100 Random Things that just might lie in that inaccessible mountain valley the locals tell tales about.

You have traveled far, the village is a welcome rest, they welcome you and your party with good spirits.

In the village at the foot of the high mountains the  locals tell stories around open pits of coals over which  heavily spiced meats an root vegetables are roasted on crooked sticks older than you are, blackened and slick with  many nights worth of  flame. On these nights the  stories are about the stars, long revered as ancestral spirits, and bout the  history of the village , the families that live there. One story catches your ear, a long tale that tells of a deep, narrow and nearly inaccessible valley some miles into the high mountains. The village elder peers through the  herbal cloud rising from his  ivory pipe, with dark eyes and broken teeth he tells of the valley, he tells of....

1. A vast necropolis where a long forgotten tribe built complex shrines for their dead. It is said the spirits still roam the cliffs that ring the valley keeping out intruders and protecting the shrines.
2. The crash sight of a large flying ship that the locals say brought their ancestors to these mountains.
3. A crystal clear lake, 100 foot deep but so clear and still you can see the bottom. At the bottom a marble sarcophagus can clearly be seen, but never reached.
4. A clan of large hairy "Wild Men" live in the valley. Once a year the villagers send one strong youth into the mountains to leave them a tribute consisting of 5 pounds of salt at a shrine dedicated to the wild men.
5. The Valley is desolate, the valley floor bubbles with steam vents and  geysers. The mud from these vents is said to have healing properties.
6. The valley is the  grove of a mysterious druid. Not the hierophant, but something other perhaps even greater, the druid that has removed himself from the order completely and is creating his own form of dark worship.
   
7. There is a supposedly a lost city, once occupied by  a race of little people, the elders say they built their thrown out of gold.
8. Here lies a tribe of Minotaur that use ritual fighting to  determine who is the leader of their tribe.
9. The skeletal remains of  a vast giant cover the floor of the valley. A group of Naga are said to have taken up residence in it's skull.
10. A vast Lake with a small island at it's center, on that island a stepped pyramid that gleams white in the  sun. No tribesman has ever ventured to the island, because of "the guardian"
11. The small valley is constantly shrouded in  thick mist. What lies below the mist is a mystery occasionally strange birds, and  animals wander up form the  valley and quickly die in the sun.
12. a vast field of  bones and rusted armor, in days log past a battle was fought in the hidden valley, why and by whom is long forgotten.
13. The Valley is a giant sink hole cause by greedy dwarfs undermining the area. The collapse was catastrophic and to this day no dwarfs can be found in the valley. The  stout folk did however leave behind a network of old mines and tunnels that have become home to all manner of creatures.
14. The  Walls of the valley are covered with  dwellings carved into the stone, a network of rope bridges connect the sides of the  narrow valley. The tribe who lives there never go to the valley floor.
15. The valley was carved eons ago when a great dragon crashed into the mountains, it's immense skeleton can still be seen at the valley's southern most edge embedded in the earth. Traditionally this valley is where dragons will come to duel over their differences.
16. The valley is a lush temperate forest, sealed away from time and untouched by  man or other humanoids.
17. The Valley is said to hold a cave that once entered can open back to any location in the world, perhaps even other worlds. A strange cult of  monks live in the valley and worship the cave as if it were a god. They call the cave, "Maw of the Traveling Sun."
18. A large lake fed by mountains streams fills the  floor of the valley, a lone very large ship of unknown origin floats endlessly in the lake, circling with the gentile current, abandoned.
19. A great kingdom once used the  valley as it's seat of power, however the kingdom is now much reduced, their once great temples still standing as silent witness to what once was. An overly proud king, one in the line of a seemingly endless dynasty rules over the small population.
20. three rivers flow up form underground caves meet in the base of the valley, before flowing back under the earth southward. The valley walls were carved by the water and a very sheer and dangerous to climb, the  floor of the valley is desolate holding only boulders and scree. To retrieve a round stone that has been tumbled in the junction of the three rivers is considered a sacred act.
21. A vast stone monolith in the shape of a man likes in plain sight on the valley floor. No plants grow near it and animals avoid the location. The  local tribes refer to it as "the fallen god," but have no other information about  how it came to be.
22. The sacred valley is crossed by on narrow pole bridge, far below the valley floor is covered in harsh  boulders and loose rocks. At the center of the pole bride a small hut has been constructed, not unlike a birds nest, it is here village elders go to meditate when they feel their time to pass is coming.
23. The Valley is a booming  Dwarven town. After ages of digging two Dwarven mines met at this valley and  built a great above ground trading post for use by both clans.
24. This  valley is used by a local mountain tribe as a place to deposit their unwanted and their criminals. The tribe simply pitch them in to the valley and walk away. The  ones who have survived the fall  have formed a society of their own.
25. The  valley floor is dominated by a thick glacier. The elders say the ancestors once locked a great beast away inside the mile thick ice. 
26. A culture of large, intelligent, gorilla like humanoids live in the trees on the valley floor.
27. There is temple on the valley floor where in the old times the  rulers of the tribes would offer up blood sacrifice to the  gods. It is long abandon now and considered cursed.
28. IN the forest on the valley floor there is a well, none of the elders know who dug it , but it si said that if one peers into the well they can see, "things." Sometimes visions and prophecy and sometimes evil so dark and ancient it will drive even a strong man insane.
29. Monkeys, hundreds of tiny monkeys that will harass a party, steal from them, pull on their ropes as they climb, do anything to make a visitors life miserable. They are kind of cute when they are not stealing your equipment or throwing their own shit.
30.  A thick jungle carpets the  valley with  broad tunnel like road ways cut though the dense  underbrush. The  tunnels are slowly carved by the actions of  rare out door gelatinous cubes feeding off the plant life.
31. The Valley is a purple worm mating ground. The  eggs of the  massive worms are incredibly valuable, once ingested it is said the eggs give a person of pure heart visions of the future.
32. The valley floor has a stream running through it that is said to be a rich source of gold dust, many have tried to mine the valley walls, or pan the stream, none have returned.
33. the  valley floor is ruled by a society of giant intelligent spiders. The do not communicate by  sound but by  actions and scent, they are wholly in human and will simply treat all humanoids as prey, or worse cattle to be bread for food.
34. A society of Dark elves have built a temple to one of their cold dark gods at the center of the valley. They send raiding parties out into the  mountains, and  are growing in number.
35. Long ago  a society of  little people lived in the valley. They were amazing with magic, tools and  crafting pushing their  arts until they built machines that helped them do many day to day tasks. In time the society became soft and lethargic, when plague struck they were ill prepared and none of their machines could help them. Now the jungle has taken back the valley, but it is said their machines remain. 
36. The  valley is a lovely verdant forest, watched over by a clutch of extremely aggressive Rocs.
37. Th natives travel to the valley once a year to collect rare red and white ocher used to create skin pigments used in sacred rituals. They say it is  a cursed place watched over by a powerful nature spirit. Offerings are made well in advance of the yearly  pilgrimage.
38. The  limestone walls of the valley are riddled with complex wind carved caves that the natives consider sacred. 
    
