Once again I'm playing catch-up on these prompts. Days have been busy around my house so I've got a lot of things in the 'to-do' column and not a lot in the 'done' column in regards to my blogs. A new #WorldbuildingWednesday will be coming out next week but in the meantime, I thought I'd use a brief window of free time in my day to post a reply to the 'Day 3' Worldbuilding prompt.
The Day 3 prompt was:
"What lurks in the forgotten ruins of ancient peoples"
And in the case of my world, that's got a lot of potential answers. Even painting with broad strokes there are many answers - from ancient gods to run-of-the-mill monsters or bandits.
As such, I thought I'd focus on one specific ruin that is noteworthy enough to have a spot on my maps. The Ruins of Liliuqis has long been a source of legend. Nearly 3500 years before the timeline I run at my table, this once flourishing Elven city was destroyed; Punished by the Fae Queen for making a permanent portal to the Feywild.
The result of their hubris was utter devastation for the city's inhabitants and corruption of nearly the entire forest. Dark fey creatures inhabit the once beautiful city, ruling over any of the elves unlucky enough to have survived the destruction of their city. There are tales of those survivors persisting through to modern-day through their bonds to the dark fey that rule them, which though it seems unlikely (even for the long-lived elves) is possible.
Many strange and powerful beasts inhabit the forest, though they get more common the closer you get to the ruined elven city. Adventurers are the only ones foolish or brave enough to try their luck in the woods, and while many never make it out, the few who do come back with ample enough rewards to make others want to try their luck too.
Because of how hard it can be to get a group together for actual play at a table right now for me, I've let some of my friends know that there's always room for a one-on-one game through Discord for a rules-lite bit of DND, and one of the starting hooks I provide is of this location and it reads:
Three drops of rain splatter against the dusty hilltop you rest upon, the mid-day sun obscured by roiling clouds. Though you can't see it, you can - even at this distance - feel the faint tainted pull of the ruins of Liliuqis. Men haven't set foot in the forest surrounding that twisted and blighted city in so long that even the elves talk of it in terms of ancient unknowns. There is a darkness there. Deep and pungent. Despite your own nagging fear, this spot - this exact hilltop - has been the focal point of your dreams since you were a child. And now you're here. Sitting in the rain.
So far we haven't run this adventure... but I can't wait for someone to decide it's worth a try! It's going to be a lot of fun I think, and these rules-lite one-on-one sessions are one of my tricks for building out content that I can use in a group game. I don't have to prep much of anything, and as the player asks questions and explores I can basically just come up with answers and maps on the fly, which I can then refine into more in-depth locations after.
With that all said - I'm going to have to end this post here. I was hoping to also touch on the Day 4 prompt, but unfortunately a very cranky toddler and a very fussy baby have conspired to make that impossible today. Which is fine, because there's always tomorrow! haha.
All the best my friends!
