Darmshall

Darmshall was a small city in the hostile lands of Vaasa in the Bloodstone Lands.

Description
Darmshall was surrounded by farmland and ranches, and served as a critical hub for both the farming and the mining communities of southern Vaasa.

Geography
The city sat in the north of the Sunderland, a region of southeastern Vaasa, in the foothills of the Galena Mountains. It lay at the eastern terminus of Dead Man's Walk, the primary trade route across Vaasa. It was not far south from the Vaasan Gate of Bloodstone Pass. The land around the town was dedicated to farming and ranching.

Defenses
Darmshall was as much a fortress as it was a city. It was surrounded by capable stone walls lined with siege weaponry and five hundred grizzled soldiers. Beneath the city was a huge storage facility for food and supplies to enable the city to withstand long periods of isolation.

History
The city was founded by the Tenblades adventuring band during the early explorations of the Bloodstone Lands. The group's leader, Romas Thunderclap, built the fortress to act as a bastion of order in Vaasa after two of his companions were murdered. His efforts were successful, as even during the conquests of Zhengyi the Witch-King, Darmshall never fell, despite being besieged by many goblins.

In the 1460s DR, the Warlock Knights of Vaasa conquered the city in a quick and bloody siege. By 1480 DR, the city's granaries served as a breadbasket for their troops stationed in Bloodstone Pass, and the Knights had begun mustering in the city in increasing numbers, preparing for war. The city's free population by this time was mostly humans.

Rumors & Legends
At some point in the decade after the defeat of the Witch-King Zhengyi, a relic of his mysteriously appeared just north of Darmshall. It was a grand statue of a dragon that rapidly grew to enormous size, not unlike how Castle Perilous had appeared over the course of a single night. However, before the dragon could be investigated, it sank into a bog.

Inhabitants
In the mid-to-late 14 century DR, the town was inhabited mostly by male settlers of the area drawn to the region following Zhengyi's defeat. The leader of the town, Gelgar Talonguard, was known to send agents to the Dragon Reach, Impiltur, and Telflamm to try to recruit more females. One female who did live in the town at this time was a young steel dragon named Razylymingeir, also known as Steelheart, who disguised herself as a teenage human girl named Katelyn Brekstel. She was mainly concerned with keeping an eye on Castle Perilous to the north after the dragons lairing there killed her parents&mdash;steel dragons living in Darmshall as blacksmith Jarl Brekstel and his wife Ingrid.

During the reign of the Warlock Knights in the late 15 century DR, the town was occupied by the Knights' forces and otherwise was mostly populated by human serfs working as farmers or ranchers. It was notable for having a fairly small non-human population relative to other cities in Vaasa.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * The Bloodstone Wars • Dungeon #53: "Steelheart"
 * Novels
 * Promise of the Witch-King
 * Promise of the Witch-King
 * Promise of the Witch-King