39. The  valley is actually a very large and ancient quarry. Roads which are now all but obscured by overgrowth once lead away form it deeper into the mountains. No one knows what could have been built so deep in the mountains with  the vast amount of stone that must have been taken from this location.
40. The valley is a marshy field, thought to be hunted by the locals, it's actually methane gas that escapes form the marsh and sometimes ignites.
41. Long ago a wizard built a tower in the valley, and quietly studied his arts for many years. The  tower has long since fallen to ruin, however the locals say that if a brave soul climbs to the lip of the valley and watches long enough to ancient wizard withered and terrible can sometimes be seen wondering the valley floor collecting herbs.
42. In the north end of the narrow valley stands a huge keep carved from the valley wall it's self.
43. A mist hangs in the  valley continuously, the villagers speak of it in hushed tones saying once it  crept from the valley and into the village from which the mist stole several children. That was years ago, the villagers call it the  "colds nights curse."
44. Giant ants roam the  valley floor , all members of a huge hive, they clear the forest of most not plant like living things while growing  food in vast fungi  farm caverns below the surface.
45. The  swampy valley is said to contain all manner of  deadly and poisonous beasts, and also a well that will restore youth to any who drink from it.
46. The  floor of the Valley is dominated by large crystal growths, some the  size of trees. Wizards from all over have come at one time or another to  study or collect the crystals, but the journey is difficult and many do not return.
47. This Valley is the legendary  goblin-holme, the mud from which all goblins arose and to which all goblins aspire to return.
48. This icy vale  always blows with a cold wind, those who journey to the valley must be prepared to brave the severest of  weather. It is said the largest and  greatest of the white dragons calls it home, though the beast has not been seen for centuries.
49. The Locals call the valley the seat of the gods, and indeed the  valleys western wall is shaped like a massive carved thrown.
50. A  200 foot waterfall rolls over the edge of the valley and plunges into a deep  misty  pool below. The locals tell tales which state that kings wearing all of their gold and ceremonial gems woudl be cast over the falls after they died so their spirits could rise with the mists. Could those treasures remain?
    
