War of the Burning Sands
Dubok is a small, mostly human village in the Tablelands, situated inside a crater in a region of stony barrens. The ancestors of its people were Balican slaves, and they tend to be good-natured. Their greatest pride is their freedom, and they’ll do anything to protect it.
The story of the village began almost hundred years ago, when a young Druid of the Wastes named Yal Hamtchuk, during his years of apprenticeship, felt the “call of the stone.” The call led him to find the crater in which the village of Dubok is situated today. The majority of Dubok’s population is descended from slaves, which by pure luck found the site some 80 years ago. An elf tribe attacked the caravan that was transporting them from Balic to Tyr and, in the heat of the battle, the slaves managed to escape into the desert. Those that were lucky enough to survive discovered the crater, and its small spring was their salvation. Yal helped them heal their wounds, and the slaves stayed, indebted to him.
There are three tiers carved into the stone of the crater walls, and most of the “houses” in the village are just niches bored into the walls. Over the rim of the crater hangs a long line that, by means of a hand-operated mechanism, carries a large basket that serves for transporting goods and people into and out of the village. Over the whole crater is laid a linen cloth, whose upper side is colored with patterns that resemble the rocky terrain and helps the crater disappear into its surroundings like a mirage.