Myriden Location - The Vale

*http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/360/b/0/tolkien\_wallpaper\_\_mirkwood\_by\_mcnealy-d5pb126.jpg*

*In many ways, the Vale is inspired by Tolkien's Mirkwood, a dark wood filled with dangers to would-be travellers. If players wish for a visual of the wood, most if not all of the Mirkwood images you can find online will do. But where Mirkwood was a place which fell into shadow when the people closed their hearts and eyes to the world around them, the Vale is a wood which was seized by goblin tribes, and fell into shadow over the centuries of their dominance.*

## The Vale

Several centuries ago, the wood to the west of the Dales and the Plains were inhabited by scattered groups of people. This changed when goblins began to invade. Isolated tribes at first, and then sections of the Vale were controlled by goblins. At some point, it was realized that there were none but goblins living within the wood. And so it has been for hundreds of years, the usurpers living in and fouling the buildings and keeps that men, dwarves, and elves built (for goblins build nothing, they merely usurp that which other races have created).

### What people know of the Vale

Most Dalelanders know that "The Vale is where the goblins live". It has been so for so many generations, that most do not even consider that there was something there before. Those of the Five Dales simply avoid the Vale, though caravans which pass to the north of the wood are not above hiring additional guards to protect themselves against wandering goblins.

The Plainsmen, on the other hand, not only keep an eye on the goblin tribes, but actively engage them from time to time. It is a rite of passage for many young warriors to join a band entering the Vale and to blood themselves in battle. It is the first accomplishment for which many Plainsmen carry a tattooed badge.

### What Lies Within

Within the depths of the valley, from which the wood springs, lies the strongholds of the goblins. Khol Banir ("Bane's Foothold") is the most well known by those scholars who have made a study of the place. It is reputed to be where the goblin king resides. Little is known about him, as some stories claim he holds sway over the tribes with his martial presence, others speak of him being a high priest of Bane.

## Arrival in the Vale

*The night before you reach the Vale, Myrin, the elven warden you’ve been traveling with suggests that you stop early rather than travel into the Vale in the failing light. “The Vale can be a bit disorienting when you first enter, and since most of you can’t see in the dark, it is probably not a good idea to give the inhabitants too many advantages”.*

*And so you make camp, although a few of you make a short trek up a hill to get your first glance at the Vale. From the distance you are at, you can see the bare gnarled branches of trees racing above the leaves ... almost like dark claws grasping, looking to claim more...*

*http://aphantopus.deviantart.com/art/Mirkwood-348096581*

*The next morning, a deep bluish fog rises up from the wood.*

*http://hallofbeorn.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/mirkwood.jpg*

*The trail into the Vale isn't hard to find ... it looks like the war band ripped a hole in the foliage. What may have at one point been a small path is now a 30 foot opening in the foliage. Several smaller trees have been knocked down and crushed beneath hundreds of goblin boots.*

*http://scotto.deviantart.com/art/Mirkwood-349313637*

*Within the Vale, there’s a sense of malice. Even the roots of trees seem to brutally tear the ground with their gnarled growth. Beyond the path the ground is deceptive and treacherous.*

File:Vale5.jpg

*http://venishi.deviantart.com/art/Entering-Mirkwood-201135113*

*There's a haze in the air, the tree pollen almost choking the streams of sunlight. It's not long before you can't even smell it anymore, your nostrils and throats saturated with pollen.*

*http://metalstorm.deviantart.com/art/Mirkwood-61680836*

*Trees covered with a mixture of mottled bark, and other growths. Vines, webs and other debris hang from limbs. Your elven companions remark that there is a sickness to the wood, that hundreds of years of goblin occupation has tainted these woods, made the rot as much a part of the wood as the leaves.*

*http://taintedbrush.deviantart.com/art/Mirkwood-331645434*

*After a time, the wood settles into an eternal twilight, the thick canopy glowing with an almost blueish light from the stolen sunlight.*

*http://jonhodgson.deviantart.com/art/Mirkwood-Marsh-Ruins-252239223*

*Paths and roads abruptly lead through marshy areas which last for miles.*

*http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/13/12445/015.2.jpg*

*There isn't really line of sight in the Vale. It's not hard to imagine predators behind every tree.*