[center][h3]Dead Zone Hinterlands - Martira, Old Castle Town[/h3]
Harry’s [@Eviledd1984]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/sI1mzuq.png[/img][/center]

Far from the parasitized demon tree and its smorgasbord of horrors, where the Seekers of Light struggled against an amalgamate alien mass and three of the Endless Now’s despotic architects, a sleepy little town lay in among the foothills of the borderline mountain range. To the southwest lay arid, rocky scrublands, a lawless wilderness ruled by racers, biker gangs and motor-clans, a place of asphalt, gasoline, and sandworms. To the west [url=https://i.imgur.com/L42z62Y.png]Curien Mansion[/url] peered down, opulent and imperial, from its mountainous, pine-shrouded perch above the moor. And to the northwest lay the muddy, mossy wastes pounded by perpetual timefall, its solitary tower safeguarded by the wandering spirits of the damned.

For a long time the people of that lonesome hamlet had cowered in the shadow of the not-so-distant necropolis known as Redgraccoon City, home to unspeakable nightmares that could at any moment march forth in their thousands and bring doom to the old castle town. A good night’s sleep was a rare treasure in a town where disappearances were woefully commonplace, and just about anything could go bump in the night. That all changed, however, when one fateful night the necropolis disappeared in a blaze of ungodly light, reduced to the rainy, tar-covered crater that it is today.

In the weeks since then, some semblance of normalcy had crept back into the lives of the townsfolk–a testament to the residents’ tenacious will to live. Though muted in color, strings of pennants flutter in the wind over the varied market stalls and visiting merchant caravans of the town’s [url=https://i.imgur.com/7Pvrk85.png]fountain plaza[/url], ringed by ivy-walled townhouses, and aged stone fortifications. Most of Martira branched out from that hub, including Cattleracket Road, where children advertized their insects and seeds over the sounds of [url=https://i.imgur.com/b8LX6Tx.png]cows[/url] and [url=https://i.imgur.com/2tqCvpC.png]sheep[/url], and locals clamored for the honey of [url=https://i.imgur.com/BtqSEFd.png]Dudbear[/url] beekeepers. Those in need of healing would need to disregard the worrisome rumors, make their way to Blind Well Alley, and choose between Iosefka’s Clinic or the Kissers of Wounds who dwelled in Order of the True Shrine Church. The town’s best-known establishments, meanwhile, could be found back at the plaza, like the ice cream parlor [url=https://i.imgur.com/MD4PUin.png]Dimwit & Duke’s[/url], [url=https://i.imgur.com/o5TrMJQ.png]Sanza’s Map Emporium[/url], and the [url=https://i.imgur.com/UXCHCmf.png]Friendly Arm[/url], the inn that cornered Martira’s market. Crossing the bridge over the neighboring ravine -where the daring could tempt fate by bungee jumping- would take one up the long, winding path up the mountainside, surrounded on both sides by humble homes and [url=https://i.imgur.com/pDmRy13.png]shops[/url] of all kinds, until one finally reached [url=https://i.imgur.com/di3ezN2.png]Indels Castle[/url], where the governess of Martira, Lady Johanna, dwelt with her aides.

Not all was well in the wake of Redgraccoon City’s obliteration, though. The townsfolk still look over their shoulders, and the guards clutch tightly at their partizans as they patrol the worn-down ramparts. Though sandworms do threaten parties dispatched to the Paved Wilderness to collect the local delicacies -sandworm larvae and cheese from Cheese Land- it’s the disturbing continuation of disappearances that keep the people on edge. Children continue to disappear overnight, and the militia -led by the formidable and well-meaning but maladroit Roussainte, Bardon- seems powerless to stop it. All signs point to Heismay, the reclusive and disgraced former knight said to inhabit the abandoned Curien Mansion, but without enough men to mount expeditions to that cursed place, Bardon and Johanna have looked beyond Martira’s borders for anyone able to bring this crisis to an end.