Yaraq
From 11-02-1999
Some of the Gharu'ndim who first came to Dereth were lifelong desert-dwellers, and chafed at the idea of building their homes on the Yushad Ridge. Their leader, a wizard named Raqur al-Hayra, led them on a trek across the A'mun Desert to a cove along the coast of the Inner Sea. There they found an oasis, an island of green amid the sands. Raqur thrust his staff into the ground, bringing forth fresh water, and declared that all the desert folk would be welcome in this place. Sadly, Raqur was slain in a magic duel with a Mu-miyah archmage before the town, called Yaraq, was completed. Yaraq has since remained apart from much of the rest of Dereth, seperated from the rest of the island by desert, although portal and paths do lead to lands beyond the dunes.
Points of Interest
- The Desert Way is the only sure path across the trackless A'mun, whose sands would quickly bury any ordinary road. Its markers, upright hoops hung with cloth, lead from the end of Yaraq's north road to the village of Tufa, and beyond to the towns of the Yushad Ridge.
- A series of rocky buttes rise from the peninsula on the southern edge of the Yaraq Cove. A colony of Drudges and other monsters have dug their warrens in the soft stone of one of these mesas. Some who have braved these tunnels claim they have seen evidence that some of them were once inhabited by the Empyrean.