“The Fall of Lord Solitaire” by Sarca
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Castle Solitaire-
Looming over the northern shore of Lake Umbria, Castle Solitaire, once thought to be a mere cursed ruin, is coming alive by night. The complex goliath of Fortress seems an all but incomprehensible tangle of towers and buttresses. Strange lights, rumbling, and inhuman shrieks may be heard as lightning often crackles againthe the spires. The sky never clears over that dark ravine and things have been seen moving in the shadows, toward the Castle as though summoned. Important NPCs "Lord Alyn Solitaire, Vampiric lord of the Castle. Lord Solitaire was a brilliant mage and engineer seeking only to improve the lives of others. When the madness of war engulfed his world, a hateful lawmage targeted him with a binding curse, but missed striking his beloved. As Alyn ran to her, she was struck by an Magehunter"s Tanglechain and launched bodilly into the depths of Lake Umbria.
The anti magic of the Tanglechain prevented his spells from reaching her as both emissaries sought to prevent the other from gaining his support. There are not words for the horrors he visited upon those two doomed souls, but if ever released, Hell holds no torment equal to that of Lord Solitaire's Vengeance. And it was just beginning. When the Armies of Silver Lady's Hand and the Mechanized Rebellion moved to meet in the barren plains of the North, bringing their creations on conscripts to bear… a lone figure stood wrapped in a heavy hooded cloak. As the day wore on and bodies fell, as oil and blood and offal tainted the once rich earth... amid the screams and explosion clatter sword and steel.. echoes amid roars of beasts and gouts of dragon fire… a single low continuous note but imperceptibly small increments built as the sun hung lower and the fighting broke on then did they grasp.
The Artificers eschewed most magics save for those that aided their creations, the Mages kept to the Bloodblight Accord, banning the darker arts, even in war. Lord Solitaire held no such niceties, and had, as the battle raged, encircled the whole plain as a sacrificial alter and when the note stopped… he offered the fallen in tribute and was heard. The Dead were his. The living who fell were his at their hands only rose in his service. It was the End. And then, he fell. Pierced through the chest by a spear. Thrown not by a great hero, nor general, nor magus. But a simple farmer who had been conscripted by one of the armies. And with dawn the dead..fell. The combatants of both armies, those who came together from either side, limped back down the pass. No longer soldiers in the Great War but something else: Survivors. And there the body pierced the through and propped up, his lifeblood running freely down the shaft. "Not..yet...one...more sacrifice." It is said he whispered a great flock of crows and ravens descended upon him leaving nothing behind.
After the war, some returned to the valley, knowing the wonders left to rot. They sought to seize the great fortress Castle Solitaire as their own first. 50 men and women boarded boats at dawn and crossed the Lake. Only two returned. the Party's Leader, less his right arm, as a messenger of the truth. And the young Guide, who was born of the region, knelt before Lord Solitaire as was befitting his status. She, little more than a child and clad as a boy, was spared, for at time Lord Solitaire commanded her to return on the first full moon of her 25th year. The messenger, half mad and clutching the cauterized stump of his arm, spoke of Solitaire's return and his powers. And shared the simple rule. “Castle Solitaire is to be left alone."
-Sarca
Lord Solitaire is the undisputed master of his castle, joined with very fortress itself. His abilities stem from both his extensive magical and mechanical knowledge as well as his undead traits.
