OOC: D&D 5e: A New Age - Setting Info

[Noir]

"Gather 'round and I will tell you of how things came to be. Many lifetimes ago, the world was spanned by kingdoms, vast empires and the rare wild places. The world was tamed, if you will. Monsters were destroyed, or forced ever closer to the edge of maps, and the very land itself was brought under our heel. It was good. It was safe.

Or so we thought.

Nobody is certain what brought them here, maybe they sensed weakness, that we had gone soft. Maybe turning our happiness to sorrow was that much more sweeter for them. I dunno why they came, but came they did. The Horrors. Strange creatures, that fed on fear, pain, hate and spread madness and in their wake. 

It started slow at first. One here or there, across the map from each other. They were fought and, often at great cost, defeated. But over the years, they came more often, and people began to realize these beasts were connected. Though all unique, they shared some traits and all fed the same.

What was once a trickle of Horrors grew. Even the greatest empires on the world knew they would not be able to hold out for long. A flood of Horrors was coming, and it looked like the end. 

And then it was the Dragons came forth, offering a means of battling, or at least surviving, the oncoming flood of Horrors. The Scourge. The Dragons taught us how to take shelter within the earth, protected by strange and powerful warding magic shared, said to be a gift from Bahamut.

Now some stayed and fought, led by Paladins and Clerics and maybe even the Dragons themselves. But the rest took shelter, sealing ourselves away behind the dragons' wards, holding the Horrors at bay, in hopes that they would either be defeated, or soon begin to starve and leave.

Generations went by, and one by one the wards were dropped, or began to fail without proper maintenance, and we once more set foot on the surface, feeling the grass beneath our feet, the breeze in our hair and the sun on our faces.

It was our world, but different now. Rivers found new paths through the changed landscape. Where once had been fields of crops as far as the eye could see, now stood forests and jungles and swamps. Shorelines of oceans were unrecognizable now. 

Maybe, in the end, the Scourge was a good thing, for the world was reborn. A fresh start for us, and maybe this time we won't muck it up like our ancestors did.

There are stories of a Horror here or there, but it seems for the most part, they have retreated to whatever hell spawned them. And now there is a new world that needs exploring. Communities to be awakened, ruins to be found, adventure and treasure to be had. 

The handful of you venture into this world, to help rebuild it. Let us do the mundane work. The farming and carpentry and what not. That is easy. But what the world needs now are stories... legends... Heroes... to fight away the fear and give hope..."

[Noir]

Many decades ago, when people began to leave the safety of their warded settlements and venture back out into the changed world, they began to explore. The landscape had changed in many ways, but one of the biggest obstacles was the newly shifted rivers. Old bridges, if they still existed in some form, were now useless, spanning dry riverbeds. So people searched along the riverbank for a new place to cross and found one, a natural rock bridge spanning a shallow, river valley.

As the only place to cross the river easily by foot, for many days in either direction, it became a common crossing point. It did not take long for some enterprising individuals to begin to set up tents to sell their goods, or food, or even a (relatively) soft bed to beings using the crossing.

In time, tents gave way to crude wood structures, and more of them, including many docks as small craft began to attempt to navigate the river. The crude carpentry was replaced with the work of craftsmen as the once make shift settlement grew into a small, and then somewhat large town. Without a formal name, people simply called it what they always had...

The Crossing.

Now the wood structures of The Crossing are slowly yielding to stone, as it grows from a large town into a small city with a small force of peacekeepers (largely funded by the merchants and business owners to protect their interests) and a small, simple temple devoted to Bahamut.

The Crossing has become something of a trade hub as well, due to the riverboats. There is a surprising variety of items and services than can be found in The Crossing now. Many shops and business cater directly to the many explorers that use The Crossing, and venture out into this new world, providing arms, armor, supplies and even information can be found from a local sage or often in many of the taverns.

[Noir]

The Boar’s Run Tavern

The Boar’s Run tavern is a moderately sized establishment at The Crossing, simple in design and built of stout, wooden construction. Inside about two thirds of the building is a single, large, rectangular tavern room. Half of the back wall is occupied by a bar and a couple of doors, one leading to the kitchen and the other is locked, are between the bar and a set of stairs leading up. Along a short side wall is three, high-backed booths which seat four comfortably (six if you cram in or bring chairs to the end of table). On the opposite wall from the booths is a large, stone fireplace. In addition there are four large tables which seat four or more, and four small, high tables for one or two people to stand at.

Surprisingly, many windows line the walls. The glass is not of the highest quality, so looking through a hazy window oddly distorts the image, but they allow plenty of natural light to filter in, giving the Boar’s Run a more lively feel than many taverns. And indeed, during the daylight hours, it is more of a place to get a decent meal or relax with a drink, than being simply a bar.

The tavern is run by a married couple of dwarves, Thom and Inga Barleybrew, manning the bar and kitchen, respectively. In addition, they have some hired help in the form of a couple of local half-elven girls, twins by the name of Ami and Mia, who take orders, deliver food and drink, and often sing to entertain patrons. Over time, Thom has becomes somewhat protective of the girls, and does not respond well to people being too hands on with them (something which an occasional, groping patron learns the hard way).