Tower of The Black Sword

The Tower of The Black Sword was the representation of The Wytch of Chaos’s temporal power in the realm of Thrae. The sprawling castle was part palace and temple to the chaos Wytch. Serving as home to the most ardent followers as well as the host of monsters and beast that served her whims. The castle took its name from the magically crafted black central tower raised by the Wytch which towered more than 100 feet above the castle grounds. The bulk of the castle's construction more mundane but still seeking to emulate the central spire’s elaborate ‘Gothic’ style..

During the war of the silver crowns some two millennia ago the citadel was stormed and nearly razed by the victorious forces of law. The Wytch of Chaos slain or banished in the catacombs deep beneath the central tower.

**Ruins**

The site consists of the shattered and blackened stone of a few gutted towers and walls. Most of the surface structures having fallen to rubble in the ensuing eons. The magically formed base of the central tower still stands several stories above the rocky plain and one side still defiantly rising up over seventy feet into the air.

From the main ruins of the tower there is a once grand stairway seeming to be cut from solid onyx that leads down into the earth. At the base of the stairs is a large circular room, the walls once decorated with bas-reliefs of dancers or supplicants that were smashed and defaced ages ago when the tower was sacked. The ruined walls are covered hundreds of runes of law and good. Though now the once white paint has yellowed and flaking off the walls. Many of the runes appear to have been purposely, and recently defaced.

A raised dais occupies the center of the room ruined carved runes and sigils of lawful and holy runes, upon which four battered and empty pedestals stand, the broken remains of angelic status lay scattered about the room while the central portion of the dais is missing  a black circular stair leads down deeper into the earth and darkness.

One fine brass and copper sconces still hang in places  along the walls of the dark circular stairway. It ends some one hundred feet down in twisted and contorted Iron and copper doors, that appear to have been battered open by powerful force. The remains of the doors are badly rusted and pitted with age, the copper a sickly verdigris.  Beyond the ruined doors is a grand hall. Pillars of leering demons standing on the writhing bodies of men and women, orcs, and demons, cavorting in every manner of carnal delight.

The opposite end of the hall are a pair of massive wrought black iron doors the raised elements forming an eight pointed star when closed. The interior panels are a gleaming red metal, that have strange black shapes that seem to float within the red, just enough to be seen, just deep enough to remain obscured. Each door has a massive Iron pull that also serves as a knocker. The iron ring set in the maw of a grinning demon.

**The Deathskull’s Tribe**

The area about the ruins has long been the hunting grounds of an almost feral band of orcs known as the Deathskull’s Tribe.  The practice ritual scarification of their bodies as well as the common tattooing to mark accomplishments and rank. They get their name from a ritual tattooing, piercing and scarring  of their face to make them look as if their face is a skull. This is sometimes also accomplished with shamanic magic and fresh humanoid skull bones, though usually it’s reserved for tribal leaders and shamans.

Until recently the tribe was semi nomadic moving between a set of fortified settlements and various outposts while raiding other tribes and the encroaching humans. In the last year or so they have moved into the hills around the broken peak and recently have been reported around the ruins located at the base of the mountain.