Map of the Duchy of Kantrium
by Sven Jeske
And here is a preview of some content from the upcoming Mini-Gazetteer:
Cedrone Bridge Waystation
Halfway between Richvale and the Retebius village of Norba an old bridge spans the Polithius river, with an inn – the Cedrone Bridge Waystation – right at the Kantrium side. Milonia Capito, an enterprising young magician (born 977, M5) with a dramatic streak and specializing in illusion spells has set up shop here. One of her favourite illusory shows is that of “Cedrone the Bridge Troll”, a troll who according to a local legend once lived here, sleeping under the bridge. When travellers wanted to cross, he demanded gold to let them pass. However, he was very short-sighted, and so the travellers always got away with throwing him some copper pieces down into the river. About Milonia it is said that she offers not only illusory shows but also some other services – magical and otherwise – for the affluent traveller.
Catuna Moor
The Catuna Moor is a small stretch of land where the Catuna Creek flows through an area of extremely soft underground. In spite of its small size, this is probably the most dangerous and deadly land in all of Kantrium. It doesn’t look particularly bad, but it is very flat and exposed and there’s almost no solid ground on it - you’re walking across sopping-wet sphagnum moss all the way, so there’s nowhere dry to rest, and if you try to cross it at any kind of speed you’re very likely to twist your ankle. Some rare kinds of Giant Beetles make their home in the moor, and tales of a mysterious “lurker in the swamp” are plentiful. Daring souls gain very fine peat from the edge of the moor.
Bescerli Roadside
Traveling east from Bescerli along the well-maintained paved road through the hills to Kantridae is fairly easy; you can reach the village of Ieraklion comfortably in one day. The road passes the Sulmona Wood to the south, and after 12 miles, in the middle between Bescerli and Ieraklion, you reach Virgilio Waystation, an inn that provides great and inexpensive food (and rooms if necessary) for the traveler. It is run independently in the fifth generation now by Agostino Virgilio. From here, a trail leads southward through the hills to the coast, and northward towards the Umbarian Heath.
During the last two years, a highway robber plagued the road, though. It is only one single woman, generally called “La Fantasma” (“ghost” in the local dialect), masked and clad entirely in black, who somehow manages to single out the really rich and well-to-do merchants along the road, coming seemingly out of nowhere, easily taking out guards (remarkably, mostly without killing them), getting the riches, and vanishing again. All efforts by marshals, guardsmen, bodyguards or adventurers to catch La Fantasma have been unsuccessful until now. Rumour has it that she has a hiding place somewhere in the Sulmona Wood, and also that the peasants protect her because she shares her loot with the poor. The magistrate has set a bounty of 3000 gp for her arrest.