PrinceCon XLVII - Adventure Island
The Call to Action
The enchanted isle of Avalon has been home to a plethora of fantastical creatures and breathtaking landscapes for time immemorial. However, all is not well, and for weeks the question whispered throughout the land has been, “what is the great wizard doing about it?”
Now Crystalheart City has issued a call for valiant adventurers to serve our island home, and you must decide: how will you answer?
Regions of Avalon
Avalon is made up of a number of regions that were not originally part of the island, but have been bound together over time.
Astoria School of Magic
The Astoria School of Magic has been educating the best and brightest of Avalon for centuries! It has been ranked the top school on the island for 237 consecutive years, briefly losing its position to Mallovia Necromantic Institute and then regaining it after Empress Tempest demolished MalNec in a fit of pique.
Located in a lush and secluded natural setting near mountains, water, and forest, Astoria provides many opportunities to explore and interact with a wide variety of magical creatures. Our safety record is quite good! Aside from the students who are lost entirely, nearly all injuries sustained are not permanently physically scarring.
Astoria: the perfect place to send young and impressionable children to be cared for in loco parentis.
The Big Roc Kandy's Mountain
On the Big Roc Kandy's Mountain \ The gnomes mine day and night \ They swing their picks to dig out \ Magic crystals, big and bright \ But there's monsters in the tunnels \ And there's pirates on the shore \ And a bird on the peak with a thirty foot beak \ And her flaming form keeps it nice and warm \ On the Big Roc Kandy's Mountain!
A large craggy mountain sits beneath the nest of a great Ba'alroc named Kandy, and beneath it spans an unending labyrinth of crystal veins. Most of the folks camped around the mountain are rock gnomes crystal miners, but many other folk have moved their families to the mountain for work opportunities.
The Canelands
Sugar runs thicker than blood in the olde glacé where the warcries of gumbears is equal only to that of the thunderous gallumphs of the giant peep bunnies. Battle on the caramel crackle fjords, take refuge against the seltzer storms in rock candy caverns, siege isomalt castles with maltball war engines. Find the lost prince who wants to unify the candies and either save him... or stop him.
Crystalheart City
Crystalheart City is a place of profound magical significance, built upon extensive underground crystal deposits that possess the power to fuel spells and enchantments. The city mirrors Avalon as a whole, with folk as myriad as the crystals below. The city is the center of the island, from which all roads start and is home to the great wizard.
Iukyk
The original name of the island has been long since lost to time; it was the Wizard, for reasons unknown, who christened it Iukyk (ee-yuke-yuke). Along with its name, its people also disappeared; all that remains now is a fast-growing kudzu. People have tried to trim back the kudzu, but it always grows back, leaving the land wild and untamed.
Despite the aggressive plant growth, the Yellow Brick Road remained clean and safe to travel, or so we thought. Recent travelers have been accosted by goblins emerging from the kudzu. Now we need adventurers to travel into the thickets of Iukyk to stop these raiding goblins from terrorizing passers-by.
Mallovia
A wicked castle stands before a kingdom of char and smoke. Mallovia: The Empire of Darkness was once a beautiful elven kingdom, until Tempest, the Empress of Evil, laid waste to the land with a horde of terrible monsters. Skeletons, gargoyles, vampires, ogres, illithids, werewolves, clowns, gelatinous cubes, aberrations, and all sorts of other horrors ruled this kingdom for hundreds of years, expanding their numbers as monsters from other regions of the bubble joined their forces. Yet, after centuries of peace after their conquest, the Empire of Darkness has become quiet, even peaceful. Other regions note visits and even immigrants from Mallovia. Recently, however, there has come an intriguing message from someone claiming to be the child of Empress Tempest, stating that the magic sustaining the Kingdom of Darkness is beginning to wane, and monsters are beginning to fall ill. Is this a genuine call for help or a dastardly ambush for the heroes who dare to step foot in the Kingdom of Evil? Only the bravest of heroes may dare to discover the truth.
“The Morgue”
Among whispers and hushed tones, the citizens of Avalon speak of a darkened rumor. In the land, there are people who suffer accidents, both magical and mundane, and sometimes there is naught to be done by local doctors and clerics. These people are told to travel to “The Morgue”, as there is an Artificer there that purports to be able to save them.
