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Q:

Who has what elemental keys, how many are there, and where can they be found?

A:

The NPC's from the CRM that have Lesser Keys are as follows.I have also added the area # that the person is normally found in.

Air :
Choranth - 75
Fachish 73 / 75

Water :
Kelashein 187 / 185 / 195
Oomkaan - 192

Earth:
Snearak - 225
Uskathoth - 223
Eeridik 139 (in a box, not on him)
Reokallitan - 147

Fire:
Tessimon 120 / 121
Zert 116 / any fire controlled area
Firre Orenac 119

JDragonatWork and lots o'others contributed to this post.

Q

Rastor seems under-developed. What can be done to give it more detail?

A

Multiple takes

Siobharek (in part quoting others)

One idea that sticks with me is adding a small keep and a degenerate noble family to the village. This nobleman is of course completely dominated by Tal Chammish and other (unspecified?) denizens of the ToAC. The whole thing was influenced more than a little by an H.P. Lovecraft story.

The same poster also remarked that since Mt. Stalagos was only 6 miles away, it would be quite plausible for the proximity of such great evil to produce strange mutations. Given the new info in BoVD about effects of lingering evil, that would be a strong possibility indeed.

Other than that, Rastor - as written - is too poor to offer the PCs anything. It's a stopping point en route from Hommlet to the CRM, and as fully half of the population knows about ochre-robed people from the mountain, it's a piece of cake for any PC with a Charisma above 6 to gather information that will lead him in the right direction. About the only other purpose of Rastor - again, as written - is for Tymerian to warn the PCs from just flying over the crater and into the Fanes.

Apart from the above, I know that a good many posters here have used Rerrid Hammersong as a minor contact/patron to steer the PCs towards the lost temple of Moradin. This, of course, works best if the party includes a dwarf.

Once the temple is found, it affords the PCs a safe place to stay, as Rerrid & Co. move in at once. Not a few posters have allowed their PCs this luxury until it is time for the party to head for the Fanes. Then Thrommel is dispatched to turn all the common dwarves into vampire spawn and Rerrid into a full-fledged vampire. One poster made the nasty suggestion of having Rerrid the Vampire be crucified, and moan piteously when the PCs enter the temple (think Mines of Moria here). As the PCs take hold of him to get him off the cross/wall/whatever, Rerrid is in a fine position for a grapple as the spawn rise behind the PCs...

Personally, I ran Rastor pretty much as written. I emphasized the incongruity of orcs and dwarves living peacefully in the same area, and I boosted Tal Chammish a little to at least give him a fighting chance. Other than that, and the fact that I had some gnome merchants move in once Tal was dead, I didn't use Rastor much. And my party has ceased stopping over in Rastor for fear of bringing down the wrath of Hedrack on the little town.

To sum all this up, here's what I think everyone should focus on in Rastor:

The Tanbrosh situation. Depending on your preferences, this can drag out or be dealt with quickly. Make sure that whatever consequences arise from the PCs' actions are carried through. I'm sure that many Rastors have been depopulated because Tal was killed and the PCs moved on. Also look out for the opportunity to get a PC hooked.

Tymerian. She was part of a party that also included the bard in the Fire Temple. Andorax suggests that the party also included Vister the paladin and.... the insane monk (?). Make up a complete story for her about how she was captured and how she escaped.

Rerrid Hammersong and the other dwarves. Are they the last of the original denizens of the Stalagos mines? How much can they tell about the layout of the mines. IMC, The Stalagos mine was created by a large clan a little to the north. This clan, living in the fortress Dorob-Kilthduum was overrun by orcs and is now haunted. The Rastor dwarves are survivors from Dorob-Kilthduum and only came to the CRM after Dorob-Kilthduum fell. The orcs' attacks were of course orchestrated by the Doomdreamers, so when the refugees came to Mt. Stalagos, it, too, was under attack, and their memories are clouded by that. Read more about Dorob-Kilthduum and a fuller take on the County of Verbobonc in Oerth Journal, issues 8 and 9.

The Orc/Dwarf dynamics. These guys actually live together in peace! If the PCs go medieval on the orcs, Rastor may become less than enthusiastic about having them.


Grumgarr

I wanted Rastor to come across as an Old West frontier boom-town gone bust. Right down to the swing-door saloon and run-down cathouse. Grim hardworking men and women, with an undercurrent of simmering violence waiting to erupt.

The gold rush of prospectors moving in around Mount Stalagos was the real reason humans moved into the area...the dwarves had laid claim to the rich veins in Mount Stalagos itself, but the rest of the area was rich in volcanic deposits too, so a lot of folk got rich quick, and the town grew up to relieve the prospectors of some of their wealth...enter the Doomdreamers...
The dwarves get slaughtered/driven out by the DDs and their summoned elementals and demons. Suddenly the richest veins were off-limits. Only the long-lived dwarves remember anything other than rumour and hearsay about the priests - almost everyone in town knows that the crater is occupied by some priests and that they have guards to ensure their privacy...no-one in town goes near the crater if they know what's good for them...the priests leave folk in town alone for the most part, so they're just the 'old haunted house on the hill' to most folk in town. Plus they come to town for supplies.
Out of town, folk go armed and don't travel alone - giants and other dangerous creatures haunt the hills at times.
The occasional well guarded merchant caravan detours to Rastor - providing a brief flash of colour and variety in an otherwise drab, shabby town.

