10 KiB
10 KiB
Avalon & Valley Locations
This section is written as stuff your characters would reasonably know. Anything marked “DM ONLY” should stay out of player handouts.
The Circle Fuel & Snacks
What students call it: “The Circle”, “Circle 9”, “Circle”
Vibe (student-facing):
- Combo gas station / convenience store / low-key hangout on the edge of town.
- Fluorescent lights, two flickering pump islands, and a sad little seating area with three metal tables and a claw machine that never pays out.
- This is where kids meet up after school, before parties, or when they “go for a drive” and don’t want their parents to see who they’re with.
- The staff mostly don’t care what you’re doing in the lot as long as you’re not obviously dealing, fighting, or summoning anything bigger than a cantrip.
What your character knows:
- Everybody’s been here. First crushes, first cigarettes, first “you are way too high to be at a gas station right now” moments all happen at The Circle.
- After dark, there are always a few older kids / townies leaning on cars, playing music too loud from beat-up speakers.
- Rumor has it there’s a corner of the lot that never shows up on the security crystal playback quite right – like the picture skips.
DM ONLY – Hooks:
- Pip’s operation uses The Circle as an exchange point and as an anchor for a small, illegal tap feeding their little network.
- The lot is built over a minor junction in the Academy’s distribution grid – enough that leyline “noise” bleeds into the pumps and cameras.
- Future beats:
- Surveillance footage that glitches when Root anomalies happen.
- Confrontations between Pip’s crew and Oversight proxies.
- A fight where spilled fuel + wild magic makes the whole place a hazard.
Titan Lance Armory (a.k.a. “The Missile Museum”)
What students call it: “The Missile Museum”, “Titan”, “The Silo”
Vibe (student-facing):
- About twenty minutes out of town: an old, decommissioned underground military site turned into a museum.
- Officially, it’s a Cold War–era “Titan Lance Strategic Armory”, where they used to keep some kind of giant magical war-spear pointed at “whoever pissed the country off that decade.”
- There’s a visitor center with cheesy educational displays, then a long elevator ride down into the silo where the “lance” used to sit.
- Schools drag kids here on field trips to talk about “the importance of peace” and “responsible use of destructive magic.”
What your character knows:
- The actual weapon is gone – supposedly dismantled – but the empty silo is still there, with the big cradle, old consoles, and a huge circular blast door in the floor.
- Tour guides love to tell stories about how the old crew could launch the thing in under 60 seconds.
- Rumors:
- Some nights, if you’re quiet, you can still hear something humming under the empty launch tube.
- A kid once snuck away from the tour and came back white-haired and refusing to go underground ever again.
- The academy has some kind of “special access” to the lower levels normal tours don’t see.
DM ONLY – Hooks:
- The “Titan Lance” was a colossal, one-use leyline weapon that could rip a chunk of Root out and hurl it at a target – basically a magical ICBM. It was “dismantled,” but the binding cradle and targeting array remain.
- The armory is now a classified magical depot:
- University / Oversight stores decommissioned artifacts, unstable prototypes, and sealed warheads in the lower levels.
- Access is strictly controlled through Root Oversight, which is why D’serris cares about this valley so much.
- Possible uses:
- Field trip episode where something in storage stirs when the Root is agitated.
- Late-campaign job where D’serris wants to repurpose the Titan cradle as a last-resort weapon against Fouadriel / the Root.
- A break-in by a rival faction trying to steal a specific relic or warhead.
Avalon Adventuring Academy – Main Quad & Node
What students call it: “The Quad”, “The Heart”
Vibe (student-facing):
- Big central courtyard surrounded by the main classroom buildings, admin offices, and the library.
- There’s an ugly statue of the Academy’s first Headmaster in the middle, arm raised dramatically toward the hills like he fully expected applause.
- Between classes, this place is chaos – students cutting across the grass, people sprawled under trees, clubs recruiting at folding tables.
- The flagstones hum under your feet if you linger; most people chalk it up to bad foundation work and too much enchantment.
What your character knows:
- Everyone passes through the Quad. If you hang here long enough, you see practically the whole student body.
- Sometimes, announcements are made here by illusion – a giant holographic Headmaster head, Estrada yelling through a full-courtyard cantrip, that sort of thing.
- If you ever want to people-watch, gossip, or just skip class while technically staying “on campus,” this is the spot.
