Campfire

D10: Campsites to Encounter

Campfire
Some artwork copyright William McAusland, used with permission.

Characters may need to seek a place to camp whilst travelling, and this list has ten different places they can do so.

  1. A neat circle of trees all the same size and species surround a small area between them. The trees, by their organisation and size, would appear to have been deliberately planted, and provide shelter from the winds to the clearing. In the centre of the clearing is a large, flat stone, which can be moved to reveal a firepit underneath.
  2. A single large tree spreads its branches in a wide area. The tree is an evergreen, and the branches angle almost down to the ground at its foot. Those who duck under the branches discover an area inside easily large enough for someone to stand upright in, and big enough for half a dozen or more people to shelter on a dry bed of shed pine needles.
  3. Boulders are stacked in a loose pile, naturally and not deliberately. They form a rough horseshoe shape, with the interior of the horseshoe largely sheltered from the wind on three sides. The remains of a campfire within the horseshoe shows that other travellers have also camped in it.
  4. Spoil heaps stand at the entrance of an abandoned mine, blocking the entrance from view. Scraps of iron ore can be found in them. The mine itself can be used for shelter, though the ceiling has collapsed after 30′, preventing access to anywhere deeper. The accessible bit has some rubble, but is mostly clear.
  5. Old shepherd’s hut that clearly hasn’t been used for years, in the middle of some abandoned pastures. The hut’s walls are still mostly intact, and the roof is made of slate. Though some of the slates are missing, the building is still in surprisingly good shape for its age and lack of maintenance.
  6. One corner and part of the floor of an old stone building stands in a small forest clearing. Everything else that used to be there has long gun, though tumbled stones can be found scattered across the clearing. The corner provides some shelter from the weather.
  7. Piece of land in a river’s loop, with only a narrow stretch of land between the river, meaning that the loop has nearly been cut off into an oxbow lake. The land within the loop has a number of trees to provide shelter, and the narrowness of the neck makes it easier to defend.
  8. Several trees have fallen down in a forest, clearly due to one tree causing a small chain reaction. They have fallen into a generally stable position that has a small area large enough for a camp, as long as no-one stands up, beneath them, with the branches and trunks providing shelter from the elements.
  9. Sticking out from the side of a hill is a piece of rock that provides some limited shelter to the ground beneath it. The overhang isn’t quite high enough to allow a human to stand under it, but is plenty high enough to make sitting easy. Tumbled rocks at each side show where past users have erected temporary windbreaks to add more shelter.
  10. The ground dips down into a small, steep-sided dell. The sides are steep enough that they almost need climbing down, and horses will not be able to do it. The steepness of the dell means that it is well-sheltered from any wind, and a circle of stones around a dead campfire at the bottom show others have used it in the past.

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