Location of Zadreth
by RobinZadreth is a ruined village close to Threshold Karameikos, abandoned due a vile disease.
This village was first mentioned in Karameikos Kingdom of Adventure and the included adventure
According Mystara Hail the Heroes adventure;
Hail The Heroes wrote:
Solveig White-Gold and Perrantin the mage, friends of Thelvyn Foxeyes of the Penhaligon Trilogy (written by Gunnarson, and dated around 500AC) travelled to the traladaran lands. Solveig became a hero of the traladaran People by finding a relic; a magical bronze shield supposedly used by Halav, appropriately known as the Shield of Halav.
Because of its religious significance, the shield helped bring the Church of Traladara to some prominence. The legend of the shield, and of Solveig's quest for it, became well known. Though Solveig later reurned to the Highlands and gained great fame there, the mage Perrantin stayed in the traladaran Lands.
There,he helped construct the Temple of the Shield to house the artifact. Perrantin also wrote a history of the Dragon Wars of 400BC and placed a copy in the temple, so those who visited would know all abbout the heroism of Thelvyn, Solveig and Perrantin.The Mage also created statues known as guardians of the Shield, animated statues that looked like Solveig White-Gold. In addition, Perrantin placed several permanentbMagic Mouth spells in the temple to help spread bits of the Song of Halav.
For many years, the Temple of the Shield was quite popular and aided in bringing people to the church of Traladara. The small town of Zadreth even grew up close by around a Traladaran Church (this part I changed to fit the description with the canon and fanon location information and maps. Here the temple and Zadreth were one location, while canon and fanon placed both close, yet on different locations---Which I continue here)
Eventually, however, a rumor grew that the shield had not really belonged to Halav, and the telple's popularity decreased dramatically. At about the same time, a plague wiped out most of the people of Zadreth; this was seen as a sign of Immortal displeasure and caused more people to stop believing the legend of the Shield of Halav. the survivors of Zadreth moved away, one by one, as did the clergy of the Temple of the Shield. Eventually only one cleric was left at the Temple.
This man, whose name has been lost in the mists of time, maintained the Temple for many years, while others began to forget its existence. Eventually, the old cleric felt his death approaching and decided to close the Temple. He believed that faithful followers of Halav would one day return to the temple of the Shield, and he wanted to protect all that it contained for future generations of believers. He went about the Temple setting traps that could be bypassed easily by the faithful, but would be more difficult by others. The old cleric closed the doors, tidied up a bit, and lay down to die.
People ultimately forgot about the tTemple and the town of Zadreth; only a few obscure references remained in old books belonging to sages or shrines. Those who later learned about the Temple referred to it as the lost Temple, because no one remembered where it had been located.
The Church of Traladara survived and remains popular today, in modern Karameikos. However, the last several decades have seen the rise of a rival chuch, the Church of Karameikos. Though popular with the ruling-class Karameikans of Thyatian descent, the power of the Church of Karameokos has steadily grown. The church's beliefs have become popular, including the notion that purification is always possible after one has commited acts of evil.
Another recent development has been been the ermergence of the Cult of Halac. These extremists believe Halav has been returned in mortal form as Stefam Karameikos to lead the traladarans to a period of renewed greatness.
The growing popularity of the thyatian-dominated Chuch of Karameikos and the radical Cult of Halav has causede a steady loss of membership for the old Church of Traladara. Seeking guidance through a study of history has led the elders of the Church to believe that the Shield of Halav could serve to draw people back to their church, just as it had served a similar pupose some 500 years ago. unfortunately, sespite a few scattered references, the elders had no idea where the Lost Temple was located.
Location of Zadreth;
The Adventure Hail the Heroes (HtH)tself is loose about this in the beginning, yet other sources help deciding
Quote; Once the sire (in the ruins of Zadreth, either near or beneath the modern day town of Threshold) has been determined, the PC's must journey there, conirm that the Temple still exists, and find an entrance into it.
Other sources; Online
Village of Zadreth (here Zadreth is named Village instead town, this may be due HtH where Zadreth is called Town as well as village)
Kingdom of Karameikos
Threshold
Population: 200 (currently 0)
The Village of Zadreth is an abandoned and ruined small village laying on the eastern shores of Lake Windrush, according to the locals. A trail, later paved by the Grand Duke, leads there from Threshold. An almost disappeared trail leads instead from Zadreth to the Temple of the Shield.
http://pandius.com/thrshld.html = here the Town of Zadreth and the Temple are clearly different locations.
