| Latest Posts | Zaelia - Highlands Stronghold, Bulund Mainland
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.. ... OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN LOG The Heroes of Giblund have taken heed to His Majesty's call. From Giblund to Taurus Keep at the beginning of Bulund's coldest season, they travel on the perilous roads and face creatures they've only ever read about far outside the safety of the City limits. . ( = ) Major Events . - = - TO THE KEEP - = - ___ 1. Giblund to Faudree: Travel Troubles Only hours into their ride, the Heroes were ambushed on the main road by bandits. The wounds suffered by the party were minor, though Eric and Azra learned that aggressors outside City limits don't take prisoners, and highwaymen aren't much for talking. ___ 2. Giblund to Faudree: Quarter Hill In an act of attempted kindness, Castiel sets off alone at night with one of the injured bandits to seek out medical aid. What he finds waiting for him at Quarter Hill is no aid, but a band of Vessels plagued by the Black Evil who attempt to kill him. Luckily, the party isn't too far behind, and Castiel suffers only a broken arm in the fight that should have very well ended his life. ___ 3. Giblund to Faudree: Tyrnbrook Upon dispatching the last of the Vessels, the party witnessed tendrils of black mist rise into the air and challenge each of them. Steeling their minds, most of the Heroes were able to dissuade the invasive Black Evil Wisps, but Leo was temporarily taken over and rode off on a furious hunt, chasing down who he assumed to be Anala's captor. The situation came to a head as Harry and Annette found Leo moments before he murdered an innocent man in the next town. Leo did his best to explain what happened, but Tyrnbrook's elder was not quick to forgive. Luckily, Captain Ilse of Fuadree's Guard arrived to calm the situation and move toward Quarter Hill to stand guard over the ruins. ___ 4. Faudree to Rettan: Shopping Surprise While working their way through Faudree's busy Bazaar, Leo and Annette stumbled upon Anala, who they found to be a captive of the City's richest inhabitant after getting caught stealing from him. Castiel had his wounds healed by a reclusive Mystic Healer, and the party was awarded by Lord Perrim for their deeds at Quarter Hill. Meanwhile, Eric and several others in the Bazaar's 'Mystic Corner' were kidnapped by a band of Essence-hating Men called Bulund's True Heirs. They were taken to a True Heirs Outpost west of Faudree, where several mundane prisoners were killed and Mystics were branded for sale to a mysterious 'Dan'. The party arrived in time to save Eric and a few others. In the ensuing conflict, Eric's captor Joffrey was nearly killed before being wrapped up by a Deaf Mystic and disappearing. Eric's psyche was nearly shattered by the incident, and his 'gift' was suddenly questioned by all, even his friends. ___ 5. Faudree to Rettan: A Rock and a Hard Place Coming upon Blackstone in the bright Mid-Vision night, the party had time to quickly restock and rest before continuing on. Leo, Eric, and Annette assisted the townspeople in return for information, and Harry took a ride with Bruce toward a cliff that overlooked the entire Stronghold Valley, gaining a bit of geographical insight on the place. Azra volunteered her sword in the hunt of some alleged 'werewolves' that were hindering Blackstone's delivery of goods to Faudree, and the City's return of much needed supplies to the mining town. Azra found that the werewolf story was a hoax conjured up by a few citizens as a 'get rich quick' scheme, one that she put to rest with the flat of her blade and a few well-placed words. ___ 6. Faudree to Rettan: An Introduction to the Gowern Navigating the Broken Road can be tough for even the most careful travelers. More so in driving snow. Leo's perceptive eyes found glyphs on rocks and trees to help keep the Heroes on the straight and narrow, but in a particularly long stop, the group crossed paths with a tiny warband of goblins lead by two fearsome Gowern. These large grey-skinned creatures, standing a head taller than Azra and wielding short clawed fingers on the ends of enormous muscled arms, were put down rather quickly by the carefully placed arrows of Harry and a few precise blows from Leo and Castiel. The brief battle could have been ugly, but party cohesion kept the foes at bay. ___ 7. Doernonbel to Taurus Keep: Land of the Outsiders Upon reaching the Broken Road Towns, the party found a mixture of political goings-on. Elders squabbling over a possible alliance with the Crown or the Valley Clans, a fight that had ended in the death of Severskresh's Elder and the removal of Belview's. In Doernonbel, the party found friends and fanfare as the town reveled in the departure of an Elder's son. Izhet the Halfling later told the group that he, too was a King's Entrusted, though he feared it was only for the Crown to keep tabs on the Bel River Region. Regardless, he was willing to heed the call and led the party on a shortcut that would get them to the Keep with time to spare. Along the way, they stopped at an abandoned temple they found to be The Sanctuary of the Crusaders Under Huleel's Banner. After a strange occurrence and a fight with some of the Valley's ferocious predators, the party left the Sanctuary damaged and further confused about the Bulund True Heirs, hunters