Details

Who Rules: Lord Nug Sethelree (CN, ½-Ogre Male, F15) rules Nug City but those few living on the island accept him as the island's ruler. He is a former gladiator who was once a pirate in the days of his wild youth. During his gladiatorial days he was one of a few outsiders to gain acceptance and admiration in the fighting pits of the Sarai, where he madeh is fortune. He actually owns the city as a whole but residents in Nug City own their buildings.

Who Really Rules: Nug rules completely, but he relies heavily on the advice of his close friend, the renowned mage Anthony.

Population: Nug City has a population of around 1,500-1,800 people. This number tends to fluctuate with the fishing seasons, with some ships coming in from as far away as Perryn Island and temporarily making the island their home. The entire island has a population of around 2,500 people. 95% of the population is made up of humans, with the rest being an even mix of dwarves and elves, and a smattering of halfling farmers.

Major Products: Salted fish, fishing nets, repair facilities for ships, pickled meats, hard tack, and Shoal Ale, an ale made from dried seaweed that is also good for pickling fish and while not the most pleasant of ales it is very long lasting. Anthony's Tower is known as a training center for brewing of potions but it also runs a distillery that produces a rather potent whiskey called The 19th Voyage that is very popular in with sailors in the taverns of Nug City.

Armed Forces: Nug City is protected by a constabulary of 50 soldiers augmented at any given time by 4-12 apprentice mages. The fisherman of Nug City and the farmers and foresters of the island can muster a rather effective militia of around 750 able bodies. A small number of gladiators and gladiator apprentices can also be called upon to defend the city and the island.

Notable Mages: Anthony (LG, Human Male, W19) is a retired adventurer and collector of books and knowledge. He came to lookout for the solitude and is still somewhat irked that civilization seems to have followed him. Despite his love of solitude he is welcoming of guests though he usually delegates hosting duties to his apprentices. When he is not studying in his library or offering advice to Lord Nug (which is often handled by an advisor when Nug sends messengers) he is traveling the world seeking knowledge. Among a few select individuals he is known to have a surprising number of books from the lands of Elagneci.

Captain Greymantle (NG, Human Male, W14) was once the captain of a rather successful merchant ship that was known for having an unusually large cargo hold for a ship of its size. Nug City was not his home port but he was a frequent visitor. One day while the ship was in port it simply vanished. Ship, crew, Captain, cargo, they all vanished. Some years later Captain Greymantle suddenly appeared about 20 feet above the harbor and promptly fell into the water. He has never talked about what happened and has since then spent the intervening years drunk. He occasionally sells some magical trinket to pay for his drinks and on those rare occasions that he is sober his vast knowledge of the local shipping lanes are worth the gold people pay for it. And though he is a drunkard he is still a powerful wizard and not to be messed with.

Notable Churches: There are no churches on Lookout Island, but there are shrines to Tirdin, Leandra, Brower, Erken, Leessa, and Lorton, which are tended by clerics and a few hermit-priests.

Notable Rogues' and Thieves' Guilds: There is no guild on the island, but the few thieves who reside here tend to respect the territories of others. This is in large part due to the fact that Lord Nug always seems to be aware of their activities and he has let it be known that while he will turn a blind eye to some pilfering, especially the rolling of drunk sailors, he will not tolerate territorial disputes.

Unknown to the thieves of Nug City is the presence of Invari Silverchain (CN, Human Female, T17), a friend of Lord Nug who is known to the residents of the island as a map maker. None know she was once a very successful dungeon rogue who keeps tabs on the local thieves for her friend.

Equipment Shops: There is little in the way of adventuring gears, but most generic items can be found in Nug City, as well as more than a few shops specializing in maritime gear as well as some that sell book making equipment.

Adventurers' Quarters: Adventurers are not all that common on the island, but they are welcome in any of the taverns and adventuring mages are always welcome at Anthony's Tower.

