About three days ride southwest of the grumman town of Feist, there lies a vast expanse of muddy ground. These muddy fields start abruptly and stretch nearly 200 kilometers until the reach the cliffs of the northern Sentinel Mountains. The mud is thick here and very difficult to traverse. Horses and wagons cannot enter the muddy grounds. The only way to traverse this region is on foot and even that is fraught with difficulty. The grounds are fairly flat, but there are many small hills dotting the landscape.
Regardless of the weather, even on the hottest summer days, it is muddy here. The locals call this area the "muddy grounds". They have been here for countless centuries and appear on the oldest maps.
Something in the soil here limits plant life. Only a few hardy specimens of plants manage to survive. Animals are few here as well. Finally, the whole region has a faint magical aura about it. The locals believe that some great magic from long ago created the muddy grounds and that this ancient magic lingers even today. There is likely some truth to this. Some wizards have found that a powerful dispell magic spell will cause the mud to turn to solid ground... at least in a small area and for a few minutes. To date, no scholar or wizard has conducted a rigorous study of the region or the strange faint magical aura found here.
Local children from nearby villages will often dare each other to see who will venture the furthest out into the muddy grounds. Most locals ignore it. It can't be farmed and it can be dangerous as it's easy to get lost or stuck in the mud. If one does venture deep into the muddy grounds and searches, many interesting things can be uncovered. The occasional sword or arrow or piece of armor... a leather saddle or horseshoe. It seems there were battles fought here once, long ago. There is no telling what history, and what secrets, might be buried in the mud. .
This website was last updated August 9, 2023. Copyright 1990-2023 David M. Roomes.