NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Seravin" data-source="post: 951463" data-attributes="member: 6783">The ThornwoodThe Thornwood was mostly off limits to the folk of Haranshire by the simple reason of it being too dangerous for any rational soul to want to travel too far into its depths.  Spiders were known to lair deep within, grown huge and fat off of some unknown magic within; and there were tales of darker things beyond those.  So instead the folk of the county skirted the edges of the wood logging what they needed and never venturing too far.  So far both the wood and the people seem to be content.It was late in the afternoon of the third day since Lyntern had joined with the band of mercenaries.  His father’s opinion of the mercenaries was mercurial, and changing which surprised the young nobleman.  Normally when the old Count had made up his mind it was as if the idea was set in stone.  Twice now though, these mercenaries had convinced his father to let him go with them.  He wasn’t quite sure what to think, but he knew he wasn’t worried.  In fact his confidence had increased for these mercenaries had made friends with Kupier, a former Imperial Scout who lived in the county.  Better, upon hearing of their goal Kupier had agreed to join them.  In fact the ranger was instrumental in getting them to their goal, Broken Spire Keep.Originally called Silver Spire Keep, the fortress had been built around three hundred years ago to secure the frontier of the empire and to make a home for the Parlfray line.  A little over one hundred years ago that all changed.  In a single, blood-stained night the inhabitants of the keep were slain.  One week later when Elman Parlfray (the then Count) and his family came back from a visit to the capital, not a living thing stirred within three miles of the keep.  Even the grass surrounding the keep was yellowed as if light-starved.The gates of the keep were locked and there was no sign of siege, but everyone in the keep had been slain by violence that night, taken seemingly unawares.  The only damage to the keep proper was to the Watch Tower from which rose the silver spire that gave the keep its name.  When the count and his entourage arrived, the spire and a good portion of the upper floor laid shattered and broken on the ground.Not a fool, Elman Parlfray immediately moved his family home to a new location in the Halfcut Hills.  The people remembered the old keep however, though they began to call it Broken Spire Keep, so named by one of the soldiers who first saw the devastation within.  For the next two decades the locals and soldiers avoided the keep as much as possible, but there were always whispers of Broken Spire.  Eventually the whispers grew so much that Elman Parlfray outlawed all mention of the keep again.  Those who did so were beaten and fined.  Faced with such a penalty and with no repeat of the disaster that had sundered the keep, the populace slowly began to let the past go, until eventually all mention of the keep disappeared except from certain tomes that were rarely looked at.Now for the first time in a century a band graced with noble permission looked upon the keep from the advantage of a low ridge.  In a different century the trees about the keep would have shielded it from the vantage point of the ridge.  Since the fall of the keep however no form of vegetation around the keep was healthy; trees that use to stand straight and tall were now twisted and bent.  To most of the companions there was nothing wrong, however Kupier perceived that the land itself was somehow wounded.  He would have to tell Oleanne, the druidess.As for the keep itself, time had touched it, but not as harshly as it could have.  The keep was built in a rough square, almost a hundred feet on the side.  Dark brown stone had been quarried and hauled from somewhere to build the walls to a respectable fifteen feet high.  Here and there chunks of this stone had fallen and now lay scattered about the ground.  The main building of the keep rose up twenty feet and took up the entire back wall.  The single watchtower standing next to the main building once reached over forty feet high but was smaller now, the top ten feet of now laying at the base; the spire of silver that had given the keep its name now gone.  Smaller outbuildings lined the interior of the keep’s walls, obviously providing room for guards, horses, and storage.  Surprisingly the buildings, and their roofs seemed intact.  All in all it looked reasonably good for over a hundred years of abandonment.  Though the field of yellow grass surrounding the keep look disturbing.It was Ashimar’s keen eyes that spotted the movement atop the ruins of the tower first.  “There.”  He pointed.  “A guard.  He looks human.”Kupier nodded and pointed to the gate that was closed.  “Another two are standing watch there and there.”Cautiously the seven retreated away from the ridge and into the forest and made their plans.  Eventually it was decided (quite easily actually) that they would make their way down to the edge of the forest surrounding the keep.  There they would wait until nightfall.  Under the cover of darkness and spells and potions, Ashimar would infiltrate the keep.  The young bravo was certain that he could scale the keep’s walls and tie off a rope for his friends to climb.  Further, Ashimar insisted that he could climb the tower itself and silence the guard.  His friends were somewhat skeptical but were willing to give him a chance.  If they could get inside without anyone noticing, they could launch a devastating surprise attack.  So decided the group picked their way cautiously down the ridge line and made for Broken Spire Keep.edit: pesky grammar errors </blockquote>

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