Shummer

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Just Surviving Shummer [Burg - Khalas] Copyright © 2000 by Leonardo Wilhelm

Character: Let the foolish fight and bully, and then steal their goods when they're weak. Always take advantage and divide nothing. Gold is all that there is to have and everything has its price, just make sure you're not the one paying it.

Ruler: The mighty grandfather, Captain Vidigarr (Pl/male orc/F9/Mercykiller/LE), has been ruling for almost forty years now since he founded the town and has shown no sign of weakening, maintaining the place somewhat organized and with an acceptable crime rate. Other than that he leaves patrols to Roral.

Behind the throne: Roral, the barbed one (Pr/male orc/F10/Fated/CE), arrived not long ago and has gathered much support from the townspeople and formed a personal army. Although he reports to Vidigarr, the orc's been bullying local criminals into working for him. However, he isn't smart enough to try to actually do something else.

Description: The underground town of Shummer came to be when some orc refugees from Acheron found what was, at the moment, a reentrance in a canyon of the Furnace that protected them from the constant lava falls. Captain Vidigarr ordered the construction of the city and they made a living growing fungus and trading ore and low quality manufactures. It was then that an earthquake rocked the place and they saw that the Styx route had been changed to the canyon and was going to flood the city in less than hours, lest they escape. A barmy, but enterprising, orc named Brunx tore the reentrance side down at the cost of his life. This caused the city to be partially buried under lava falls that in contact with the Styx, cooled to dense rock. Opening a way out the orcs realized that their city was under the accursed river and quickly found an exit.

The orcs built several pillars and ceilings to protect them from the Styx's infiltrations and at the same time became guarded from Khalas melting ground. Then came the next problem: food and water. Vidigarr traveled to Sigil and negotiated with the Consortium. He managed to get some fungus and special cacti that are immune to the river's influence, purifying the water. However, now the entire city smells of fungi in every corner and has covered a cavern section bordering the Styx with the spiky plants. The city was isolated and they grew tired of eating fungi and tunneling rock. The Captain's next move was to plant a lot of cacti near the entrance to call attention and offered refuge to travelers and goods to merchants.

The place consists of a great cave, where the old city resides, connecting with many rooms in a big network of passages and halls. Most homes are built in the rock and, although under the Styx and connected to the surface, it is still quite hot and wise cutters will keep their boots on. Shummer has attained some fame in mining and tunneling and is known for their barmy fearless workers. They will work under any conditions provided they are well paid and protected from planar hazards.

Militia: The Barbs are the typical corrupt militia that infests the Lower Planes: lazy, violent, dirty and nearly useless. They only interfere with obvious crimes and their investigations don't go further than the next tavern. The only advantage that exists here is that they're cheap to be garnished.

Services: Some decent food and a nice hot bed can be found in this place. The inhabitants aren't friendly, but neither are they hostile, as long as you let the jink flow. In an inhospitable place like Gehenna, it seems like paradise. Standard services cost about one half more but are all still reasonable. Other than this, quality climbing and mining material can be found at low prices, as well as good mining guilds that sell their skills to use on the Lower Planes, Astral, Outlands and, at maximum, Sigil. They can be seen working at the god-isles or at Maladomini, or even Pandemonium, which accounts for their reputation with fiends.

The Orc's Shack offers all kinds of second hand products, from cursed scrolls to books, weapons, clothes, mephits, toys and so on. Whatever a cutter wants that could have been used before, the owner seems to have it. The Orc as he is creatively known is a pretty ordinary berk, to the point that he has no remarkable features at all. On the other hand, people have noticed that he hasn't changed a bit in the last forty years and no one has ever bobbed him to this day. The Orc himself just silences and shows another item for sale.

Local News: Some bad friends have been counseling Roral lately. Chant goes that some amnizu and his entourage keep coming and going as if looking for something and that the baatezu high up has been giving Vidigarr the hairy eyeball. Curiously some say that a group of exiled tanar'ri have been seen lurking near the Styx. What shall come out of this, only powers know, but are surely no good.

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