51. The  Floor of the valley is nothing but a vast field of burnt stones and obsidian. In the center of the valley there is a deep crater, that the local tribes call "The birthing place."
52. The  valley is covered with thick woods, the  natives say that near the center of the woods lies a cave containing roughly carved stairs that snake downward into the darkness . They say it was made by men seeking knowledge in the earths lost places.
53. The valley is actually a huge lake damned on one end by a massive earth work.
54. The jungle floor of the  valley is like a lost world, containing flora and fauna long ago extinct in other parts of the world.
55. The  walls of the  valley are  carved with massive caves, the entrance of each carved more ornately than the next. Once a year the giants gather here, take up position in their traditional caves and air their grievances by shouting them crossed the valley.
56. In the valley lies the  city where the villagers once lived an earth quake caused a rock slide that damned the river which ran through the valley. The villagers were forced toe flee the rising waters.
57. A vale occupied by  forest nymphs who attract unwary men to their deaths.
58. A savage orc tribe holds the valley. anyone who dares enter will be slain or enslaved. In the center of it all is a human warlord who seem sot be pulling the orcs strings, but to what end?
59. The floor of the valley is dominated by a swirling cloud of magical energy. It could be deadly to anyone who goes near or it could be a source of incredible power.
60. A vast forest of bamboo covers the valley, the native report seeing curls of smoke as if from  camp fires occasionally rising into the air.
61. In the valley lives a sword maker, but not any sword maker the master sword maker, on occasion he takes the long climb out of the valley to trade with the village and  buy supplies before the long winters.
62. A patch of land lies at the floor for the  valley where fruit and vegetables grow to immense size. The villages enter the valley once a year to harvest huge strawberries.
63. A lone temple stands in the valley it is a library of sorts with all of the knowledge remaining from a long dead civilization carved into the walls on huge bronze plates. It si guarded by a savage beast some say a manticore others say a hydra regardless, none have entered the library temple and lived.
64. The valley contains a small  idealistic city, a lush paradise hidden away in the high mountains. I reclusive group of monks live here in peace, meditating on the deeper meanings of the universe. 
    
65. The  base of  the valley  holds a perfectly round  lake surrounded by lush  forest while only  30 meters crossed it is  incredibly deep the villagers say up to 300 or meters or more. This  water filled cave is said to contain  a creature that sometimes rises to the surface at night. The squid like beast in believed to be an all knowing oracle.
66. The  Hut of the  Doll People.
67. The  valley is  constantly cloaked in  smoke and ash billowing  from a myriad of volcanic vents, a small lake  of the purest blue  sits bubbling at it's center. The natives say they can sometimes see large shadows moving through the  smoke, so they never go near.
68. A two civilizations of men live on opposite ends of the  forested valley. They are isolated from the rest of the  world and have developed complex courting rituals to  reduce the amount of intermarriage. The greatest act a warrior from either tribe can ever accomplish is to  leave the valley and return with a stolen child.
69. This valley is a scar on the land where once a titan was slain, over the centuries it's bones have turned to dust, but occasionally  a traveler will enter the valley looking for even a shard of titan bone with which powerful weapons can be forged. The  legends say the land is cursed by the titans blood and gives rise to many sorts of foul beasts.
70. The  valley is very  steep and  sheer walled, the forest in  the bottom is many degrees warmer than the surrounding mountains. A small clan of natives live here, they are peaceful but leery of  outsiders. They claim that as long as they stay in the  valley  they can't die.
71. Long ago a series of three stone temples were built by competing priesthoods, they are now abandon, covered by  think forests.
72. The valley has been carved into a massive amphitheater with several  fields sectioned off at the bottom, once a decade dwarfs gather here for their games.
73. The valley  is surrounded by high over arching  cliffs and only sees a sliver of sunlight pass by each day. In these deep shadows among pale plants and fungus, lies the fungal palace of the grey litch.
74. One end of the valley  contains deep  pits whose walls have been carved to form  large aviaries for  pigeons known as dovecotes. A local tribe collect the  pigeon droppings and train the  birds to carry messages among their people. The birds and their droppings are  valuable commodities.
    
