Many ages ago, trolls dominated the land. Their king ordered a great complex be constructed to house himself and his people. Troll engineers, artisans and countless slaves bent their backs to the task for many moons. They dug into the cliffs along the foothills of the mountains and there they built a palace of stone and dark tunnels. From their mountain fastness the trolls continued terrorizing the lands about, plundering the folk and carting them off to their pits and holes. In time however, the trolls, being voracious eaters, whittled away their food source until only small varmints and their gnomish kin remained. It took many years, but the trolls dispersed and moved on to more plentiful pastures. The complex was abandoned and left nearly empty.

The kingdoms of man eventually expanded into the old troll haunts and the region was settled. Frontiersmen arrived and mapped the land. Settlers followed, creating homesteads upon the green slopes of the hills. Clergy followed the homesteaders and not far behind them the nobility, claiming the land for themselves. Towns and villages sprung up here and there and the people lived peaceful if taxing lives under the shadow of the mountains. The old troll hunting grounds became home to a young Baron, his court and people.

In time the old troll complex was discovered. Some brave and adventurous sorts even dared to go there in search of gold and treasure. Many never returned. Some returned with nothing to report but empty halls and passages. A few spoke of great demons roaming the depths of the dungeon. And a tiny few spoke of great treasure piled in heaps too large to carry.

Yet no treasures have ever materialized, no demon has wandered into the lands, no armies sallied forth from its depths and, well, nothing really of any interest to anyone is associated with the dungeon. The only lasting impact of the trolls and their complex are terrifying tales of monsters, demons, orcs and other creatures told to young children. Hardly a soul believes them. They are told, one might surmise, to keep young children and the foolhardy away from the cliffs into which the complex was built, for the true danger lies in the many chimeras that now roost in those jagged cliffs. And for that reason, the area around the complex is exceedingly dangerous.

But the old tales always have a germ of truth in them, some more so than others, and trolls, of all the world’s evils, have a way of coming back...