Connects to: 05.04, 26.20.01 and 40.06.
Deep within the Kingswood (37.06, and perhaps elsewhere) there are wild men who touch no metal and make their homes in holes dug into the wood of living trees. They are cunning and elusive, with sharp noses that can sniff out magic so that they can distinguish game trails from those frequented by elves with ease.
They wear little clothing, instead wrapping their own hair around their bodies in elaborate braids. This and their rude tools of bone and stone lead many to at first disbelieve that they are humans, but they are men like any other. In fact, their language is an especially degenerate dialect of the Mud Tongue spoken in the lower levels of the City of Shuttered Windows.
These wild men are shy and avoid elves, kobolds (40.06) and all of the rest of the non-delicious inhabitants of the Kingswood, but can sometimes be lured out by patient and careful travelers. They can serve as excellent guides through this dangerous forest, but it can be hard to strike a bargain with them as they avoid metal of any sort and care nothing for things that are not of immediate use. They will turn down handfuls of diamonds but provide loyal serve in exchange for a well-trained hunting cat.
Connections:
- One of the few wild men to ever leave the woods is employed by Wortimer of the Blind Midshotgatepool thieves guild to sniff out magic (26.20.01).
- Abdul (05.04) somehow manages to have a bottle of a liquor brewed from the nectar of the ribbon lotus within the wood of a great living oak in stock. The wild men seldom share this beverage with outsiders and never sell it.
Hooks:
- Why do the wild men eschew metal and live in holes gouged into living trees? Are the exploiting a loophole in some elf law? Are they under a curse?
- What are the wild men doing in the Kingswood in the first place? Are they the descendants of exiles from the human lands or escaped elf pets or what?
- Why are the wild men able to smell magic?
- What are the most popular breeds of hunting cat?
- Who’s the wild man in Blind Midshotgatepool?
- Does the ribbon lotus brew have any interesting properties?