75. The  Valley was once  the  site of a kings gold mining operation. Vast riches were pulled form the  ground, then the mines were suddenly abandoned. The old roads can still be seen snaking into the valley, but the  mine entrances themselves are lost to an ever growing  forest.
76. The  frozen  basin of the valley is dominated by a castle  carved from the  thick blue ice along side of a glacier. 
77. The Elephant grave yard. Well watched by a culture of bipedal intelligent elephants.
78. The  grass that covers the  low hills of the valley floor is strange indeed, it sings in the  wind and  is strong as iron. The grass is sought by the natives after for making wickedly sharp blades, but the  fields are also home to the mantis men, who do not  welcome trespassers.
79. the  walls of the valley are slick with some strange viscous purple substance, making climbing difficult. Once in the valley the land is prone to strange sudden storms and howling winds. The  locals consider it an evil place.
80. The  Valley is ruled by a tribe of  fierce female warriors. They sometimes take prisoners to  increase their ranks. Men when captured are killed in an arcane ritual. No one  travels to near the  valley due to fear of  raiding parties.
81. The floor of the valley is dominated by a vast tar pit. The tar pit is the  residence of  several tar cloaked earth elemental who squabble endlessly  over which one controls the valley. Over the years many adventures have sought to slay the elementals believing the  pits to be filled with  forgotten treasures, but they have failed, their bodies left in to rot in the tar.
82. A towering obelisk of  the  darkest granite rises hundreds of feet out of the valleys forested floor.
83. The valley plays home to the Medusa. The  forested valley floor contains several small  temples all of which contains statues of explorers and warriors alike. The Medusa has grown old and obese over time, she now lives in the largest of the temples, dragging her massive sweaty bulk slowly around the grounds endlessly looking for intruders.
84. the  valleys steep walls are said to be a Griffon aviary.
85. The smell of brimstone always hangs in the air near the valley. Near it's center stands a strange ring of 5 stones. hen elders say that at one time a summoning ritual had been performed in the valley and it was left a darker place.
86. The valley contains a  village of hardy  halflings living in burrows built into the  valley slopes. These halflings long ago  fled persecution by  the  out side world to live in the valley. Over time they have become a thriving community with religion and traditions much different then more typical Halflings.
87. A great spire of stone rises out of the  valley. This  towering edifice is used by a nearby kingdom as an anchoring point for sky ships (zeppelins). IN the mountains nearby sky ship sightings are quickly becoming a local religion. The natives in  the surrounding mountains have no idea what the sky ships are and consider them omens from the gods. Red sky ships are considered a good sign , blue sky ships are good for fertility and son on. IN fact the natives seem to have assigns a different meaning to  each  ship they have seen, and are going so far as to name them after their traditional gods.
88. It is said that the stones on the valley floor move on their own.
89. Things that die in the valley do not stay dead for ever. The natives say that  some  warriors from teh tribe attempted to  explore the valley  but were killed in a land slide. Months latter they were seen back in town , alive but with no memories of who they were or how they had returned. They only smoke of  bright lights and cold water.
90. The valley is the last home of the true high elves, they have become so ancient and aloof, that they no longer travel out of the vale. It is said that magic abilities they wield are second to none, both  beautiful and terrifying.

    

    image by najtkriss deviantart

91. The elders tell a story that says the valley was created by the tireless digging of a great beast.They also say the  beast finally went to sleep when the  valley was deep and long enough for it to fit, then over more time the  valley filled with water around the  monster. They say the creature is what  causes the waves which often cover the valleys vast lake.
92. The valley  is plagued by a clan of trolls whole love nothing more than the taste of the  various humanoids who from time to time wander into their valley. No one woudl ever go there at all except that the secluded valley is one of the only places where the rare Valin Fruit can be found. The fruit is not only an expensive delicacy it is also a major component in many an apothecary's restorative potions. It is even speculated that being able to eat the Valin fruit for the whole lives is what give the trolls their amazing regeneration abilities.
93. The  Dry and dusty valley floor is home to the single largest surface Kobold city. 
94. The older members of the tribe remember making the long journey into the mountains and trading with the people of the valley. They would trade food and live stock for rare minerals, dyes and gems. The people of the valley were said to be tall and fierce, but honorable. It has been many years since any one has communicated with them.
95. The valley contains and a once opulent but now overgrown ruined city. The city was ruined during an earthquakes and then a  volcanic eruption from a nearby mountain. Much of the population was buried, others escaped leaving all they owned behind. Many local tribes claim to be descended from the valley people, but none are brave enough to return.
    
96. The valley has always been a place of peace a natural wonder ringed by  waterfalls and  containing idyllic forests. Lately however, the  water has stopped flowing  from the valley  and smoke has been seen in the mountains.
97. The valley is a  neighboring tribes industrial heart. They use the  swift streams running through the  valley to  power great water wheels and smiths hammers. The other tribe has used it's industrial advantage to grow rich and powerful. The elders would like nothing more than to see it all putt to the torch.
    
98. The valley is  covered  by a thick sheet of ice, below which lies a vast network of ice caverns formed by natural springs far below. The  elders say that sometimes the  grinding ice will scour gems from the steep valley walls.
99. The Frozen mountain valley is the  home of a mated pair or Rhemoraz, which the locals call "The ones who thunder and steam." 
100. The natives tell a tale so incredible it can not be believed. They say the valley is a paradise, ruled over by their god of death who lives in a floating inverted pyramid of pure onyx. The say that once a person dies their spirit journeys to the  valley where it is interned in the pyramid until the god of death deems  it ready for  reincarnation. Once a year the tribe sends young warriors who are coming of age to the  head of the valley for a week. They are never to speak of their experience, but it is said they receive the spirits of former tribal warriors, and this is when they receive their true names. What is known is each year at least one of the journeyers do not return.

Lasty:

If none of the above options trip your trigger, go to this gentleman Deviant art page and something will. Any one of these pictures would be amazing to find in a hidden mountain valley.

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