THE KEEP

…………………………………….THE KEEP……………………………………….
For ten thousand years it has stood upon the banks of Maldengeld…
Its massive stones have withstood the test of time…so massive are they that it would take 500 men to move just one,, it is said that it was built by a race of giants among these granite mountains…
Its walls are perhaps 200 ft high,, with the stones stacked upon one another so tightly that even a joint can not be easily seen,, no doors or opening can be found about its walls,, its walls are made of black obsidian stone,, carried perhaps 500 miles from their quarry…
The rutted path that was made can still be seen,, even after all these
centuries… The stone faces have been ground smooth,, so no one
can scale these walls,, black green moss covers its southern face and
sheets of glare ice coat the other three…

In the granite mountains of Gerfindall,, and upon the glacier lake of Maldegeld it has stood… It has stood against natures mightiest blows,, it has withstood ten thousand years of snow, ice and moving glaciers,, and not a crack can be found along its walls,, this fortress,, this KEEP…It has guarded its secret well against all who have come unto it and tried to break thru its mighty walls,, all have failed…

Now in the half year of Filnhar,, a mighty army of men did come to this KEEP,, to break its walls and to take what was within,,
40 thousand strong were they,, lead by King Lasindarr himself,,
40 thousand strong,, conquerors of all the north lands,, now set upon the task of breaking down these walls and taking the treasure that must lay within… It is said that all the gold, silver and precious stones from all the mountains of Gerfindall lay hidden deep within this KEEP,, enough treasure it is said that each man now before this fortress could buy his own kingdom,, so much treasure is said to lie within,, that to see it all would make men weep,, it is so vast…

So it was that King Lasindarr and his army started to bring their
battering rams and stone throwers against this massive KEEP,,
the walls could not be climbed and they could not be scaled by any
device,, and they were too high for even the tallest of towers,, they could only use their battering rams against these walls…
For six years King Lasindarr and his men kept throwing stones and
banging their mighty rams against the walls,, King Lasindarr was a stubborn man and he would not be defeated by this fortress…
Then it was in the third month of the seventh year of this siege that a
crack started to appear in the wall,, it was time for King Lasindarr to
bring up and use his biggest ram of all,, it took 6 weeks to bring it up
to this mountain top and 6 weeks more to assemble it,, 40 feet tall it was,, with a bulls head made of solid iron,, its horns were 2 feet thick and it was mounted on five solid oak tree trunks,,
perhaps 35 feet long,, it took 100 men to pull back this biggest of battering rams…
For another three months King Lasindarr and his men,, used that giant bulls head against this fortress walls,, and then finally in the first week of the fourth month the wall started to give way,, and a hole 30 ft by 30 ft was finally created thru the massive walls of this KEEP…

Now King Lasindarr and his men poured thru this hole and they searched every room and broke down every door they could find,,
looking for the treasure…Then finally they came to one final last door,, this must be the treasure room King Lasindarr and his men thought,, the door was 20 feet across and 30 feet high made of solid oaken timbers,, it was not hung on hinges,, but had been lowered into a slot in the floor…There was no choice for King Lasindarr but to have his men break thru this door with only their axes and pry bars,, there was no room for a battering ram... 100 hundred men,,
2 at a time took turns swinging their axes against this door,, day and night they worked,, but it did them little good,, for after 1 week,, the door was still there and seemed to be as strong as before they had begun…

King Lasindarr then decided to try a different approach to opening this door,, he would try to burn it down,, King Lasindarr ordered holes to be cut thru the corridors roof and that timbers and firewood be brought and placed against this door,, also three hundred sheep were slaughtered for their fat,, to be used to increase the fires heat…
All this was done and then the door was set on fire,, for 5 days they kept the fire burning red hot,, until finally the massive oaken door within this KEEP gave way,, then King Lasindarr and 100 of his most trusted men entered that room,, a treasure room…
King Lasindarr and his 100 men searched every part of this room but they could find only one thing,, in the center of the room they found it…
A solid gold box,, encrusted with egg sized jewels of every kind,, it sat on a plain wooden altar between 2 great stone griffins,, just this one box was all that was there… King Lasindarr looked at the box with amazement,, its gold shined brighter than any he had seen before,, it reflected the lights of the many torches that were there,, so bright it was that it almost blinded him,, its hinges were fastened with diamond nails,, and its jewels were the biggest he’d ever seen,, there was no hook or lock that he could see... King Lasindarr opened the box carefully and when he did,, dense black smoke came from the box and soon it filled the room and then it was in every part of the fortress,, the ground began to shake and the very mountains moved,, a great chasm opened up beneath the KEEP and everything and everyone fell into it,, all except one of King Lasindarrs men and three small stable boys that had been asleep while tending the horses,, they were Gifinstal,, Trinsder,, Rasolmund,, and Yagantuf,, everything else was cast into that abyss… and it closed behind them as they fell…
King Lasindarr now sits upon a throne of molten rock with great horns upon his head,, and his skin is burnt to a fiery red,, his men all
wait for his commands,, demons they have become,, this is how Hell began,, when King Lasindarr opened that golden box,, you may know him by his other name,, LUCIFER the devil king…

And what became of the four that survived??,, they are still around,,
Gifinstal (hope),, Trinsder (love),, Rasolmund (kindness),, Yagantuf (forgiveness)… They are still with us,, and so is King Lasindarr and his men…………….