The
River Bax is a river in western
Galessia. It runs through the
Great Forest of Baxbury, likely encountering the
Princely State of Ilnith, before discharging into the
Senué Gulf at
Warsenfeld. An enigmatic river with strange properties and an unknown path, the River Bax is important to many people in many different ways.
Geography
The source of the River Bax is found in the
Galespine Mountains, on the southwestern slope of Blood Mountain (
Dwarvish:
Blothurngor), named such due to its reputation among dwarves for being inhospitable and unable to be conquered. Due to this, it is commonly considered the western extreme of the domain of the
Dwarven Kingdom of Starn. The river almost immediately vanished into the evergreens of the northern Great Forest of Baxbury, which derives its common name from the river.
Between its visible source up north and its mouth at the southern Senué Gulf, the remainder of the path of the River Bax is a mystery, and it is likely to remain unknown forever, given that not one exploration team has ever returned from attempts to map its path.
Water of Vanishing
The most famous attribute of the River Bax is the commonly-held belief in the power of its water to make people and objects disappear without a trace. Dubbed the Water of Vanishing, it has obtained this reputation due to the fact that every single person who has ever attempted to ride the river in either direction has ended up missing, along with all their equipment. Many people have tried many ways to attempt to circumvent this effect, through magical or mundane means, but to this day, no one has ever returned from a ride on the river.
Due to this, the water itself has been the subject of frequent study by wizards, alchemists, and other experts. The
Prinstead University frequently has some of the river's water bottled and transported across the continent to its halls, where the water has been found to possess some lingering magical qualities, but what these entail exactly continues to elude the researchers. Similarly, many spellcasters believe that the Water of Vanishing has use as a material component for spells such as Banishment. People from druids to witches can pay handsome sums for an intact bottle of Water of Vanishing, and many adventurers come to Warsenfeld to collect it for them, or procure it for merchants to sell. The city has started to play into this economic opportunity, producing and selling glass bottles of varying sizes.
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