the C.R.A.P.'s campaign

Our story will start on the wild edges of the Kingdom of the Westgauen, amidst the dense forest scenery of the Dunkeforst Woods in the foothills of the mighty Murus Mountains. This rough border region was not always as much of a backwater as it currently is – once, the Great Abbey of Oberdorf ruled over the lands surrounding it, fed by the busy commerce on the Old Imperial Road and the Visteflut River and filled with fertile farmland. However, the Abbey’s community of monks of the Order of Jurors of Saint Valus (Bahamut) went extinct – the reason why they no longer accepted novices is now lost to memory and subject to rumor. Since this event in the twilight years of the Third Empire, the Abbey has fallen into ruinous disrepair. The Godsflood meant a stalling of trade on the Old Imperial Way, and swept away the last vestiges of the prosperity the area once enjoyed. Oberdorf became a backwater region, unremarkable in the grand scheme of things and a footnote in the mind of its feudal overlord, the Prince-Bishop of Marr.   Its farmland fell into disuse and was overgrown. The bridge that once spanned the Visteflut at the town of Niforst collapsed under years of erosion in a year of heavy floods. The Dunkeforst, always a brambly place with much fuel for superstition, swallowed the Imperial Road in such a way that made the smallfolk whisper of a fey, otherworldly influence. The many riches of the area were forgotten, and its people now struggle to carve out a peaceful, somewhat normal existence in the region It is in the towns of Obforst and Niforst, in the shadow of the Dunkeforst and with the ruins of Oberdorf Abbey towering in the distance, that our story begins. For the many generations since the last Brother Juror died, the people of Obforst and Niforst have banded together to brave many hardships. Amidst the neglect of their liege lord and the threats of frontier life, like raiding orcs, the makeshift local militia known as the Night Watch keeps the peace under the command of their two constables. They occasionally trade with the predominantly Dwarven mining community of Nam-Moradin and the Dwarfhold of Roghazhad beyond.   Mind you, life isn’t bad, many of the villagers will tell you. Life is simple, a little complicated at times, and frankly, also a little bit weird. It’s not just the woods or other surroundings, large parts of which the villagers don’t often visit, or the rumours of other wondrous locations nearby. In Obforst, some farmers have fields of grain that yield crops in December and lie barren at normal harvest time, while the constable of Niforst, Wilmer Koch, speaks with a lisp quite uncharacteristic of his reputation for command. Some say this is the work of a mysterious “Wizard of the Woods”, an inscrutable figure who nevertheless the villagers do not seem to want to speak ill of.   The world is changing, and while the villagers of Obforst and Niforst are far from such developments as the rise of Arlesia across the Murus Mountains, the arrival of the Utlendings and more than the occasional Kalnozeme raid, there are telltale signs. Raids by monsters have increasingly overstretched the ramshackle resources of the Night Watch, lights have recently been seen at Oberdorf Abbey and wild stories circulate. Still, the people of the towns shrug at these occurrences: that’s just what life is like out here. These lands breed adventurers, but also offer incentives to those who travel to this border region, and to see its many sights, from the Dunkeforst to the Silblut Falls.