Morguhald

Morguhald is a small thorp at the southern border of Sithicus, lying at the very edge of the Misty Border.

Layout

The thorp lies three days' travel beyond sight of the nearest road, at the center of the fields cultivated by its inhabitants. Its one-story, wattle-and-daub[1] huts might be mistaken for weathered boulders from a distance. At the very center of the thorp stands a communal storehouse, where villagers collect the yields of their acres. The settlement's lone inn, the Impaled Count, stands at the northern outer edge of its fields. This stout, two-storey building is made of bricks and slate, rather than the wattle-and-daub construction prevalent in the rest of the thorp. Another stone building, set at the western outer edge of the fields, contains preserved foods and meagre amounts of coin the thorp collects to pay its taxes.

Inhabitants

The thorp is inhabited by a mixed population of humans, elves, halflings, half-elves and Afflicted kender. Oddly enough, there is none of the racism that is rampant in so much of the Demiplane of Dread.

Morguhald is sparsely populated, even for its small size, and each inhabitant typically has a hut to themselves. Very rarely, a new immigrant to the thorp will spend time in the hut of a previous resident until they are considered to be able to 'stand on their own feet', in which case they will construct a hut of their own.

Although the thorp has a mayor, who is recognizable by an iron chain carrying the black rose symbol of Sithicus' former ruler, he or she is appointed annually as a figurehead for contact with outsiders by an informal council of elders.

Economy

Morguhald appears to be more or less self-reliant. The locals tend their fields, adhering to strict rules of crop rotation and good stewardship of the land, and know enough to make and repair their own clothes, equipment and homes, as well as how to preserve food. Those who contribute to the wellbeing of the thorp are allowed to take food from the communal storage to meet their own needs, with rationing overseen by the council of elders occurring in particularly lean times.

It is rare for outsiders to come to Morguhald, and there is no regular trade with any other community in Sithicus or beyond the Mists. If outsiders do arrive, be they traders, travellers or outlaws, the locals provide what is asked within reason without charging anything, so long as the outsiders keep the peace. Food and repairs to gear, clothes made of Morguhald's coarse grey cloth, room and board in the Impaled Count - all these things are provided, on the understanding that strangers leave as soon as they are able. If grateful travellers do press coin on the locals, they will gravely accept it, only to then store it in the tax-house for when "King" Azrael's Politskarae come around to collect.

Culture

More than one visitor to have passed through Morguhald has described the local culture as 'dismal'.

The townsfolk work in silence, prefer to spend as much of their downtime as they can alone in their huts, and say as little as possible when they do need to confer. The populace appears to be perfectly content with a largely vegetarian diet (augmented infrequently with the meat of pests killed when interfering with the fields), and what little alcohol is brewed is not for festive purposes, but to assist with the preservation of food and to sterilize injuries. Although visitors can stay and eat in the Impaled Count for free, there is no staff there to cook and clean, and the preserved food is no better than what the villagers themselves eat.

All in all, Morguhald appears to be a place of joyless self-denial and isolation. Even swaggering Politskarae who come to collect the taxes tend to find the place unpleasant, and rarely stay longer than is strictly necessary.

The village's one known festival is what might be described as some sort of dance festival, held on year's longest night. Unaccompanied by music, with no special food or drink provided, without even the comfort of lit torches, all locals capable of movement perform the steps of an ancient dance from sunset till sunrise in the bitter cold of the Sithican winter night. The rare observer has described the dance as possessing both a flowing beauty and being a display of rigid discipline.

Dread Possibility

Morguhald's oddities and unwelcoming nature can be explained by the fact that the whole thorp is a monastery in disguise. The Ascetic Order of the Grey Children, having suffered attacks on its previous monasteries by greedy and outright evil nobles and monsters due to made-up stories of the Order hoarding fabulous wealth, finally abandoned its austere strongholds and scattered across the Core.

One particular group of Grey Children created the dreary little thorp of Morguhald in the Land of Specters. Disguised as backwoods itinerant farmers and craftsmen, the monks of the Order continue to lead disciplined lives, practising meditation and intense physical exercise in order to rid themselves of all weakness in the privacy of their huts. Whenever wandering brothers and sisters of the Order find their way to Morguhald - or even more rarely, when a fresh novice finds its way to them - they are trained in both the disciplines of the Order and the rigors of village life by an incumbent until they are ready to build their own hut. The annual 'dance festival' is actually a communal display of the kata[2] or forms of their discipline, allowing the Monks to share innovations they have conceived of during the year, as well as reaffirm the community's shared heritage.

Inhabitants of Note

• Athola Tongueburr, female Lawful Neutral Sithican Kender Rogue 2 / Monk 3. One of the afflicted Kender, Athola spent her youth creeping around the wilderness and back alleys of Sithicus and Kartakass, dodging the attentions of kender vampires, Politskarae, wolfweres and whatever other creatures thought her a convenient meal. Stumbling upon Morguhald and discovering its monastic culture was like a miracle to her. She submitted herself for consideration as a novice, and has never regretted the decision.

• Bell-Amour, female Lawful Neutral Borcan Ermordenung Aristocrat 1 / Monk 5. Bell-Amour (a word written on her tattered clothes in chalk when she arrived, rather than a proper name) arrived at Morguhald one day and sat down near the village storehouse, waiting to either be acknowledged or starve to death. The Monks discovered that her body was saturated with dreadful venom, but realized that the beautiful young woman was in the grip of soul-crushing depression and guilt. The former has been counteracted by providing Bell-Amour with thick cloth, which she uses to cover herself until she could be mistaked for a mummy or a leper from a distance. The latter has at least been aleviated by plunging into the rigorous discipline of a Grey Child. Bell-Amour has not said even a single word since her arrival, and lets her actions speak for her; they speak of merciless self-discipline and affection for the rest of the Order.

• Lemuel Privatus, male Lawful Evil Darkonese elf Monk 9. One of the elders of the thorp, Lemuel still recalls the time when the Order of the Grey Children inhabited 'proper' monasteries instead of hiding in plain sight. While he is loyal to the Order and his fellow Monks, Lemuel has been nursing a grudge against the world that forced the Grey Children into hiding, which has caused him to become outright evil. Under the guise of travelling to the Sithican forests to meditate and collect wood to create new tools, Lemuel has been venting his frustration by assaulting and murdering lone travellers. If visitors arrive at Morguhald, he will try to retreat into deep meditation to stop himself from attacking them. Of late, Lemuel has been wearing leather gloves to hide the fact that failed Powers checks have left him with functional - but fortunately insensitive - eyeballs in the palms of his hands, as well as claws at his fingertips.

• Magnus Dealy, male Lawful Good Mordentish human Fighter 5 / Pistoleer 2 / Monk 2. A former adventurer kicked out of his party after his arm was seemingly crippled, Magnus stumbled onto Morguhald while looking for a place to die. The Monks put him through a ruthless therapy program which restored the use of his arm, and would have sent him on his way if he had not asked to be allowed to join their community. Although he is content to life out his life with the Grey Children, Magnus is slightly more open to contact with the outside world, and regularly cleans and maintains the Impaled Count.