The Keep of Hekmartialus [Fantasy, Mul]

[Starfox]

At the edge of the Desert of Ser, at the western edge of the Empire of Warian, a keep was overlooking a dusty town. The keep had been ancient already 20 generations ago when the Warians had left heir northern homelands, travelling south to conquer the fertile lands of the inner sea with their iron weapons. In those days the Warians had been young, and full of fire. They conquerred the keep as much for the sheer glory of storming a keep that was said to be unconquerrable as driven by the rumors of treasure hidden since the earliest ages in the cellars benath the black walls. According to the songs still sung in the taverns, the black walls had been red the day the keep finally fell, but not blood reached the earth beneath them, the wall absorbing it.

In the present days the Warians, long ago having become more adept at politics than at war, would not have stormed the keep, but bribed the occupants, or ignored it altogether - it wasn't in a strategic location, and its main importance was that the town it controlled served as the main trade post for the nomads from the tribes of Ser. Some sages claimed that the peculiar shape of the keep's walls was caused by the keep having been a harbor fortress once, but not even the nomads of the desert remembered a time when the inner sea ever had reached this point, and for most of the nobles at the court in the capital, the keep was mainly a source of entertaining rumors, held by a noble directly appointed by the Emperor - "one step above exile", a court scribe once had called it, "one step below public execution" a noble had replied, according to legend.

The people living in and around the keep loved to tell visitors stories of the horrors that lurked beneath its walls, the treasures guarded by monsters from the far realm, the dark rituals old mages had performed there, and laughed at the reactions they got, but none of them would have voluntarily entered the catacombs and crypts of the keep, and none of them really envied the master of the keep.

Not even the one figure that was approaching the keep today.


Hello, everyone. I am new to this forum and after peeking into various threads, I thought it best to start roleplaying here with something simple - a small plot/adventure for a single player, with me running the rest of the characters as NPCs, freeform or with some basic d20 rules.

Your character can be whatever you want.


Maybe you're the master or mistress of the keep, banished here by the Emperor for a real or imagined offense, and expecting an assassin's visit soon to finish the job.

Maybe you're a powerful mage, and at long last are in control of the keep you found mentioned in your oldest, most forbidden books, ready to explore its secrets.

Maybe you're an assassin, sent here to remove a threat to the Emperor, entering the keep in disguise or sneaking in like a catburglar to get to its lord.

Maybe you are a young woman, kidnapped and enslaved by the master of the keep at the eve of your wedding, hoping your fiancé will rescue you before its too late.

Maybe you are the girl's fiancé, sneaking into the keep to rescue your kidnapped love, braving whatever dangers its dark walls contain.

Maybe you're the master of the keep, having fallen in love with a peasant girl about to get married, and are trying to win her for yourself after you had her kidnapped to prevent her wedding.

Maybe you're the lord or lady of the keep, and in love with the girl's fiancé, and have had the girl kidnapped to bring the man you love to you even though you're not sure what to do once he arrives - all you know is that the marriage can't take place.

Maybe you're a girl whose lover has not returned from a visit to the keep, and you are now ready to find out what happened to him.


If something like this interests you please check my ons and offs and PM me with your idea/choice. I'll pick one, and run one such plot, to see how it goes.

[Starfox]

Forgot to add: I'll pick one player even if there are several since I don't want to commit myself to more scenes and plots that I can handle.