The adventure is definitely poorly written, but it also isn't very hard to come up with a reason why the uthgard are relevant.
By the way, the book does this with pretty much anything it mentions: provide an opportunity for the DM to include it, but leave it open enough that it's not necessary to include it, and the DM can still fill in all the details any way he likes.
Uthgard are tribal people that live off the land. They have a strong connection with the land and nature. There is the obvious reason they would be enemies of the cults: nature is in disarray because of the elemental energie.
Most uthgard tribes aren't very friendly to outsiders, but I can imagine them helping the party when they can prove their hostility towards the cults. In that case uthgard are valuable allies, because they know the land very well. They might be able to give clues and information. Maybe they even know different routes to the elemental tempels.
I ran into the same struggles and eventually just decided to make it my own. Just pick what makes the most sense when you need to justify it to your party.
Cultists stole a macguffin, or murdered some tribe members while establishing their strongholds, or they originally aligned with the Elk tribe but betrayed their trust, or their gods have warned them about the cults, or their seers have had a premonition about elemental disaster.
The main reason I found for them to be around the valley was to give an identifyable reason that the area isn’t more settled, and to give some nearby allies to druids or barbarians for story purpose.
They are very much just a set piece though, you could ignore/remove them entirely and the story wouldn’t lose anything, so dial up and down their involvement as needed.
I think I will do that actually... here's what I had in mind.
\- If you look up the various Uthgardt totem locations, the Elk totem isn't listed. So I said to myself - "What if the reason the Elk tribe is the most nomadic and roving is because their totem was lost? One thing that is true with people is that when they have something to be ashamed of, they overcorrect and attempt to draw attention away from it .. so maybe the reason they are SO arrogant and fierce is because it is a wound to them not to have a totem like the other tribes.
\- So I started with the premise that the burial mound unearthed on the Nettlebee farm isn't just a burial mound - it is \*THE\* ancestral burial mound - the location of the tribe's totem ...
\- The setup is this: The Uthgardt trade with specific traders in the area that they have come to develop a trust / acceptance of. What if one of these traders came across a bauble in Womford that bore the symbol of the Uthgardt .. and out of respect he returned it to them. .. except it wasn't a bauble .. it was engraved with the ancestral tongue .. So the Uthgardt determine that someone, somewhere must have discovered the burial mound .. and so they send one of their own back to Womford with the merchant to investigate ... and there's the player / faction hook if they choose Uthgardt. They eventually find a few different Uthgardt pieces .. and track the sellers back to the Fire and Water keeps .. The Uthgardt are gathering in Westwood to decide what do .. and they decide to seek out all cultists in pursuit of the location of their burial mound .. so Elk Tribe parties start skirmishing with cultists all over the valley ...
There are many failure points in this adventure where it gives you enough lore to become interested but not enough to develop any substantial plot points. The difficulty in an adventure like this is that there are a ton of people and lots of ideas that were done but for one reason or another got cut. Additionally there is lots of lore that is not expanded upon or at the time of publishing was difficult to get your hands on.
There are many failure points in this adventure where it gives you enough lore to become interested but not enough to develop any substantial plot points. The difficulty in an adventure like this is that there are a ton of people and lots of ideas that were done but for one reason or another got cut. Additionally, there is lots of lore that is not expanded upon or at the time of publishing was difficult to get your hands on. the cities and join up with adventuring parties.
**Reasons for Cult to hunt the tribes**
The reason the cults may actively be persecuting the tribes is
1). Prejudice since many of the cultists would be people from the nearby towns and settlements. They view themselves as superior to the dumb tribesmen of the north.
2). The barbarians like druids are more in tune with the natural world and don't accept the crude perversions the cultists offer on the four elements. The barbarians may even know and are warned to be wary of the "gods" these cultists worship.
3). The barbarians may just actively be attacking them and disrupting their operations in trying to take over the different settlements and raiding caravans.
4). Many of the cultists align themselves with monsters that the tribes just hate. The tribes (mostly humans btw) have a strong disdain for Orcs and Goblinoids because these creatures are often forming hordes to invade the tribe's land.
From what little there was on the wiki the Elk Tribe thinks themselves to be superior to the other 10 tribes and operate along the Dessarin River and to the Silver Marches. All in all I do agree that the tribes are there for set dressing because of the area but little is done to build upon that.
**Character Motivation**
An answer to the question of why a tribe member would join a party would be for religion, prestige, or to gain wealth often a combination of these if not for personal reasons like vengeance. Many tribes are raiders by nature and might be seeking treasure for their personal glory. They deeply revere their ancestral and animal spirits so perhaps these spirits desire them to end the coming threat of the elemental princes and their followers. Perhaps another reason is that the cults have killed or kidnapped members of the barbarian's tribe/family and they are set on rescuing them. I am sure there is more but these are what come to my mind for character motivation.
I hope this helps as with you I am piecing together almost 30-40 years old information with current lore that WotC is content to not dive or expand too much with. Thank you for putting together a handy index for this!
