Westbridge
Type: Settlement (ruins; party's resettlement project) Region: Dessarin Valley — east of the Sword Mountains, north of the Sword Mountains cut-through First Reference: Session 017 First Visited: Session 065
What the Party Knows
- A settlement destroyed approximately eighty years ago in the Dessarin Valley, east of the Sword Mountains. Confirmed by Dunkel Spireward in Session 056. The land is fertile; the site has been taboo and abandoned ever since.
- Session 065 — first visit. The party arrived at dusk and found:
- The town center is a grassy crater — the blast scar of the catastrophe — which has partially filled with water into a pond (actually Umsheryoth's lair).
- A herd of deer grazes in the central area. Outskirt buildings are ruined but their foundations are visible.
- Folklore: locals avoid the site entirely — rumored haunted, ghost stories, warnings that "Ogremoch will rise again." The taboo has kept it empty for eight decades.
- Three Knights of Samular died here during the catastrophe. A small shrine stands outside of town commemorating them.
- Umsheryoth — the blighted bronze dragon — was living in the crater pond. He ambushed the party; they subdued and cured him. He is now recovering and has pledged to parlay. He serves as the settlement's implicit guardian.
- Knights of Samular arrived at dawn (saw the battle from a distance). Captain Hezar Chun pledged to include Westbridge in their patrol routes. Bought into the resettlement.
- DM invitation to players: The DM explicitly opened collaborative design of the new settlement. Current plans discussed:
- Moat integrated into the crater pond, with Umsheryoth as guardian beneath it
- Permanent stone structures via Brick's Wall of Stone construction loop
- Helvenblade House (~5 miles north on the Kryptgarden cliff) as the party's operations base
Session 066 — New Westbridge Master Plan
Established in the collaborative worldbuilding session on Kythorn 14:
- Stone perimeter wall. Brick's construction loop (Wall of Stone from his student mages) will provide unlimited permanent stone. A defensive perimeter around the core settlement is the first build priority.
- Central crater pond — kept as-is. The dark, still pond stays at the center of town; Umsheryoth lives beneath it. The settlement is designed around him. Players discussed channeling streams or redirecting aquifers to improve water flow over time.
- Abandoned quarry near the ruins — useful for stone; may also be the site of an old battle connected to the Westbridge catastrophe. Location of potential Great Forge entrance(s).
- Regional threats (Greg's encounter table). Orc raiders from the Sword Mountains; ogres; giants; manticores; ankhegs; aarakocra warbands; gargoyles; bugbears; dust mephits; undead (ghasts/ghouls). Fortification is the priority.
- Infrastructure priorities. Blacksmith (Crowley's project), stable master, farms (light; Dessarin River ~20 miles away; smaller local streams), craftsmen shops.
- The Raven Queen memorial / Ubys's shrine. The Chaos Seed detonated at the town square outside a tavern. The explosion may have vitrified local stone into a glass-like material: "Apocalypse Glass" (also called Calamity Glass). Ubys proposes building a community memorial/mausoleum using this material — honoring both the Westbridge dead and the Brookside casualties. Doubles as a Raven Queen shrine.
- What destroyed Westbridge. Confirmed Session 066: a Chaos Seed — elemental cultist weapon tied to a demigod of elemental fire — was detonated as a terrorist act by Prince of the Apocalypse cultists 80 years ago. The entity connected to this event is Ogremoch (previously cited in folklore as "Ogremoch"). A second Chaos Seed (obtained and used by the party in earlier sessions) was detonated offensively elsewhere.
- The Great Forge. Deep beneath the ruins — possibly accessible via the abandoned quarry or other entrances — is an ancient underground forge where the War of the Lance dragonlances were made. Currently legendary/inaccessible to the party. See The Great Forge.
- Town naming. Undecided as of Session 066. Options discussed: New Westbridge, New Brookside, Westbrook, Crater Bridge. No consensus. The refugees have no connection to Westbridge specifically, so the name is open.
- Time skip discussion. Party considering a narrative jump from current winter (December) to the following fall harvest festival, once the settlement is established. Not yet decided.