Balin Gosh
Balin Gosh (pronounced ‘Bay-lin’) was the greatest of the Keepers of the Tower Sanctuaries, and called the lord of the 4 towers. At one point, his forces commanded four of the southern territories of the Tower Sanctuaries in the Tower Lands and the reclamation projects around them. He and his band made constant sojourns to the ruins of an ancient elvish city and a sea king outpost sunken in the Cosheus Abyssal. The great hordes of the dark-spawn has carried much north as well, and he raided the hastily raised protective forts in the under earth and carried the fight to the goblin hordes as best as he could. However, something happened to Balin one of his journeys. Something he found or stumbled upon transformed him and his band of closest soldiers (and some say his horses too!) into crazed fiends – eaters of flesh, rappers of corpses. They returned to his lands, and of course were welcomed with open arms. His men caught the garrisons by surprise and with their new found ghoulish fury they murdered the tower’s inhabitants. In 3 days time, the guardians of 4 towers had been slaughtered. His own people were struck down by their lord, he spared no one – friends and family he was said to be especially cruel to. His sister (name unknown) was said to have been forced to watch it all, nailed to the chapel roof and then she was slowly flayed alive – her last breath crying not for mercy, but for revenge as any good border maid would want. In one night, he burned the 4 towers, and they lit the night sky for miles around. The elves watched the towers burn from across the chasm, and sent rain magics to quench the flames. There was little else they could do, and Balin’s men responded by adding more fuel to the fire. Having gotten word by bird messenger to their human counterparts, forces assembled quickly. After a full day of battling the weather, the riders were caught at each tower by forces of the Patrician Knights (of Aerna). The fiends were caught and fought at 2 towers before they could leave and re-group with Balin. Balin and half of his men were caught by the elder knights, whilst burning an inn full of his own people he had corralled there in fear. During the fight, Balin and his most trusted fled the scene, traveling back to the burnt out remains of his boyhood home. There he was tracked to and mercilessly killed in. It is said that he died in the remains of the family chapel, crying and wailing the names of the gods of light as spears were repeatedly thrust through his undead body, pinning him to the remains of the altar of his family’s god – where he finally died. His corpse withered at rotted, was left undisturbed there. His tower was the last tower to be rebuilt, and the chapel, skeleton, spears and gear were all consumed by the lightning of the priest of Ikribu. It is said that they very ground melted, until all was consumed in a molten grave. The bones and remains of his men were cleansed and mixed with the mortar to remake the tower. Legends say a hostel for Aerna was raised in place of the chapel… a monument of peace. The priests recorded many witnesses over the years that were said to have had visions of brother and sister locked in spectral combat above the structure. Of course, in time, all the towers would crumble or fall into disuse during the border wars – their original intent long fulfilled.
Lord of the Four Towers
Which four towers remain unknown to the legend itself. There are only a few places a character may go to look that knowledge up, and they are all far away from the Tower Lands themselves.
In the Library at Port Towne and perhaps other places they will find the answer to this.