Hell's Reach Keep
A ruined keep located in the Drachensgrabs that once served as a place of worship and power for the Church of Hextor.
Overview
- Country: Located in::Drachensgrab Mountains
- Leader: N/A
- Population: Population::0
A ruined keep located in the Drachensgrab Mountains that once served as a place of worship and power for the Church of Hextor.
History
High atop the eastern reach of the Drachensgrabs stands the blasted remains of Hell’s Reach, a fortress of Hextor. The fortress was built in CY 367 priests of Hextor fleeing persecution in Greyhawk. They settled in the Drachensgrabs, on plateau among the hilltops, just below the main range. They subdued a band of hill giants and forced them to help build a keep in the high mountains.
The keep consisted of a main level, a sublevel with officers rooms and a temple, and a prison level, where they held four followers of Heironeous they’d abducted in Greyhawk. There was also an attached two-story tower off the main building. Surrounding the complex was a large, level grassy field about 200 feet in diameter. A main path led from the field down to lower grazing fields, where slaves tended flocks of sheep.
Two years after its initial founding the complex housed nearly a nearly 60 fanatical warriors, several priests of the faith, and a powerful leader known as Molter. The priests had just finished a demonic summoning circle on the prison level when disaster struck.
A powerful Greyhawk adventuring party, led by a high priest of Heironeous, stormed the complex. They smashed through the outer defenses, slew the hill giant slaves and engaged Hextor’s elite just outside the fortress.
As the battle raged above, Molter and his men slew their prisoners and summoned a powerful devil to fight for them. As the forces of Heironeous prepared to break threw the keep’s gate, the priests and their new ally emerged on the tower’s heights. The demon unleashed hell fury upon the assembled forces of good, slaying half of the adventurers outright. The high priest of Heironeous was filled with a righteous fury as he watched his men fall before the demon. He reached deep within his soul and called down his lord’s fury. A mighty pillar of flame struck the tower, slaying the Hextorites and their devil cohort instantly. The flames destroyed the tower, and the holy warriors made short work of the remaining cultists. They penetrated the prison level, found their murdered friends, and dragged their corpses topside.
The lead cleric returned to the prison chamber and destroyed the summoning circle with a bless spell. He and his men erased every sign of Hextor they could find on the keep, and began the long trek back north.
Blue Revenge
In CY 589 the priesthood returned to Hell’s Reach. Late in that year the Lord Mayor of Obsidian Bay declared Blue part of the city’s "domain". As the troops under General Stefan Warrick formalized military rule of the Blue, members of the Heironeous-worshipping Invincibles Guild traveled to the city to wage war on the Hextorites there. After several deadly battles on the city’s streets, the Hextorites withdrew, taking with them dozens of like-minded mercenaries.
The leader of the Hextorites, Georg Oldenhien (11th level priest of Hextor) organized the withdrawal, and led his men into the Drachensgrabs. Once in the foothills, the will of Hextor took over. The murderous god sent a holy vision to Georg, and ordered him into the high reaches of the mountains. There the group found Hell’s Reach. After re-consecrating the unholy circle of summoning in the basement, and restoring Hextor’s mark to the keep’s fiendish halls, the Hextorites began plotting their revenge.
They would need an army to rest control of Blue from Obsidian Bay, but to that they would need a presence in the humanoid-controlled city of Highport. Georg decided to leave a garrison of troops at Hell’s Reach under the command of his lieutenant, Fredrick Mantiemer (who had been the commander in Obsidian Bay during that city’s year-long occupation by the Scarlet Brotherhood in CY 587-588). He gave the group orders to harass commerce in the Bay’s “domain”, and left for Highport to consult with the elders of the church there.
Mantiemer and his men were not been idle in his absence. After sending a detachment of 30 troops down onto the plains to harass the caravans, Mantiemer ordered his 50 remaining men to begin repairs on the keep. He personally led a detachment into the mountains to find and charm a small clan of hill giants to be their personal guards. Meanwhile he ordered the rest of his men to capture livestock, provisions and slaves.
By the dawn of CY 590, Hell’s Reach was back up to full capacity. Its men have reclaimed the first floor of the keep, as well as the officer’s barracks on the first sub-level, and the prison on the third. Officers were given prime sleeping quarters in the keep, while the rest of the men stayed in barracks outside. The group hired skilled laborers -- most notably a blacksmith and two cooks from Highport -- to staff the hold. Meanwhile they retained a few slaves for purposes unmentionable, and sent the rest down to tend the flocks on the hills below -- under the watchful eye of a patrol of ten Hextorites.
All of their preparations could not save them from the full fury of the Blackrazor Guild, which investigated the Hextorite attacks on the Great Southern Plain and in and around their guild settlement of Brewerton, and learned of the keep. They launched an all out assault the fortification, defeating its defenders and slaying Mantiemer.
The keep was razed, and is now believed to be abandoned. Georg Oldenhien is believed to be in Highport, where he is a senior member of the Hextorite clergy.
People
- Molter: The priest of Hextor who founded Hell's Reach Keep.
- Georg Oldenhien: Priest of Hextor. Former leader of the Hextorite forces in Blue.
- Fredrick Mantiemer: Blackguard of Hextor, former leader of the faction in Obsidian Bay during that city's occupation by the Scarlet Brotherhood. Killed by the Blackrazor Guild while defending Hell's Reach Keep.
Organizations
- Church of Hextor, Highport: The Church of Hextor in Highport remains a powerful force for evil.
Sites
This is a dynamic list of all the sites associated with this location. {{#ask:located in::Hell's Reach Keep | ?Population | format=ul }}