The orcs moved into the area a generation or more ago and after tense beginnings and not a little bloodshed an uneasy truce developed - orcs now trade in town, though they don't live there - their camp is in the hills nearby - a track leads off into their territory...heavily armed groups approaching the orcs' camp will be treated as enemies...if you want to go see the orcs, tread softly. Racial tensions between the dwarves and half-orcs of Rastor still flares once in a while, fuelled by old anger and strong drink.

Rastor is now a rough-and-ready backwater, almost lawless. That's far from a license to do whatever you want though. Outsiders making trouble will get on the wrong side of more than just their 'victims'. There are still good folk in town, but it's a place to get lost, so drifters and folk on the run or looking to forget their past or be forgotten end up here too...people drift in and out and the town is slowly fading away as the prospectors' finds become thinner over time...
Eventually only the stubborn dwarves will remain, hoping that someday they might reclaim Mount Stalagos.

The Doomdreamers wealth and funding for their plans has come in large part from the rich veins of gems, gold and even some mithril found in the Stalagos mines - they have not been idle since taking over - now the mines are mostly played out and no longer worth the effort, given their other, more pressing plans.

Causing trouble for the priests or their supply-wagons in Rastor may bring reprisals down on the town - the blame for this will be laid squarely at the feet of the PCs who will find whatever welcome Rastor offered turned to cold-eyed resentment, even violence...and, of course, the cult has its own 'spies' in the town.


Andorax

I saw Rastor as being a city built to support and facilitate trade with the CRM. Dwarves determined where it would be so as to draw a line saying "nobody comes any closer than here". As an anchor point, they built the Temple in the very center.

Humans moved in and build all sorts of buildings all 'round. The few bits of solid dwarven construction mixed in with everything from well-made large structures to shantytown shacks (and the quality of one's work reflected on how the Dwarves dealt with you, of course).

Now, it's a very sad place. IMC, Rastor is the home of the last reminants of the dwarves of the CRM. Rerrid himself was a youngster, just about to go into the clergy and be welcomed into the temple when everything went wrong.

There's too few dwarves to attempt any retaking of the CRM. There's too few for anyone to move anywhere else without "destroying the clan". They're hanging onto a way of life they can't ever get back. As a result, it takes more than just "discovering" the Temple...the Dwarves have to be either very compellingly convinced or be absolutely certain they can return safely before they'll abandon the only home the clan has left, Rastor.

Enter the Orcs. The Dwarven hatred of the Orcs continues unabated. They have no love for the foul creatures, and would love to see them all dead if they could manage it. Alas, two things stand in their way. First, the Dwarves are too few, and dare not risk their dwindling numbers on a pointless gesture. Second, the human population wouldn't abide it.

Why? Well, with the Dwarves no longer mining, the main reason for Rastor to exist as a trade town is gone. Much of the town is gone, many of the people moved on. Those that remained had to invent a whole new economy, and have welcomed the Orcs as trade partners in the place of the Dwarves.

Now, gem traders and metal merchants have gone into furs and exotic animal bits, supported by Orcish trappers.


I even worked this into my campaign early on...on the road to Rastor, the party ran into the corpse of an Orc trapper, complete with gear appropriate to a Ranger and four or five large steel bear traps. The Orc's chest had been completely caved in by a massive blow.

Later, when they camped that night, they heard a yowl in the distance. Investigating, they found a Mountain Lion who had fallen afoul of one of the still-set steel traps...and two rounds later, the Grey Render who had "adopted" the Lion comes trapsing into the area...lacking the intellect and manual dexterity to free his friend.

An interesting encounter, and dilemma for the PCs...how to free the (injured and angry) Mountain Lion without being turned into a gooey paste by the angry and irrational Render.


madfox

My version of Rastor appeared to be an idyllic town at first glance. The streets were clean, the houses had nice colors and the people where nice. It all looked too nice to be true and this put my players quite on an edge. In my campaign I treated the village as being under the firm control of the Temple, who wanted to use it as a first discouragement to curious adventurers. Something in the trend - 'Nothing to see here. Nothing wrong. Please move along to the next adventuring site.' They even had protected the villagers on an occassion or two against raiders. Mind you, I depicted Rarrid as a neutral aligned cleric of Dumathoin. He was much more interested in protecting the community then vanguising evil, which let to some arguments with the PCs as well. To save traveling time, I also made him 9th level.

Of course, it did not take the PCs much time to see through the illusion. So they decided to leave the place alone, except for the occassional forray to buy food or to have secret meeting with Tymorian.


The Guy from Belgium

In my version, Rastor was a filthy town

Imagine a 18th-century industrialised town: Several forges burning day and night, smokestacks spewing black inky smoke into the air which clings to the buildings.

The air is heavy and hot, the sky barely visible except for those rare instances when a strong wind disperses the canopy of smoke.

Day and night is hard to distinguish.

Sweaty individuals on the streets, moving to and from the forges or charcoal pits.

Industry: iron forges, charcoal pits, ...

Races: mostly humans, some orcs and some dwarves

Very filthy atmosphere, my players were glad to get inside the inn where there was 'fresher' air

Yellowhippo, Siobharek, Grumgarr, Andorax, Madfox, and The Guy from Belgium contributed to this post