Greymarsh

    A beautiful snowy landscape, in the distance is a mountain range full of evergreen forests that cradle a small hamlet village. Such a view is often enjoyed by painters and poets alike but it is marred, marred by the stench of decaying corpses, blood covered snow, and recently burned homes from a raid the night prior. This is Greymarsh you know of.

    The tales of Greymarsh you heard from drunken sailors and traveling bards were true. What you believed to be exaggerations of a man looking to entertain a crowd for coin or the tales parents would tell their children to scare them into focusing on their studies were not myth.

    Greymarsh’s history is rich and deeply connected to the history of the greater region of Yutova. It was one of the original human colonies in the region and where the snow elves and humans first made contact. Then came a decade-long war over territories and farmable land. The strongest of the house of lords was House Baldwin and their lord Orion Baldwin, a Klaifield grand duke, who moved to the region to start his own legacy apart from the Klaifield Gladstone family. Orion united the other lords under a single banner and brokered a long lasting peace with the elves which led to the prosperity of all parties involved.

    Although there was no war in the area, Klaifield and Kal Dorei were recruiting both humans and elves alike to aid in the Triad War between the mega kingdoms of Klaifield, Genshu and Nordipolica. That was up until 50 years ago with the fall of House Baldwin and their last lord Alexandros Baldwin and his wife Juliana Baldwin. The great house had gone totally dark after Alexandros had mysteriously fallen ill. Weeks had gone by no word had come from their prestigious castle Chasterthain Citadel. The doors remained closed.

    It wasn’t just Chasterthain Cidadel though. Soon the many surrounding villages stopped sending merchants, letters to family, or any supplies. Redford, Lyonhall, and Grimtol Hollow all total silence. The people of Filmire grew weary. They sent scouting parties into the snow to get an idea what happened and none returned. And you know the rest.

    The Bank of Yutova (the United Nations) put a indefinite ban on any travel to Greymarsh. Any ships traveling to or returning with ANY residents from Greymarsh are subject to capital punishment not limited to immediate execution without trial.

So why might someone in the face of all this travel to Greymarsh anyways?

    Well it certainly isn’t the beautiful vistas, the pleasant locals, or the tasty mead. Greymarsh is a land full of riches, untapped arcane mysteries and long forgotten ruins and temples. One of the most valuable metals ever discovered by man exists in Greymarsh. It is called Tyronite, a metal that is believed to be harvested from Ice Dragon eggs. Once harvested it can be used to store, augment or energize just about anything (Think of the Allspark from Transformers). Mages from around the world would give anything up to study it, engineers/artificers would pay anything to use it on their grand inventions, and rogues/smugglers would kill anyone to get to sell it. If you have an idea for something it is possible with enough Tyronite which makes it invaluable. This is but one of many items that can be found in Greymarsh.

What to expect from the campaign?

My Greymarsh setting is inspired by a fusion of the Van Helsing/ Underworld/ Blade movies, Hollow Knight, Dark Souls, Darkest Dungeon, and Resident Evil Village. For example, you may just be walking down the road and see someone eating their dead horse and they’ll stand up and offer you some and that’s considered nice.

This is a gritty campaign where dying is commonplace and finding a place to sleep each night on your travels is a actual concern. Sleeping in a tent in a below freezing blizzard is not feasible. Some nights will be spent fighting enemies as you are boarded up in a abandoned shack. You will be fighting with exhaustion. Food is a commodity. Eating rations will not make you full as they’re mostly nuts, berries, and dried jerky. So using things like goodberry might be a great idea but where are you getting the mistletoe from?

The levels will take place from 1 to about 7-9 so this is will be a very grounded campaign.