Dragon's Bane Keep

So we're in a weird lull due to the holidays and time off at work so we've not played a whole lot. Hence the earlier stories of our time spent in the big city. We'll likely not get back together until the first full week of January as our company historically is in a lull for the week of Christmas and New Years.

So I thought I'd share some of the outside of combat role-playing and "future dreaming". For those who do not know, in D&D a max leveled character is 20. Our current band of adventurers is at 12 and the current module we're working through should take us through 15. If we don't die, of course. :) We're talking with the GM about taking us all the way through 20th level, but that remains to be seen.

Eons ago we had cleared a keep of low level mooks -- that is where Elle had joined the party actually -- and then went on to rid Wave Echo Cave of bad guys so the dwarves and gnomes could restart the mine. Our reward for that was a quarterly income from the mine. We also decided at that point to take over the ruined keep and restore it and make it our home.

We then spent 3 years there doing the restore and starting a small chapel to Heironeous (Melchizador's and Magnus' diety) and a small wizardry school. The first was a nod towards their deity, the second was for income (along with the mine's income). After those 3 years we hit the road on the current quest to quell the dragon shenanigans.

In between the current quests we've debated naming the place and what to do with it. We've decided it is to be known as Dragon's Bane Keep and we're hanging the skulls of vanquished foes on the walls for "street cred". And we've dreamed up what this is to look like.

So far we have the first floor restored and have commissioned: Second floor build, two story barracks built, stables built, and bath-house built (Elle insisted on that one, she's not a spoiled noble, but she does believe in regular bathing).

Future plans include: farms, pastures, cottages, and "daily life" buildings like forge, loom, silos and the like. We're also going to be building an inn, tavern, and shoppes down by the secondary road nearby. We consider the keep to be "private" to the residents, the inn/tavern to be "public" to anyone passing by that needs a rest or a meal. There's a significant distance between the two. I'm still sorting the scale out.

We've also assigned tasks to the heroes in the running of this keep. Now keep in mind this assumes we all live, which may not be the case.

Magnus: He's our face of the operation and the director of security. He wants to train future paladins to Heironeous and keep the keep proper secured. I mean who wants to argue with a 6'2 225+ pound human in full plate armor (which bumps him up into the 300ish pound range) with the ability to detect deceptions? LOL

Itanis: He's our school superintendent essentially. He will coordinate the school's enrollment, teach employment, and coordinating with the keep for any needs. He'll also provide any subtle illusionary and misdirection needs we may need to keep the keep safe and secure. His goal in life is to be not noticed.

Tsedek: Has decided to join our operation, he's warming up to us weirdos. He's also a rogue and as he calls himself, a silver-tounged devil. He is a tiefling after all and can be quite charming. So he's our director of procurement. He will sell the keep's excess goods and acquire the goods we can not produce ourselves (for example: salt). He can also help us secure the keep by showing us the tricks of the trade so to speak.

Leoven: He's going to train scouts and provide oversight to our hunting contingent as he's happiest out in the woods. He'll quietly and efficiently warn us of incoming issues and help keep us fed and warm -- especially during the first few years as we get this thing operational.

Melchizador: That's a long unheard name isn't it? He's the dwarven cleric of Heironeous that went with us to clear out Wave Echo Cave. The player then had to leave us, but we use the Heironeous tie to write Magnus into the game. Mel's job is the keep's pastor and keep "keeper" while we're out adventuring. He's a trusted NPC (non player character) that keeps the lights on while we're ridding the world of evil.

Elle: She's going to be the brains behind Magnus' brawn. While she never thought she'd be running a manor house as she is second born (and having a certain disdain to some of the aspects of that life), she was thoroughly trained in how to calculate how much grain per person to put aside for the winter and the like. So she's going to apply that to the keep. She's going to manage the storage of needs, giving the excess to Tsedek to sell/trade, and day to day operations of the keep. No, really, stop laughing now. She'll also, with Itanis' help, manage the contracts the keep needs as that's not Magnus' strong suit. While he's better with people (but not actually all that smart), Elle would rather blow annoying people up (but she is actually very smart). So Magnus will detect their intent and if they pass hand them off to Elle and Itanis to sort out the details.

Once I ink and get some good photos of the floor plan of the keep I will get those uploaded to share, but the basic concept is the first floor is the "public" areas like the classrooms for the students, library, kitchen, dining room, chapel, keep office and the like. The second floor is the heroes' private quarters, the teacher's bedrooms, and a private lounge/meeting space for the heroes.

The first floor of the barracks will be Magnus' paladin students who will also be security for the keep as part of their training, the second floor of the barracks will be the wizard school students.

There is more afoot, including how we're going to operate the town, but we're still nailing down the details. So, more on that soon, along with the art work.