D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Herding Slopes: War of the Ram Kings

# Wilderness# Intrigue

On the treacherous Herding Slopes, two ancient, colossal ram-kings—each the spiritual and martial heart of their flock—have driven their monstrous herds into open war. The Graybeard Crags, a network of rocky plateaus and deep ravines, trembles under the thunder of a million hooves. As a band of seasoned adventurers, you are caught in the crossfire, hired not for glory, but for survival. Every pasture trampled is a village starving; every valley claimed is a blood-soaked boundary. The shepherds are divided, the land is dying, and the rams themselves are not mere beasts but ancient, intelligent sovereigns driven by primal logic. Choose your side, for there is no neutral ground, only lesser evils and greater consequences.

Chronicle Prelude

The adventurers arrive at the fortified settlement of Shearhold, a town of desperate shepherds and mercenaries built into a sheltered ravine. The air smells of wet wool, blood, and fear. From the palisades, they can see the two colossal figures—King Stoneheart and King Thunderswool—leading their herds across the horizon, crashing into each other like living avalanches.

Environmental Traits

The central crisis is the territorial feud between the two ram-kings, which has escalated into a region-wide conflict. The landscape itself is being remade by their battles: valleys are being choked by avalanche debris, rivers are diverted, and the sacred grazing grounds are becoming killing fields. Victory is not about slaying a king, but about ending the war—through diplomacy, sabotage, or choosing a victor—to stop the ecological and humanitarian collapse of the Herding Slopes.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (12)

King Stoneheart
An immense ram whose horns are veined with granite and whose fleece is the color of slate. He moves with a weary, deliberate weight, his eyes holding centuries of memory and the sorrow of a guardian watching his world erode. He bears the scars of a hundred territorial disputes.
King Thunderswool
A ram crackling with barely contained energy. His thick fleece is shot through with blue-white veins of lightning, and sparks arc between his horns when he snorts. He paces with aggressive vitality, his eyes fixed on the horizon and the next conquest.
Granite Guildmaster Korv
A stocky, weathered human man in practical leather and wool, his face etched with worry lines. He wears a heavy iron chain of office around his neck. His eyes constantly scan the settlement walls, a man burdened by the responsibility of his people's survival.
High Shepherd Lysa
A tall, striking half-elf woman with hair like spun silver, often caught in the wind. She wears a cloak of storm-grey wool and carries a staff of twisted iron. Her gestures are decisive, her voice compelling, framing every argument as the march of progress.
Deaf Shepherd Geron
An elderly shepherd with a serene, focused expression. His head is cocked slightly to one side, and he communicates through a series of intricate hand signs and written slate tablets. A deep, old burn mark runs across his ears, evidence of a past sonic catastrophe.
Blighted Kraul
Once a ram ewe, this creature is a horrifying amalgamation of wool, exposed muscle, and pulsing purple veins. Its eyes glow with a sickly light, and it moves with a jerky, aggressive gait, guarding a patch of corrupted earth. It is a direct victim and vector of the magical plague.
Defector Silas
A gaunt shepherd, his uniform (of either the Granite Guild or Stormwardens, depending on the players' standing) worn and dirty. He constantly looks over his shoulder, his eyes wide with exhaustion and guilt. He is a man torn apart by the war he once served.
The Blight Spirit
A swirling, intangible mass of sickly purple light, dark rot, and the ghostly shapes of dying flora and fauna. It coalesces from a steaming geyser at the crevasse's bottom, a formless entity of pain and decay. It does not speak, but its presence radiates profound sickness and a desperate, fading will.
Stampede Alpha
A massive, scarred ram at the front of the agitated herd in the Contested Foothills. Its horns are chipped and stained, its eyes wild with the panic and aggression of the stampede. It leads the charge, a living barrier to those who cannot calm or outrun the war-stampede.
Stoneheart Champion
An elite ram from King Stoneheart's personal guard, its horns wrapped in bands of carved granite. It stands its ground with unwavering defiance, a living symbol of the Endurers' resilience. It is encountered guarding a path or shrine in the Contested Foothills.
King's Elite Guard
Two imposing rams, their wool either granite-grey (Stoneheart) or crackling with static (Thunderswool), who stand sentinel before the King's Roost. They are silent, vigilant, and attack with brutal efficiency anyone who fails the Trial of Sovereignty and alarms their liege.
Sunken Cairn Guardian
A shambling construct of petrified wood, ancient stone, and moss, shaped vaguely like a horned beast. It guards the inner chamber of the Sunken Cairns where the Purifying Crystal rests. It attacks intruders with slow, crushing force.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Goblin Plight of Rivervale and the Cryptic Mine

The Lost Workshop: Heart of a Raging Core