Curse of the Crimson Throne
Scarwall
A notorious haunted castle in the Kodar Mountains of northern Belkzen, it was built centuries ago by the warlord Kazavon during his reign over the region. Scarwall has been abandoned since Kazavon’s death, but it has not stood empty.
Rumor has it that the dead still walk its halls and none who have passed through its forbidding gates have ever returned. The orcs of Belkzen largely shun the area, and its location makes it difficult for outsiders to reach. Even so, horror stories about the castle are known to children of Lastwall—one of the few tales scarier than the green-skinned menace lurking to the north.
The party has learned that Scarwall was once the stronghold of the merciless tyrant Kazavon, a champion of Zon-Kuthon and in truth a sinister blue dragon. The castle is also said to hold the only weapon that can prevail against the terrible power of the dragon’s relics, one of which has been fashioned into a crown of fangs by Queen Ileosa.
Scarwall stands at the center of caldera’s crater lake, an imposing collection of towers and fortifications. Clouds of dark carrion birds perch upon the castle’s pinnacles and ride the winds above its towers. A single span connects the castle to a small peninsula on the lake’s southern edge, where a crumbling gatehouse still stands.
Recently, the Crimson Blades have stormed Scarwall’s heights and scoured its corridors, cleansing it of undead and ultimately breaking the fell curse that lay upon it—but not without promising the fortress to the orc Warboss Mardak in the process. The adventurers have also learned that the castle was built around an ancient Star Tower, part of Zon-Kuthon’s contribution to imprisoning the Rough Beast Rovagug. The death of the tower’s Curate helped precipitate the curse.