this sounds interesting. keep us updated.

In the stuff I'm writing I've also been toying with the idea of a location that has randomized Distortions of Time-Space that present portals randomly in a several-mile area (a single Hex on the main map). One of the NPCs has a background where his mother came in from Numidia in the Old World to Hyperborea.

The NPC's backstory is below...

Sven starts his tale after taking a long draught of Mead from his horn. “I am Sven Svensson, Son of Sven Erickson and Sianoba a Numidian Princess that fell through the veil from the old world, into this place.” “My father was out Ranging, following rumors of strange happenings some 300 miles west of Ragnarrheim in New Vinland, an area not far from where we stand now.

As he was searching along the edge of the Glacial mountains, he saw strange lights in a grove. As he entered, he saw what looked like a shimmering Rainbow Doorway into a different land. A land filled with Sand and bright yellow sun. As he watched, a horse and rider came over a dune toward the doorway riding hard. Not watching where they were going but looking back. As the rider approached the doorway, from behind the dune's crest a group of riders wearing Roman Styled armor and wielding bows emerged and let fly with a swarm of arrows. Hitting the first rider several times.” “The injured rider plunged through the doorway into the deep snow losing control and coming to a heap a dozen yards into the new realm, to the amazement of both my father and the riders following. Just as quickly as the doorway appeared, it started to shimmer and it was blinking out of existence, leaving behind a rider, now splayed in the deep snow, and a critically wounded horse.

My Father stalked forward silently to find not a man, but a beautiful, now unconscious and Dying woman with dark nearly Obsidian black skin, darker skin than he's ever seen before, black like coal, but as smooth as the silks she wore. He leapt into action and began addressing the arrows sticking out of her applying bandaging and salves to staunch the wounds. Then calling on the spirits of nature that he knew the names of, asking for them to empower his hands with healing.” “He was able to heal her body quickly enough to fend off the clutches of death, but he knew she would likely remain unconscious for several days. Knowing she would not/could not survive in the now harsh climate she was in, having come through the door in silks and light armor. He immediately wrapped her in all the cold weather gear he carried, and using his many wilderness skills, he immediately began building an extensive shelter and gathering the necessary food and water to sustain himself and his new companion for an extended stay.” 

After about 4 days, while Sven was tending the fire, he caught out of the corner of his eye a slight stirring of his guest. He watched as she moved with the cunning and grace of a panther, stalking prey as she moved behind him, making not a single noise. Sven then asked in (in common), "Now if you were to kill me, how would you thank me for saving your life and caring for you these 4 days?". She stopped dead in her tracks, clearly not expecting that the man had any inkling of what was coming.” “My father took a small drink from a large horn filled with sweet mead, reached around without turning his head, and said "please drink, you must be very thirsty. Food will be ready in a few moments", "Do you have a name? Do you understand the words I'm speaking?". She with amazing stealth reached out, took the horn, and with a whisper said, " I am Sianoba, Princess of Numidia, My Father Jugurtha is at war with Consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus of Rome” She then drank the whole of the horn of Mead, and finished “But he is loosing, and I was attacked while fleeing my home”. “What happened, Where am I, who are you, and why am I not dead?"

As Sven explained and told her of this world, Himself, what had happened, and that she came through a veil-like door that may never open to her again, she became visibly shaken, and Sven could see the sadness in her face. Sven pulled a fur from his sleeping platform, moved over, placed it over her shoulders, and gently comforted her. The start of their time together.” 

“After some time together, they became lovers, and sometime later, I was born. Sven and Sianoba raised me, taught me the wonders of the forest, and how to move without sound and hidden from sight. My parents told me that I was a great study. As I got older, my father would bring me on his ranging and taught me the bow, my mother taught me the short spear as both a melee and ranged weapon. When I was 10 years of age, my parents and I went for the first time to the Closest City together (in Brigand's Bay). This was the first time I had seen anything so big, and with so many people, I was utterly amazed. But being in front of many people, some of them not being in favor of my mother’s and my dark skin. One night, while my parents and I were bedding down for the night in a tavern, a band of men formed outside and started throwing stones at the window of their room. My father ordered me to hide, and my mother and he went outside to deal with the "rabble". As they exited the tavern, they were unprepared for the skill of several in the mob and were overcome. The mob then came into the tavern. Hearing them coming into the tavern I gathered what was left of my parent’s belongings and ran into the hallway and saw the access to the attic. Climbing into the crawlspace of the attic and moving to one end I found an opening to climb out onto the roof next door and within moments I was several buildings away.” “Looking down from the rooftops, I could see the 3 men that were holding his father and mother. My mother glimpsed up and saw me, she made an almost undetectable nod "no" and made sure to turn back to her captors.

After antagonizing Sven, the leader threw a knife at his feet and told him if he lived, he and his "slave" could go free... As he was about to take the knife, the leader winked, and a dagger found its mark at the base of Sven's skull from the man behind him. My mother cried out, and with the grace of a giant cat, leapt, grabbed the knife from Sven's neck, and lunged forward, slashing the leader's face seemingly before anyone could even flinch. She rounded to strike again, but as she did, two arrows found their mark, Felling her.

As she was passing into the darkness of death, she looked up once again to the rooftop that I was crouched upon, and without a sound, mouthed the words, "We love you, Go". 

“I've never forgotten the faces of those men, 2 are dead, and only one remains. I've only recently discovered his name, Lorris Vandergant, now I only just need to find him...”

Last edited by BlackKnight (8/05/2021 3:36 pm)

gizmomathboy wrote:

I like the idea of the party finding their scorched bodies at some point.

Maybe in a room with a hexagonal table with 6 large obelisks at the corners and a smaller one in the center.

Of course they tried to mess with the table...or even just get close and zap!

I was working toward an ancient crash site of Ailen technology (Which could be an alien craft buried for 100s of years under the surface with a table like you describe) or an Ancient Star Metal Meteor with strange properties and a radiation field that causes the strange portals randomly, but if studied perhaps there is a pattern that could be Discerned over the course of 2 Sun Cycles (26 years)...