Falthringor, The Mighty Mountaintop Fortress
It all started when the giants attacked. In a matter of hours, the capital city of Wenjansków feel. After fleeing their ransacked lakeside home, House Wenjansk fled into the mountains. There, they found a forgotten citadel high atop the snowy peaks. They claimed this fortress as their own. As peasants tried their damndest to farm the mountainside, nobles and soldiers occupied the castle.
Falthringor is old. Centuries old, at least. And yet, none had ever seen the mountaintop citadel. Whoever once lived here is long gone, and they left behind a mighty fortress, a poisoned sierra, and countless alchemical secrets. Though the mountain peaks are frigid and dangerous, it might be possible to find a home in Falthringor, though it will require hard work and ingeuinity.
Ultimately, House Wenjansk took much of their culture with them. They are still a religious people that hold the Great Falcon, All-Seeing Owl, and Canny Harrier in high esteem. They value creative cuisine, charming music, and a strong code of ethics. They welcome pastoral halflings into their ranks, as well as refugee giants who want to contribute to Falthringor society. Somehow, the castle is both a shinging beacon pointing toward the future of the great house, and a mirror reflected backward on centuries of lowlander history.
While your players explore Falthringor, they might have to:
- Purge the ailing mountain range of its poisonous rot
- Settle the looming succession crisis
- Compete in the chivalric games
- Fight back against the invading giants
Maps
Falthringor is the first bona fide castle that we've created. We made sure to highlight asymmetry, verticality, and plenty of secrets and shortcuts. This is the ultimate map for tactical combat. If you run a Falthringor adventure, you are legally obligated to GM plenty of large-scale battles.
The highlight of Falthringor is the epic torrent opus , an alchemical engine atop a great tower that draws in pure water from the heavens before depositing it into a cistern. Your players are definitely going to want to climb the tower, fiddle with the crystalline device at its apex, and dive into the basement below.
A might rampart surrounds the castle. These are perfect for walk-and-talk roleplaying scenes or epic chases and ranged-combat encounters.
The southwest corner of the map featrues the bailey, an open-air market where adventurers can meet blacksmiths, farmers, and spearmen training with the giant dummy. This is also the entrace to the castle, complete with a portcullis that the party will have to defend when the giants attack.
In the northeast, a great gash carves through the mountain. What—or who—caused this is a mystery to this day. A drawbridge connect the main fortress to a separate ultra-secure keep.
In the southeast, a cantilevered chapel looks out over the end of a cliff. Though this church is impractical, to say the least, it embodies the spirit of House Wenjansk.
If you'd rather not use Falthringor as a mountaintop castle, you can use our “green” variant. We have an entire second version of this map that sits on a verdant plain instead of a snowy mountaintop
And finally, of course, we've created a handful of interiors maps so that your players can explore the interior of this castle. A throne room, kitchen, pantry, blacksmith, chapel, and a series of the rooms in the Severed Keep should sate your party's curiosity.
Music
Falthringor is our first purely diegetic EP. For every track on this collection, we tried to make music that you’d actually hear in the castle walls. Lutes and hurdy-gurdies play charming folk tunes, fifes and frame drums pound out battle themes, and out-of-tune fiddles signal the start of the chivalric games.