of Mystics, and their connection with the Crusaders, partakers of the recent War on the Black Evil. ___ 8. Taurus Keep: A Banquet with the "Good" King The party finally made it to the Keep, only to find crowds of beggars at its gates. Inside, they received letters from home before being quickly ushered into a banquet hall with more food than they could imagine. The King told them of an imminent uprising among the Clans that, if it would come to pass, could mean the destruction of the entire kingdom. After speaking with a few other members of the King's Entrusted, and a few citizens, the party finds themselves thrust forward as spies into the Stronghold Valley with an Order to find and bring back the origin of all this malice, yet their own hearts are torn on the matter. Harry and Izhet sprung a riot that reached the market streets, Leo swapped out letters from Bel River to the King, and Azra and Eric got into a shouting match in the streets over what a Hero truly is. Our group of Heroes seems to be falling apart as they stand on the edge of their most difficult test yet: infiltrating the Valley during the most bitter season of the year. ___ 9. Taurus Keep: Plans for Deception After the events of the evening, King's Advisers were sent to each of the Entrusted members' rooms to go over the assignment and give "suggestions" to them. It was the thoughts of the Council that Azra, Castiel, and Leoreak should go to Clan Faendyr, acting as sellswords, lost travelers, or fighters, and earn the respect of the brutal warriors there. Annette, Eric, and Harry were told to go to Clan Goernel, south of Faendyr, and act as outsiders willing to lend a hand wherever possible in order to make it through the bitter cold of Festival Season. After speaking with Cliff Brewer, Gelda Rosehall, Izhet of Bel River, and the Adviser, the group decided instead to split up differently, sending Eric, Annette, and Azra to Goernel and Castiel, Leoreak, and Harry to Faendyr, using The Empasse Forest as a common ground between the Clans and a meeting place for the Heroes. Among all the swirling rumors, a new one rises. The King is unmarried and old. With no son, there are talks that this grand mission is only to find a City worthy of selecting an Heir. The truth, as is often the case, likely lies somewhere in the middle. ___ 10. Stronghold Valley: Into the Depths The party was told to head toward their respective Clans on the evening of the 18th, right as the first green light lit up the sky. The first night was spent navigating the dangers of the Red Mire and its ghostly inhabitants, followed by hours of wandering through cliffs, gorges, and snow-laden paths. Maps became quickly useless inside the Valley, and the party navigated the area by use of trees marked with the crests of the Clans, denoting their territories. By the following night, the group found a spot to make camp, believing themselves to be fairly close to both The Empasse and Clan Goernel. Leaving on her own, Azra found a village under the banner of Goernel and The Empasse itself. She currently has a bit of a small problem to work out before rejoining the party. ___ 10a. The Empasse: A 'Small' Invonvenience While the group headed their separate ways to the Clans, Azra found herself trapped inside the clutches of The Empasse, somehow frozen in time and shrunk to the size of a bug. Assailed by Wasps and weather, she made it to a small house inside a tree root, occupied by a royal cartographer of King Bos Tau III named Heath Arrendale. The two struck up an unlikely friendship, and Azra learned much from Heath about the world before King Bos Tau IV. They made two attempts at leaving the house and navigating to the "Central Tree" in order to speak with the Spirit of the forest and gain passage out, but were stopped both times by Wasps. The second encounter left Heath nearly dead, but Azra made a new friend in Crusader Aelfyrd Wahlton, one of the last of the Southern Hills Crusaders who had not completely turned native to the forest. Castiel, having ventured in to find Azra, did so, and also found more combat as the Heroes and Aelfyrd held off multiple Wasps until one of them, a former Crusader called Finnan, tore Aelfyrd apart with his hands. Saddened by the loss of a new friend, but bolstered by the hope of freedom, the pair prepares to journey to the Central Tree and free the forest from the Spirit's grasp to get back on track with their mission. ___ 10b. The Empasse: The Forest's Blessing Azra, Castiel, and Heath Arrendale crept their way to the central tree of The Empasse and began their climb up, using the thick bark as a walkway for their small size. Once inside the tree, both Castiel and Azra had to nearly give their lives in fights with Wasps to get Heath in front of Quilla the Spirit. Heath, in turn, did give his life to extend a blessing he was given by another of Zaelia's Spirits on to Azra and Castiel, granting them passage through The Empasse untouched and protected by Quilla and her Wasps from now on. The cost was high, resulting in Heath, Aelfyrd, and Commander Ralf's deaths. ___11. Stronghold Valley: Best Laid Plans Fitting into Clan life is not easy. Our Heroes found this quickly, as Eric and Annette became the personal property of the Halfling Jarl Ulgrum in Goernel, and Azra and Castiel literally fought their way into being accepted in Clan Faendyr. Leo found himself