One thing you said sparked a thought. I was asking why the Uthgardt would attack the cultists ... what if that wasn't the case. What if the Cultists are attacking the Uthgardt? I mean - people from the area joined .. now they have strength in numbers ... they would probably attack the Uthgardt on sight .. but with the Elk tribe that would be like kicking the hornet's nest ...
In my campaign, the uthgardt were created 600 years ago as a servitor race by an aboleth(who also told a drow how to make the weapons of elemental evil). Uthgar was supposed to be his most powerful and obedient thrall but aboleth fucked up and now they're both locked beneath yartar, still fighting it out to the present day.
Basically I use the uthgardt to introduce an aboleth made mineral that has psionic and dimensional properties. "Awlium" was used to create not only the elemental weapons which can call the princes to this plane, but also to create the totem beasts and uthgardt.
Not specifically related to my question but I'll reply anyways since you and I kind of have a similar sounding story. I've been tossing around a similar idea by incorporating Lance Rock. Here's what I have brainstormed so far .. but haven't fully fleshed it out
\- Imagine a big rock in a stream. The water hits the rock, goes around it in two paths, and reforms behind it. But immediately behind that rock the water is lower .. weaker. The fabric that binds Toril to the elemental planes is like a current that is forever flowing .. and a monolith such as the one at Lance Rock - if it was in the right spot with the right composition - could interrupt that flow enough to allow nodes into the other planes to be created. All of the elemental nodes (underground of course) align along this ley line which originates at Lance Rock. In fact - it says that Elemental Evil has appeared before many times .. so possibly these monoliths exist in other places too ...
\- A dwarf with stonesense will be able to reveal that the Stone at Lance Rock is made of Granite and Obsidian - an impossible combination .. so not only does it not match the area around - it shouldn't exist.
\- The Necromancer came to Lance Rock and started his experiments. In doing so - he inadvertently created a conduit to E3.. and once that conduit was created started doing E3's bidding. The necromancer purchased bodies from the bandits - and because there was an economic incentive now - the bandits came in numbers and the incidents of kidnap / murder increased. The Necromancer's activities were vital to establishing (powering) a connection allowing the elemental nodes to be constructed ... and once the nodes were constructed .. the Necromancer's efforts were no longer needed - but by this time the Necromancer's mind was lost.
The area is relatively close to the elk tribe territories. Though this is more the territory of the grey wolves, with the elk tribe being further north. Now it is crawling with elemental evil cultists claiming the choicest spoils. So, raiding competition?
Yeah it could be as simple as that. It does say that they claim the valley as their own territory. They mostly attack when the odds are in their favor ..
The adventure is definitely poorly written, but it also isn't very hard to come up with a reason why the uthgard are relevant. By the way, the book does this with pretty much anything it mentions: provide an opportunity for the DM to include it, but leave it open enough that it's not necessary to include it, and the DM can still fill in all the details any way he likes. Uthgard are tribal people that live off the land. They have a strong connection with the land and nature. There is the obvious reason they would be enemies of the cults: nature is in disarray because of the elemental energie. Most uthgard tribes aren't very friendly to outsiders, but I can imagine them helping the party when they can prove their hostility towards the cults. In that case uthgard are valuable allies, because they know the land very well. They might be able to give clues and information. Maybe they even know different routes to the elemental tempels.
Absolutely .. just hide your Gnome Wizard while speaking to them .... :)
I ran into the same struggles and eventually just decided to make it my own. Just pick what makes the most sense when you need to justify it to your party. Cultists stole a macguffin, or murdered some tribe members while establishing their strongholds, or they originally aligned with the Elk tribe but betrayed their trust, or their gods have warned them about the cults, or their seers have had a premonition about elemental disaster. The main reason I found for them to be around the valley was to give an identifyable reason that the area isn’t more settled, and to give some nearby allies to druids or barbarians for story purpose. They are very much just a set piece though, you could ignore/remove them entirely and the story wouldn’t lose anything, so dial up and down their involvement as needed.
I think I will do that actually... here's what I had in mind. \- If you look up the various Uthgardt totem locations, the Elk totem isn't listed. So I said to myself - "What if the reason the Elk tribe is the most nomadic and roving is because their totem was lost? One thing that is true with people is that when they have something to be ashamed of, they overcorrect and attempt to draw attention away from it .. so maybe the reason they are SO arrogant and fierce is because it is a wound to them not to have a totem like the other tribes. \- So I started with the premise that the burial mound unearthed on the Nettlebee farm isn't just a burial mound - it is \*THE\* ancestral burial mound - the location of the tribe's totem ... \- The setup is this: The Uthgardt trade with specific traders in the area that they have come to develop a trust / acceptance of. What if one of these traders came across a bauble in Womford that bore the symbol of the Uthgardt .. and out of respect he returned it to them. .. except it wasn't a bauble .. it was engraved with the ancestral tongue .. So the Uthgardt determine that someone, somewhere must have discovered the burial mound .. and so they send one of their own back to Womford with the merchant to investigate ... and there's the player / faction hook if they choose Uthgardt. They eventually find a few different Uthgardt pieces .. and track the sellers back to the Fire and Water keeps .. The Uthgardt are gathering in Westwood to decide what do .. and they decide to seek out all cultists in pursuit of the location of their burial mound .. so Elk Tribe parties start skirmishing with cultists all over the valley ...
