The Harvest Moon Consortium

[Winterhawk99]

Citadel of Vindication

A single tower rises up out of the surrounding forest, with the gray mist of the day obscuring the crenellated battlements that crown the stone edifice. The tower, named the Citadel of Vindication, stares silently out over the surrounding profusion of life; the dour black openings in its walls like so many eyes keeping silent vigil. Built well over a century ago, the tower was a bastion against thieves and brigands who hid in the paths and warrens of the forest. Now, sadly, this once proud keep stands empty, and some say … soulless.

Well, almost soulless.

Taken by force years past, bandits stormed the keep, overwhelming the small force stationed within its walls. The great knight, Pentalous, recognized their cause was hopeless, and ordered his men to surrender. The bandits disarmed everyone, and then, drunk with power, slaughtered every captive. While the bandits rooted through the keep’s stores, bursting open trunks, casks, and furniture, searching for any item that they might carry off; the dead arose from the pile littered about the central spire. Taking up their fallen arms, the silent procession of death and vengeance moved floor by floor, mercilessly killing all they discovered, until only the leader of the bandits remained. Fleeing to the top of the battlements, he hacked and stabbed and fought off the undead, until his arm could move no more. No sound of victory escaped the lips of the dead, nor any cry or grunt of effort, as they sliced the bandit’s still living flesh into bits small enough to toss over the crenellations of the wall. Still silent, their weapons dripping with gore, the dead returned to the lower floors, to remain, undisturbed for all time – or least until the next time foolish intruders enter their domain.

Story by Graewerld
Citadel of Vindication

A single tower rises up out of the surrounding forest, with the gray mist of the day obscuring the crenellated battlements that crown the stone edifice. The tower, named the Citadel of Vindication, stares silently out over the surrounding profusion of life; the dour black openings in its walls like so many eyes keeping silent vigil. Built well over a century ago, the tower was a bastion against thieves and brigands who hid in the paths and warrens of the forest. Now, sadly, this once proud keep stands empty, and some say … soulless.

Well, almost soulless.

Taken by force years past, bandits stormed the keep, overwhelming the small force stationed within its walls. The great knight, Pentalous, recognized their cause was hopeless, and ordered his men to surrender. The bandits disarmed everyone, and then, drunk with power, slaughtered every captive. While the bandits rooted through the keep’s stores, bursting open trunks, casks, and furniture, searching for any item that they might carry off; the dead arose from the pile littered about the central spire. Taking up their fallen arms, the silent procession of death and vengeance moved floor by floor, mercilessly killing all they discovered, until only the leader of the bandits remained. Fleeing to the top of the battlements, he hacked and stabbed and fought off the undead, until his arm could move no more. No sound of victory escaped the lips of the dead, nor any cry or grunt of effort, as they sliced the bandit’s still living flesh into bits small enough to toss over the crenellations of the wall. Still silent, their weapons dripping with gore, the dead returned to the lower floors, to remain, undisturbed for all time – or least until the next time foolish intruders enter their domain.

Story by Graewerld