East Timori Road

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The East Timori Road reaches from the cliffs overlooking the Nocturnal Sea to the Descent carved into the face of the Shadow Rift. It joins the lands of Tepest and Nova Vaasa and the communities of Briggdarrow, Viktal, Kellee, Liara, Kantora and Egertus. The East Timori Road connects in Kantora with the Prince's Road that joins Kantora and Bergovitsa. The Strigos Road will connect the East Timori Road at Liara to both the Argenteus Road and the Tempe Road just west of Tempe Falls in Darkon.

The division of the Timori Road into the East Timori Road and the West Timori Road occured in 740 BC as part Great Upheaval. The Timori Road ran from Egertus at the edge of the Nightmare Lands to Lekar in northwestern Falkovnia. The gash upon the face of the Land of Mists that is the Shadow Rift severed it.

The East Timori Road follows the Vaughn Dnar River from its source at Lake Kronov to Kantora and from there the Sydligdnar ("South Dnar River") to the sea. From Egertus to the Tepestani frontier the road stands back from the river bank, daring not tred on the best irrigated land and the richest crops. In Tepestthe road and river cross, recross, and recross one another as they navigate its broken terrain. The East Timori Road stays on the south side of the Sydligdnar and stays on the south side of the Vaughn Dnar from Kantora until just after the Trished River, inviting the hypothesis that at that point either the Vaughn Dnar becomes fordable or has a bridge thrown across it. Similarly, the Borchava River is either forded or crossed with a bridge. At Liara the road crosses over the river by means of a bridge. In Tepest it crosses the river four times by means of four ancient stone bridges.

In Tepest the East Timori Road traverses thick forests as it weaves its way through rugged terrain of the jagged, rocky hills of the Timori Pass. At every moment an ambush by goblins or goblin beasts must be expected. And there are worse things in that land to ambush a traveller such as trolls and fey. The rangers from Viktal and militiamen from Kellee do what they can, but there is simply too few people and too much wilderness.

In Nova Vaasa the traveller on the East Timori Road is safer than a traveller on any other road on the Vaasi Plateau, which is damningly faint praise. From the Tepestani frontier to Kantora and beyond farmland stretches back from the river bank to the road. The only point at which the road can be said to be crossing anything approaching a lonely plain is close to Egertus. There the Sydligdnar sinks deep into the Katsmund Canyon and securing access to its waters in useful quantities becomes nigh impossible. At that point one stands at the edge of the Dommark and feels chillingly alone. Still, bandits do not fare well on that blasted plain. They fare much better in the nearby Briarweed Forest, lying between Egertus and Kantora and a little south of the road, seemingly immune to both the conditions that make the Dommark a virtual desert and to the axes of men. On at least one occasion however, Prince Othmar has made a point of sending foreign mercenaries to clear out the bandits. Since the Great Upheaval in 740 BC bandit attacks against travellers between the Tepestani frontier and the Trished River, where the East Timori road hugs the Darkonese frontier, have become ever more frequent. Desperate or brave bandits, who would not have dared shelter in the Forgotten Hills when they were part of Arak, have learned that they may do so now with some hope of not being carried off in the night. Of course the inns and especially the towns and cities along the way are thick with criminality. And back on the road a purse can be emptied by a tax collector, especially if he is employed by the Bolshnik.

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

Servants of Darkness

Servants of Darkness - p17 Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume V - p46,48

Servants of Darkness - poster map Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume V - p46