High Of Solipsism

Call For Heroes: A FATE Adventure is a game based in a original fantasy setting. Players will be either Heroes or Villains in the Two Forest Village, a budding area of both mirth and dread. The Empire Gerbani is drowning in its own misery and weariness. The soldiers fight on two fronts, at the deserts to the south where the prospect of gold and riches drew the lecherous eyes of kings and nobles looking to finance the war to the west. The western shores are filled with bodies, both men and women, slain on the vast ocean in a war between two empires. Two Forest Village and the Castle are far removed from this plight but not its sickening tendrils.

In a cry for help the Lord of the Castle called for aid and assistance from the King, needing soldiers to fight off the raiders to the north. No answer was sent and the Lord of the Castle was forced to send out pleas to common mercenaries, adventurers, conscripts. His advisors, an arcane diviner, tells him of impending doom to come and the Lord is nearly powerless to do anything about it.

The morbid winter tundra to the north breeds hard men all barbarians in the eyes of the Empire and its citizens. This does nothing to quell the greedy feelings the northern tribes harbor for their more prosperous and warm cousins to the south. Raids come monthly, men with axes, torch, and desperation in their eyes. They leave filled with food, from women, and with treasures. The Lord of the Castle was quick to repel most of the initial raids, sending a strong message that the Lord will not be trifled with. The barbaric tribes saw this as a challenge an official call for a match of strength. The Lord lost eventually, too many men of his killed in action.

The northern tribes are not the only Villains in this story. Many come from the south, the main land of the Empire. Nobles and merchants looking to stock their pockets with the villagers hard earned gold. They come offering low prices for the wheat farms and the steel from the mines. Most tow Elven slaves along with them, trying to auction them off to the Village.

With the call for adventurers and Heroes by the Lord of the City there have also come false Heroes, thieves, rogues, and vagabonds. But more importantly the ranks of the Thieves of Pirate’s Bay grow every season. Men and women who would sell their own mother for a price. They have not done this small village well and it is quickly growing beyond its means. The thugs from the main land cities have decided to take root in the village, hoping it will grow bigger and more corrupt and wanting to be the first gang to call it territory.

David’s Hill

The formation of David’s Hill was in part due to natural storms and the savageness of war with the Arcane arts. The Gerbani Empire would not soon forget the ravages of the High Arts visited on the Hill. When the Empire was being forged David’s Hill was called “Mount Hildigar” by the master of the Arcane Arts who lived on the summit of the Mountain. Soon the Empire delivered a message to the Wizard atop the mountain, the wording verbose and flowery but simple in meaning: Join or be destroyed. An Arcane master would be a glorious addition to the council, already filled with nobles and lords.

The Wizard did not feel the same way, however, and declined the offer. The siege on the mountain was long and hard, the Wizard was paranoid enough to construct traps of fire and rumbling earth. The Empires soldiers were many and the knights willing to sacrifice themselves for this glory. Soon the Wizard had men with swords at his tower gates and in a desperate attempt to enact revenge he forced the mountain to become active. Many soldiers died, burned into the ground and turned to ash from the flowing lava.

The land was the Empires now, though, and the resulting hill given over to the family Gertold who had been a major factor in the Wizards defeat through cunning tactics. The reward was well received and the land was used to settle a village, offering many soldiers a quiet life to mourn and leave the life of war.

The (Possible) Adventures of David’s Hill

• Many Guards will take travelers for escorted tours of the castle for a small fee, with a cut for the guards of course.
• The Lord of the Castle sometimes invites travelers to talk with him of the Empires woes, looking sickly entertained by the troubles.
• Having put out the call for adventurers, heroes, or mercenaries the Lord of the Castle sometimes holds banquets in honor of the newly arrived warriors.
• The ghosts of the battle of the Mountain sometime travel in the night and cause trouble.

Old Scanty Tavern

Built with the sweat and blood of the owner, the Old Scanty Tavern is a testament to a much older time before the wars; When the city and village folk would come in at night after the hard day and be merry with each other. These days the Old Scanty Tavern has very little mirth or laughter. The coin has all but stopped flowing until the Lord of the Castle called for people to take up arms for the village. The raids had done nothing short of ruin chances at this years harvest bringing in a surplus of trade.

At the Old Scanty Tavern the anger of the people is ever apparent, short tempers and short words fill the nights. The bard and storyteller is old and falls asleep during his telling of lore and the wenches carry daggers with the growing tempers. The owner had been through this kind of time before, in an era passed, and he knew that the Lord of the Castle’s words would bring in new people and new profit. He is a patient man and a loyal man, so he entertained the people until the Heroes arrived and then let them do their work. In the late of days however he has noticed how little the Heroes are doing and how the raids on the city are increasing.

History of Grave Keep Castle

The Castle was built soon after the family was given the land from the Empire for a job well done. The name comes from the buildings materials, the best materials available at the time of construction: The cold stone from the former mountain. It was then noticed that the blocks of stone contained traces of the dead soldiers, trapped inside, discovered by a traveling monk. Many priests would later come to visit in a vain attempt to cleanse the Castle of its otherworldly woes, but the Lord of the Castle decided, when he rose to power form boy-hood, that it was no longer necessary.

