New Hardshore
New Hardshore is a town on Stormbreak Isle with a population of four thousand people. Its burial catacombs are an adventure location for low-level adventurers.
The townfolk are inhospitable, brought up on folk tales warning them not to let strangers into their homes. There is only one inn. Given the town’s superstitious folk, the temple of Sivora is the most influential public institution in town, located prominently as the central square’s landmark.
Vampires and Intrigue
After arriving in New Hardshore, adventurers learn there is more to this harbor town than ghouls and oozes. The vampire House of Belard secretly controls the town from its lair in the Secret City of Ivondar. If you wish, rumors of vampires’ presence can be discovered before the adventurers arrive.
Adventures in the Secret City aren’t about slaying vampires. They’re about player characters getting drawn into the vampires’ intrigues. There are opportunities for alliances, sudden betrayals, and to influence the politics of Niere. The consequences of the characters’ actions can ripple throughout the entire continent. Some of the ways to get started:
- Become archaeologists and explore the haunted history of an ancient city.
- Compete in the Games of Shadow and Blood for the favors of a powerful vampire order.
Vampires' Agents
43 House of Belard’s Vampire Thralls have infiltrated New Hardshore’s society, living their ordinary-seeming lives as bewitched mortals in servitude to the House of Belard. Some thralls work at the temple of Sivora and lure new tributes for the reenactment of the secret play there.
Statues and Gargoyles
Tall sculptures carved in limestone were placed on every crossroads of the town, with their lifelike human features projecting an uncanny gaze on the passerby, and to add to the unnerving atmosphere, black basalt gargoyles, not made of local stone, are perched on the roof ridges of at least one house on every block.
Despite the lifelike statues and gargoyles, there are few sculptors in New Hardshore and their skill is no higher than ordinary.
There are many tales to be learned in this town, though it can be hard to gain the inhabitants' trust. For some reason, they never invite strangers into their homes.
Motivations and Rewards
The town of New Hardshore is built over extensive, ancient burial catacombs, and its townsfolk are always in need of adventurers who can cleanse the place for them. These catacombs are overrun with ghouls, giant rats, and living ooze, which surface into town every now and then in the middle of the night. Whoever accepts the task of driving these monsters from the catacombs and the streets of New Hardshore will be rewarded with a modest payment of gold or an equipment upgrade.
Furthermore, adventurers who opt to descend deeper into the catacombs may find an elegantly sculpted entrance to a limestone cave, and a gallery full of these monsters’ nests—the same creatures that plague New Hardshore. A heavy chest of gold, and the blessed talismans of New Hardshore’s temple of Sivora, await those brave enough to destroy this dangerous lair.
Locations
Adventures in New Hardshore most likely lead into the town's ancient burial catacombs or the nearby limestone caves.
Burial Catacombs
The entrance to New Hardshore’s deep underground catacombs is located behind the temple of Sivora in the town square. Worshipers of the goddess long ago turned the old structure into a temple in her name and repurposed the abandoned underground tunnels into an ossuary. The catacombs have a labyrinthine design, with distinctive limestone statues marking each floor and corner. Some of them hold a compass or an astrolabe in their hand while they all share the same serene expression. On the lowest floor of the catacombs lies an elegant gate sculpted in limestone—a threshold that the townsfolk of New Hardshore refuse to trespass.
Limestone Cave
This massive cave, located several miles outside of town, is a labyrinth of countless limestone galleries. It’s not recommended to navigate this place without a light source; and even with a lantern, experienced explorers may frequently get lost. It’s easy to find where people used the cave as a quarry, and where their excavation ended, with abandoned equipment scattered on dead-end tunnels not far from the cave’s entrance. The west side of the cave is most affected by the flooding, while the east side is impossible to traverse on foot due to its abundance of huge stalagmites barring the way forward. And somewhere, in the dark tunnels of this cave, lies an entrance to the Secret City of Ivondar.
Cave Dwellers
The limestone cave is home to a particular set of monsters, with human-sized bats, ghouls, giant rats, and living ooze on the list. These creatures are either created or enhanced by the cave’s negative energy and are light-sensitive, thriving in the dark of the underground. However, they enjoy venturing outside their nest, attacking those who wander the streets of New Hardshore alone during nighttime, and dragging their bodies back to the tunnels beneath the catacombs.
