Unicorn RampantClaw / Claw / Bite magazine & Tabletop Role-Playing Games

Dec 14th Wild Elves of the Pirate Kingdoms

In the Chillgrove Woods north of Allenwood a settlement of wild wood elves hides, well secured within a vast mountain grove. Their hunters deter the ice kobolds from the north and the humans from the south from encroaching on their territory, and any who could sneak past them face an enchantment that protects the settlement.

For where the mountain stream becomes a river, the water splits and forms an island, where their dwellings nestle among the towering trees. The water around this island is enchanted such that only elves may cross to the island. Any other who tries will find themselves crossing all the way to the other side of the split in the river, magically bypassing the island completely. This ward may only be bypassed by use of the password, or the spells knock, dispel magic, etc. 

Within, their settlement is a pristine embodiment of wood elf culture in the Pirate Kingdoms. Their fierce hunters protect the territory of the animals they hunt from other hunters. Gatherers and cultivators of informal gardens of edible plants, they feast on the wood’s mushrooms, berries, acorns, honey, rabbit, and deer. Patient makers of fine tools, garments, and art, mainly without the use of metal. Good friends with the druids of the region, and host to a grand old druid.

Their homes are mainly built up in the trees, such that one might not notice them if not for the rope ladders hanging down here and there, and the stairs built up around the largest tree in the center of the island. In that tree lives the town’s eldest druid and their family.

They follow the creed of the wood elves, which is that everyone must be free to do as they wish, as long as they harm none. A handful of humans, half-elves, haflings, gnomes, and other forest fey live here in this peaceful haven. When something of import presents itself to the town, a meeting is called, and the people decide as they will, by consensus or vote. Occasionally they must mobilize themselves against the ice kobolds, goblins, and humans who surround them, but their overwhelming advantage in their home woods has led to a fearsome reputation as “the Death Elves of Chillgrove Woods” among their periodic foes.