Waterfall

The characters have been travelling and stop to relax by a waterfall, enjoying the refreshing mist and the nearby fishing hole. The sun casts its rays on the cascades and in the mist a rainbow awakens. A most magical sight and an omen of good fortune. Or does it hide a nasty secret?

Environment

• water cascading, pounding, roaring, rushing, splashing, trickling, dripping, whooshing,

• sandstone, granite, limestone, marble, quartz,

• river bottoms can be deep at the base of the waterfall forming great pools full of fish, water trolls, and other crazier things

• the banks may have trees, flowers, grass, dirt, stones, sand, beach, cliffs, dunes, gorges,

• under the fall could be a cave, lair, ledge, aerie, nest, hive, hideout, burrow, den, coven, habitat, tunnel, “Fairie Strike Force” (FSF) staging area, gates of Hell

• there may be fruit trees higher on the bank or farmland or gardens and cottages

• temperate: willows, dogwoods, cattails, reeds, hazelnut, saskatoon bush, poplar, aspen, spruce, fir, pine, huge redwoods, cedar, tamarack; tropical: palms, yucca, coconut, almonds, figs, olives, gum trees

• roses, blueberries, gooseberries,

• weather can be humid, dank, damp, heavy, foggy, misty, cloudy, overcast, sunny, hot, or cool, with a downpour, light rain, drizzle, sleet, biting wind, warm breezes, gusts; there could even be ice, or the waterfall could be completely frozen!

• lots of partridges, ducks, geese, gulls, hawks, sparrows, chickadees, wrens, owls, jays, etc.

• trout, pickerel, perch, bass, pike, giant jackfish, or tropical pirhanna

• bears, cougars, beavers, muskrats, wolves, foxes, bobcats, deer, conies (rabbits), moose, mice, pika, rats, ants, bugs, beetles, bees, hornets (giant ones!), snakes, lizards

• a hot spring, mineral water spring, holy water spring, lagoon, natural basin,

Stuff

• bucket, pail, wash bin, clay water jugs, urn, tub, diving board, drying clothes,

• shrine, cairn, offerings, stones, markers, signs, warnings, wards, a lone, unmarked (or so it seems) grave, burial mound, stone altar, pedestal, dias, overgrown ziggurat tomb, demon statue, relief of a god carved in the stone

• hammock, swing, rope, ladder, rope ladder, rope bridge,

• kids fort, bedding, tent, camp, squatter’s lean-to, prospector’s hut, door in the side of the hill, burial mound, crypt

• firepit, food scraps, wheelbarrow, cryptic arrangement of sticks

• strange writing on some of the stones, perhaps a curse, warning, chant, or simply a love note from long ago

• fish drying racks, fish salting equipment, fish pickling, fish smoking in a clay oven

• crashed debris of a boat, chests, crates, equipment, weapons, and bodies still present?

• boats on the river, riverside market, giant water wheel for a mill (or gnome electricity?)

• fishing equipment, tackle, rods, hooks, sinkers, bobbers, lures, bait, waders, rubber boots (rare commodity)

• in the river beneath the water: a ring, a chest, a trunk, a glowing weapon, a bound book miraculously dry,

• built into the side of a hill by the falls is an amphitheatre (performance on now?!)

• dock, pier, weir, wharf, canal, channel, levee, dam

• secluded brothel of great repute, gambling house, thieves guild, assassins temple, laboratory, witch’s hut, brewery, inn, secluded tea house,

Characters

• bathers, commoners, villagers, swimmers, washwomen, servants, fishermen, musicians, picnickers, poet, artist, children cavorting, noblemen, skinny dippers
• a giant, cyclop, or titan (eoten, jotunn) could be showering in the falls
• orcs, treemen, dwargs (forest dwarves), lizardmen, brownies, living vines, werewolf, giant bats, elves, sylvan folk
• bandits, thieves, ruffian, escaped convict, hobo, wanderer, soldier on the run
• wet hobo
• cleric of the cloistered variety, monks, nuns, some dude meditating, a wise man (or a wiseguy), elder
• in the water, there could be giant crawfish (or crawmen with pincer claws and exoskeletons), water sprites, piranhas, alligators, serpents, faeries, merfolk, living water (it moves like a blob!), giant leeches, river monster, water nymph to beguile you,
• miners, jewelers, gold panners, traders, businessmen, stevedores, wharf rats, ropemaker, boatbuilder
• stone carver, woodworker, crystal cutter, goldsmith, jeweller,
• leech collector, barber-surgeon working on a patient (with leeches), leechman coming out of the water to suck out all your blood, man covered in leeches close to death, fisherman catching huge walleys with leeches,
• elves may live here in treetop villages or tucked into the rocks behind the waterfall

Activities

• resting, relaxing, enjoying company, picnicking, singing
• riverside wrestling contest, water sport, boat races, regatta, tomfoolery
• ceremony, rite, ritual, offering, sacrifice, sanctification, purification, summoning,
• battle, attack, war, confrontation, fight, argument, abuse, bullying, ransacking, tumult
• there is a boat rocking and log rolling competition going on; first to fall off loses!
• industry: milling, logging, paper making (pulp), mining, fishing (netting)
• fishing, hunting, trapping, poaching,
• camping, tenting, squatting, caravanning,

Developments

• the water turns blood red; moments later a dragon’s head emerges from the middle of the cascading water
• the characters spy a ritual or rite being performed
• a scribe sits and transposes some ancient text while in a state of meditation
• a caravan of travelers camps here and the characters are invited into the camp
• some voyageurs (fur traders) in a canoe arrive and need to portage up and around the fall; they ask for the characters’ help and then sing French habitant songs and play the spoons
• the water stops flowing (maybe a wizard forcefield has dammed it)
• some mountain dwarfs have built a spillway at the top of the falls to control the water flow to the villages and towns below; they believe the characters to be spies
• a water nymph offers some magic beans to the characters, telling them the beans will let them breathe underwater; she tells them to eat the beans and follow her ot her village below the falls because she needs help freeing her father the king from a vile enemy.
• a water wheel busts loose from its frame at the mill and crashes down the river bursting into pieces; four gremlins stand at the mill laughing mischievously; the miller emerges cursing them and they retort, “Ya dinna pay yer pertekshun money!”
• from down the river music can be heard; from the mist emerges a glorious paddle-boat with the banner “Dr. Curious’ Magical Water Adventures;” it pulls to shore and lowers a gangway.
• the entire riverbank is packed with gold miners’ sluices, shakers, pans, outfits, tents, dredges, and what not; the area is in a boom and a small town is emerging with support services like bars and brothels; currently lawless, anything goes around here.
• this is the site of a witch-hunt inquisition where a young lady proclaiming her innocence is suspended over the falls on a cantilevered gallows beam; the eager magistrate is close to pronouncing her guilt and acting out her sentence!
• a band of elves guards the sacred waterfall, unimpressed with your nosy nosiness!