Prologue:
The city of Highwall has always leaned on tradition in the affairs of state. The capital of the nation it is at the center of much of the trade of the land, and many of the nobles have a residence within the city. The walls over one hundred feet tall give the city a commanding presence to those who first encounter it, and an intimidating sight for those who would think to conquer it.
For hundred of years, many have come to study the city as it is one of the only locations that seems to have civilizations from hundreds possibly thousands of years ago, so many in fact that it has perplexed a large number of scholars as to the cities true purpose. The city’s walls have built so high some have thought that it was to fight off giants, or other large creatures. Other’s believe it was built as a testament to a long dead royal power and the genius of their builders.
That is not to say the city is without its problems. The feylight, a mist of blue that scholars have been searching for a way to defeat for the last hundred years, as the army fights a war against those claimed by the feylight. The royal family has paid a mercenary army called the Silverblades to fend off the wildlings off to the north just beyond the mountains that hold them beyond the lands. The Silverblades also hunt any of them that get through the mountains in the mainland so their animal corruption does not spread to the population.
Trade with the east remains uneasy as the thought of undead actually maintaining positions amongst the hierarchy of a civilization does not entirely sit well with the Kingdom of Highwall. Despite this the undead, Vampires, Dhampirs, and other intelligent undead are given free passage through Highwall as long as they do not break the law, and continue to trade in good faith. The Kingdom of Gloomfalls maintains its alliance with Highwall despite the culture clash.
The southern Kingdom of Undermount remains a steady alliance with Highwall providing much of its smithing material and a lot of valuable smiths, engineers, and the like. Recently the prices of metal have been on the rise with the Kingdom asking for more money as time goes on, which has begun to put a strain on a bit of the metal side of the economy.
The state of the world however is about to shift, with the sentencing of a small group of people who are to be thrown into what is known as ‘The Pit.’ A tradition in Highwall reserved for those who have been sentenced to death. It is seen as a way of finalizing whether someone was guilty or not for if they survive they must be protected by the gods. Recent years it has come under fire as an old outdated tradition and unfortunately for this group of people they are the ‘lucky’ last batch. The Law did not pass in time for them to be saved from whatever fate finds them in this unknowable pit.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Cracked Lands
100 miles from Highwall
997 AC (After Calamity)
Wagon's rolled along the seldom used road, with guards flanking the wagon on horseback. None of them offering up much conversation on the trip they were undertaking. It was their last run of criminals to send off to the pits. They never looked at the prisoners lest they see the poor state that prisoners were in. All of them were cuffed and chained together by their hands and feet. They were headed to their deaths, and the guards didn't want the last thing they saw of these people to be stained into their mind. People about to be lost to the blackness of the pit below. Most of them weren't even sure if they survived the fall downwards since the bottom didn't seem to be visible even with the sun high in the sky.
The wagons finally came to a stop and the guards shuffled the prisoners in their line to the edge of the pit. Down below them, obscured in darkness was most likely their long awaited deaths. An armored figure got off his horse stepping down firmly onto the dusty plain. Their ride here had kicked up dust, and the man stepped before them holding himself up straight with the bearing of a warrior. His face was grim with a scar across the midsection of his face. Upon his plate he had emblazoned the symbol of the Dawnflower the main religion of Highwall. Sarenrae the goddess of fire and healing but most of all… rebirth. He was here to see that they were read their rights before being tossed through the gauntlet known to the common people as the pits. He spoke with a deep voice cutting through the silence.
"Each of you has been found guilty of one crime or another and sentenced to the Pits to atone for your sentence. It is a time honored tradition that men and women be given the chance to change their ways in a trial watched by the gods. This is no easy trial for you will be figuratively put to the flame to burn away your transgressions in the hope that you should come out the other side changed men and women. Some of you will give up, others will try, and many of you will die. Let it be known that by King Alistairs decree and the will of the Dawnflower your sins and crimes will be exonerated of any past transgressions... should you survive. I hope you use this chance to reforge your life and keep that flame you found there in the pits burning to craft your way to something greater than you have achieved with your lives thus far."
The knight of the Dawnflower then pulled his sword in front of himself saving a brief prayer as the guards forced everyone to the edge. No one seemed eager to take that first plunge. No one had survived the pits in twenty years. He had been the last one to do so, and it was in there that he had found faith. It was what he believed had allowed him to survive the pit. He secretly hoped that he would not be the last. He walked up to one of the prisoners at the end of the line as they started to say something but he gave them a swift kick sending them down into the darkness, and with all the prisoner's attached one by one they were pulled in after another into the darkness below.
Dawnflower watch over them... he thought before turning away. He looked to the sky and saw a new star had appeared. There was something sinister about that bright glowing star…
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Pit
1st Chamber (chamber of bones)
Time: Unknown
To All: Blackness had taken you for a time after the hard initial fall. When you all wake up your bones feel sore from a combination of the fall, and the cold surrounding stone that encloses you on all sides. This room is full of bones with small rats scurrying around some crawling over you to nibble on bones, a few of the braver rats sniffing you and even trying to take a nibble out of the new flesh that had arrived down here. It looks from the sight of bones plenty of men and women had not made it out of this very room. There is a horrible smell coming from the far end of his forty foot circular room. A dead body newer than most with a large amount of rats feasting the body. It looks to have been already thoroughly eaten already.
The room has a two round exits to the north and south. The north exit however is blocked off seemingly from a sort of collapse, but the other to the south leads away into darkness, the only light illuminating the cave is the faint starlight from above. It looks like you had fallen from a height that would have killed most men. The only sound you hear besides silence is the movement of others waking. You feel the weight of cuffs still chained to you, and the slight tugs it creates as others along it move. You are not the only one who had survived it seems...
