Best of Greyhawk VII - Le Monde de Greyhawk

Greyhawk By NightGreyhawk has always been as much a city of the darkness as of the light. The Old City bustles with activitytill just shy of dawn. Most sections of the city have lamps lit till around midnight. Except for the usual hazardsassociated with the dark, Greyhawk has been no more or less dangerous than any other similarly sized city. This haschanged. Mists swirl through streets far removed from the River Quarter and shapes move within those mists.Vampiric Mists, Sons of Kyuss and Sea Zombies have all been reliably reported - within the city limits! Thisis simply unheard of! Obviously some dark agency is at work here. The Old City seems to be the focus of thisundead activity. It is whispered that Kyuss himself has returned as a lich. Of course, such tales have no basis infact.Pine Needles & HaystacksRural hicks. Rubes. Hayseeds. These are but some of the derisive names the city dwellers of Greyhawkgive to the farmers and herders who work the surrounding lands. Of predominately Flan and Oeridian admixtures,these simple people mind their own business and, for the most part, ignore the insults. In turn, they are largelyignored save for the sale of their produce and the merchandise they buy.A fundamentally druidic people, the peasants from Dyvers to Hardby remain close to nature. While theywill nominally follow this faith or that, the druidic way is that which they have always followed. For generations, theyhave turned to druids in times of need.The druids of the area keep to themselves. They do not advertise their presence lest they incur the wrath ofmore organized religions. With the tumult of recent times, the druids have had to act to protect their faithful.Adventurers trample heedlessly through fields. Soldiers take what they want. Humanoids have become morecommon. The time has come to raise the Sentinels.Needlemen have been summoned from the Deep Shade and Scarecrows set up in fields. Those who go byless travelled roads would be well advised to take care and keep a civil tongue in their mouth. To be called a WickerMan is no compliment and best to avoid being so named.RatsUnknown to anyone, Christa, the new Beggarmistress, suffered more terribly as a street urchin than anymight suppose. Her sympathy for her followers was hard won. In a moment of cruel sport, Christa was captured bythe Shapechangers. As they toyed with her, she was infected with lycanthropy, becoming a wererat. Luckily, sheescaped.As it turned out, her charisma in rat form was no less than that as a human. Christa soon had her revenge.By the thousands, rats devoured the Shapechangers till they were no more.Ashamed of her infection, Christa does not use her power over rats, though she is not unaware of the powercamprats and vapor rats would give her. To date, she has only used her ability once since destroying theShapechangers. When Org Nenshen sent assassins to *remove* the new Beggarmistress, she respondedinstinctively by calling for help. The assassins' bones were picked clean.Any threat to Christa may met with similar *resistance*.People of the BookOrg Nenshen's discovery of The Book has not resulted in his immediate command of all the knowledge itcontains but his knowledge is growing. Always a practical man, Org hasconcentrated on mastering simple principles first, the more useful the better.Slow Shadows are among the creatures spoken of in The Book as well as their summoning. A relativelysimple procedure, Org has employed it to ward the Thieves' Guild. Slow Shadows now guard the confines of theGuildhall and act as Org's spies. The shadow that has fallen over the Guildhall is literal as well as figurative.The Book has also revealed to Org the existence of an ancient race known as the Loquari or Skulks. Org hassent emissaries to the ruins they are said to inhabit to seek an alliance. Org wishes to bring them to Greyhawk asthieves, their natural abilities suiting such work. He also hopes to learn from them mo re of The Book.TentamortsTentamorts are another of the creatures freed by the Fire. They are now all too common in basements andcellars. Riding homes of unwanted tentamorts has become a cottage industry in Greyhawk among underemployedadventurers.WraithsWraiths are a common type of undead throughout the Flaneass. So many wars have washed over the land