The Secret War Beneath the Hills: Temple Logistics at the Hunting Cottage

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  As Dungeon Masters building immersive worlds in Greyhawk, we often focus on the sprawling dungeons and cursed temples—but what makes a setting breathe are the living villages, the secret roads, and the nameless lieutenants that oil the gears of evil. With this latest update to the Verbobonc Campaign Guide 576 CY , the Hunting Cottage south of Nulb becomes more than just a footnote on a wilderness map—it becomes the nerve center of the Temple of Elemental Evil’s underground war effort. A Cabin Cloaked in Secrecy Located deep in the Kron Hills, buried beneath the dark canopy of the Gnarley Forest, this "innocent hunting lodge" masks the Temple’s most critical logistical node. Thanks to expanded lore and character development from recent articles, the cottage now connects the surface world to the Greater Temple’s lower levels through two secret tunnel entrances—one canon (a vertical shaft through a water well) and one newly developed (a limestone cave reinforced for priso...
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Oakvein: The Living Soul of the Southern Gnarley, World of Greyhawk DND Campaign

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A DM’s Reflection on Bringing Elven Depth to the Temple of Elemental Evil Campaign

By 3orcs

When I first cracked open The Village of Hommlet—Gary Gygax’s legendary introduction to the Temple of Elemental Evil campaign—I saw an incredible foundation. But what I needed wasn’t just a dungeon map or encounter table. I needed a world that breathed, and villages that remembered.

That’s where Oakvein was born.

A City in the Boughs of Memory

Oakvein is more than a tree—it's the sacred heart of Clan Enlanefel, the smallest and most contemplative of the elven clans of the Gnarley Forest. Nestled in the high limbs of a 240-foot ancient tree where the Gnarley meets the Welkwood, Oakvein is a living monument of elvenkind.

I wrote Oakvein to be a city built not with hammers, but with song, memory, and divine whispers. It is home to six loremasters—each a master of a magical or spiritual discipline—and their sanctums are woven into the living wood of the tree:

  • Naerion’s Aetherium Hall sparks with the forging of enchanted artefacts

  • Faeluneth’s Moonspire Sanctum gleams with starlight and dream

  • Synriel’s Verdantroot Hollow pulses with ley energy from the roots below

  • And others walk the dreams of the Feywild, the scrolls of memory, and the forgotten wars

This place became my answer to the question: What do the elves of the Gnarley know about the Temple of Elemental Evil’s return?

Tying Oakvein into Your Temple of Elemental Evil Campaign

The campaign’s central mystery—the return of a sealed evil from decades past—is exactly the kind of slow, spiritual sickness that Oakvein would sense. The loremasters do not ride to war. They watch. They dream. They warn heroes in whispers, not proclamations.

That’s where side quests come in.

🗺️ Oakvein-Inspired Side Quest Hooks:

  • A corrupted kiira (elven soul-gem) appears in Verbobonc’s black market, linked to the elemental cults

  • Nemoi, master of dream-walking, asks the players to retrieve a forgotten name echoing in the Feywild—before it falls into Vecnan hands

  • A leyline scar in the Wild Verge grows into a magical wound. Synriel believes it was caused by cultists reopening a sealed site

These aren’t just diversions—they anchor your players into the world of Greyhawk.

Building Villages That Breathe

As I wrote Oakvein, it inspired my other settlements:

  • Hommlet, now more than a map: the townsfolk whisper about elves seen in the treetops, and dreams sent to sleeping children

  • Sheernobb became a halfling-folk resistance hub, where tales of the Enlanefel are traded like folklore

  • Ostverk, a logging town just east of Oakvein, is caught between economic need and elven hostility

  • Twilight Falls, a druidic outpost in the Gnarley, reveres Oakvein as a spiritual mecca

  • And of course, Nulb, festering with secrets, sits under the quiet watch of Oakvein’s owl-familiars and scouts who never speak aloud

Writing Oakvein helped me design more immersive NPCs, village economies, and politics—which I’ve included in my Verbobonc Campaign Guide 576 CY.

A Resource for DMs—and New Players

Whether you're a veteran Dungeon Master looking to deepen the Temple of Elemental Evil with layered cultures, or a new player creating your first Greyhawk character, Oakvein offers something unique:

  • A place to meet mentors or allies (the Loremasters can offer boons, quests, or cryptic guidance)

  • A political mystery for players to uncover—why do some elves now call humans “the old storm reborn”?

  • An elven realm not defined by swords and archery, but by prophecy, time, memory, and magic

 

Visit the Verbobonc Campaign Guide

To read the full article on Oakvein, explore all the loremasters, and see artwork of the village and its magical halls, visit:
🔗 The Verbobonc Campaign Guide 576 CY on World Anvil

I also go into deep discussion on Oakvein and how to use it in your campaign on my YouTube channel:
🎥 3orcs on YouTube

If you want Greyhawk villages that live and breathe, that evolve with the players and remember the scars of past wars, I hope Oakvein inspires your own creations.

—
🛠️ Written by 3orcs
🎨 Creator of the Verbobonc Campaign Guide 576 CY
📺 Dungeon Master, Writer, Worldbuilder

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