Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Finder’s Archives.
In this column, we take some of the lands from Magic: The Gathering and turn them into something you can use for your fantasy games.
The stats given in each entry assumes that you’re using Pathfinder or 5e for your games, but they can easily be converted over into any fantasy system. This week we are invited to dinner at Castle Sengir. As dinner.
Castle Sengir
Castle Sengir sits on a lone mountain, in a desolate area. Nothing lives for miles around, not even mice or grass. Eternal night blankets the land, with the sun having been blocked out by the thick clouds that occasionally spew forth from the highest towers of Castle Sengir. From within its darkened walls, a curse emerges as Vampires roam the land under the control of the Blood King.
Once upon a time, Castle Sengir was a bastion of good, with its knights lauded as being among the bravest of the land, but that all ended in a single night of slaughter as the vampire now called the Blood King claimed his birthright. The vampire was the eldest son of the king, one thought killed in battle and left buried on the fields of honor. Unfortunately, his slayer had been a vampire and he had given the young prince the Dark Embrace. A few years passed before the prince was able to overcome the control of his master and slay him, but once he did he returned to his homeland. None recognized him, and upon seeing his bride betrothed to another man, he lost control and slaughtered them all. In their place, he raised a few of the strongest knights as his champions and set out to conquer the world. Every month his knights roam slightly further from Castle Sengir and claim more lands. If given his due, humanity will be reduced to mere cattle under the Blood King, with the rest of the world plunged into darkness and death.
Lay of the Land
Castle Sengir sits high in the mountains, halfway up the tallest mountain, and holds a commanding view of the surrounding countryside. Several ill-maintained roads lead up to the gates of the Castle, where two vampiric giants stand sentry, one on each side of the gate, in eternal vigil.
The lands surrounding Castle Sengir are dead, with the only things moving being the undead. Not all of the undead are vampires under the Blood King’s control though. The land exerts an almost irresistible pull upon the undead, and many find their way here on their own. Skeletons and zombies arrive daily and can be found all over the domain, as can wights and shades. Those undead that require sustenance, stick to the outskirts of the Blood King’s domain, sticking closer to where they can find their victims. The exceptions are the Blood King,s subjects within Castle Sengir itself who all have access to the Blood King’s larder — a nicer way of saying “human abattoir and breeding pens.”
Dangers
Going to Castle Sengir, as a mortal, is a sure-fire sign of insanity. There are undead creatures of all sorts in and around the Castle itself, but even those lucky enough to avoid the undead find that their own lifeforce and strength slowly drains away. These people often find that they’ve developed bleeding wounds or nosebleeds during the night when they sleep and that the ground itself has drunk their lifeblood.
Beyond the undead, there is one more main threat: a cult dedicated to the worship of the Blood King has sprung up in recent years on the outskirts of his domain. They hope to either appease him and the land with blood sacrifices though whether that means that he’ll spare them in the long run, or that they’ll be allowed to join the ranks of his vampires remains unknown, as he has yet to react to their presence, at least publicly.
And that concludes Castle Sengir. See you next week. 😊
Kim Frandsen
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