Citadel Rashemar
This great fortress once held a garrison of over 2,000 Rashemi troops, ready to repel bandits and protect traders moving within the country. When the Tuigan Horde invaded in 1359 DR, they left 5,000 troops behind to besiege the fortress. With the hathrans distracted by the main Tuigan force, the defenders of the citadel were left unsupported. Ballads are still sung by Rashemi bards about the valor and bravery of the doomed soldiers, who held out for three months against superior numbers. When the Tuigans finally took the fortress, they mercilessly slaughtered all the defenders and the other locals who had taken shelter within. The Tuigans then pulled down its mighty walls with teams of strong horses, leaving little more than piles of shattered stone. Although the Tuigans were defeated soon thereafter, Citadel Rashemar was not rebuilt.
The fallen citadel is now the haunt of foul creatures. Goblins lair in the upper levels as well as in the remnants of the village that surrounded the fort. Monstrous spiders crawl over the ruins and are sometimes used as steeds by the goblins. The lower levels are the lair of Chaul (NE female annis hag sorcerer 6/durthan 7), a powerful spellcaster and an enemy of the hathrans, having slain two of them who sought to expel her.
Chaul is guarded by eight barbarian ogres and by goblins apt at sorcery, and she is grooming her spellcasting followers for the ability to use place magic. Her closest ally is Durakh Haan (NE female half-orc Clr9 of Luthic), a woman of unknown heritage but a bitter disposition. In combat, Chaul’s ogres are enhanced by Durakh’s magic, each leading a wing of twenty goblins trained in dealing with berserkers (using hit-and-run tactics to deplete their rage). Chaul and Durakh stay out of sight of their enemies, with Durakh casting raise dead to replenish any fallen allies and animate dead on fallen foes. The undead guard inner portions of the ruins, while the cleric’s power to restore the dead to life has filled the goblins with unshakeable faith in themselves and their leaders.
Citadel Rashemar was originally a ring-shaped hilltop fortress enclosing an area almost 300 yards across within its outer walls, with towers enspelled against long-range magic like that used by the Red Wizards. Its most intact part is the inner keep that caps the shaft leading to the subterranean levels. The former walls have been rearranged into defensive lines surrounding the central keep, and the scattered stones have been re-formed into crude, one-story towers able to conceal an ogre. Covered passages run from the keep to each tower, allowing troops to move to and from these outer positions without being exposed to ranged attacks. The houses in the remains of the outlying village are little more than empty shells, but the goblins have dug shallow tunnels beneath, which they use as their homes. Anyone approaching is noticed long before reaching the keep, and the goblins use horns to communicate with one another and with their masters.
