Continuing on with the Whistleleaf City setting, we leave behind NPCs and factions, and come to…
Important Locations
“We are children of our landscape. It dictates behaviour and even thought in the measure in which we are responsive to it.” – Lawrence Durrell, Justine (New York: Dutton, 1957), p. 41.
Let’s take a tour through Whistleleaf City’s hot spots.
Lake Piquetta, Siskiyou River and Crescent River
As touched on earlier, Whistleleaf City is on the eastern shore of a large freshwater lake (Lake Piquetta) connected to a river snaking north-east (Crescent River) and a river flowing south (Siskiyou River). The lake has several islands in the middle of it, two are relatively large (500 yards from end to end) with forested hills, most are small (25 yards from end to end) pieces of land. The city docks allow ships travelling across the lake and along the rivers as part of tourism, trade and travel. There is at least one monster lair hidden somewhere on one of the larger islands, and monsters may be living in or around the lake waters. There are houseboats and luxury yachts out on the lake all year round. (And PCs may have confrontations and meetings on such watercraft with the important NPCs who own them.)
There are many large but cosy cottages situated along the shores of the lake, usually serving as a summer home for wealthy families and secluded retreats for successful artists, a few are safe-houses for criminals, secret agents and occultists. The secluded lakeside cottages have amenities for comfort, a gazebo, an enclosed deck, an artesian well for drinking water, a small dock with boathouse, motion sensor lights to scare off wild animals and expose would-be burglars, unimpressive external doors and windows (although perhaps the resident has spent money upgrading their toughness for extra security), average quality alarm systems and locks (unless the resident is particularly concerned about intruders or threats), and perhaps a stash of hunting rifles and shotguns kept inside by paranoid residents. It takes 1d-2 (minimum 1) hours for emergency services like police and ambulances to response and arrive at a lakeside cottage unless the cottage is on the west shore, close to Whistleleaf City proper. A cottage’s neighbour may be 2-5 miles away via the roads. (The D20 Modern supplement Critical Locations has a map for a typical lakeside cottage, I highly recommend checking it out if you can.)
The Gate of Thoth
A huge point of interest for the occult underground once known, The Gate of Thoth is a magical portal allowing time-travel. The Gate of Thoth is located in the depths of a cave in a remote forested hill, about 6.75 miles from the city limits of Whistleleaf. No nature trails lead to the cave and no map marks it as a point of interest, finding it on purpose would require knowledge of magic and probably spellcasting. (Certain obscure old books of arcane lore forgotten by time might allude to it being in the area.) The signs of something intensely unnatural are subtle but someone who knows what to look for (animals frightened of the area, weird smells in the air, strange dreams when sleeping nearby, etc.) might pick up on it.
The Gate of Thoth is a faintly humming block-like monolith of pure inky black energy that’s about twice as wide as a person and 150% higher than a person’s height. Stepping into the solid black energy causes you to travel through time (but not space). The other side of the journey has an identical energy monolith for travelling back, the spatial location of the Gate’s endpoint is the same as its start point. (The GM decides which point in the timeline The Gate leads to, this point can change to another time at any point the GM likes.)
One useful default assumption is that the Gate’s destination starts out as “5 years earlier than the current date” – this makes for a nice not-too-wild bit of time travel to ease everybody into when the campaign begins. The GM can manage “5 years ago” with less hassle than more dramatic time travel. Only when tossing a curveball or raising the stakes is needed, will the Gate’s destination change to further back in time and allow some real chaos to happen.
It is assumed (when the campaign begins) that no-one, even in The Scene, knows of The Gate yet or that it was discovered only recently. Because a huge war will break out in The Scene when the Gate becomes more widely known. The GM may let the PCs be the first ones to discover it, so they can have the pleasure of having to defend it from all comers for the rest of the campaign.
Places of Power
As noted on Thaumatology page 128, there exists secret magically resonant ritual spaces that give bonuses to casting spells. Despite what Thaumatology suggests, places of power do not NEED to have a history of being used for magic to have a bonus, it’s possible that a place of power may simply be magically charged by otherworldly energy flows unrelated to its history (such a bonus may never decay as long as the ley line infrastructure holds), and give a big bonus to rituals despite never having one spell cast there. What is true no matter what, though, is that places of power are usually already jealously claimed by occultists and Scene factions.
