Rigodruok - The Rainbow Vale

Hidden beyond the Black Ice, at the northernmost reaches of Telchuria, lies the legendary Rigodruok, known in the common tongue as the Rainbow Vale. A place of surreal beauty and mystery, it is said to be a verdant paradise amid the frozen wastelands, warmed by an enigmatic sun-like orb that hovers eternally above its heart.

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Scholars agree that the ebony glaciers of the Black Ice are no natural phenomenon, but rather a construct of powerful magic, much like the Sea of Dust. The very existence of Rigodruok, flourishing amidst such inhospitable surroundings, lends further credence to this belief.

A Fabled Expedition

Knowledge of the Rainbow Vale remained a half-forgotten myth until the mid-fifth century CY, when a fragment of ancient parchment, recovered from the depths of Blackmoor Castle, found its way into the hands of Sormod, a merchant-adventurer of Perrenland. This scrap contained directions to a land where the sun never sets, beyond the Black Ice. Seized by wanderlust, Sormod assembled an expedition and set forth in Richfest, CY 453.

Seven years later, in CY 460, a tattered volume surfaced in Greyhawk City, purporting to be the personal journal of Henriki Ardand, the expedition's mage. Whether truth or elaborate deception, the account describes a perilous journey through treacherous ice fields, past volcanic fissures and lurking monstrosities, and finally, into a hidden valley untouched by time.

A Paradise in the Ice

Rigodruok is described as a lush, fertile valley, approximately 30 miles in diameter, encircled by low mountains wreathed in mist. Floating half a mile above its center is a small, sun-like sphere, casting an eternal glow over the land. Drifting nearby, massive islands of earth and stone hang in the air, some bearing rivers that spill over their edges, sending cascading waterfalls and perpetual rainbows into the valley below.

At the heart of the Vale, beneath the floating sun, lies a vast steaming lake, its shores lined with rusted, crumbling towers of iron and glass—silent remnants of an ancient and forgotten civilization.

A Land of Strange Life

The flora of Rigodruok is as varied as it is bewildering, ranging from the northern birch and sablewood of its heights, through the oaks and beeches of its midlands, down to tropical palms and deklo trees thriving in its steamy lowlands. Fruits and nuts of usk, yarpik, and fig grow in abundance, untouched by the ruinous hand of winter.

But the valley’s bounty is shadowed by dark and hungry things.

• Goblins and bugbears prowl the forests.
• Colossal, fiendishly intelligent spiders lurk in the ruins and among the floating islands.
• The valley’s human inhabitants, a primitive people, worship these monstrous arachnids as gods, serving them alongside their bestial humanoid allies.

The Fall of Sormod’s Company

Sormod and his men, their minds weary from the journey, made camp beside a floating waterfall, near the ruins of the ancient towers. But as they rested, they were ambushed in the night. A horde of goblins, bugbears, and immense spiders struck without warning, overwhelming the expedition. Sormod, Henriki, and a handful of survivors could only watch in horror as their companions were dragged away, hoisted on ropes of gleaming spider silk to the floating islands above.

For weeks, the survivors wandered the valley, avoiding capture while uncovering glimpses of its strange secrets. They found great metallic structures, machines of unknown purpose, and eerie, silent monuments to the spiders’ rule. From a reluctant caveman ally, they learned of a hidden tunnel leading southward, an escape route to the lands beyond the Ice. Desperate and low on resources, they launched a daring raid upon the sky-island of their lost comrades, only to find no trace of them. Instead, they discovered a grove of immense spider idols, each with diamond eyes gleaming in the eternal sunlight.

They fled with what treasures they could carry.

Escape and Aftermath

The journey through the underworld tunnels was no less perilous than the vale itself. Many succumbed to exhaustion, heat, and lurking horrors in the darkness. Emerging at last beyond the Black Ice, they followed the Fler River southward, passing through the Burneal Forest, where fate struck its final blow—Sormod fell to a poisoned arrow, slain in a dispute with the forest tribes.

The remnants of the expedition, including Henriki Ardand, a priest of Fharlanghn, and two Wolf Nomads, scattered into obscurity, unwilling to ever again tempt the horrors of Rigodruok.

The Secrets of the Vale

Legends persist that Zagig Yragerne, long before his ascension to divinity, may have shaped Rigodruok for his own amusement. Some even claim he hid one of the Orbs of Dragonkind within the Vale in 361 CY, though whether in this valley or one like it remains unknown.

The valley is rich in diamonds, yet its true wealth lies in arcane relics and lost magic—perhaps in the very floating sun that warms it, or the whispering ruins that linger below. Whatever its origins, one thing remains certain: those who enter the Rainbow Vale seldom return, and those who do bear stories that none believe.