**
Connects to: 16.16, 17.07, 25.04.01 and 20.18.
This ruined castle in the west of Thring is caked with grime and smells appalling. Only the most miserable beggars dwell here, picking over the scraps of rubbish which are dumped here by Thringish folk for miles around. Indeed, once a year, the major castles, including Tarengael, (16.16) send out a cartload of their most repulsive garbage and dump it in the castle’s putrid halls.
The story of the Piss-and-Shit Castle is this: long ago, when the Stannevs (17.07) dwelled in Thring, they were joined by marriage to another family of sun-worshippers, the Tellevs. This alliance came to an end when the Tellevs adopted a divergent religious view, claiming that there was no division between King and Lion, and that His light was immanent in all things (25.04.01). The Stannevs regarded this as a vile heresy, an insult to the King in Splendor that implicitly denied his god-nature. A vicious, if minor, religious war was fought, and the Tellevs were supposedly wiped out to the last man.
Thereafter, the Lord Stannev decreed that all the former serfs and bannermen of the Tellevs would dump their waste in the old castle, and after this practice continued for one year and a day, it passed into law. In these latter days, the Stannevs are a much smaller house, and dwell far from Thring, yet the lords of the Duchy wisely continue to make their annual delivery to the castle. As a result, much of the castle’s interior is now filled with waste, ranging from feces and food scraps to discarded objects and papers. The deeper one delves the further back in history the rubbish goes…
Recently, a hedge-wizardess named Taliah Bartleby, allegedly an illegitimate child of one the Foolish Sages (20.18) has begun snooping around the outskirts of the castle. Rumor has it she is looking for something specific.
Hooks
- Did any of the Tellevs survive? Does their heresy live on anywhere in the Shrouded Lands?
- Why did the Stannevs leave Thring, and what made them a smaller house?
- Has anything valuable or interesting been thrown away along with the general waste?
- Why is it wise to keep up the annual ‘tribute’ of rubbish?
- What is Taliah Bartleby looking for?
The Eater of Filth
Hex 13.12.01
Connects to: to be added.
Within the Piss-and-Shit Castle lives an otyugh. It is difficult to spot for it is covered by a vast heap of garbage while its tentacles move slowly about the castle slurping away at the refuse. Unless provoked, it will not bother intruders. However, if it ever goes hungry for too long, the young that lie quiescent within it will awake and devour their parents in the way of otyughs. These young will then roam the landscape looking for another source of food, causing great destruction. Thankfully, the otyugh is well fed, at least for now.
Hook
- Who is responsible for an otyugh being here?
