Ok, so two ideas here, lemme present them both to the interested.
First one, we have the city of Denan-Grel, the Denansdor-Gate as most of the world calls it, or Three Waters as the locals do. Located at the end of one of the branches of the Yellow River, and additionally fed by the Mound River to the west, and the Flying River to the south-east, it's not a very important place, except to the occasional Scavenger Lord trying to get into the lost city of Denansdor or a sorcerer or artificer who wishes to use the Flying Rivers water in some kind of experiment.
Unfortunately, a plague of metal men and animals have been attacking the city, and while Denansdor is the most likely place for them to have come from, what kind of being could take the city long enough to make even one of these marvelous things? And if it can be wrested from whoever has the place, what wonders will you make. (Note for those that know about the place, there will be some changes. Major obstacles will be the curse on the city and the defenses.)
Second, Three Tombs Court is a small place hidden in the Black Crag Mountains for better or worse. While the Three Tombs keep the winter folk away, the harsh terrain means that even nearby Whitewall can be months away when it snows heavy and often. Could you fly as a bird, then Whitewall is only a journey of several leisurely weeks, or a few hard days of travel.
But this doesn't matter as the place, tombs and all, are surrounded by the armies of a mighty demon. It negotiates little, and keeps a loose siege going, seeking to starve Three Tombs Court into submission, that it better serves as a servile city-state to the pleasures and glory of Nitinat. (For this one the group has probably Exalted during the siege. The tombs themselves speak of how in the past the demon was defeated by a blade of enchanted water and blue jade, which if brought back in time would utterly decimate the demon and its armies. Or, Three Tombs Court could be given up as lost, and attemtps to sneak people out could be made. It would give the demon the treasures of the tombs, but give much more time to find the weapon, or else gain might enough to defeat the demon without.)