Frandor's Keep Preview - Kenzer & Company

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FROM GREYTAR’S JOURNAL: “Quarrytown — A Den of Thieves”
“
Follow the muddy trail beyond the Palisade to the northeast and you’ll find yourself at
one of the Keep’s more interesting oddities — a rock quarry turned community.
Referred to as “Quarrytown” by most, it is here those banished from the Keep (as well
as those simply down on their luck) often choose to congregate.
I believe it was the orcs who first attacked the mountainside here with pick and axe, long before
the Baparans harvested the great blocks of granite for use to build the original Keep. In fact, my
research leads me to believe that evidence of their slave camps and the poor suffering souls who labored
on the orkin burial mound, now buried beneath the Upper Bailey, can still be found to this day on Brandon’s Field. And
not all of their names have been lost to history.
While taking my midday meal there one day, relaxing in the warm sunshine, I came across some dwarvish runes
seemingly scratched on a rock face centuries ago. My Dwarven is a bit rusty, but I translated the words as “Tandra of
the Gurdan Clan made these marks. Though my back is broken, my spirit is not. For I know my brother Iron Beards
come to free me.”
I like to think Tandra’s brothers did, in fact, free him — but my knowledge of the region’s history persuades me
otherwise. Tandra is most likely buried in one of the countless mass graves that litter the area (these being constantly
discovered by farmers on the Shelf as they turn the soil). Perhaps, if he was lucky, other slaves of his kind had the
opportunity to cremate him and spread his ashes among the broken rocks. Regardless, I don’t think it ended well for him.
Of course, as I say, that was before even the building of the original Keep. Then, after the Baparans returned and
the reconstruction of the Keep was complete, the quarry was only worked occasionally as the need arose. The granite is
suitable for defense works, but too far from Vew and too heavy to export, and so the quarry sat idle for months at a time.
I believe the first settlers to scramble up the rocks and occupy the quarry were merely attempting to escape the
nightly predation of scavenger animals (and worse) that prowl the trash heaps outside the Keep. Those who found their
way here later did so in search of safe refuge from the Keep’s garrison, whose soldiers frequently turn the dogs loose
whenever things get too unruly, or when they wish to deal out mass punishment.
Naturally, the wretches soon realized that the quarry could serve them as more than a temporary hiding place - it
could be a home. Now, tents and piecemeal hovels stand among the various tiers of the quarry, providing permanent
refuge to those who dwell here.
A network of ramps and rickety ladders enables individuals to traverse from one tier to the next — an adventure in
itself. At the first sign of such trouble, an alarm is shouted, the ladders are pulled up, and the residents of Quarrytown
hole up, waiting for the moment of danger to pass. Yes, the quarry provides quite a decent sanctuary for those denied
the security of the Keep’s walls.”