fortunate, saving the life of Jarl Nors of Faendyr, who gave him his word of safety within the clan, and Harry opted to remain unseen, staying in the shadows and watching from the perimeter. However, things went awry when a fighter in Faendyr challenged the legitimacy of Castiel and Azra's story and pitted the two against each other. In a fight to the death, Castiel ended up using his Leap Gate and took Bahram the Clansman back to the Keep. Leo followed suit, using an airborne leap from a tree to ambush a meeting of the Jarls and transport Kaercae's Jarl Beor back to the Keep, where the man immediately killed himself rather than fall into the hands of the Crown. ___12. Stronghold Valley: Frayed Ends In the wake of the kidnappings, the number of remaining Entrusted fell dramatically as green lights lit up the night sky. Uncertain of their future in the Clans, Leo and Castiel took to the roads in an effort to get back to Giblund and seek diplomatic help. They carry with them an order from the King's War Councilor to levy an army of five hundred fighters from Giblund and her surrounding towns. Each major City will be asked to do so. War is imminent. Adding to this fear, the Clans are training and amassing their own forces. Overheard conversations between Jarl Nors of Faendyr and his council speak of "allies to the West", and the doors of the longhouses in every Clan are left open, a decree of coming war. Castiel and Leo have been ousted from the Clans, but Annette, Azra, Eric, and Harry are deep within their ranks. Annette and Eric are gaining favor with the Jarl and Housekeeper Balrik. Azra has found favor in Mother Hild, Jarl Nors, and Markus the Fighter. And Harry, of all things, has reconnected with his father, Faendyr's long gone Champion, Conrad Hilensson. ___? Taurus Keep: The Price of Negotiations Days turned to Visions as the Heroes were spread out across the land. Castiel and Leo fled the Keep and found Izhet, making a pact with him to gather Bel River's troops and stand with the Clans against the King in an effort to peacefully replace the man on the throne in the Keep. They rode south to Giblund, where Lord Orril sent word for another four hundred men to join the cause for a peaceful revolution. Harry took up his family's blade from his father and began marching toward the Keep with the Clans. Annette, having escaped Goernel with a sour taste concerning all the Valley, was sent back in to meet with Jarl Rengir of Clan Tristide in order to gain one of the larger Clans' allegiance to the Crown. Succeeding, she followed Rengir back to the Keep with his own Clan forces, under the banner of the Crown once more. Eric was trapped, imprisoned, and escaped the dungeon, making his way to Stidhall of Westmount, where he convinced Spear, the leader of Stidhall, to gather another three hundred and join the peaceful revolution. Azra finally fled from Clan Faendyr at the words of Mother Hild, believing her father to be in danger. When she found him, an argument over loyalty ensued, and in her attempt to activate the Leap Gate, she miscast the spell, resulting in her nearly dying, and Niklaus not returning with her. Now we stand, looking down from the clouds onto the Mountain and the castle, where forces gather from around the nation, marching to or against the Crown. . THE PLAYERS . . . . = The Enclave: 1100 - Bel River (300). - Blackstone under Bel (100). - Giblund City (400). - Westmount (300). . . . = Valdomr: 3100 - Clan Kaercae (1000). - Clan Faendyr (800). - Clan Paedwyn (500). - Clan Listaern (500). - Clan Hellick (300). . . . = The Crown: 3100 - Taurus Keep (800). - Faudree City (900). - Rettan City (400). - Clan Tristide (1000). Finale. Frostgate Village: Blood-Soaked Treaty Gathered in a small abandoned village just outside the gates of Taurus Keep, the members of the Enclave, Westmount, Fertile Plains, Valdomr, Bel River, Bastion, and even Leonidan, argued and deliberated until a peace was within their grasp. Upon reaching a shaky agreement, an old enemy of both the Crown and the Clans showed his face as Riordan the Crusader attempted to move past Jarl Beor toward the King and his group of officials. Acting on impulse, the Heroes stepped in with full forces bent on stopping the Evil-infested Man. As many of the Heroes were shoved back or cut aside, with only Castiel Blackland clutching Riordan's arm to keep him from advancing, High Priest Llewyn, a Mystic of Vargen, did what he thought had to be done, and banished Riordan to Vargen's Maze with an immensely powerful spell. In an instant, the night sky opened up and swallowed Riordan, along with Castiel, and chaos ensued. At the day's end, the Heroes were able to chase down and stop all the leaders from giving orders to charge into war, but the heavy question on everyone's heart and mind remained: At what cost? Please log in to add a comment. |
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THE STRONGHOLD
If the Fertile Plains Cities make up the Heart of Bulund Mainland, that would make the Stronghold its stomach and, more importantly, its arms. The Stronghold is, geographically speaking, a harsh landscape of rocky hill terrain, choking dense forests, and cold impassable marshland that are all surrounded by the circular towering Taurus Mountain Range. Early Bulund history books note that one does not thrive in the Stronghold, but merely survive.
