History

A long time ago there was the elvan empire of Nedlands. This Empire was very powerful and prosperous. In this world lived a man called Van Hil. A very powerful wizard. Van Hil would travel all the planes, collecting and trading his way to wealth and power.

The empire of Nedlands was actually located in the Island Kingdom of Lantan. The Elves have long since left this place for the Elvan Kingdom of Evermeet.

He was based in the Tower of van Hil. A mighty structure on the edge of a 500 foot high cliff, itself 500 feet high. He had perfected his inter planer travel device. Located at the top of his tower, it channelled the massive magical forces required to travel through all the planes.

One day, through causes unknown, the whole system was overloaded, whiled under extreme stress. The tower was destroyed, only the lower 50 or so feet remained intact. The rest rained down a shower of destruction on the town below.

During this transportation, all those in the area of effect were turned into monkeys. The red devils. They have remained in this form ever since. The tower and the three miles around it were teleported to the centre of the endless sea. In, Lantan there is a mysterious place always shrouded in mist and unvisited by intelligent peoples. This is where the tower once was.

The transportation machine ended up buried below Grey Hawk. Discovered by some spider people fleeing the Drow, it was brought to the surface some 10 years ago and has remained in the halls of the local magic user's guild ever since.

The island is hidden from normal view by Van der Van's Spherical Home Guard. This device is buried below the library in the tower. The players will need to do some excavating to discover it. It is possible to peace together the likely location from the books in the library.

No one knows what happened to Van Den Hil. He has not been heard of since. Most presume that he died.

Geography

The island is roughly circular, 6 miles round, but somewhat weathered. On one side is a 500 foot high plateaux. On the other side is a beach. Off the beach as a mountain. This mountain is actually a Shan Gui that was trapped here when the island teleported into this world.

The Island has been hidden from all in this world as it is out of phase. In the library is also the device that controls the phase shield. This can be controlled to allow the Island to be hidden and revealed to the outside world.

Structures

On the plateaux, and exactly in the middle of the circle, stands a 50 foot high remnant of a great tower.  The Tower of Van Hil. About 50 feet to the east is the cliff. At the closest point, is a great stair. This is metal and in good condition. The monkeys keep it polished!

Greyhawk Magic

The crystalgraph will 20% of the time show a picture of Van Den Hil's face instead of working properly. He appeared as a freckled man in his 50's with long red hair and a long red beard. His hair is standing on end as if in an intense magnetic field. His expression is fixed and acts as a fear spell.

Weather

Until the players disable Van der Van's Spherical Home Guard, the weather patterns inside the sphere are the same as those in the original location, Lantan. After this the Island will finally become part of it's new location. In Lantan the fog will rise for the first time in 1000 years and the hole will fill in with water. On this island the weather and everything else will change to that of the local area. The sphere will now keep out the weather and waves while enabled.

Copyright 2002 Brian yap. This game is distributed under the Open Conent Licence.