Requiem of Alcestis
The ground down to the clay has been shattered and displaced
Up the way towards Kragen Keep you see a white horse covered in blood running towards you, it bucks in fear and stands on its back legs, whinnying in fear as you block the road.
In the background a low horn is heard, something akin to a tuba or trumpet but very loud, birds fly out of a nearby tree.
A travelling band of performers had their wagon knocked over, they were inside the wagon, 3 riders were on horseback and were killed by something loud attacking from the woods. The earth trembled as screaming was heard. The carriage was knocked over, the creature was attempted to be stopped by the riders but they were dealt with swiftly. A line of trees were knocked down in the direction the creature travelled to.
Shrapnel of wood and canvas are strewn across the path as you walk up to see three caravans shattered into pieces with three dead bodies near the toppled cart.
You search around, large circle footprints are seen as well as a gouge out of the earth some 7 feet deep.
A sound is heard from a nearby brush. You see a fire elf covered in blood holding a small halfling. You quickly realise the halfling's blood is what you see.
If you decide to help then Myn is kind to you, otherwise she is short. He is kin to one of the chiefs and could gather favour in the moot.
Meet travelling performers who were attacked
Helentha the Bard, wood elf, yellow hair, female
Gilvrest Swiftrow the juggler, knives, halfling, male
Myn Britestar the firebreather, Fire elf, female
Tavlin and Terena the Trapezists, Trapeze Twins, Halflings
They rest nearby as they eat lunch and discuss with the Shatterbrand.
Helentha is the leader, a kerrian elf with a sultry voice and an old lute.
They are hired to perform at Kragen Keep, the chiefs will soon be deciding on the final two locations of the Moot and Galagos wants to impress. The choice is apparently Lead Tung and the Chief of Turin, the Heathlands wealthiest city. They decide where the money is spent to set up the tournament. The Tung’s owning Kragen Keep seems biassed but that mound of mud and mortar is expensive to make useable for the Moot.
Kragen Keep is either a monument to engineering or one of ineptitude
Like a fungal gross spread low and wide of the land but instead of cordyceps it is mortar and brick.
The central stone tower stands above all and the rest rolls down a gentle slope, uneven and unmanaged. Some towers attempted to reach the heights of the centre but alas, the soft ground beneath them gave way, giving a silhouette of an uneven mound, covered in vine and dark stone.
There are not enough crops nearby to supply the needed garrison to fully man the Keep.
slaves and prisoners were sent to build outer baileys around the original keep. they were not told to stop so they just kept adding more and more sections in increasingly askew shapes. over the years the size and misshapen footprint continued to grow. turrets and palisades were added once the wet ground could no longer build outward, they used the rough foundation to continue building upwards in uneven towers, half collapsing by their poor mortar and the other half sinking into the moist clay below.
Galagos is bringing performers, people and sport to try and prove to his cousin that his hold is the best suited. I would wager that his jousters will have their horses break ankles in the mud pits after the second round.
The celebration was meant to continue at the respective homes of the champions, here the local allied chiefs will show their forces to their potential ruler. This is why skirmishes and fatalities happen in the weeks leading up to a moot. A lot of antsy battalions moving across the Heathlands.
With the state of the Keep, Lead Tung and Billium Ducard will choose between Rook’s Hold and Kragen Keep.
Hired to perform at Kragen Keep by Galagos as he musters his forces for a military exercise. They are fighters and have seen a poster for the Shatterbrand. Paying handsomely and demanding discretion.
Myn will smoke and keep watch for her party. Firebloom seeds plus some hellcat hair done through a long pipe that looks like a flute.
If you saved Gilvrest then they will offer help.
The performers can get you into the massive castle under the guise of part of the act