Frayed Knights: The Tower of Almost Certain Death
I haven't been quite as regular with my postings about the development of the comedy-based indie RPG Frayed Knights of late, but the game does continue development, if not quite as quickly as it was the last few weeks before the pilot milestone. Obviously, we need a new milestone schedule. But I thought I'd provide a little bit of background on the world at large and chapters / adventures / locations in development.

Naturally, all of this information may change, and could conceivably not appear in the game at all. But here we go anyway. This week: The Tower of Almost Certain Death!

Originally, this tower was called the "Tower of Certain Death" by those few locals and adventurers who knew of its existence. Every once in a while some local youths from nearby towns who fancied themselves as adventurerers would discover legends of the tower, and mount an expedition to find and sack it.

Of the few expeditions that found the tower, most ended in the entry chamber, not with death, but with a lot of ale-drinking and graffitti-drawing to mark the accomplishment. Then the expedition would return home with tales of surviving the Tower of Certain Death.

At this point, jokes circulated renaming the old tower the "Tower of ALMOST Certain Death," as it was clear that merely entering the tower did not lead to instant demise. Those who remembered the old stories warned that it was actually ascending to the top of the tower that resulted in certain death, but as the young trespassers who had survived entry chamber parties maintained, the tower was in such poor condition that a lethal fall from the top when the floor gave out was a certainty.

However, the tower eventually attracted a group of down-on-their-luck adventurers. They discovered that the upper floors of the tower were not only in far better condition than the youthful entry-level explorers had guessed, but that they were inhabited - after a fashion. The former owner of the tower - a Wizard named Thermistale - had performed an experiment which failed spectacularly, transforming him and his apprentices into ageless, mindless monsters. Besides these entities, the tower had animated statues and traps designed to foil interlopers and government inspectors. And a great deal of the wizard's treasure had remained intact.

Once the "Tower of Almost Certain Death" had been successfully sacked, nobody bothered going there anymore. Those few who tried found that the tower was well and truly looted, with nothing remaining of remote interest to make it worth the trip. After twenty years, it faded from memory.

Rumors have recently surfaced that the tower has new inhabitants, though speculation rages as to whether or not the new inhabitants are monsters or a flock of birds.

Labels: Frayed Knights

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