Project - Cairn Hills - The Bandits Retreat - Part 1

Project - Cairn Hills - The Bandits Retreat - Part 1

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tombs, barrows, vaults and graves litter the Cairn Hills. The Bandits Retreat is one such that has long ago been looted and desecrated. Now it is home to Osgar's Band, a group of dangerous and succesful brigands.  

The old tomb complex sits on a small hill surrounded by low valleys and dozens of other rolling hilltops.

Sections of the old tomb Rooms 1-9 have been opened to the elements. Once they were filled with debris but in centuries past tomb robbers dug away the fallen earth and rock and scraped down to the tiles in search of gold and loot.

Osgar and his men have covered these chambers and passages with wooden roofs and tarps then dirt and light rock shoveled atop them. The work was poorly done by captives and slaves and heavy weights from horse or wagons runs the risk of collapsing them. The chambers are only ten feet high so injury has a greater chance for those below or any horses that might fall in. 

There is a reasonable chance that anyone seeing the covered chambers or walking across the crude roofs will notice the flatness and uniformity of this area as oppossed to the surrounding hilltop.

The original entrance to the Tomb complex is a chamber further east on the map than Room 9 and is through a doorway crafted to look like a natural rock. All of the Rooms in areas 1-9  have trapdoor entrances and ladders except for Room 1 which has a hidden sloping entrance at the north wall and a double wide trap door to allow horse or mounts or cattle to be led inside.

The Brigands keep a guard post hidden under tarps near the original entrance and can see all of the surrounding hilltop and anyone approaching. In the past they kept guard post on nearby hilltops and patrols day and night but since they have never been troubled in this out of the way location they have grown lax and rarely bother with any extra guards or patrols.