( = ) Working Continent Map: i.imgur.com/Qeg9jzd.jpg
( = ) Working Regional Map: i.imgur.com/6CdrYWS.jpg
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THE BACKGROUND
Speaking of survival, the Clans that call this place home tend to survive very well. The number of clans in the Stronghold Valley has fluctuated over the years, but for the past hundred years or so, there have been seven main clans. They are almost exclusively made up of Man and Dwarf, though over time, and through necessity, Halflings have been introduced to the clans' bloodlines.
While it is true that most male citizens of Bulund serve a few years in the King's army, the hardy souls of the Stronghold make up the bulk of the King's Men-at-Arms at any given moment. Their loyalty to the royal crest moves from shaky to skeptical, but it has never faltered entirely, thanks to the King's emissaries and envoys who live among the Clans.
Soldiers, Hunters, Separatists, Nomads... The Clansmen have gone by many names. But "Enemy" is one we'd all prefer to avoid.
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THE CULTURE
The Highlands Stronghold area is inspired by Earth's Scottish culture, if you took a bunch of Scots and dragged them away from the gorgeous bluffs and cliffs against the blue seas they love. So, think angry Scots. That said, the culture of the Stronghold is one of loyalty as well. They have fierce ties to their families and clansmen, and the isolation of Valley life has brought about its own forms of revelry and entertainment.
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THE LOCATIONS - Navigating the Valley is a daunting task. These Clans lay claim to different portions of the intimidating landscape, their borders marked not by fence or post but by standard, painted onto trees or staked into the rocky ground. While outside of a village or fortress, take note of the colors, traveler. Each footstep may take you further into a place you'd rather not be.
Clan Kaercae ( i.imgur.com/h2t9MHz.png ): Centrally located within the Valley on a large hilltop.
Clan Tristide ( i.imgur.com/5j6yVK9.png ): Situated between two sections of the Taurus Foothills, closest to Watercrest.
Clan Goernel ( i.imgur.com/t8qyLz0.png ): Between the Foothills and The Empasse, a walled fortification with exterior farming.
Clan Faendyr ( i.imgur.com/gs1BreO.png ): North of The Empasse, near some plains and a few streams.
Clan Paedwyn ( i.imgur.com/NtWfyTf.png ): The Northern of Three Sisters Clans, a walled fortress overlooking the North Foothills.
Clan Hellick ( i.imgur.com/4YAX3oM.png ): The Western of Three Sisters Clans, a fortified compound in the mashland of The Red Mire.
Clan Listaern ( i.imgur.com/obYg2gp.png ): The Southern of Three Sisters Clans, backed up against the Taurus Mountains, built up on a rocky outcrop.
The Empasse: A thick pine forest as black as night. It is the quickest and most direct route from the Cities to the Stronghold, but it is, as the name implies, extremely difficult to navigate. The forest is nearly untouched by Intelligent life, and as such is teeming with all manner of wildlife.
The Red Mire: This sunken bog serves as a natural border between Taurus Keep and the Valley. Animals know better than to forge a path through this marsh, and all but the most noble steed will buck and balk at the first sign of unstable ground. The Mire is a dead land that stretches for miles, offering a quick march to either the safety of Taurus Keep, or a watery grave.
Outposts: The Intelligent races are not confined to Clan rule, City life, or the King's dominion for that matter. Throughout the Valley, you will find several homesteads, villages, and outposts who may have allegiance to any of the aforementioned powers, or none at all. It is up to you and your actions as to how they will receive you.