Ungers Junction

No other city exists on the Island of Ungers Junction, along the coast or anywhere else, except in ruins or overrun by monstrous  creatures.  It's a colorful, musical, aroma-filled, vibrant town. Other than trade of mechanical goods, the biggest attractions are the weekly Dragon Races through the streets. Locals and visitors alike wager princely sums on the races' outcomes. The city also boasts grand bazaars, glorious mansions and temples, and circuses.

• Size/Type: Small City
• Population: 25,000
• Alignment: N
• Demographics: 78% gnome, 10% human, 5% elf, 2% dwarf, 4% half-elf, 1% other.
• Authority figures: Mellick Unger-Shorn, gnome, Fighter 11/ (Mayor and captain of militia), Harquon Felthip, half-elf Wizard 10 (Advisor)

Important Non Player Characters: Nestle wood-elf Ranger 6 (Woodsman’s Gathering), Siobhan Unger, gnome (Weavers hut), Trellis Baillincourt, Human Cleric 3 (Temple of Providence)

History/Background: Overheard in some dusty ale soaked dive, bards sometimes speak about a time of legend, before the time of man when a war raged throughout the heavens. As deities battled each other sparks from the clash of arms became the stars. Pieces of shattered divine weaponry tore through the cosmos, and one piece traveled through several planar layers before coming to rest on the material plane.

A few moments after the shard appeared, night became day, and the gnomes of the Marley Forest found themselves rudely awakened by a blinding light, thunderous explosion, and a force sucking the breath from their lips. Many died as their burrow homes collapsed around them. This event is referred to in local lore as “gods’prank.”

As day broke survivors cleared wreckage to recover loved ones, and a few brave warriors ventured north in search the explosions cause. An increasing swath of destruction led the warriors to a burnt clearing at the center of which was a crater 100 yards across. Closer inspection proved impossible as residual heat blistered the warriors’ skin and they returned to their shattered communities to either join the exodus south or rebuild.

Eons passed, the crater became a pond, the gnomes prospered and spread throughout the Marley Forest. The Unger clan settled a natural clearing to the north containing fertile soil and little stone. At the center of the clearing a pond fed by several streams afforded plenty of drinking water.

Generations passed, the community grew and life progressed at a bucolic pace until the time of the spiders. Woodsmen and livestock began disappearing; search parties eventually recovered their desiccated corpses shrouded in fine silk husks.Hunting parties eventually discovered the insidious root of the disappearances. Wood spiders had always presented a minor threat to unwary woodsmen, but these new creatures were larger in size and had the disturbing ability to wink out of sight and reappear behind off guard victims.

Desperate times followed as the Unger clan was forced divide its energies between daily routine and constant readiness for spider attacks. Respite arrived one midsummer’s day announced by the sound of shrieking children fleeing the pond edge. Warriors rushed to the pond, spears at the ready, only to find a elf wringing out his tattered sopping wet robes. Harquon the Traveler had arrived.

After an initial challenge and flurry of questions regarding his intentions, Harquon assured the elders he meant no harm and merely sought a quiet locale to retire and conduct his studies. In exchange for being allowed to stay he would provide assistance with the towns spider problem. Weary of the constant vigilance, the elders accepted Harquon’s offer.

Harquon thanked them and with a wave of his arms and resounding pop, disappeared. A fortnight later shrieking children again announced Harquons sudden return, this time accompanied by another heavily armed elf named Nestle. Within a few months, Nestle had re-organized the gnomish militia into a force capable of driving the spiders out of the forest surrounding the town. Unfortunately, despite the town’s efforts at hunting the spiders, the occasional livestock or woodsman still goes missing.

Since Harquon and Nestle’s arrival over 150 years ago Unger’s Junction has prospered through expanded trade with fellow gnomish  communities and increasing interaction with other races. At present life in Unger’s Junction is relaxed and generally less insular than many other gnome settlements.