Description
Aramond’s Lookout is a historic stone keep perched on a strategic rise along the River Aramond, east of Southaven. Built around the year 400 of the Second Century by the Kingdom of Solara during their westward expansion into Windcrest Valley, the keep was named after Aramond the Watcher, a legendary Solaran scout who first charted the river and surrounding lands. For centuries, the lookout served as a waystation for travelers and a monitoring post for northern approaches, its sturdy walls and commanding view of the river making it an ideal defensive position.
In recent times, the keep fell into disrepair, maintained only lightly as the focus of Solaran military power shifted elsewhere. Now, the ancient fortress has been violently seized by goblin forces under Warchief Ghorzak the Red. The goblins have torn down sections of the old walls, erected crude palisades, and transformed the grounds around the keep into a sprawling war camp. Smoke rises from countless fires, wolf riders patrol the perimeter, and the once-proud symbol of Solaran expansion has become a staging ground for raids against the farmlands and a chokepoint preventing supply routes to Southaven.
Background
The settlement that grew around Aramond’s Lookout eventually expanded into the town of Southaven, officially chartered in the year 967. Though the keep’s strategic importance waned as Southaven grew, it remained a landmark of the region’s history—until it fell to the goblin invasion that now threatens the valley.