Vast Swamp
The Vast Swamp is an immense and treacherous wetland, sprawling across the southern border of Sunndi and forming a natural barrier against invasion.
Nestled between the Hollow Highlands and the Hestmark Highlands, this sunken basin is a labyrinth of stagnant pools, sluggish streams, and near-tropical vegetation. While its waters seem to drain southward, the lack of any visible outflow suggests that underground tunnels carry its waters to unknown depths.
This murky expanse is a land of danger and legend, home to bullywugs, grung, lizardfolk, and troglodytes, all vying for dominance. Even among these monstrous denizens, the greatest peril lies in the Hopping Prophet, Wastri, and his fanatical cult, who dwell within the Sacred Polystery, a hidden fortress-temple deep in the swamp. It is here that his followers seek to warp humanity into his twisted ideal, breeding frogs to look more like humans and shaping humans to resemble amphibians.
Beyond the terror of Wastri’s zealots, the Vast Swamp harbors even darker secrets. Whispers persist of the lost tomb of Acererak, the legendary demilich, concealed somewhere in the swamp’s trackless mires. Though many adventurers have claimed to plunder his crypt, rumors abound that the Tomb of Horrors still conceals treasures and deadly traps untouched by mortal hands.
The people of Sunndi hold conflicting views of the Vast Swamp. While its treacherous terrain offers a natural defense against incursions from the Scarlet Order, it is also a source of disease, unnatural creatures, and relentless raiders. Gigantic crocodiles, will-o’-wisps, and other horrors make travel through the swamp a death sentence for the unprepared. Despite Sunndi’s best efforts to patrol its borders, the swamp’s denizens frequently emerge to launch raids, slipping back into the misty depths before retribution can be exacted.
Wastri, the Hopping Prophet
Wastri is the demigod of Amphibians, Bigotry, and Self-Deception, a being of warped human and froglike features, clad in gray and yellow robes, and wielding his terrible glaive-guisarme, the Skewer of the Impure. He preaches the supremacy of humanity while fostering a strange reverence for amphibians, believing them to embody an ideal state of adaptability. His doctrine proclaims that goblins, orcs, and bullywugs are fit only to serve, while elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings must be exterminated.
Wastri's followers are fanatically devoted, composed primarily of cleric-monks who leap into battle with poisoned weapons. His Immaculate Image, a monk and high priest, oversees his hierarchy, assisted by the Greater Servants and his pair of massive, enchanted toads. Those seeking initiation into the faith endure grueling trials, and those unworthy are either discarded or warped into twisted parodies of humans and amphibians.
The Temple of the Prophet
Deep within the Vast Swamp, Wastri’s Temple of the Prophet stands as a festering bastion of zealotry, a ruinous complex where bullywugs, grung, and other amphibious creatures gather to hear his gospel. Human converts who survive their initiation emerge with toadlike features and supernatural abilities, while those deemed impure are impaled as a warning to outsiders. Within a mile of the temple, all amphibious creatures—and those altered by the temple’s dark power—gain an unnatural ability to regenerate wounds.
Wastri's influence extends beyond the swamp, with his faith reaching as far as the Hool Marshes, Cold Marshes, and even Greyhawk City. His temples, found in the darkest and most secluded places, are cold, dim, and damp, filled with the croaking chants of his followers. His rituals are strange and unsettling, featuring eerie musical instruments, sacrificial rites, and amphibian transformations.
Baranabas, High Priest of Wastri
Baranabas is the current High Priest of Wastri, a hunched, toadlike man of wicked cunning and rapid reflexes. He serves as the guardian of the Temple of the Prophet in his master’s absence, ensuring that the faith remains strong and that those who enter the temple’s grounds either emerge reborn—or never emerge at all. His presence alone is enough to inspire fear and fanatic devotion among Wastri’s followers, and his mastery of poison makes him a deadly foe.
Despite its many dangers, the Vast Swamp remains an enigma, its depths filled with untold horrors, ancient secrets, and the ever-growing menace of Wastri’s fanatics. Those who dare venture into its brackish waters and suffocating mist do so at great peril—for in the heart of the swamp, few who enter ever return the same.
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