World of Samardan: The Fallen Freehold of the Damraganu...

Good Afternoon, All:

Here is the sixth post in my A to Z Challenge series describing 26 different locations in the World of Samardan campaign setting, one for each letter of the alphabet. Today, F is for the Fallen Freehold of the Damraganu.

(Hex) Fallen Freehold of the Damraganu

Ambiance: Constructed of stone blocks, this freehold bears damage from a massive assault, but little wear and tear from the passage of time. The second floor of the structure has collapsed on the remains of an airship that crashed into it, leaving only the lower floor and most of the walls of the courtyard intact. Local fauna has laid claim to portions of the structure, and the rest appears to have been cleared by the attackers decades ago.

History: Constructed by slaves under the direction of the warlord Damraganu, this fortified complex served as his base of operations as the tyrannical conqueror led numerous assaults on local villages and settlements. Eventually, several city-states raised an army against this growing threat, and attacked the Damraganu, destroying his fortress. With his dying breath, the warlord cursed all who dared to trespass within the walls of his citadel. Due to strange occurrences that supported superstitious beliefs in the Damraganu's mystical powers, these ruins have remained abandoned due to the "Blood Curse" of the Damraganu.

Encounters: Dinosaurs and other saurian creatures are commonly encountered in this region. A nest of viddrakkati (man-sized serpentine creatures with a poisonous bite that prefer to ambush their prey) and a rivrakkat lair in different portions of the first floor of the stronghold. In the underground complex constructed under the freehold, a band of kelshrani (man-sized humanoids with a demonic appearance known for their sadistic nature) have established a foothold. Common hazards and encounters include vermin, unstable construction (above ground) and kelshrani patrols (below ground). Also, crystal weapons and machinery spend twice as much power while within six miles of this site, a product attributed to the Blood Curse. (For example, crystal-powered weapons expend twice as many charges per use.)

Treasure: The true origin of the Blood Curse is a large device that drains energy from the surrounding region, storing it into discharged crystals, recharging them. The device is mobile, but not without special equipment and transport (such as by wagon or airship). A few expensive pieces of artwork, collected by the Damraganu during his reign of terror, are hidden within a secret chamber in the underground complex.

Adventure Hooks: Adventure hooks for this site could include the following:

• Henlat Mudakan, a elderly veteran of the Battle of the Damraganu's Fall near death, wants to see the remains of his airship (the one that destroyed the top floor of the stronghold) one last time before his death. Henlat is soliciting adventurers to escort him safely there and back.
• Koranuba Devikasuna Morakan of Pordel is soliciting reputable adventuring bands to undertake the task of recovering some exquisite artwork stolen from her family by the Damraganu five decades ago, as a gift for her ailing mother.
• Logo Diksanan, a human doxologist, desires to cleanse the Freehold of the Damraganu of its unholy taint, and then claim the territory for his sacred order. Of course, he needs strong men and women to help him with that...
• Peko Ragashand, a human scholar, seeks the secret to the Blood Curse, and is hiring mercenaries who can assist him in his pursuit of knowledge.
• Recently, Kelshrani slavers have started attacking outlying farms and taking prisoners for slaves. The local villagers are offering a reward to anyone who will track them down and deal with this threat!

Here's where I introduce the race of humanoids that will be the ubiquitous "orc" role of being the bad guys of the setting. The Kelshrani are simply my Kelshani with a slight name upgrade to match the naming conventions I've been using for the other races.

Standard Disclaimer: As I have not yet decided where to set this particular location on the map as yet, I've left a placeholder to remind me to come back to this in the future. Later on, I'll replace (Hex) with the actual hex location, when I put all of this together into a single document.

With Regards,
Flynn