The Riftward Wastes
“You ever see adventurers coming back from the wastes? It’s not a pretty sight. Lucky few that do come back, they come back broken. There’s…things out there. Things that none of us mortals should ever have to see. I almost feel bad sellin’em their gear. But, if they want to go out there looking for trouble, then it’s their funeral.”
-Yarpen Shudz, Renin Falls Merchant The Riftward Wastes, the lands beyond, no man’s land, adventurer’s doom. All are names for the barren expanse of desert west of the known world. Stretching from the shield range mountains to the black peaks of The Rift, the wastes are entirely inhospitable to life, or life as it is understood to scholars. Heatstroke, dehydration, and becoming lost in the expanse are the least of a traveler's worries in this twisted land. It has been reported by those few brave travelers who have returned from an expedition that horrid creatures stalk the land- Monsters whose forms twist and change, monsters who feed on fear and confusion, monsters made from the shifting sands themselves. Of course, those are not the only dangers lurking the in wastes. Powerful illusions blow across the desert, mirages to lead travelers astray or terrible nightmares made solid. Tales of whole parties turning on each other are common, as are tales of heroes marching off to their certain deaths, compelled by some force to wander for days without food or water until they drop from exhaustion. What should compel any sane person to wander in such a place? In a word: Treasure. For every tale of horrible death in the wastes, there are three of the legendary treasures found in buried tombs under the wastes. Ancient artifacts of strange and immense power have been unearthed during expeditions into the desert, and the draw of finding yet more draws adventurers from as far as Skargos to desolate wasteland.
-Yarpen Shudz, Renin Falls Merchant The Riftward Wastes, the lands beyond, no man’s land, adventurer’s doom. All are names for the barren expanse of desert west of the known world. Stretching from the shield range mountains to the black peaks of The Rift, the wastes are entirely inhospitable to life, or life as it is understood to scholars. Heatstroke, dehydration, and becoming lost in the expanse are the least of a traveler's worries in this twisted land. It has been reported by those few brave travelers who have returned from an expedition that horrid creatures stalk the land- Monsters whose forms twist and change, monsters who feed on fear and confusion, monsters made from the shifting sands themselves. Of course, those are not the only dangers lurking the in wastes. Powerful illusions blow across the desert, mirages to lead travelers astray or terrible nightmares made solid. Tales of whole parties turning on each other are common, as are tales of heroes marching off to their certain deaths, compelled by some force to wander for days without food or water until they drop from exhaustion. What should compel any sane person to wander in such a place? In a word: Treasure. For every tale of horrible death in the wastes, there are three of the legendary treasures found in buried tombs under the wastes. Ancient artifacts of strange and immense power have been unearthed during expeditions into the desert, and the draw of finding yet more draws adventurers from as far as Skargos to desolate wasteland.
Type
Desert