Rooster's Rest

When the glorious Fey city of Cynosure is approached from the south, it is sheltered by a low, short mountain range. There is a number of narrow gorges that lead into the settlement, and one of them is overseen and protected by Rooster's Rest, a small keep that appears Dwarven in origin.

During Unknown, having access the damaged database of an Elven gwyddfa in Cynosure, Reiko Amiri learned that this place used to be called ᚲᛟᚷ-ᚻᛖᛟᛚ (Kog-heol, "???" in Dwarven), or Faug-Negyth Outpost in Elven, with the following meaning:

Faug is a fissure or a gap, one that simultaneously separates something while connecting something else. Negyth is one of the collective nouns used for Dwarves by the Elves. So... a mountain pass, controlled by those tunneling people, and this close to the city? Clearly some kind of cooperation between the nations, if a gwyddfa was erected there. This one is operable, but malfunctioning, and it seems that the link cannot be established until something is done on that side.

- Viktor

The keep itself is situated around the halfway mark, where the pass reaches its highest point. It is mostly carved into the mountain, but its front side sticks out, and features a geometric statue of a Dwarf torso. During winter, the interior is kept warm and cosy.

Numerous ancillary structures – walls, towers, gatehouses, stables, barracks, and kitchens – prevent easy passage through this gorge, and they look like they were built at a later date, since their aesthetics do not match the keep.

Variously intact stone statues – the product of domesticated Cockatrices that prowl this area, which seem to have given this place its name – flank the road in an orderly manner, or otherwise litter the surroundings in a haphazard fashion instead, often piled together in small heaps.

- This used to be an outpost of the Dwarves. They most likely interacted with at least some of the previous civilisations that inhabited what is today known as Cynosure.

- In their native tongue, this fort is called Kog-heol, translated to "????".

Trivia

- In the Cornish dialect of English, a halo around the sun or the moon is called a "cock's eye", and is an omen of bad weather. The term is related to the Breton word kog-heol (sun cock) which has the same meaning. Both the in-lore Dwarven name, and "Rooster's (Cock's) Rest", are derived from this. In Cynosure, this is a common naming convention – optical, solar phenomena, as well as various terms related to the sun and the stars, are used to name many features.

Gathol Captain of the Guard, loves riddles, but doesn't often get to use them.
Current riddles he has: I have a neck, but no head; arms, but no hands
What falls, but does not break, and what breaks, but does not fall?
I am rarely touched, but often held. If you have wit, you will use me well.
I am born only by dying,
my first breath a scream of fire.
I am forged from silence,
yet I thunder across eternity.
My flesh is dust, my blood is light,
and though I burn, I do not consume.
What am I?

GM Notes

Trivia

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