Flood Road

Location overview

A dusty roadway that becomes a rushing river each year when snowmelt from the Tusk Mountains floods it, marking the start of the Flood Truce and the migration of the aurochs herds. The Flood Road becomes a riverbed when snow and ice melt from the Tusk Mountains, bringing explosive plant growth and aurochs from their wintering grounds. During the Flood Truce, dozens of orc holds establish camps beside it and gather resources without open conflict.
Bonesnap led The Party along the Flood Road to hunt aurochs. Fizzik found tracks on the first day, while Vanna read droppings to follow the herd. On the third day, the hunters reached a rocky, mostly barren stretch where the road crossed a low valley above a dry riverbed. The Party encountered the aurochs there; Fizzik vaulted one and left a painted handprint, while the others fought and killed two beasts before turning back toward Torrentmoot.
Before a flood, the Flood Road crossed dry terrain. A slow leading edge of dirty water and debris appeared, only a foot or two high. Within minutes, a roaring wall of water about twenty feet high rushed down the channel, overflowing roughly a hundred feet beyond either side and carrying uprooted trees, boulders, and house-sized chunks of ice. The dry terrain became a rushing river bordered by waterlogged ground. Muddy forms emerged from the earth along both banks where the floodwater had touched. Within minutes, hundreds had clawed their way out and moved away from the river. Gurnak identified the distant shapes as several kinds of undead, and Ardax ordered everyone back to base camp immediately.