In Whistleleaf City, most places of power are at the +1 and +2 bonus level. These relatively common ritual spaces number about 40 to 55 in all of Whistleleaf, and half of them are claimed by individuals and groups powerful enough to keep them (the rest are either unknown or too public to maintain as a personal resource). There are places of power worth a +3 bonus, but they are much rarer (20 in the entire city at most), and ALL of them are “owned” by serious players in The Scene who have secured them for their use only. There are only 5 to 10 places of power worth a +4 bonus, and the majority (4 out of 5) of those are firmly claimed by the most lucky or powerful players in The Scene. The rest are unknown to anyone, which is why they aren’t taken already. There are no +5 places of power in Whistleleaf City. Not yet, anyway. If some great shift in the otherworldly energies did create such a wonder, it would cause havoc from the ensuing gold rush in The Scene alone.
The most infamous (either claimed or too public to use) locations of magical potency in Whistleleaf City are a white gazebo in a city park (+1 bonus), a set of improvised shrines for crash victims by the side of the highway (+1 bonus), a powerline pole festooned with many old shoes (+1 bonus), a colourful graffiti mural depicting the story of Pinochino (+1 bonus), a clearing with a view of a cliff on a state park nature trail (+2 bonus), a fairy ring of mushrooms in the state park (+1 bonus most of the time, but rises to +3 on certain moonlit nights), an ancient tree tourist attraction in the state park (+2 bonus), an old quarry site turned into a swimming pool (+2 bonus), an atrium in an art museum (+2 bonus), an abandoned gravel pit filled with rainwater at a countryside farmhouse (+2 bonus), a large cave not open to the public due to dangers (+3 bonus, monsters probably lurk within), the sub basement of the municipal hall of records (+3 bonus), the top of a skyscraper downtown (+3 bonus), the strangely-decorated backyard of a mansion (+3 bonus), and the food court of a dying mall (+1 bonus).
Anti-Magic and No Mana Zones
There are locations in Whistleleaf City where magic does not work to some extent, either due to intentional sabotage by magicians or by natural disruptions in the local mana. Please note that anti-magic zones and no mana zones differ in how they work – the former aggressively dispels magic both already in progress (including enchanted items and pre-cast ritual charms) and attempts to cast new spells, while the later simply stops new spells being cast (thus rituals charms already prepared are not affected) and permanent enchantments do not function in the zone. Both types of locations negatively affect creatures that are dependent on mana.
These locations are just as important to The Scene as places of power – occultists know that such locations offer protection against magical attack and repel certain monsters. Any known anti-magic or no mana zone becomes another resource to control and thus fight over. The GM can assume that there are 20 to 35 no mana zones and 15 anti-magic zones in Whistleleaf City, spread out thinly, and only a third of them in total have been discovered by people in The Scene. Notable locations of such areas are a street intersection where an unsolved triple murder took place (no mana), a small obscure alcohol shop owned and run by a local family (no mana), the basement of a house where a kidnapped child died of starvation (no mana), the large parking lot of a condemned strip mall (anti-magic), a vacant lot that’s been illegally used as a trash pile (anti-magic), an empty middle class residential house that got gutted by fire (no mana), a convention center (no mana), a roadside diner by the highway (no mana), a big shut-down factory in an industrial district (anti-magic), a hospital that has been possessed by a powerful and twisted spirit (anti-magic), and the lobby of an office skyscraper (anti-magic).
Monster Lairs
There are places in Whistleleaf taken over by multiple monsters (typically a pack of 10 to 30 depending on the habits and demographics of the monsters, rare monsters may be only be 5 to a lair) that use as defensible living quarters. Most of these lairs are not entered by humans much (perhaps located 2 to 5 miles outside city limits), hard to get into from outside, feature an emergency exit not easily discovered from the outside, sturdy enough to resist destruction by arson attempts, and spacious enough for every monster to not feel hemmed in by their fellows (assume about 3 average-sized rooms of area per monster). Sapient monsters (vampires, for example) might set up security systems including traps to deter intruders, and monsters that resemble humans (again, vampires) can allow themselves to lair in more ordinary and well-trafficked places. Most lairs are dark (since most monsters have better night vision than humans) and can have any number of supernatural features.
Whistleleaf City has lairs hidden in a series of underground crypts in a cemetery, a cave on a lake island, a mansion in the hills, a closed down cineplex and a roadside motel (monsters lurk both inside the motel’s guts and in the surrounding wilderness).
