KEEPER HILL
A Fantasy Core and
D&D 5th Edition Fantasy Ireland
© Jerry Harris 2016
(This link will take you to the
Fantasy Core Playtest Rules.)
Setting History
[Full Disclaimer: Keeper Hill is a real place in Ireland . This little tale about it, however, is my own
invention and not part of Irish Mythology.
Undead troops are not without precedent though. The Fey’s Caldron of Dagda reportedly brought
the dead back as Zombies. There is
another tale of dead soldiers being brought back to life after being laid out
in a trench filled with milk.]
Dwarves
Take note, while the term “Dwarf” is being used in this
adventure, in this setting they are more properly called Fir Bolg. They are physically and functionally one in
the same, except for one important difference.
In various Fantasy Core posts, I’ve referred to Dwarves as being all
male and not born, but crafted and imbued with life. The Fir Bolg, however, are male and female
and procreate sexually. Humans, Elves,
and Dwarves in Fantasy Ireland
all share a common genetic ancestor. (They
are not related to the Formorians however.)
Because of the perceived similarities between the two genders to non-Fir
Bolg (both genders having beards, the same outward physical traits, and
personality-wise, acting the same), other races often commit a faux pas in thinking
that all Dwarves are male, much to the Fir Bolgs’ irritation (and
embarrassment).
The Dwarf Mine
This was long before the Sons of Milesius (Humans) came to
avenge the death of their kinsman, Ith, at the hands of the Fey. When the Tuatha De Danann (the Elves) came to
Erin (Ireland ),
they warred with the land’s then current ruling race, the Fir Bolg (the
Dwarves). After the First Battle of Mag
Tured, the Dwarves were forced to yield the land to the Elves and retreat into
the Underworld.
Keeper Hill was a
typical Dwarvish city of its time: agriculture villages surrounding a
sub-surface mining complex, which doubled as a fortress mostly to defend
against the Formorians, but also rival Dwarf clans. The hill had a rich vein of silver and
extensive facilities were built inside it.
Their Thane (King) and his nobles lived in the upper level inside the
mountain.
The Dwarves could shape and enchant the stone, which was how
they built the complex. It’s a slow process,
but it has the advantage of not producing tons of rubble that have to be
cleared out. As a byproduct, all of
Keeper Hill is enchanted. It cannot be
bored or dug into more than a few feet from the outside. However, this method of excavation ruins gems,
metal, and mineral deposits, so those still have to be dug out by mining.
The facility wasn’t unpleasant. Fresh air came in through a large number
small hidden airholes to the outside. It
was well lit by magical glowing stones.
There was running water collected via rainwater and pumped water from
the river and sewage was also passed through.
The underground residence areas were for offices and bachelor miners
generally, with the families living outside in the village.
The Elvish Siege
Keeper Hill became a Dwarvish fortress during the war. The Elves laid siege to it and managed to
destroy the surface fortifications.
During the siege, the residence areas were expanded to accommodate
families. A mushroom farm and artificial
fish ponds were quickly created. The meager
food supply and running water kept them fed as the Elves could not penetrate
the extensive underground fortress, nor starve them out. The tunnel network from the Dwarves’ mining
operation there allowed them to strike freely at Elvish positions and then
disappear back into the hidden tunnels.
The Elves would eventually magically divert the Shannon River
Finally, in anger, the Elves attacked the under-hill city
from within by casting powerful necromantic magic upon it. They dug a trench about the hill and filled
it with spoiled milk produced by the Cauldron of Dagda, and then cast their
enchantment upon it. (The area still has
a distinctive smell about it.) The dead
buried inside the fortresses’ Noble crypt came to un-life as Wights and Mummies. The spirits of lost dead miners were raised
as Wraiths. From the top level and
bottom level, these creatures entrapped the residents inside. Every time they killed, the dead joined their
ranks as Zombies. Worse, over the last
couple of weeks as the food had run out inside, many had begun to partake of
the flesh of the dead. Those who had and
were killed became Ghouls.
The Chief Enchanter of the Dwarves managed to seal in the
most dangerous of the undead by putting a magical ward over the exit from the
Noble Level. But it was too late, there
were too many undead still inside, who overran the remaining populace. The Dwarves had been working on an escape tunnel
out of the complex, though it had not been connected to either the surface or
another Dwarf city. When it became
apparent that Keeper Hill was lost to the undead, the surviving Dwarves fled
into the tunnel and collapsed it behind them.
What became of them is unknown (which is too bad because they took a
good deal of treasure with them).
With the city was now filled with equally hostile undead, the
Elves still found it impossible to invade the city to sack it. Eventually, they de-camped and decided this
was a poor strategy for future sieges.
Even when the Elves finally ruled the land, Keeper Hill was shunned.
The Milesians (Humans), who would come to power much later,
would be oblivious to this area’s history and build farms and settlements
around it. They never found any entry
into the interior. The Dwarves would
dearly like to regain the hill. They
still don’t know what happened to all the mined riches left behind there, and the
silver in the mine is not yet played out. But, unable to clear the flooding from the
mines, and with the complex filled with undead, it was deemed not worth the
effort. (If it had been gold mine, they
would have come back with an army.)
The Raiders
The Formorians knew about Keeper Hill. Well after the Elves defeated their race and
chased them into the Underworld, the Formorians found the old escape tunnel and
connected the facility as a possible colonial expansion to their Dark
Road
The Work and Residence Levels were cleared out fairly
easily. Unfortunately, there was little
of value there. The raiders wisely left
the Noble Level alone as they saw the Wights inside and lacked sufficient magic
to combat them. They couldn’t figure out
how to drain the flooded lower mine level without disturbing the Wraiths, who
didn’t appreciate being woken up. Keeper
Hill was deemed useless and abandoned. The
Keeper Hill gate was barred and mostly forgotten.
The Squatters
But, with the opening to the Dark Road still there, various minor
clans have moved in and out over the years.
The current Humanoid groups straggled in within the last 5 years. Billy
the Barghest had delusions of grandeur far greater than his actual power. He had built up a following of loser, misfit,
and outcast Goblins under his
control and decided to found a kingdom.
Billy and the boys arrived at Keeper Hill to find it newly
occupied by a Gargoyle, Samuel, and
a pathetic group of Grimlocks. They were on the run from some unspecified
crime. Rather than the usual Formorian
internecine warfare/pissing contest, Billy and Sam, unsure of the outcome of
any fight, quickly decided there was plenty of room for the both of them. Their informal truce has held, mostly because
each regards the other as his vassal, and thanks to the aggressive actions Sid the Troll and his Orcs in the area. (The original Keeper Hill stats are here. They’ll all be updated in this adventure.)
Currently, the Goblins live in the Hard Rock level, which was the living quarters area. The Grimlocks live
in the lower Heavy Metal level,
which was a working area with shops and forges.
The gate to the Dark Road Jeweled Garden, which is ruled by three
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