The Fortress at the Edge of the Woods

AKA: The Fortress of SALSAtude PKA: Fortress Tengrave

Many years ago the fort was all that stood between the settlements of the north and the woods to the south. Early Stawford was beset by orc attacks. Early attempts at control were carried out within the woods, such as Milicent Tengrave’s expedition, but all attempts failed. However, after the fort was established, the town no longer suffered any orc attacks.But then the missives between the fort and the then settlement of Stawford became less and less frequent. Eventually they stopped entirely. When an expedition from the town investigated, a grisly sight awaited on the other side of the gate. Orc and human corpses were strewn about the fort. Worse yet, it appeared that the commander of the fort had cowardly taken his own life in his quarters rather than aid his own men on the battlefield. Since this battle, no orc has been seen in the region The Old Fort has seen better days. Crumbling walls and piles of debris share space with the refuse of the goblins who have made it their home. After the defeat of Argoz the Corrupt, the Drooltongue tribe elected SALSA as their defacto leaders, and honorary goblins. The ruined fort is slowing being repaired by the tribe, walls are being rebuilt, a new gate has been hung and the Goblins have managed to construct a (crude) device to communicate with SALSA (Far Talkie Box).

History

Milicent Tengrave led an expedition into the southern woods sixty years ago. The original purpose was to establish a settlement there, but early orc attacks doomed the settlement to failure (for more on Millicent Tengrave’s fate, see The Crumbling Wall). After first contact, the orcs became a constant threat to supply lines to Stawford. At one point, there were doubts as to if the small town would survive. It was at this time Milicent’s son, Berden Tengrave, constructed a fort on the edge of the wood to curtail future orc attacks. The fort worked well, and at least for a time orc attacks diminished. Then, roughly two years after construction, all communication with the fort abruptly stopped. The first wave of scouts sent to investigate never returned. Eventually Stawford sent a full dozen armed militia to investigate. The men described a feeling of uneasy on approach to the fort, that grew almost unbearable once they were within sight of it. Only one man, Orkur Therayle, was brave enough to go inside. He reported the fort in ruins, with the bodies of Tengrave’s men and orcs littering the grounds. Orkur seemed unresponsive the rest of the trip back and although he eventually recovered, he suffered frequent nightmares until his death. The town braced itself for the inevitable wave of orc attacks now that the protection of the fort was gone, but the attacks never came. In fact, orcs haven’t been seen in the region surrounding Stawford since.