Moor and Mountain

The land around Pinching rises steeply to a barren highland that runs for 20 miles from the coast to the mountains. This moor is full of steep dells and bowls that break up its otherwise flat appearance. These give access to numerous cave systems, which have attracted all manner of bandits. Little happens on these moors by day, but under the cover of darkness, it crawls with activity.
This is a bleak area of the world, stuck in the middle of hotbeds of activity. The Iron Teeth are an ominous barrier, and only marginally accessible, yet they are a doorway to riches through their mines. The sea is a ready conduit for cargo and men, but the great moor lies bleakly between. It is a region that must be crossed and often, and yet is so porous and concealing that it is far to dangerous to cross safely. It is a mix that factors into any campaign.
The mountains themselves form a wall along much of the southern coast of the moor, with only the narrow valleys carved by rivers over time allowing access into them. Yet the dominate feature of them is the mountain towering over them all, Scarred Peak. In all likelihood, the entire region is part of a giant super volcano, with the hot springs and thermal pools of Aron's Bowl the caldera of the giant. Of the ring surrounding it, Scarred Peak sits atop the highest slopes as a vulture on its high perch, threatening all in its shadow.
From the west and the north, the walls of the Iron Teeth rise so sharply and steeply that no passage can be found to the Peak. From the plain of Aron's Bowl, the slopes step broadly up toward the high peaks in dangerously inviting fashion. The slag from the weeping scars of lava giving the peak its name creep down these steps, mingling with the waters feeding the Flushing River, to create a hazy, sulfurous quagmire above the plain known as the Molten Hills.
The river itself starts high on the slopes of the southern face of Scarred Peak, snaking south and east around much of the Molten Hills, then turning north to cut through them and drop onto the plain of Aron's Bowl, then on to the sea. The eastern mountains of the ring can be scaled fairly easily, as well as those to the south. Their danger lies in their wild, untamed ways, and the extreme conditions that pervade the north once you get away from the thermal vents of Scarred Peak and Aron's Bowl.
The approach to Scarred Peak from the east and south is gentle by comparison to most of the other mountains of the range. This invites ascent, which risks the wrath of the dragon lairing within the volcano. Mostly dormant, the great wyrm within has become active of late, and begun reigning terror down upon the whole region, mountain, moor, and sea.
Tomorrow, we will consider rumors of the great beast itself.