Legends of the Yeomanry

[NOTE: I'm putting to paper some of the ideas that I have rolling around in my head for possible plot hooks in my upcoming campaign. Feel free to steal liberally. 8) ]

The Sunken Castle of Lu-Mar

Tales tell of the ruins of a castle, found deep in the darkest parts of the Escarpment Swamp. Curiously, all that remains is the very tops of the tower battlements – it is as if the ground rose up and swallowed the castle whole. This is the doomed castle of the mad warlord Lu-Mar. Lu-Mar was great in his impudence, and although warned that his attempts to build a stronghold would lead to great suffering, he stubbornly raised his castle in the heart of the swamp, seeking to subjugate all he came in contact with. Angered by his impudence, the gods caused the earth to open, swallowing up his castle until only the top of the keep and castle walls remained. Undaunted, Lu-Mar rebuilt his castle on top of the ruins of his old castle, sneering at the forces of the unseen world. In payment for his lack of faith, the gods again caused his castle to be swallowed by the earth, only this time, Lu-Mar was also dragged down by the spirits of his followers, killed when the first castle was destroyed. Occasionally, rumours come back of adventurers, lost in the swamp, who come across the ruins of Lu-Mar’s castle. They say that one can still get into the castle through the half-buried towers which rise from the swamp, and venture not only through the towers and keep of Lu-Mar’s second castle, but even deeper into the depths of the original castle, where the undead followers of Lu-Mar endlessly wander their imprisoned castle. Some even say that Lu-Mar can be found in the deepest depths of the bottom castle…. Some say he has become the undead leader of his former minions, while some say he is still alive, endless tortured for his folly…

The Crystal Veil

In the days before the Twin Cataclysms, there was a trading route over the Crystalmist Mountains, known as the Crystal Veil. The route went through the highest parts of the mountains, and was watched by a regular series of watchtowers and castles along the route. The dwarven clans oversaw the peace, and lived sand traded in harmony with the Suel caravans who travelled the routes. Then came the Cataclysms. Fearing for the lives, those Suel who could make it passed over the Crystal Veil. Driven by paranoia and fear, the Suel felt the only way to protect themselves from being followed and killed by the Bakluni would be to kill everyone along the Crystal Veil. As the panicked Suel advanced, they slew all the came across, including the dwarven tribes who manned the series of watchtowers. In the depths of the Crystalmists, an army made from the remnants of the remaining dwarven protectors stood against the oncoming Suel refugees, standing in vengeance for their fallen comrades. The valleys ran red with the blood of man and dwarf that day, and travellers along the Veil spoke of the sounds of the dead echoing through the nights ever after. Travel along the trail began to die off, and stories of haunted towers, where ghosts of both Suel refugees and dwarven warriors warred with the living became more frequent, until the trail was abandoned all together. Memory of the trail was soon forgotten, but stories still can be heard of mountain travellers who come across the ruined, abandoned watchtowers of the Crystal Veil. Some even say that nestled amongst the highest peaks of the Crystalmists can be found some of the oldest fortresses, full of abandoned riches…. and the restless dead.