Hideout: Bomb Shelter
Located ten miles outside the limits of Whistleleaf City and built during the Cold War, this well-stocked bomb shelter has been claimed by a gang of career criminals or a cabal of occultists. The shelter is buried under dozens of feet of dirt, constructed with concrete and steel, designed to keep its occupants alive for a year under conditions of degrading comfort. It is currently outfitted with a year’s worth of non-perishable food, a complete set of survivalist tools and supplies, an external power source (hooked up to the state’s electrical grid) in addition to the on-site generator (with a big fuel stockpile), a steel vault door entrance that locks from the inside, surveillance cameras (the feed viewed via the TV in the shelter) both inside and out, the squatter’s armoury of guns and ammo, an indoor swimming pool, a library, a workshop (an alchemy lab or ritual space if occultists occupy the place), a lounge with television, a recreation room, a dining room, an exercise room, bathrooms, a greenhouse, bedrooms, kitchen and storage spaces for all the items needed to support it all.
(The D20 Modern supplement Critical Locations has a map of bomb shelter with details, I recommend seeking it out.)
The bomb shelter is helpful as a free-floating element that can be introduced as events proceed. If the PCs need to confront bad guys during the course of the campaign, have them figure out the enemy is using this bomb shelter as a hideout.
R.T. Burns Truck Stop
A key point along the highway, right by an exit into Whistleleaf, this commercial facility is made up of refuelling stations, parking spots, food eateries and other services for motorists and truckers hauling freight. People pulling can enjoy 5 different convenience stores, a food court, showers, vehicle washers, two motels, a small video arcade, a movie theatre and retail stores. R.T. Burns is a chain franchise well-known across America, and the place is sufficiently respectable, clean and safe (no biker gangs or prostitutes at this truck stop, for instance) to reflect that. However, the roads and wilderness that surround the truck stop might just be beset with lurking criminals and monsters waiting on would-be victims to leave the bright spot and fall into their clutches. The truck stop makes for a good meeting place if there’s a traveller or out-of-city shipment in play. The PCs can go here to receive a package, hand off a shipment, talk to a newcomer or track down someone trying to flee Whistleleaf.
Whistleleaf Landmarks
The city has stand-out locations that locals use as touchstones – “We’ll meet up later at the [obvious and well-known landmark] and discuss what we find.”
Paradise Donuts, for example, is a beloved local baked treats shop know for quirky designs of donuts. It has the iconic giant strawberry-iced with sprinkles doughnut sculpture on top, extensively visible from down the street. The interior is coloured brightly and cleanly. A large rotating cast of local teens and young college students work at Paradise Donuts, both at the counter and baking in the back.
There is a statue in a park made of sheet metal, so angular like an F-117. It is a crow about 10′ tall eating French fries. Its official name (“As the Crow Freedom Fries”) is little known among even locals, everyone just calls it “the steel bird”. The small square park is just outside city hall, the government bureaucrats taking coffee breaks on the metal benches and relaxing under trees. The statue is in the middle of the park, the brick pathways all converging on it.
The Oony Otter Is a lakeside restaurant with a reasonably eclectic menu, catering to the university crowd. The name derives from a local urban legend about an otter (or a series of otters– the legend originated in the 1980s) which has been sighted in or around the lake, and to which highly strange attributes are ascribed, though with extreme inconsistency. In one story, the otter might be abnormally huge; in another, it is seen levitating through a cemetery. Purported YouTube videos of the otter’s paranormal antics have recently given this peculiar local mascot wider exposure. The restaurant, which opened in 1994, was originally dubbed “The Spoony Otter,” but part of the neon sign burned out during a storm and remained unrepaired long enough for the altered name to catch on. The walls are decorated with vivid murals of the otter in its various guises, and there is a sculpture by a local artist out in front, which is routinely dressed up for local holidays and festivals.
South Pine State Park
Whistleleaf City’s biggest feature is a large stretch of forested hills managed by the Oregon government and promoted as a tourist attraction. It features full RV hook-up sites, tent camp sites, flush toilets, showers, a RV dump station, picnic areas, an amphitheatre, playgrounds and a park host. The South Pine State Park is about 4 miles away from Whistleleaf’s city limits, adjacent to the highway.
Naturally, there is all sorts of unnatural wonders and dangers hidden within the State Park (previous posts have detailed some of them). Just one example; the state park has runic symbols in the patterns of its major trails. The runes could used for any of the following purposes (and players may narrow down the possibilities or even precisely determine the actual goal with a good knowledge skill roll); giving bonuses to a specific ritual, giving penalties to all rituals, driving away monsters, keeping an certain undead magician asleep in his grave, allowing the dead to manifest as ghosts, causing death and destruction, powering a major magical artefact like a battery, hiding the existence of a major magical location like a wizard’s tower from anyone not powerful enough to see through the mind-controlling illusion, and any other plot device the GM thinks up.
TO BE CONTINUED
Three Hundred and Thirty-Three 