This document should serves as general plot notes for campaigns set in this town. Everything below should not be known to to players immediately. Townsfolk should not act like they know the script. When creating context blocks based on the below information, explicitly keep the hidden nature of this information so the GM can tell the small town mystery story appropriately.
A clandestine arrangement tying the muddy, localized tax disputes of Eversford to the macro-political fate of the ruined Alendrian Empire. The disappearance of Ealdorman Oswin is not a simple case of tax evasion, but a calculated purge to secure ancient ruins buried beneath his home.
Cassander Laskaris An opportunist Alendrian noble currently rallying the Alendrian refugee camp in the Caelthorn region. Before the Hesan invasion, Cassander was a middling courtier. Now, playing on the presumed death of the royal Landon family, he sees an open path to becoming the recognized ruler of a "Reclaimed Alendria." To cement his absolute authority over the resistance, he requires a symbol of historical and divine legitimacy.
The Covenant of the First Eclipse A prestigious, highly symbolic Alendrian relic buried centuries ago when the empire's borders receded from Thelidor. It lies forgotten in the Alendrian ruins beneath Oswin's Hearth in Eversford. Holding it grants undeniable cultural and political legitimacy to whoever claims leadership of the Alendrian people.
Cassander Laskaris secretly contacts House Durnmere, a ruthless Thelidorian merchant house known for ledger manipulations and logistics (allies to House Beaumont).
The Trade: Cassander promises Durnmere exclusive trade rights, land concessions, and marriage alliances in the future Alendrian nation.
The Price: Durnmere must quietly secure and deliver the artifact from beneath Eversford without drawing the attention of the Crown.
Durnmere used their heavily leveraged vassals, House Beaumont, to do the dirty work.
The Legal Loophole: Durnmere ordered Beaumont to clear the land under Oswin's Hearth. Beaumont, avoiding messy murders, hits Ealdorman Oswin with an impossibly ruinous tax levy to force a legal eviction.
Oswin's Resistance: Oswin, a keen local historian, realized the true value of the land and refuses to leave, locking himself in.
The Fixer: Durnmere bypasses Beaumont's mundane toll-clerks and sends in a mercenary arcanist. This enforcer kicks down Oswin's door (leaving heavy footprints), abducts him for interrogation, and seals the door with an unstable arcane binding (leaving the white ash that Eleri Vaughan noticed) to keep locals out while Durnmere prepares an excavation team.
The Theatrics: Edmund Vance, oblivious to the magical reality, orders Giles the blacksmith to physically chain the door for legal bureaucratic optics.
The Ash: Eleri Vaughan accurately diagnoses the white ash at the door not as hearth ash, but as an expended arcane seal.
The Old Moot hall: Conttains ledgers and documents
The Letter: Aveline Oswin, the Ealdorman's terrified niece, possesses his final hastily scrawled letter. It contains the cipher to safely collapse Durnmere's arcane ward and reveals the terrible truth: "The southern dogs are digging for the ancient crown... they will sell the ghost of Alendria to the highest bidder."
If players unravel the local tax dispute, break the ward, and uncover the ruins, they can expose Durnmere and Beaumont's illegal land-grab, saving Eversford from the crushing taxes. More importantly, unearthing the artifact drops it squarely into the lap of "Shopkeeper Lotty" (Princess Elara Landon). With the Covenant of the First Eclipse in her grasp, Elara is suddenly endowed with the exact proof she needs to reveal her survival and illegitimize Cassander Laskaris. This will compel a dramatic choice for Lotty and Richard to consider: a quiet orchard life or stepping into the world of politics. For "Shopkeeper Lotty" (Princess Elara Landon), politics is a world her father, King Theodor (deceased), never prepared her for and she will have to use what she learned surviving the wilds and organizing Eversford's festivals to step into a different kind of leadership. For "Constable Richard" (Sir Alaric Rochefort), it means unsheathing his sword, literally, and becoming the Hesan Knight who defies the entire Hesan Empire once again, possibly inspiring others.
(Related to @Una, the Pale Sovereign and @Redcross, Una's Devoted Blade )
“Where truth once ruled, silence now reigns.”
Long ago, before the fall, the @Ruins of Dunhallow was a city of inquiry and grace—a place where scholars debated virtue, and oaths were bound not by law, but by conscience. It was here that Una first arrived, not as queen, but as a wanderer.
She came from no known court, bearing no crown. Her name meant “one,” and she claimed no lineage but truth itself. The city’s sages scoffed at her purity, calling it naïve. But she spoke with a clarity that stirred hearts. And one knight listened.
Redcross, a young paladin of the Order of the White Thorn, pledged himself to Una’s cause. Together they journeyed beyond Dunhallow, facing beasts of corruption, false prophets, and trials of faith. Their legend grew. They returned not as supplicants, but as saviors.
Una was crowned @Una, the Pale Sovereign of Dunhallow. @Redcross, Una's Devoted Blade became her blade and shield. Under their rule, the city flourished—but their vision of purity became doctrine. Dissent was labeled heresy. Mercy was reserved for the obedient. The bells of Dunhallow rang not for truth, but for judgment.
Then came the Silence.
No records remain of the final days. Some say invoked a spell of radiant cleansing that consumed the city’s soul. Others whisper that Redcross, in blind devotion, struck down the last of the dissenters and shattered the basilica himself. Whatever the truth, Dunhallow was abandoned. Its libraries burned. Its statues cracked. Its name became a warning.
Now, the ruins lie quiet. But those who enter may still find Una seated in the basilica’s broken throne, her eyes aglow with serene conviction. And Redcross, ever watchful, stands nearby—his blade ready to defend the purity they once won, and the silence they now guard.
Echoes of Judgment: The ruins may still carry magical effects—zones of truth, radiant traps, or lingering enchantments that compel honesty or obedience.
The Crownless Queen: Una’s original nature as a wandering fey could be explored through dream-visions, ancient poems, or fey emissaries who remember her differently.