The city of Highwall has always leaned on tradition in the affairs of state. The capital of the nation it is at the center of much of the trade of the land, and many of the nobles have a residence within the city. The walls over one hundred feet tall give the city a commanding presence to those who first encounter it, and an intimidating sight for those who would think to conquer it.
For hundred of years, many have come to study the city as it is one of the only locations that seems to have civilizations from hundreds possibly thousands of years ago, so many in fact that it has perplexed a large number of scholars as to the cities true purpose. The city’s walls have built so high some have thought that it was to fight off giants, or other large creatures. Other’s believe it was built as a testament to a long dead royal power and the genius of their builders.
That is not to say the city is without its problems. The feylight, a mist of blue that scholars have been searching for a way to defeat for the last hundred years, as the army fights a war against those claimed by the feylight. The royal family has paid a mercenary army called the Silverblades to fend off the wildlings off to the north just beyond the mountains that hold them beyond the lands. The Silverblades also hunt any of them that get through the mountains in the mainland so their animal corruption does not spread to the population.
Trade with the east remains uneasy as the thought of undead actually maintaining positions amongst the hierarchy of a civilization does not entirely sit well with the Kingdom of Highwall. Despite this the undead, Vampires, Dhampirs, and other intelligent undead are given free passage through Highwall as long as they do not break the law, and continue to trade in good faith. The Kingdom of Gloomfalls maintains its alliance with Highwall despite the culture clash.
The southern Kingdom of Undermount remains a steady alliance with Highwall providing much of its smithing material and a lot of valuable smiths, engineers, and the like. Recently the prices of metal have been on the rise with the Kingdom asking for more money as time goes on, which has begun to put a strain on a bit of the metal side of the economy.
The state of the world however is about to shift, with the sentencing of a small group of people who are to be thrown into what is known as ‘The Pit.’ A tradition in Highwall reserved for those who have been sentenced to death. It is seen as a way of finalizing whether someone was guilty or not for if they survive they must be protected by the gods. Recent years it has come under fire as an old outdated tradition and unfortunately for this group of people they are the ‘lucky’ last batch. The Law did not pass in time for them to be saved from whatever fate finds them in this unknowable pit.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Cracked Lands
100 miles from Highwall
997 AC (After Calamity)
Wagon's rolled along the seldom used road, with guards flanking the wagon on horseback. None of them offering up much conversation on the trip they were undertaking. It was their last run of criminals to send off to the pits. They never looked at the prisoners lest they see the poor state that prisoners were in. All of them were cuffed and chained together by their hands and feet. They were headed to their deaths, and the guards didn't want the last thing they saw of these people to be stained into their mind. People about to be lost to the blackness of the pit below. Most of them weren't even sure if they survived the fall downwards since the bottom didn't seem to be visible even with the sun high in the sky.
The wagons finally came to a stop and the guards shuffled the prisoners in their line to the edge of the pit. Down below them, obscured in darkness was most likely their long awaited deaths. An armored figure got off his horse stepping down firmly onto the dusty plain. Their ride here had kicked up dust, and the man stepped before them holding himself up straight with the bearing of a warrior. His face was grim with a scar across the midsection of his face. Upon his plate he had emblazoned the symbol of the Dawnflower the main religion of Highwall. Sarenrae the goddess of fire and healing but most of all… rebirth. He was here to see that they were read their rights before being tossed through the gauntlet known to the common people as the pits. He spoke with a deep voice cutting through the silence.
"Each of you has been found guilty of one crime or another and sentenced to the Pits to atone for your sentence. It is a time honored tradition that men and women be given the chance to change their ways in a trial watched by the gods. This is no easy trial for you will be figuratively put to the flame to burn away your transgressions in the hope that you should come out the other side changed men and women. Some of you will give up, others will try, and many of you will die. Let it be known that by King Alistairs decree and the will of the Dawnflower your sins and crimes will be exonerated of any past transgressions... should you survive. I hope you use this chance to reforge your life and keep that flame you found there in the pits burning to craft your way to something greater than you have achieved with your lives thus far."
The knight of the Dawnflower then pulled his sword in front of himself saving a brief prayer as the guards forced everyone to the edge. No one seemed eager to take that first plunge. No one had survived the pits in twenty years. He had been the last one to do so, and it was in there that he had found faith. It was what he believed had allowed him to survive the pit. He secretly hoped that he would not be the last. He walked up to one of the prisoners at the end of the line as they started to say something but he gave them a swift kick sending them down into the darkness, and with all the prisoner's attached one by one they were pulled in after another into the darkness below.
Dawnflower watch over them... he thought before turning away. He looked to the sky and saw a new star had appeared. There was something sinister about that bright glowing star…
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Pit
1st Chamber (chamber of bones)
Time: Unknown
To All: Blackness had taken you for a time after the hard initial fall. When you all wake up your bones feel sore from a combination of the fall, and the cold surrounding stone that encloses you on all sides. This room is full of bones with small rats scurrying around some crawling over you to nibble on bones, a few of the braver rats sniffing you and even trying to take a nibble out of the new flesh that had arrived down here. It looks from the sight of bones plenty of men and women had not made it out of this very room. There is a horrible smell coming from the far end of his forty foot circular room. A dead body newer than most with a large amount of rats feasting the body. It looks to have been already thoroughly eaten already.
The room has a two round exits to the north and south. The north exit however is blocked off seemingly from a sort of collapse, but the other to the south leads away into darkness, the only light illuminating the cave is the faint starlight from above. It looks like you had fallen from a height that would have killed most men. The only sound you hear besides silence is the movement of others waking. You feel the weight of cuffs still chained to you, and the slight tugs it creates as others along it move. You are not the only one who had survived it seems...
