Free Map 032: Strix Brook

Last week I was doing the usual link-hopping and came across an article concerning the top 20 scariest places on earth. One of these places was a rather peaceful looking brook in England.

I guess this brook is rather narrow in places, less than two meters, and looks quite deceiving as nobody who has ever accidentally entered the waters has survived the ordeal. Evidently the water is deep, with a fast current that swirls into severe undercuts and underground chambers. Where I live we have irrigation canals that look inviting, but are swift and deadly just below the surface.

While I don't wish to make light of this otherwise tranquil body of water which has taken far too many lives, the idea of a hidden danger struck home for this GM. I had to drawn a map of my version of the Strid, renamed the Strix. The locals know well enough to give the brook a wide berth, only traversing the water safely over one of the few bridges across. So deadly has this brook been that is forms a natural border between two counties.

Map032a

Perhaps the party wishes to avoid a toll for the bridge and decide to simply hop over the brook at a narrow point. Maybe they have come to investigate what sounds like a mysterious death. Surely a local didn't drown in such a small stream....there had to be a foul creature to blame.

Map032b

I've made two maps, both of which are quite large in size (20 inches wide at 300 DPI). I figure it is easier to reduce the size as needed rather than try to make it larger. The first map is just a section of the brook. The farmers on either side have blocked it off with large hedgerows. Where the hedgerows haven't taken hold they've erected small sections of pole fences to help keep livestock away from the rocky banks of the Strix. In this one area the farmer has been negligent and not fully fenced off his land, giving access to the waterway.

The second map is just an overlay of the caverns and tunnels beneath the fields.

Here are the links for the two maps:
Map032a
Map032b

If you find either one of these useful, please let me know.