The Castle Grave-Keep is a tall and dark fortress of near black stone and oak wood. Very few guards watch the Castle during the day and many more at night at the behest of the Lord of the Castle. The stable has grown into decay, the servants room nearly unused as most of the service has moved to living in the village. The Castle rarely entertains guests any more, not even the troupes of performers attempt to stay at the Castle, believing the walls cursed with bad luck and the Lord insane.

The peaks of the castle are tall and narrow, the windows stained and filled with images of the Kings Paladins guarding holy texts or relics. At nights the flickering signs of activity in the castle can be seen through the stained windows, but the shadows of far to many people tend to show further pushing the claim of haunting. The entrance gates are thick, thicker than most, and the metal bands around the wood are chipped and scratched from battles won or lost.

The Castle of the Lord was once draped in gold and purple tapestries, depicting the battles the Lord had faced both with sword and wit. Now the Castle is draped with sorrow and misery, the servants apathetic and unwilling. The Lord of the Castle stalks the hallways, hand on sword, sword in sheath and looking to start a fight with anyone, guard or enemy. At night the howls of his weeping can be heard and even the stalwart of servants vacate, drinking their nightmares away as he screams for his deceased Lady. Ghosts of sorrow haunt this castle, when the night sky is out and the clouds are over head. Even they are afraid and possibly in awe of his hatred and sadness.

The Guards of the Castle are none too happy themselves, have become more brutal in judgement of crimes and less orderly about their conduct outside the hill castle. But the Lord of the Castle isn’t without mercy and the bodies of three Guardsmen hang the castle wall in warning to others not to take advantage of their station against the women of the Village.

Some say the Queen of Thieves arrives at night, to torment the Lord of the Castle. But these rumours are usually hushed quickly.

Inhabitants

The Guards at the Castle Grave-Keep are staunch men who have held a family tradition of being soldiers, cherry picked by the Lord himself after the bloody battle at the Pirate’s Bay. From that point on it was tradition that he would pick the boys to be his soldiers. These guards are no ordinary men, they are trained from a young age to be loyal both to the Empire and to the Lord of the Castle, whoever that may be.

The Guards wear heavy torso armour as a majority of the time they guard the castle. They give up the protection of their legs for greater mobility on the mountain area of the Castle. The Guards are especially trained to use spears and other pole-arms. Many even get training as Calvary in case the Empire’s own Calvary needs them.

The Lord of the Castle was young when he first saw his future home, having been raised and cultured in the Empire mainland. His first nights were hectic and fraught with nightmares, his nurses constantly being woken up to his screams at nightmares. He grew quickly and with honour and pride, winning the villagers hard earned trust in the coming years and through his knighthood. The village was especially lit when the Lady was announced and the wedding set.

The first disaster and sign of bad omen were the three consecutive Noble Court Clergy who died in route to judging the wedding official. The second when, after the fourth Noble Court Clergy arrived, the ring was stolen by the forming pirates in the Pirate’s Bay. The Lord’s first battle and fight was not soon after, when the Lord gathered his guards and men at arms to clash with the Pirate Bay. The blood bath lasted three days with many of the pirate crews forced to flee on foot instead of on ship. The tactical expertise of the Lord was shown in a blazing trail of dead scallywags.

The ring was recovered not soon after the Lord thrust his blade deep into the self-proclaimed king of the Pirate Bay. Returned to the Lady of the Castle on the wedding day the ceremonies were put in place that the villagers would forever remember. The mirth flowed for many days as the men at arms returned to their homes with stories of the Lords glorious attack.

It would be a year on that day when the Lady would be found by her husband, blood covering the sheets and the stained window to the room shattered from entry. The search for the murderer lasted a year itself, with the Lord torturing many village folk, traveling merchants who had come through, and even some of the Elven slaves. No festivals were held this year as the mourning of both the Lord and the village covered the city like a veil of misery and sadness.

Mines Of Fetch

While the rock, ash, and soldiers blood of David’s hill are ages old the Mines of Fetch are far older than even that. The Caves of Fetch were mined out by White Tower Elven Nation before the Grand Fall when all the Elves retreated from the area. The gold has long since been stripped from the Mines of Fetch, as far as the Empire can tell, but there remains ghastly and secret things on the inside. The guards of the Elven Nation that never need sleep, ghosts of dead miners, and even native creatures who have taken up home in the Elven flight. However even the Elves were not the first to find this long forgotten underground cavern, they only discovered the gold veins in the deepest parts. The true discoverer of the caves is hidden in the shroud of time.

The Mines are cold and damn, many tunnels have fallen in on themselves due to the lack of maintenance and repair. Some tunnels end in shallow pools of water with skinless water creatures living at the very bottom. Deeper into the mountain mines great gusts of wind from seemingly no source blow through and glyph runes shine in the darkness like living candles. The echoes of footsteps click in the distance but only skeletons remain and Goblins sit to ambush.

Posted on September 18 2010