Important Characters: Invari Silverchain (CN, Human Female, T17) grew up on the streets of Tucker's Paradise and was a natural born thief. At an early age the local guide was unable to convince her to join them so they kidnapped her and sold her into slavery. She eventually wound up owned by a Sarai who ran a gladiator stable. She was assigned as the personal assistant of Nug during his days fighting for this Sarai. When Nug left he purchased her and set her free. She spent some time traveling as his assistant but eventually they parted ways and she found success as a dungeon rogue. When she retired she tracked down Lord Nug and retired to his city. She uses her vast knowledge from traveling to create maps.

Sir Rotair the Fiar (LG, Human Male, Paladin 12) lives in a small, fortified compound near the center of the island with a small cadre of warriors, a handful of priests and clerics, and their families. Roair and his fellow warriors showed up one day and after verifying the land they now live on was not owned by anyone, they built their fortifications and took up farming and sheep herding and many later met and married young ladies who are native to the island. What is known to only 5 people on the entire island is they were once part of an Underdark expedition out of The Principality of the Righteous that that after an earthquake was cut off from access to the surface. After wandering around and surviving for nearly 5 years they emerged on Lookout Island. They were so relieved to see the light of day that those few who survived collapsed the tunnels beneath them and took up residence.

Inx (NG, Dwarf Female, Bard 9) gave up her life as a seafaring minstrel after her ship sank near Lookout Island and a shark took off her left leg. After a long recovery she decided to stay on the island and earns a living telling tales and singing songs of her days sailing the seas, including a brief time spent North of The Great Belt.

Pallina Goodmill (NG, Human Female, 0-level) is a local merchant who harvests a local variety of seaweed, dries it out, and grinds it into a fine powder that has properties very similar to that of salt. This is used locally for curing of various fish and meats as well as being sold as a preservative. She is very knowledgeable of local aquatic plant life and supplements her income by harvesting pearls, which she sells to the mages at Anthony's Tower.

Important Features on the Island: Nug City is roughly circular with a wedge-shaped harbor cutting nearly halfway through the city. Several small shipyards line the harbor, as well as numerous docks. Other than Nug City there are only a handful of small harbors where anything but shallow drafted boats can approach the island. The rest of the island's shores are very rocking. There is one very long dock at Anthony's Tower, but very few who are not guests dock there as the dock is protected by golems.

Almost the entire island is covered by lightly wooded hills which are dotted with small farms and some logging camps. Numerous caves dot the island, many of which are used by mushroom farmers. There are no dangerous animals on the island and only the most foolish and desperate of pirates would think of trying to raid the island. All in all it is a very quiet island where not much goes on, though the influx of sailors in Nug City can make things rather lively at times.

There are no public gladitorial arenas on the island, but given Nug Sethelree's fame the island draws a good number of gladiators and aspiring gladiators to the island. Lord Nug will usually take on one or two to offer training. Those who do not receive this honor will often seek training with one of around half a dozen retired gladiators who run schools on the island. Each school has its own training pit and will often sell a limited number of tickets so spectators can watch training bouts.

Local Lore: Lookout Island receives a lot of waterborne traffic as it is the first (or last) island after crossing the nearly 75-mile Damel's Gap between Lookout Island and Kraglin Island. The Gap is known for sudden storms and more than a few shipwrecks lie in the waters to the South and West of the island. If not for the abundance of sharks in the local waters the wrecks would have been picked clean of salvage and treasure. Despite the sharks some locals and some visiting sailors try to make some quick money trying to dive the wrecks.

Rumors have persisted for a number of years that somewhere on the interior of the island there is a hidden cave that leads to the Underdark, but no one has ever been able to find any such entrance, and those with knowledge of the Underdark, as well as those who presume they have said knowledge, point out that if that were true then at least every once in a while some evil denizens would show up. In the past sahuagin were infrequent "visitors" to the island and raided shipping, but they suddenly stopped about 20 years ago. Tales of lost sahuagin city frequently make the rounds of in the various inns and taverns.

Of all the settlements in The Crescent League Nug City is the one place where you can almost always find at least a couple of Sarai. Many an aspiring or young Sarai gladiator has come seeking advice and possibly training from Lord Nug. Anthony's Tower, while primarily an institute of knowledge it is also a lighthouse, and while small the beacon can be seen from 20 miles away on a clear night. A smaller lighthouse sits on a shoal about 4 miles outside Nug City and can be seen from about 10 miles away.