Pools of Madness

Rumour has it that, nestled deeply within the mountains of Isgaroth lie Pools of Madness (note that the official name is never preceded by ‘the’, and it is considered extremely bad luck to do so, even in casual conversation). Very few in the peninsula attest to ever having been there, and most who do are rarely believed or are extremely sketchy in their description of Pools, to the extent that is seems as though they are describing a vaguely remembered dream…or nightmare. Yet others are suspected of having visited Pools but deny it; this last group of people are of unsound mind and this insanity is generally considered a direct consequence of their visit to Pools.

It is widely known throughout the peninsula that anyone unlucky enough to find themselves at Pools suffer a terrible fate, possibly worse than death: a sudden, crushing and agonising destruction of the mind, leaving the unfortunate soul to wander the Valley of Madness as a zombified shadow of their former selves, occasionally howling into the wind whenever a flickering memory of their former life passes briefly into their consciousness.

There is one problem with this supposed knowledge about Pools, however: no one has any proof.

There is another, very contrasting, albeit only partial picture of Pools of Madness that has come to be painted in more recent years. It is a picture maintained discretely by a select network of hardened travellers, allegedly through the gathering of fragmentary pieces of parchment from mislaid journal extracts, and of oral lore and hearsay. This other image of Pools is one of a paradisiacal alpine oasis, governed by direct democracy, where inequality between classes and races is almost inexistent and all live simply but happily. If this alternate description of the enigmatic Pools of Madness is closer to the truth, perhaps its association with raving insanity is not to do with those who go there, but with those forced to leave, or expelled: racked with regret of leaving the Peninsula’s most perfect settlement, knowing life will never be anywhere near as beautiful anywhere else, and ever again.