Town of Dunley

Dunley — The Vale of Nightmares

  A little town called Dunley is split by a 400+ yard wide river with residential homes, farmlands, orchards and livestock on both sides, the town is surrounded by rocky outcrops enclosing the valley like natural walls, with access to the outside world via narrow, winding tunnel roads through the rocks. It's a peaceful but isolated refuge from the outside world, a hidden sanctuary for those seeking a quiet simple life if they happen to stumble across it, it's quite well hidden that people don't even realize they've stumbled upon the town.   Near the mid-center of their town by the river side lies their Inn which doubles as a Town Hall, large enough to accommodate twice their population size. The townsfolk are a warm and welcoming community to anyone who happens across their isolated town that sits in a valley on the edge of an expansive mystical forest known as Silent Forest that is covered in a dense perpetual fog that nobody dares venture in to. On the far opposite side of the river by the water bank is the mill in where they grind their wheat crops across from the Inn/Town Hall, powering the inner workings of their stone wheat grinder is their water wheel and windmill in which they use to make their flour to be made into bread and other tasty delectable grain foods that their bountiful harvests bring them each year. They grew all sorts of crops from wheat, corn, vegetables, fruits and even rice.  

Community & Founding to Downfall

The community is a very diverse community of farmers, shepherds, craftspeople and orchard keepers of about 413 residents. The town was founded sometime during the Era of Conflict, with a mix of residential homes, workshops and barns throughout both sides of the river, with two bridges connecting both sides of the town. On one unfortunate day the town had fallen to a calamity that came without warning that swept across the town in a thick purple fog that descended on the town, everyone and everything that once inhabited the Town of Dunley fell into a deep nightmarish slumber, their bodies turned to solid stone frozen in time and place. The years crept on as the town eventually decayed and fell into ruin after an untold amount of years had passed, of what was once a lively and vibrant town, now a silent and eerie town of it's former self. Vegetation had eventually taken over the town, overgrowing everywhere, buildings covered in various plant vines and roots and roads around town withered into ruin, even the tunnel of the winding roads leading into the town became overgrown with trees, vines and bushes.   The echoes of the former residents can still be heard to this day when approached, trapped in their frozen stony state, whether they are aware of their current state or not it is unknown, the only hints to suggest as such is just by the sounds of eligable whispers of the many residents as they live within their own nightmarish stony slumber, some sharing the same dream, while others having their own dreams and nightmares, some completely unaware that they are trapped in their own dreams and nightmares unable to awaken from their stone forms, some more weathered than others and covered in vines, or buried within ruined edifices. Those who still manage to came across this town came to call it The Vale of Nightmares. The ground is covered in a light haze of purple smog, those unaware of it's effects would too succumb into a deep nightmarish dream and turned into solid stone if they breathed in the purple haze. Nobody has been able to figure out the source of what calamity befell this town, or how to restore it's people, only left to be forgotten by the times, as nobody can seem to pin point when this town came to be or when it became to be known as The Vale of Nightmares. Those who have passed through and lived to tell the tale have speculated the Town of Dunley having a connection to the mystical Silent Forest, but no such evidence has ever been found to back up their claims. But perhaps one day someone will figure out how to restore this town to its former happier days, and the former residents can only wait for that day to come.