I've already told stories about the cursed fortress of Silverypainted, a once-thriving fortress belonging to The Copper Torches of the Banner of Souls that fell in the year 1054 as a result of "The Silverypainted Incident", which saw the settlement succumb to constant werebeast attacks as well as the first acts of aggression from the world-spanning war that it caused. Over the span of the next seven years multiple reclamation missions were launched to resettle the fortress, for reasons spanning strategic location to salvaging artifacts to laying the many corpses strewn across the fortress to rest.
By the year 1061 all attempts to reclaim the site had been abandoned, as the werebeast infestations had become too much to handle. To make matters worse, scholars from the neighboring civilizations as well as travelling mercenaries still frequented the site's library and tavern, inevitably falling prey to the curses of the buffalo or gila monster and unwittingly travelling back out into the world to spread it further. Skinnedseals, the new Mountainhome and most densely-populated settlement in all of Entar has put down two seperate weregila monster infestations that could be traced back to Silverypainted, with more popping up all the time.
Finally, motivated by the dawn of The Golden Age three years prior, one final expedition to Silverypainted was made in the early days of the year 1069 to be rid of the problem once and for all. In contrast to the previous settlers, this team was solely military, their mission to eliminate any living thing in or around the damned fortress. Upon arrival they discovered the land immediately outside the fortress gate was crawling with hundreds of leopards and jaguars, as well as countless insane merchants and visitors whose psyche had been shattered by the trauma of the constant violence.
It took some time but soon the sentient creatures on the surface had all been put to the sword, and the unfettered swordsdwarves made a push into the fortress itself. They met light resistence from soldiers belonging to The Rain of containers, the oft-overlooked second elven civilization who tended to keep to themselves, who had conquered Silverypainted and routed the last sane Dwarven settlers mere weeks before the current expedition.
The dwarves fought their way down to the lower levels, slaughtering anyone in their way, be they human, elven, goblin or even fellow dwarf, until they reached the burial chambers in the lowest point of the fortress. Almost all free space had been taken up by coffins and memorial slabs save for the central plaza, with a single microcline statue bearing the Banner of Souls' crest.
To the dwarves' surprise the statue had been toppled and a curious slab left in it's place which was surrounded by a group of goblins, all chanting foul litanies in their guttural tongue.
The leader of this bizarre cult looked to the leader of the dwarven expedition and simply gave him a foul, toothy grin, as the ground caved in from under the goblins' feet, sending them plummeting into a seemingly-bottomless pit. The dwarves watched on confused and tried to look into the crevice before they heard it.
Screaming, the likes of which none had heard since the early days of the year 1 when the underworld spire erupted from the Goblin capital. This demonic shrieking horrified the dwarves to their very souls, before the expedition leader motioned the others to run.
They hurried towards the entrance with all their energy as demons of all shapes and sizes poured forth, incinerating wood and stone alike and destroying masterpieces made my countless fallen craftsdwarves over the last twenty years.
The last swordsdwarf barely made it out in time, the great gates of Silverypainted slamming shut mere moments before a Red Demon could escape.
Even with the great stone barriers sealing the entrance screams could be heard as clear as day. The expedition promptly settled in the shanty town on the surface, built by The Copper Torches before their fall to accomodate the steady stream of visitors. Though they have only wood, the dwarves are building up and fortifying in case the demons should ever break free. Their new orders were simple: Nobody goes near the gates. King Asmel Bergesis had ordered the fortress off-limits and to be guarded by a standing garrison at all times unless it became apparent that The Banner of Souls' destruction was imminent, in which case the gates were to be opened and the demons loosed on the world as a form of mutually-assured destruction.
While the dwarves followed these orders to the word, they decided one thing must be done; someone had to go back into the fortress and recover the body of Oddom Ralkubuk, the last true ruler of The Copper Torches who single-handedly built up the fortress during a whole winter with no food or water after the rest of the expedition had starved and frozen. Naturally nobody was willing to make this suicidal journey until an adventurer, a dwarf-aligned human by the name of Bomrek Relicbasin and his dwarven companions Mosus Minedconfine, Fikod Earwheel the Unwelcome Spite of Paint and Messthos Clashwalled (see Family of Steel thread:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=164559.0) agreed to the task.
The gates were opened briefly enough for the band of warriors to make their ways in. While the demonic screaming could still be heard, presumably they were all having their ways with the mangled corpses of the werebeasts, the burial halls just beyond the entrance were silent. Bomrek and his men made their way through the desecrated halls and found the melted remnants of the steel door that led to Ralkubuk's tomb, the coffin still intact. They wasted no time in exhuming the mangled skeleton and it's decapitated skull before running like hell for the entrance before any demons came back.
Refusing payment, Bomrek's group chose to take Oddom's remains back to the Mountainhome to be buried in a tomb worthy of such a hero, instead of the ramshackle wooden hovel the expedition had prepared. They spent a full day travelling to Skinnedseals, silently walking it's hallowed halls and reaching the mausoleum.
It was simple enough, plainly decorated so as to resemble Silverypainted's styles, save for the pillars being engraved with the ensignia of The Copper Torches and moments from Ralkubuk's life by the Mountainhome's finest engravers. Sitting ready in the center of the room was a masterfully-forged gold sarcophagus, adorned with pyrite and blue tourmaline, Ralkubuk's favourite stones in life. King Asmel Bergesis joined Bomrek in lowering the skeleton into it's final resting place, far from his home and any family he may have had, and a few words were spoken by Skinnedseals' nobles. As reward for risking their lives, Bomrek and his men were granted citizenship in Skinnedseals, with their own accomodations and allowing Messthos to reunite with his sister and pay his respects to his late father.
Finally, the damned fortress of Silverypainted's story had come to an end. Now the werebeast outbreaks were dealt with any stragglers roaming Entar could be easily dispatched, hopefully finally keeping the epidemic at bay. The garrison would remain outside the front gate, solemnly awaiting the day the order comes to open the gate once more and plunge the world into chaos.
Silverypainted's garrison would soon recieve word that a human army from The Kingdom of Celebrating was marching to take the site.
Silverypainted must never fall again.
The gates of hell must remain closed.
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Topic: Tales from Entar: Notable Stories in the Modern Era (Read 1524 times)