Dread War

The History of West End

West End was originally a frontier mining town. The Exeter Iron mine was an imperial project that began when Chunks of Iron were found at the base of a small crescent shaped mine at the far western edge of Dimhold. Initial smelting showed the ore to be of good quality, and a delegation led by Sir Gregory Grimwar began immediately. Sir Gregory spent the better part of a year building a keep inside of the crescent of the mountain, and a boom town formed around it to provide needs to the miners. Parts of the forest to the west were cleared and a small farming community was set up. After initial clearing of rock began, and the first loads of ore were brought in, they found a problem. A vein of Cobalt had intermingled with the iron, creating an alloy. Current mining techniques did not allow for the smelting of this metal, named "blue iron" or "wolf iron". Dimhold officially abandoned the mine, but as this area had been granted to Sir Gregory, he was allowed to remain in his keep and charged with ownership of the land of the crescent mountain. Sir Gregory, now advancing in years, decided to stay at Crescent mountain and make the most of his land and his people. He was well liked by the citizens who remained behind after most of the Innkeepers, prostitutes, tool sellers and other dark elements of a boom town abandoned West End

Five years ago a process was devised by a local alchemist for smelting and using wolf iron. The process was long and intensive, but got rid of the need for importing expensive iron ore. The smiths that had remained in West End now had more work than they could handle. Each smith refit his shop to be able to work with wolf iron, building hotter forges and more precise tools. About this time, the trade caravans from Dimhold stopped coming. A party was put together to pay a visit to the next town over, Landover. The party never returned. Three months later another party was put together and sent out. When they reached Landover they found it in ruins. Corpses lined the streets and fields. Most of these corpses belonged to the former residents of Landover, but many were different. These corpses all had blonde hair, which happened in the citizens of Dimhold one child out of five hundred. These foreigners had a dark tan to their skin, and were slightly shorter than the people of West End. They bore strange symbols on their gear, a yellow sun on a field of blue and red stripes. This symbol had never been encountered before, but all of the foreign corpses wore the remnants of well crafted and matching armor. Believing the place cursed, the party from West End returned with their sad news. Landover was Dubbed by the aging Sir Gregory as off limits, and it is rarely mentioned. Production of Wolf Iron increased, and new uses for it started to spring up.

Just four years ago, two delegations arrived in West End. The first was a band of the legendary Elves of the old kingdom. They were concerned about the deforestation of what they called the "old wood" to the west. This band of Elves was a nomadic tribe, and their entire tribe was not far from town. When the Elves learned of West End's new state of Isolation, they decided to help. The Elves moved into the town to stay. Fifty Elves came originally, and a few trickled in after that, leaving a good population of Elves to intermix with the Humans and Dwarves of West End. Finally a year ago several families who had settled as far south of the crescent mountain as they dared moved back to West End. They told tales of "dark figures" who had raided their farms, raped, robbed and murdered. No one reported harming or killing any of these people, who they called "darklings". Five Years after Wolf Iron was discovered, a party consisting of William, Benjamin, Tavian, Angoroth and Sage returned with word that another town had been found, called Redkeep. A pact was made to join the populations of these two towns in West End, which was more defensable.

While the Company of the Red Spear was lost, Redkeeps inhabitants fled Redkeep to take up residence in West end. A great wall was Built of Blood iron to keep back the hordes from the town. Two and Three stories have been added to most houses. Being a landlord has become as profitable as farming or smithing. The smiths are working long days and sometimes nights to provide suitable weapons and armor for the newly trained militia. Conditions are crowded and crime is on the rise, but lawbreakers are harshly dealt with by Sir Rensin. While many still die in the frequent raids by the dark armies, life goes on as normally as it can. Redkeep has become a ruin, and scouts who manage to return from there report it a ruin filled with darkness and evil. A second Daystone was found in the mine of West End and put into place atop the keep. The Daystone of Redkeep was made into a weapon to keep back the forces of darkness.

The Dread War
The Company of the Red Spear vanished from West End in November of 20 AF. No one had seen the group leave town. Darkling attacks increased from this point. As December began, corpses were flung over the wall into the town. As these "corpses" were being interred, they got up, their wounds healed. They began savagely attacking the townspeople. These creatures were actually seen eating human flesh. The townspeople fled to the keep, where the doors were locked tightly. Wounds were healed, and the creatures were studied. It turned out that they were people who were cursed with hunger, blessed with regeneration, and they had been labotomized. Worst was their captain, a foul evil being who would come to the keep every morning. He would shout something unintelligable, then point. The moment he pointed, someone in the keep fell over dead. As food supplies begain to run low, the Company of the Red Spear returned. Fighting their way to the keep, the rushed inside. After an all too brief rest the Company of the Red Spear challenged and defeated the opponent on December 7th. The townspeople cleared the remaining monsters from the town, and began moving their things back in. At this time, it was announced that an army must leave to move on the city of shadow so that the Company could complete it's prophesy. An army of 90% of the able-bodied men in West End Suited up and rode forth. After a long march, the army reached the city of shadow. A larger army led by giant stone guardians of Berezin had already assaulted the army from the south, and the city was largely unguarded. The army fought it's way to the center of the city where the Company went through a dark portal. The fighting continued, and forces of darkness began to rebuff the shadow army in the city. Sir Gregory Grimwar fell defending his bannermen.