Thither lies near the mouth of the Xanthus river, situated on a plain between a dense tropical jungle and a wide swamp called the Crying Marsh.
The Crying Swamp is a network of meandering waterways forming dozens of large islands. The waterways flood at high tide, creating wide shallow swamps.
On the map above, the light green areas are forested with moss-draped Cyprus and mangrove but rarely flood. The ground is spongy, black, and soft. The dark green areas are covered in tall grasses and mangrove trees and are flooded by one to three feet of salt water at every high tide and are muddy bogs at low tide. The water channels, lakes, and ponds vary from five to ten feet deep.
The Crying Swamp is filled with danger, including: leeches both normal and giant; oozes, blobs and jellies; crocodiles and their dire cousins; man-eating gar; deadly eels; giant wasps and beetles; shambling mounds, blights, and ents; giant man-eating frogs and lizards; and various species of dinosaur!
The Crying Swamp is also home to a tribe of lizard-men, a tribe of bullywugs, and a tribe of reclusive lemur-men known as tasloi. Hunters have also reported isolated sightings of strange malformed sub-men lurking in the trees.
The Crying Swamp gets its name from the strange sounds that emanate from the deep swamp at night. The sounds resemble hundreds of children crying in the far distance. Few stay in the swamp after sun-down because it is haunted by the spirits of the dead inhabitants of ancient Sinopia.
Sinopia was a major port city of the Erian empire known as Nedula Madhya. Sinopia was destroyed overnight by the Aslak in a global cataclysm known as the Wrath, wherein the gods known as the Aslak overthrew and imprisoned their predecessors, the Uuani.
Sinopia was struck by a massive ball of divine fire from the heavens which stripped the city clean of all live but left most of the structures intact.
Explorers and hunters report spotting a mile-wide wall of obsidian, 300 feet high, surrounding the old city center. No one has ever entered the crater, but it is believed that it is where the lizard-men, bullywugs, and tasloi make their home. It is also believed to be the home of Anuran, the frog-god of the swamp-dwellers.
Anuran is a minor god of the Uuani who makes his home in the ancient ruins of the city center. He hibernates every winter, rising from his slumber each spring at the equinox. Every year, the city of Thither provides him a virgin female sacrifice to prevent him from destroying the city.
Random Encounters
| Roll | Result |
| 1 - 101 | Swarm of Insects |
| 102 - 177 | Giant Leeches (Stirges) |
| 178 - 253 | Vine Blights |
| 254 - 304 | Lizardfolk |
| 305 - 355 | Ghost (night only) |
| 356 - 406 | Swarm of Quippers |
| 407 - 442 | 3d6 Bullywugs |
| 443 - 473 | 1d2 Giant Crocodiles |
| 474 - 504 | Giant Constrictor Snake |
| 505 - 535 | 1d3 Shambling Mounds |
| 536 - 561 | 1d4 Giant Frogs |
| 562 - 587 | 1d4 Giant Lizards |
| 588 - 613 | 1d6 Giant Toads |
| 614 - 639 | Crocodile |
| 640 - 665 | Treant |
| 666 - 686 | Constrictor Snake |
| 687 - 707 | Water Elemental |
| 708 - 728 | Black Pudding |
| 729 - 749 | Needle Blights |
| 750 - 765 | 1d4 Giant Poisonous Snakes |
| 766 - 781 | 1d6 Giant Rats |
| 782 - 797 | 3d6 Poisonous Snakes |
| 798 - 813 | 2d6 Giant Spiders |
| 814 - 829 | Behemoth (Plesiosaurus) |
| 830 - 845 | Ochre Jelly |
| 846 - 861 | Twig Blights |
| 862 - 877 | Water Weird |
| 878 - 888 | 3d4 Stirges |
| 889 - 899 | Flock of Ravens |
| 900 - 910 | Swarm of Rats |
| 911 - 921 | 1d4 Trolls |
| 922 - 932 | 3d4 Ghouls (night only) |
| 933 - 943 | 3d4 Green Jungle Orcs |
| 944 - 954 | Grey Ooze |
| 955 - 965 | Pteranodon |
| 966 - 971 | 1d4 Druids |
| 972 - 977 | Hunter |
| 978 - 983 | Hydra |
| 984 - 989 | Young Black Dragon |
| 990 - 995 | Giant Eagle |
| 996 - 1000 | Wraith (night only) |
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