Mokush

Wall and Barbicans: Mokush's wall is an edifice of earth and stone built to withstand an attack from Syrkarn that has never come. It is about 30 feet thick, and its inside halls are big enough for ogres to fit through. While the officers of Mokush are almost all humans or shifters, the ogres are expected to form a militia if the town is attacked.

The gate towers are massive structures obviously built by giant hands. Each houses a small indoor courtyard overlooked by murder holes and two portcullises. All the barbicans have ballistae.

Monolith: In the center of Mokush stands a monolith that is smaller than those commonly seen in the bastions of Riedra. The village's two large wells flank the structure.

This monolith is only about 60 feet wide and 200 feet tall. A mute representative of the Path of Inspiration, the "small" monolith is still a point of pride for the ogres. They and their priest gather at the monolith for the Feast of Founding, sharing the customary meal in the large community hall south of the hanbalani.

Unknown to most of Mokush, the hall has a secret area underneath, dug secretly from the mines. In this secret chamber, the members of the Horned Shadow meet and plan to free Mokush. Stored here are a good amount of Khyber dragonshards (some tainted), iron bars, and finished weapons.

Town: In the town, ogres live communally in small buildings, each rotating living spaces regularly to better know one another. Ogres are usually segregated by gender, though some groups are allowed to mingle on a schedule dictated by the Inspired long ago. New ogres are essential to keeping Mokush alive. The races of Mokush do not mix, though—the Path of Inspiration forbids such behavior.

Manor: In the deepest section of Mokush, walled away from the ogres and protected in the west by a tall mesa, live the elderly Chosen lady Galshani and her small staff. Many of the buildings in this compound are empty, showing signs of neglect. However, Galshani maintains a stable of quorbound creatures that she dearly loves, including horses, hounds, and even a few birds. Those few who care for the animals are the luckiest of citizens in Mokush, treated better by Galshani (and Yrnuxi in her stead) than any others.

Yrnuxi and the inner circle of the Horned Shadow have a secret shrine under the manor, which can be entered from the mines as well. This foul place is dedicated to fiends. It's also where Yrnuxi keeps some magic items she has managed to acquire in clandestine trades with dromites from the nearby city-hive Talcheka.

Watch Towers: On rotating shifts, ogres stand watch at these squat towers set atop pinnacles of red rock. The towers cannot be accessed other than by climbing the rough stone or flying. Within the towers are stores of stones for throwing and horns for warning the town. Most ogres see their time on watch as a restful reward, and they don't shirk their duty.

Mine and Quarry: Behind a stone wall thinner than the main fortifications and a small watch tower is Mokush's mine. Iron is the principal product of the excavation, but a few years ago the ogres stumbled onto small deposits of Khyber dragonshards. Mokush is supposed to export all such shards, but Yrnuxi has been skimming the production and replacing a few of the shards with tainted ones she has received from the dromites.

The upper level of the mine is also a quarry. Here the ogres dig and cut blocks of rock to ship to other parts of Riedra. Red blocks from Mokush can be found in buildings as far away as Dar Jin.

Ruins: The ruins of an ancient village stand near the mine. Mokush's ogres have tumbled most of it to the foundations and plundered the structures for useful building materials. The place is abandoned.

The ogres of Mokush are largely dispersed to the fields or the mine during the day, with a few in the town practicing some craft or another. Most rest inside the town walls at night. They don't trust visitors unless they are members of the Riedran military or agents of the blessed Inspired. Hostile intruders have a hard fight ahead of them. Unlike typical citizens of Riedran villages or cities, the ogres take up arms to defend themselves.

For invaders, almost every encounter in Mokush is with a gang or band of ogres, or one or two ogre mages. The ogres fear the taint of the ogre mages (according to the Path of Inspiration), and they prefer not to fight alongside them. Officers (fighter 3 or higher) lead the militia. Mokush's citizens fight bravely and to the death. If invaders seem likely to win, however, those who follow the Horned Shadow (about 10% of the ogre population) switch sides immediately.

The quarry and upper mines are usually safe, protected by soldiers and ogres. Underground creatures do live in the deep earth here, though, and if the PCs enter the deep caverns to investigate or look for more dragonshards, they have a 10% chance per hour of an encounter.

Riedran PCs are likely to come to Mokush to track tainted Khyber shards. In the mines, they find no evidence of such shards, so investigating the village becomes necessary. In doing so, they might eventually uncover the Horned Shadow and root out the evil and its connection to the dromites. War with Yrnuxi could follow. In so doing, however, they also have to deal with Galshani's utter incompetence and their feelings about the obvious failings of this Chosen.

Infiltrating Mokush isn't difficult if such a plan is worked out with Yrnuxi through Syrk intermediaries. The ogres accept that strange folk sometimes arrive with caravans or at other times when the mysterious and glorious Inspired order them to appear. Yrnuxi plays the part of the downtrodden serf if possible, hoping to ally with those powerful enough to improve her position. If foreign adventurers come to Mokush, Yrnuxi is a willing ally—and she has the means to disguise her evil if she must.

Within Mokush, Khyber dragonshards are the most valuable treasure. Yrnuxi's stores amount to a small fortune in shards, and the mine still has small deposits as well. Getting the shards out of the mine is the hard part.

Despite the backcountry setting, Galshani lives in the comfort any petty noble might enjoy. She has plenty of pretty baubles and even a few psionic items. Yrnuxi has enjoyed the comforts of masquerading as the Chosen lady—as mentioned, she also has a small store of magic items. Some of these items are evil.

Mokush can be used to represent any Riedran border town or any ogre settlement in Borunan. The town could be relocated to Droaam, where ogre mages can hold leadership positions. In this case, Yrnuxi is the open leader of the settlement, and the population is more diverse: 37% gnolls, 20% orcs, 18% goblins, 10% ogres, 15% other (monstrous races, humans, shifters).