Harpies Peak

The **Harpies Peak** is a small zone to the northwest. It is plagued by manticores, harpies, and many other beasts. A cult of savagery and primal instincts is biding its time taming beasts and recruiting hobgoblins and other evil creatures. They really hate the Zapalovach Republic and the hobbits, and this cult seeks to burn everything down and create massive hunting grounds and allow nature to return to its primal and bestial state.

The cult leader is a mighty druid and sorcerer capable of turning normal people into were-creatures that do her bidding. Local adventurers are flocking nearby the harpies peak since the Zapalovach Republic is offering mercenary contracts to wipe this threat of the pacific north.

## History

North of the Glass Mountains, at the center of the Kingdom of Waldemaria, there lies a small mountain range covered in dense forest. Twisted trees and tangled vines create a dense and hard to traverse environment, which is also full of predators, from regular wolves and bears to unidentified monsters. The region has been a refuge for those who wished to follow a more primitive form of life, away from civilization. Ogres, hobgoblins and tribal humans have used the forest as a base of operations to raid and pillage the surrounding lands, attacking nearby farmlands and villages. This situation lasted for centuries, until it reached a breaking point. After the founding of the Kingdom of Waldemaria, the knights began pushing back the raiders and monsters back into the mountains, chopping up and burning down as much of the forest whenever possible, cutting off their hiding places. After many campaigns against the cults of the forest, the primal cults and the monsters were reduced to the Harpies’ Peak, where the forest was its thickest, as well as the mountain range, making the knight’s campaigns harder.

However, after the defeat of the knights of Waldemaria at the hands of the necromancers, the primal cults have left once again unchecked. This has recently led to an explosive growth to their raids and attacks to cities and villages, all the way to Sniden and even the Zapalovah Republic. The waldemarians, fractured and bereft of a strong leadership after the death of their king, have asked for aid to all their neighbors to deal with this situation. The crusaders from the Laurentian Strongholds are unable to provide much aid, due to the divisions within the order and the many other fronts they have to take care of. However, the Zapalovah Republic has been growing more interested in taking down the cults of the Harpies’ Peak as of late. Many zapalovachs see the monsters and cults of the region as a threat to be stamped out as soon as possible, least it consumes the entire of Waldemaria and becomes too big to deal with. As such, they have offered a lot of aid to the waldemarians, mostly in the form of mercenaries and funds to prepare the waldemarian forces against the cults.

## The Primal Cults

The populations living within the darkest corners of the forest have developed a culture of primitivism, where survival of the fittest is the norm. They reject any form of civilization, being purely hunter-gatherers, preying not only upon the creatures of the forest, but against each other. Cannibalism between these groups is well documented, with many raids against farms and villages ending with massive feasts on human flesh, eating them right there and not even bothering to cook them. They will also use living flesh for their rituals, using them to fuel their dark magic.

Trying to define a social structure beyond the law of the jungle to these groups is a moot cause, since they revel in the chaotic and the wild. The strongest individual will take the lead, and the rest will follow or die. This strength can be either physical or magical, it doesn’t matter so long as it gets results. If a leader is wounded or gets too old, they will be swiftly replaced in a duel to the death, their flesh eaten so as to transmit their remaining strength to the new boss.

The strongest tribal leader is a druid only known as “the Sorcerer”, known for using druidic spells that can turn civilized people into half-animal beasts, who obey her every whim. Her raids are meant to capture as many prisoners as possible, to bring them to their secret lair within the forest. Once there, she will work her magic on her, spending months breaking their conscience and sanity until they are turned into beasts. The zapalovach authorities have put a great bounty for her head, but so far no one has been able to catch her or kill her.