Scenario starter: What else should be on this list?
Endless, trackless sea of grass
Abandoned temples of the Ancient Race
Lone volcano, cloud-bannered
Caravans on the Opium Road
Tribes twisted, strengthened by blood magic
The colossal corpse of a god, turned to stone
The nearby roar of a lion
A sacred well, haunted by ancient atrocity
Great hunting birds soaring overhead
Give me good ideas and I’ll name a villain after you. 🙂
A canopy of tightly interwoven trees whose upper branches support a small pond and oasis, filled by rainwater in the season, 40 feet above the ground.
A trio of young adult male lions, not comfortable in each other’s presence but staying together out of shared fear of the rest of their surroundings. In the far distance, the lioness who just expelled them from her pack to make whatever way they can for themselves.
A spring, hidden until right on top of it
A flock of small birds takes flight in surprise
Briefly glimpsed rider disappearing over a distant rise
Lone watchtower, overgrown with grass
Strings of streamers, fluttering in the gathering wind
Looming stormclouds, miles away but ominious
A stand of trees, shaking under a storm-darkened sky
Chimes, used to predict the ever-changing winds
A great crevasse, spanned by a rickety old rope bridge. The bottom of the crevasse is obscured by the smoke and steam the pours out of it.
The white marble tower of the sorceress queen, now crumbling and overrun by the whispering forest.
The beastman tribe, descendants of nature spirits that took mortal form and became corrupted.
The stone drake, a giant lizard that eats rocks, and has scales made of stone and metal.
The dream thief, a tiny bird made of bones. It can take away your nightmares if you leave it an offering of honey and three grains of wheat, but it will take one fond memory back to its master.
Cave grubs, colonies of worms that use acidic secretions to burrow through stone. Colonies carve out cave systems and the largest have created vast caverns. Their acidic secretions are prized by alchemists.
The old fort, abandoned decades ago and left to be consumed by the deserts glittering sands.
The grey wall, extending from the hot sea to the peak of the shattered mountain. None can identify the strange grey stone it is made from, and none know the name of the empire that built it.
Heart seekers, small red beetles the size of a coin. Once they have tasted the blood of something, they can track the sound of their targets heart as long as it beats.
Steelwood, a forest that has been turned into living steel. During a storm, the leaves can cut anything living to ribbons as the wind blows them through the trunks, which ring like bells when struck.
The Tempest, a man with wild hair that is blown by a savage wind no one else feels. He is immortal, a powerful sorcerer of chaos, and completely mad. It is said that a drop of his blood will give you a piece of his power for a short time, and terrible dreams of the Maelstrom of the Chaos Plane for the rest of your life.
Smokestink on the wind, portent to a deadly grassfire
A weathered roadside cairn, faithfully attended by a small dog’s bones
A poorly hidden kraal, containing a group of naked mutes, docilely waiting for the knife
A cluster of seething ant-mounds, festooned with skeletons, warnings to those who would transgress the tribe’s laws.
A mysterious caravan that offers anything you want but the cost is never coin.
Great stuff!