The Deceptively Sleepy Village of Ardenvale (Finished Map)

[ladiestorm]

created in: CC3+

Nestled against the River Arden, cut into the edge of the Wilderune Forest, lies the sleepy little village of Ardenvale. A fairly friendly village, the inhabitants of Ardenvale are always ready to welcome the weary traveler. The Traveller's Friend is a cozy little roadside inn, where one can rest a weary horse, or tired feet. The Horn and Stars Tavern is open to anyone that wishes to wet their whistle on decent ale and a good meal. The Smithy can repair most any weapons and armor.

Yet, the taint and contamination of wild magic can be felt, subtly, even here in this sleepy little village. Fish in the River Arden are growing to gargantuan sizes, and are developing teeth sharp enough to cut through net, and flesh. Livestock sometimes breed offspring of unusual hues - blue, green, and purple fur or feathers decorate various homes and businesses. Wild mushrooms, flowers and trees have sprung up in the last 50 years with magical attributes, no matter what was planted. The people of Ardenvale remain friendly, but an underlying tension is evident to all but the most obtuse visitor.

So welcome to Ardenvale! Come and sit a spell, but don't let your guard down... adventure may be just around the corner!

This is the first completed local map for my 5th edition Larysia Campaign. This little village is in the northern region of the continent of Andelar (see continental maps in my Larysia gallery). I intend it to be the initial home base for my players to adventure from. Whether they stay based out of Ardenvale will be up to my players, for while this village does have a smithy, a boyer/fletcher, a general store and a healer... it doesn't have much of the magical component, unless you consider the magical contamination that is invading the entire world. One point of interest... the wonderful detailed river you see, is thanks to a tutorial by Shessar, a wonderful mapper and incredible lady from the profantasy forums. For cc3(+) users, here is a link to her tutorial http://http://forum.profantasy.com/c...page=1#Item_25 .

One may notice in this river that the fish in it are unusually large. Please note this is NOT a newbie mistake(although I AM a newbie mapper!). This is actually subtle evidence of the contamination of wild magic permeating the world of Larysia.

I hope you enjoy the first of many (I hope!) local maps from my fantasy world of Larysia! Please feel free to comment, rate, praise or bolt as you see fit!

[tilt]

Congrats on your map - and good luck on the many more to make... so those fish.. can you eat them?

[Josiah VE]

Excellent job! I can't say the colour for the legend is my favorite.. still a great map though.

And yes... those fish are massive.

[ladiestorm]

Oh yes, you can eat them.... if you can CATCH them. That's the real trick!!!

@tilt - thank you so much for your comment! I worked long and hard on this one... restarted it three times before I got it 'right'. I'm feeling a major sense of accomplishment right now.

@Josiah VE - thanks . I admit, I wish the key background had a darker tint... but I wanted a parchmet feel to it, and that's the only parchment bitmap fill I had. I don't have any of annuals for cc+, just the basic program with a few extra free symbol sets. If I find a better one, I may go back and change it. I do need to make sure I keep a decent oontrast, though, as one of my players has failing eyesight, and needs really light colors behind the text.

[Tonnichiwa]

I like this map. I know you have spent a lot of time on it and it shows. There are a lot of things in this map that can be difficult to put together right but I think you did a fine job.

[ladiestorm]

Thanks, Tonnichiwa! Since you saw the progress as I went through this map... I realize you know how much thought and effort I put into it! And how much I learned in the process!