I often write boxed text for new in-game events and locations. I find it easier to think through the sights, smells, and other sensations during GM prep and write them out, rather than improv’ing when I’m trying to write a game. Here’s one such moment.
As you head south, you arrive at a wide spot in the road. This seems to be where travelers would make camp for the night had they left Turo before midday.
A small wayshrine–well-constructed but made of cheap, rough stone–sits on one side of the road. It’s only big enough for a few people to enter.
A patch of dirt extends far into the meadows to the west. Several fire rings made of rock are scattered around the area. In the winter, it’s hard to tell where the campsites end and the fields begin; what scrubby grass is left is brown and dry, and patches of snow can still be found from the occasional flurries.
This rest stop feels eerily quiet. Several smaller dirt roads snake off from it, over the low hills to the east and west. You get the sense there are a network of small hamlets across these plains.
In the winter, there is little reason to travel these roads; farmers who travel north to sell their wares in Turo have either stayed there for the season, or they have returned home to fend until spring.
Wayshrine of Verdus
A statue of Verdus, the gnome goddess of nature known as the “walker of the woods,” sits perched on a little alcove in the wall.
A pile of dried, brownish flowers and herbs sits in a little stone tray before her, so full that it spills out across the floor of the alcove.