However, it earned its namesake by being a place very few return from, and even when they do, the people become secluded and impersonal. It is thought of by many as a tasteless joke, feeding off the dreams of desperate people. The truth of the matter, and the Gran Dev, must be put right, and it may well take a mountain of bodies to do so.
Oldwood
Once upon a time, there was a forest where misplaced children went. Some were sent purposefully (too many mouths to feed). Some went by accident (neglectful elders). Some were runaways (they felt like misfits). The forest took them in and SWALLOWED THEM UP. The Oldwood of Avalon is an amalgam of “lost woods” that have arrived over the years, and its size has grown and shape has varied over time.
Travel through the Oldwood is difficult, as people who stray from the Road or the Rivers tend to get lost. Other paths through the Oldwood change on a whim, and once you are out of sight of the Road or a River, it is impossible to know what direction you’re headed.
Piedmont
Legends tell of giants who once protected the land. If ever there were such guardians, they have long since disappeared from Piedmont. Now, the duty of protecting these boreal reaches falls to its people, the scattered villages in whom magic runs deep. But Piedmont has fallen silent, and Crystalheart City has not heard from them in weeks. Explore the foothills, sail the rivers, test your mettle against magical beasts, and uncover what sinister plot lies beneath the surface...
Piedmont is a land of small villages scattered through boreal foothills. Magic runs deep through this land and its people. The people of Piedmont are mostly farmers and fishermen, and take great pride in exploring the land and hunting its various beasts and creatures.
Shipwreck Alley
There is a road heading out of Crystalheart City that leads to a village and up to the Stone Puppy Tavern. Beyond the tavern is a sandy beach, and past the long dock is the wide ocean. Under the water there are treacherous reefs, rocks, and high sandbars which have caused numerous shipwrecks over the years.
Sleepy Mountain
Up on the side of the old mountain live the laziest dwarves and least inquisitive gnomes you've ever met. Life is quiet here, with little trams that travel through towns and villages scattered among the trees, wildflower fields, and craggy views. Folks who seem to have no big ideas, except adventurous schoolchildren who get their hands on the family sword. But the earth is waking to flame and ruin, the volcano rumbling with strife: Can we use magic responsibly, and would Avalon be better off without us? Here lives pain behind the peace, the old and the new, ambition and self-love, and a people who resolve to live the lessons of history, even if it costs them the heart of the mountain.
Steamridge
Once upon a time, engineers dreamt of a better world where their visions could come to life without endless hours of drudgery and danger of operating complicated equipment. Thus the machine was built, and Steamridge became a city pulsating with the harmonious hum of magic and machinery. Now the machine is crumbling, and inner conflict tears the city appart. Travel to Steamridge to help heal the city and make the clock tick again.
Trepolis
Welcome to New Trepolis, a very ordinary hobbit village bordering a lush and dense forest. The hobbits in this village are known for their exquisite craftsmanship and they pride themselves in not utilizing any magic to reach their extraordinary level of craftsmanship. In fact, they pride themselves in not believing in magic. If you ask any hobbit in New Trepolis, magic is just an old wife's tale similar to legends of walking and talking trees living in the neighboring forest. Neither of the two should exist and, therefore, neither does exist.
W'allIce
Just a quiet little fishing village, where locals wear rustic wools and sit in pubs when they're not out fishing lobsta, tending sheep, or brewing a black beer. Pack your raingear & wellies.
World's Edge
Off the western shore of Avalon, there is a rocky atoll with a high tower in the center that glows like pure gold every sunrise and sun set. The way there is over treacherous waters, but there are rumors of great treasures that can be found within it.
PrinceCon 47 Summaries & Run Recaps:
- The Oldwood by Alex Reutter
- Trepolis by Bianca Sievertz
- Steamridge by Clara Shikhelman
- Sleepy Mountain by Dennis Yi
- Mallovia by Gabriel Higbee
- The Big Roc Kandy's Mountain by Josh Gabai
- The Island at World's Edge by Steve Caruso