
Sunset: 1930
- 1146 Lord Mayor (Baron) Lord Aphic of the Independent City of Greyhawk born
A1 – The team’s start
Fourty-five years ago, the Duchy of Urnst decided to help protect the East-West roads connecting Central Urnst to Western Urnst. The land was wild and untamed with things crawling out of the Mistmarsh to attack merchants and travelers. The Southern road traveled close to the marsh and a young, eager knight named Ustacious took up the baton and established a keep on the Southwest of the marsh. His outriders patrolled the Southern road and kept it relatively free of danger. The Northern road, however, was fairly far from the marsh and proved too inhospitable for a similar arrangement. Instead of outriders, two young sorcerers took a commission to establish a stronghold and send forays into the swamp.
Gyles and Gilbert grew up in Central Urnst and were apprenticed to the School of Black Chaos – a school dedicated to investigations into the darker realms of Astral Space. Shadow magic, earth elementals, chaos magic, and arcane forms of transformation were their daily faire. They moved to a hill overlooking the marsh and build Blackwell Keep and a small town to support them. Not much more is known about the pair or their actions. The Duchy was happy, however, with the decreasing attacks experienced on the Northern road and the Baron Leukish soon forgot about these areas and left them to their own devices.
However, not all went as planned. Although the Keep has always been remote, merchants would travel there from time to time and people would leave for Diamond Lake, or Hardride. About 15 years ago that stopped. At first no one noticed, but after about five years, the two mayors realized that the town simply seemed to have vanished. Concerned that something may be making its way from the Marsh to their towns, they wrote to the Baron Leukish, who ignored the plea to investigate. They decided to take matters into their own hands and they each sent investigation parties to the Keep. Neither returned. After another larger, single group was sent, they decided to waste no more of their warriors. Instead, they walled their towns and prepared for the worst.