Red Hollow

In the rugged foothills of Chen Province lies Red Hollow, a village whose very soil bears streaks of deep crimson from rich mineral veins that run through the hills like open wounds. What began as a modest mining outpost has grown into a bustling settlement, drawn to life by the lure of precious ores hidden beneath the earth.

Timber-framed homes cluster around a busy square where merchants hawk their wares, blacksmiths work iron that still holds a faint ruddy sheen, and the air hums with the clang of hammers and the scent of scorched metal. Below the village sprawls a labyrinth of mines—some active, others long abandoned and half-swallowed by darkness—where fortune and misfortune walk hand in hand.

Red Hollow’s prosperity came at a cost. Under the control of the village Elder—who was secretly The Broker, a rogue agent of The Undying—the mining pushed recklessly deeper, poisoning streams and angering ancient local spirits. Though The Broker’s power has since fractured, unease remains. Murmurs drift through taverns of sealed shafts marked with eerie symbols, of miners who vanish without a trace, and of doors underground that look as though they were never meant to be opened.

Today, Red Hollow stands as a village perched on the edge of wealth and ruin, where every strike of the pickaxe might uncover glittering ore—or awaken something best left buried.