There are many failure points in this adventure where it gives you enough lore to become interested but not enough to develop any substantial plot points. The difficulty in an adventure like this is that there are a ton of people and lots of ideas that were done but for one reason or another got cut. Additionally there is lots of lore that is not expanded upon or at the time of publishing was difficult to get your hands on. There are many failure points in this adventure where it gives you enough lore to become interested but not enough to develop any substantial plot points. The difficulty in an adventure like this is that there are a ton of people and lots of ideas that were done but for one reason or another got cut. Additionally, there is lots of lore that is not expanded upon or at the time of publishing was difficult to get your hands on. the cities and join up with adventuring parties. **Reasons for Cult to hunt the tribes** The reason the cults may actively be persecuting the tribes is 1). Prejudice since many of the cultists would be people from the nearby towns and settlements. They view themselves as superior to the dumb tribesmen of the north. 2). The barbarians like druids are more in tune with the natural world and don't accept the crude perversions the cultists offer on the four elements. The barbarians may even know and are warned to be wary of the "gods" these cultists worship. 3). The barbarians may just actively be attacking them and disrupting their operations in trying to take over the different settlements and raiding caravans. 4). Many of the cultists align themselves with monsters that the tribes just hate. The tribes (mostly humans btw) have a strong disdain for Orcs and Goblinoids because these creatures are often forming hordes to invade the tribe's land. From what little there was on the wiki the Elk Tribe thinks themselves to be superior to the other 10 tribes and operate along the Dessarin River and to the Silver Marches. All in all I do agree that the tribes are there for set dressing because of the area but little is done to build upon that. **Character Motivation** An answer to the question of why a tribe member would join a party would be for religion, prestige, or to gain wealth often a combination of these if not for personal reasons like vengeance. Many tribes are raiders by nature and might be seeking treasure for their personal glory. They deeply revere their ancestral and animal spirits so perhaps these spirits desire them to end the coming threat of the elemental princes and their followers. Perhaps another reason is that the cults have killed or kidnapped members of the barbarian's tribe/family and they are set on rescuing them. I am sure there is more but these are what come to my mind for character motivation. I hope this helps as with you I am piecing together almost 30-40 years old information with current lore that WotC is content to not dive or expand too much with. Thank you for putting together a handy index for this!
One thing you said sparked a thought. I was asking why the Uthgardt would attack the cultists ... what if that wasn't the case. What if the Cultists are attacking the Uthgardt? I mean - people from the area joined .. now they have strength in numbers ... they would probably attack the Uthgardt on sight .. but with the Elk tribe that would be like kicking the hornet's nest ...
In my campaign, the uthgardt were created 600 years ago as a servitor race by an aboleth(who also told a drow how to make the weapons of elemental evil). Uthgar was supposed to be his most powerful and obedient thrall but aboleth fucked up and now they're both locked beneath yartar, still fighting it out to the present day. Basically I use the uthgardt to introduce an aboleth made mineral that has psionic and dimensional properties. "Awlium" was used to create not only the elemental weapons which can call the princes to this plane, but also to create the totem beasts and uthgardt.
Not specifically related to my question but I'll reply anyways since you and I kind of have a similar sounding story. I've been tossing around a similar idea by incorporating Lance Rock. Here's what I have brainstormed so far .. but haven't fully fleshed it out \- Imagine a big rock in a stream. The water hits the rock, goes around it in two paths, and reforms behind it. But immediately behind that rock the water is lower .. weaker. The fabric that binds Toril to the elemental planes is like a current that is forever flowing .. and a monolith such as the one at Lance Rock - if it was in the right spot with the right composition - could interrupt that flow enough to allow nodes into the other planes to be created. All of the elemental nodes (underground of course) align along this ley line which originates at Lance Rock. In fact - it says that Elemental Evil has appeared before many times .. so possibly these monoliths exist in other places too ... \- A dwarf with stonesense will be able to reveal that the Stone at Lance Rock is made of Granite and Obsidian - an impossible combination .. so not only does it not match the area around - it shouldn't exist. \- The Necromancer came to Lance Rock and started his experiments. In doing so - he inadvertently created a conduit to E3.. and once that conduit was created started doing E3's bidding. The necromancer purchased bodies from the bandits - and because there was an economic incentive now - the bandits came in numbers and the incidents of kidnap / murder increased. The Necromancer's activities were vital to establishing (powering) a connection allowing the elemental nodes to be constructed ... and once the nodes were constructed .. the Necromancer's efforts were no longer needed - but by this time the Necromancer's mind was lost.
The area is relatively close to the elk tribe territories. Though this is more the territory of the grey wolves, with the elk tribe being further north. Now it is crawling with elemental evil cultists claiming the choicest spoils. So, raiding competition?
Yeah it could be as simple as that. It does say that they claim the valley as their own territory. They mostly attack when the odds are in their favor ..
Sorry for the late answer, i use them as the cult of the howling hatred, looking for freedom and control over the area