sixty-five are human and dwarven men and women of working age who spend up to 14 hours a day trying to scratch sustenance from the soil. Only on Godsday do they permit themselves to rest. The PCs arrive in late afternoon the day before this holy day. A few of the places they might visit are detailed below.
