Roads & Villages
The world is larger than any map can hold.
These are the places travelers speak of. The villages where you can rest without fear. The roads where men go missing. The ruins that should have stayed buried.
Trust nothing you read here. The world changes faster than the records.
The Ashford Road
An old dirt road connecting the eastern valleys to the western towns. It was once maintained by the kingdom, back when kingdoms still cared about such things. Now it is cracked, overgrown, and haunted by bandits who know the law no longer reaches this far.
Merchants still use it. They have no choice. The alternatives are worse.
Travelers are advised to move in groups. Fires should be small. Trust no one who offers help without asking for payment first.
"The road doesn't kill you. It's the people you meet on it."
— Caravan master, name withheld
Greyhollow
A small farming village nestled in the shadow of the Grey Hills. The people here keep to themselves, work the land, and do not ask questions of strangers who pass through.
There is an inn. The food is plain but filling. The beds are hard. The innkeeper does not give names, and neither should you.
Greyhollow has no law, no militia, no walls. It survives because it is too small to bother raiding and too far from anything valuable to matter. The locals like it that way.
Traveler's Note: If you stay more than three days, the villagers will start to notice. If you stay more than a week, they will ask you to leave. Do not test them.
Hollow Ridge
Once a fortress. Now a graveyard.
No one knows what happened here. The walls still stand, blackened and cracked. The gates are open. Inside, there is only silence.
Those who enter do not return. Those who camp nearby report hearing voices. Footsteps. The sound of steel on stone.
Avoid this place. There is nothing here worth finding.
"I made it to the courtyard. Saw bones. Rusted armor. And something else. Something that moved when I wasn't looking. I didn't stay to see what it was."
— Survivor account, recorded at Greyhollow
Warning: Multiple expeditions have been sent to Hollow Ridge. None have returned with answers. The Council of Travelers has declared it forbidden ground.
[Additional entries to be added]
The map is incomplete. The world does not wait for scribes to finish their work.