The Piazza discussed this;
Starting with "Hail the Heroes", we learn in the introduction that the events of the Song of Halav date back about 20 centuries, or ca. 1000 BC. The Shield of Halav, the centerpiece of the adventure, was found about 500 years ago, the Temple of the Shield erected sometime thereafter and used for "many years". Nowadays, the position of the temple (and the surrounding town of Zadreth) is unknown. Strange contradiction here: apparently, the Song of Halav was an oral tradition for ~1500 years, but a town is utterly forgotten after, say, 400 years.p. 14 states that the adventure was designed with the ruins of Zadreth a few miles away from Threshold, placing it under Threshold is an option. I would recommend the original idea. If Zadreth was depopulated by a plague a few 100 years ago, even if the exact story was no longer known, the place would probably still have a taboo surrounding it - dubious religious claims, a plague sent by the immortals would see to that. So, most probably no Traladaran would have build a new town on top of that place.
p. 15-17 gives a number of clues to the location, presented as fictional works to be found in two libraries (one by "Johauna Menhir", describing Threshold as having 500 inhabitants...) These introduce the name of Lugsid for Threshold, and add to the original adventure design of placing Zadreth outside of Threshold. P. 18 and 20 repeat the info about threshold, p. has the well-known map again, with an "old road" added towards the east. Threshold boasts two sages in residence, and gives their names.
Zadreth is placed to the east, probably at the foot of the mountains. This might help explain why the location is almost unknown: a mudslide/rockfall might have buried it, after it was abandoned. Taking the map handout 5 from K:KoA, I would place Zadreth probably in the middle of the south coast of the lake.The rest of the adventure describes the lost temple in detail, and gives no relevant information on Threshold.
Sturm's excellent Time maps revealed; The location of Threshold was named Vatresh( Town 1500BC till 1 AC), Prahe(small kingdom Town 1AC-710AC), Lugsid (village 710AC-960AC)
The Karameikan Compendium by Agathokles says; 1 A
C; Traladara’s population raises, especially in the coastal and riverside areas. Marilenev is the ma-jor trade center. Halavos, Lugsid, Zadreth and othertowns and villages are found along the rivers Volagaand Shutturga. The elven Callarii clan from Alfheimsettles in the Radlebb woods. [GAZ1]
Thus learly differentiating betweewnn Lugsid AND Zadreth as being different locations511 AC;The Diet of Marilenev elects the wizardPerrantin as Warlord of the Traladaran League, giv-ing him power to lead an army to help the Flaemsof the Highlands in case of a dragon invasion, whichnever comes. The northern warrior Solveig White-Gold and Perrantin uncover the Shield of Halav, andpresent it to the Church of Traladara, helping its con-solidation. They found the Temple of the Shield andthe village of Zadreth [HtH]
900 AC; The Emperor of Thyatis, Gabrionius IV,sends his legions in Traladara, and installs a governor in Marilenev, which is renamed Specularum. Garrisons are sent to the borderlands, with the goalof setting up spearheads for a campaign against the Darokinian successor states. [DotE, GAZ1, KKoA]Traladara is incorporated in the Empire as an Imperial Province.Thyatian troops invade Lugsid and raze it. A plague in Zadreth force the population to abandon the village and the nearby Temple of the Shield. The survivors settle on the lakeside villages and in Fogor.[HtH]
So All combined, and then checked the maps, all mapping information combined we get the following map information; Karameikos(Canon 6 mile hex map), Threshold(Canon/Fanon combined 1 mile hexmap), Zadreth(Canon/fanon combined 100 yard hex map , Zadreth in Detail(hex 100 yard=300 feet)
Hope you like this map.
Here is a detailed legend for all the numbered and lettered locations.
Lots of details making Zadreth now an adventure location where a DM can easily put his.her own vibe in it.
Lots of Plague deasth, a collapsed town, A Thyatian attack, 100 years of decay and exploring by random goblins/ogres/some adventurers, hiding renegades, etc The story of the Plague and then the Thyatian attack and defense with devastating results on both sides