Harpshield Castle

Harpshield Castle, so named for the crest carved on an arched bridge still connecting two sections of its ruined walls, is located at the eastern border of Ardeep Forest. With the exception of a cylindrical stone tower, only the castle’s foundation walls remain. The stonework is clearly the stout and precise construction of dwarves, but it’s built to support a castle in human style.

History
Over five hundred years of passing seasons has erased all trace of the wood fortifications that stood atop these walls. The ruins have been used as a landmark and campsite for those wandering the wilds, and as a home to a succession of nomads, bandits, and monsters. Most recently the ruins of Harpshield Castle have been used as shelter for three orc tribes led by a warlord known as Pale Chief.

The party consisting of Daardendrien Brightscale, Greger Hausmeister, Llelmar Nightstar, Psylocke, Rogan McDonnel and Shadow Knot, found that the orcs who occupied Harpshield Castle were a mixed group from among three tribes, Forlorn Scythe, Jagged Hammer, and Blood Dagger. The Pale Chief was revealed to be an orc wight that was possessed by a fiend. After an encounter in the throne room, the party retrieved the Delimbyr's Bloke and then explored the castle, revealing a dead portal room which led to the escape of a Shadow, casks containing bitter ale bearing the symbol of Firehammer Hall, as well as the Amalgams of Phalorm, a set of ancient artifacts within a secret treasure room.