DM ONLY – Hooks:
- The Quad sits almost directly above the main surface node that ties the Academy into the regional trunk. It’s basically the “junction box” for most campus taps.
- Small anomalies manifest here first: odd echoes in speech, flickering illusions, Root whispers under particularly emotional scenes.
- It’s a good place to:
- Drop subtle foreshadowing when the Root is unhappy.
- Stage big reveals where the environment literally reacts to the party.
- Have D’serris do a full-school broadcast.
The Wash / Riverbed
What students call it: “The Wash”, “The River”, “The Ditch”
Vibe (student-facing):
- A mostly-dry riverbed that only really fills up during heavy rain, running just outside town.
- Scrubby bushes, scattered trees, graffiti under the bridges. At night it’s either peaceful or creepy, depending on who you’re with.
- Classic spot for: sneaking cigarettes, passing flasks, making out, or just getting away from parents and dorm monitors.
What your character knows:
- The cops and school security both know kids hang out here, but as long as nothing explodes and no one posts incriminating Sending-Stone stories, they mostly ignore it.
- You can get from one side of town to the other by walking the wash if you’re patient and don’t mind your shoes getting dusty.
- Rumors say some students use it for secret ritual circles because “the earth is thinner” here.
DM ONLY – Hooks:
- The wash cuts across a shallow leyline tendril, which makes it a natural amplifier for Root whispers, especially when the ground is wet.
- Soren’s “dead body by the river” can literally be at a spot where the Root’s attention is strongest.
- Good site for:
- Random Root anomalies (lights in the dirt, voices, sudden growth of weird plants).
- A secret meeting with D’serris / Elias away from Academy wards.
- Fouadriel-related events (something in him “wakes up” here).
Madera Ridge Estates
What students call it: “The Ridge”, “The Hills”
Vibe (student-facing):
- Gated hillside neighborhood perched above the valley, all terraced yards, huge windows, and old people who will tow your car if it's worth less than 20 gold.
- Houses with three-car garages, outdoor kitchens, and views that end up on every real estate brochure in a 200-mile radius.
- Most students never go up here unless:
- They live there,
- They’re going to a party with someone who does,
- Or they’re taking the long way around to avoid being seen.
What your character knows:
- This is where Ben “I swear I’m from the block” actually lives.
- Parents up here are the type to install very expensive arcane security wards and then forget to update them for ten years.
- Rumors:
- A Ridge kid threw a party last year that got so wild it shorted out half the neighborhood wards and lit up the Oversight logs like a winter festival.
- Mageball coaches definitely scout the Ridge for “sponsorship opportunities.”
DM ONLY – Hooks:
- Madera Ridge is a private sub-grid: luxury homes have their own micro-taps and wards tied into the main trunk.
- Pip’s boss absolutely sees this place as both a lucrative market and a pressure point for Ben.
- Easy future beats:
- Attempted break-in / “warning visit” from Pip’s people.
- D’serris threatening to cut Ridge power if certain parents block his directives.
- A house party gone wrong when a ward fails in a very Root-ish way.
Mr. Magic Pizza Party Fun Time
What students call it: “Magic Pizza”, “Mr. Magic’s”, “MPPF”
Vibe (student-facing):
- Think: fantasy Chuck E. Cheese that’s been around way too long.
- Animatronic band of off-brand mascots, enchantment-powered ticket machines, a stage, and a dozen spell-scuffed birthday rooms.
- As little kids, everyone in town had at least one party here. As teens, you mostly come back ironically, or because you’re babysitting younger siblings.
What your character knows:
- The food is… fine. The soda refills are unlimited. The noise is unbelievable.
- The animatronics sometimes twitch or speak when they’re not supposed to; staff blame “old runes.”
- MPPF runs lots of deals and coupons – including the infamous “Mr. Magic Pizza Party Fun Time!” voucher that gets you a party package if you somehow win one.
DM ONLY – Hooks:
- The whole place is wired into a cheap, overworked tap that powers games, lights, and the mascots.
- When the PCs cash in their coupon, you can:
- Have the Root bleed through the janky enchantments → animatronic horror episode.
- Make D’serris furious because he has to waste Oversight attention on a cursed kiddie restaurant.
- Tie one of the artifacts / subnodes into the basement (MPPF built on some old ritual site).