The Seven Towns of Blind Lake

There's a place out in the backcountry called Blind Lake.  It's mostly woods and lakes around there, maple and beech trees with broad branches and a canopy of leaves that turn orange and red each fall.  The whole area is full of little ponds and lazy, meandering streams that flow into the lake, with a large, slow-moving river that flows out to the east.  Beavers have dammed up many of the streams, forming even more ponds; good places for fishing.

Forest (d20)		signs
1-5	hawks	circling overhead, screeching call in the distance
6-9	humans	thin columns of smoke, footpaths, distant sounds of talking, barking dogs
10-12	goblins	bones that have been chewed on, a baby's cry in the forest
13-15	beavers	dammed-up creeks, gnawed stumps and trunks, sound of slapping the water
16-17	black bear	wide tracks with claw marks in mud, scraped and clawed trees
18-19	elves	footprints, discarded paper, music/singing, gunfire, trampled ground of campsites
20	(d6) 1-3: skunk, 4-5: crows, 6: turtles

(Diego Delso)

(Ilu Tepui, by Lazsp)

Towering over the landscape are these high, rocky buttes, like islands up in the sky.  They say the tops of them are desolate and rotting, full of mosquitos, so nobody ever climbs up there.  A few thin waterfalls stream down from each butte to the forest below.

Buttes (d20)		signs
1-5	mosquitos	clouds of tiny buzzing insects that bite
6-9	turtles	sunning themselves on rocks, disturbed soil where eggs are buried
10-12	mountain lion	medium-sized tracks with four round toes, carcasses of other animals
13-15	garter snake	black snake with thin yellow stripes
16-17	beavers	dammed-up creeks, gnawed stumps and trunks, sound of slapping the water
18-19	cardinal	repetitive birdsong, bright red bird
20	(d6) 1-3: humans, 4-5: goblins, 6: wild geese

The humans have seven towns in the area, all on or near Blind Lake itself.  Further from the lake, goblins are the most common people.  A single elven lumber camp is on the river just downstream from the lake.  The rest of the area is uninhabited wilderness.

The Humans of the Seven Towns

This is a new tribe of humans, formed by the merger of two closely-related groups of survivors after the apocalypse.  The elders are ashamed of what they did to survive through the starving time.

(Warren Moorehead)

The seven towns are built on earthen mounds, both for defense and to avoid flooding.  A wooden palisade surrounds each town.  People live in wooden longhouses, growing beans and raising turkeys.  Rafts are used to get around the area.

People of the seven towns wear beaver-pelt hats in the winter and long woven grass capes.  They make pottery, hammered copper ornaments, and they do geometric carvings on their houses.

A single chief or king rules the tribe, taking food as tribute and demanding warriors for military expeditions.  In war, they tend to burn down enemy towns and take captives as slaves to do menial work.

Men's work is considered to be raising turkeys, working copper ornaments, and settling disputes.  Women's work: growing beans, deciding when/where towns move, and handling death rituals.

The Elves of the Logging Camp

It's a fairly new place, founded only a few years ago by a partnership of three investors who live in the camp.  Elves from the city come here to make some money cutting down trees, sawing them into boards, and sending the lumber downriver on rafts.

The settlement is called Shanakävthe "Sleeping Bear Camp" in the language of the elves.  (For those of you who prefer IPA: /ʃanakævθe/.)

Flooding is a perennial problem.  The roads through the settlement are often just mud, and every building has a high water stain on it.

(Osmond David Putnam)

Everyone at Shanakävthe sleeps in the dormitory.  The elves keep the place smelling like frankincense.

Last year, something went wrong during a trade deal with the humans, and now both sides refuse to talk to each other.

The three partners are deeply divided about the future of their venture.

• The first is afraid of the humans, but desperately clinging to her vision of the lumber company she founded.
• The second is older and disheartened, wanting to sell off his share in the company and return to his home city.  He used to be a friend of the king of the humans, but they haven't spoken since falling out last year.
• The third is a young protege of the first; she's nervous, worried about the settlement's future.

The King's Town

The king of the local humans lives at the town of Pahakok "Boulder Point" (/pahakok/ in IPA).  If you come near and look like trouble, they'll send a party out to chase you away with a loud and ferocious show of arms before you even see the town.

If you have a reason to be let into the town, you'll see that they have eight longhouses here, with about 140 people living in Pahakok.  Things people are doing when you arrive: cleaning a musket, airing out bedding, cooking fish over a fire.  The dogs of this town look strong enough to tear you limb from limb.

(Carel Fabritius)

The king is a troubled man who's faced a hard road so far and expects more of the same.  He feels guilty over how he mistreated his wife, who has since left him with their young daughter and returned to her home town.  He secretly sends gifts to his daughter.

The king has no close friends or advisors left, only subjects.  He's unsettled, unwilling to commit to any long-term plans.

One of the towns (where his wife and daughter live) has recently resumed trading with the elves, in defiance of the king.  They sent the king a prized necklace as a way of apologizing, but they haven't actually stopped trading.  He's trying to decide what to do next about this.

Religion

A lone elven missionary lives in Pahakok as a guest of the king.  She preaches about elven ideas of propriety and veneration of the ancestors.  People question why the king hasn't kicked her out yet.

The humans of this tribe are mostly following new teachings that guarantee prosperity and the end of hunger.  Practitioners paint little pictures of predators and animals that eat crops, then hang them up in large numbers to keep those animals away.  People sometimes go alone to the lake and toss in a handful of dry beans, believing it will bring them help.

There's an old holy site a few miles from the lake, but very few people still follow the old ways, doing so in secret. The site is a large flat rock with a small wooden building on top.  Inside is a carved wooden statue of an ancient king.  Initiates in the old ways secretly still come here to atone for their sins.

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The future of the Blind Lake country is unclear.  A few local conflicts are going on, but big news should shake everything up.

What news would throw this region into turmoil?