Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Finder’s Archives.
In this column, we take some of the lands from Magic: The Gathering and turn them into something you can use for your fantasy games.
The stats given in each entry assumes that you’re using Pathfinder 2 for your games, but they can easily be converted over into any fantasy system. This week we grab our weapons and sign up for the cause at the Boros Garrison.
Boros Garrison
The Boros Garrison is a huge, city-sized, block of buildings where soldiers, warriors, spellcasters, and more are trained – all for the purposes of becoming better and stronger in battle. Life here is hard – not because of what might happen to you, but because of what you’re expected to put in. The trainers and leaders here expect you to give it your ALL, and they will throw you out if they find that you’re not committed to your training. As such, less than 10% of those admitted ever graduate from the school, and even then, most remain at the garrison, serving the Boros themselves.
Lay of the Land
The Boros Garrison stretches for several miles in all directions, including down. The buildings range from small 1-story affairs to a 10-story tall colosseum-like arena, designed for 10,000 spectators from across the multiverse. All the buildings are made from a pale red and yellow stone that is as strong as tempered steel. And across every surface is evidence of violence. Marks from swords, nicks from axes, and indentations from warhammers. Because the entire Garrison is, essentially, an open battle-field and at any given moment any instructor might loosen a class into the wilds for a bout of “urban warfare.” Events such as these are relatively common and sometimes sweep up unsuspecting bystanders in their wake, but they’re normally announced well ahead of time to the people who use the areas (even if not the unleashed students) and usually there are two sides, pre-arranged by instructors, that battle each other. There are times where up to 10 different classes battle each other – usually of wildly varying levels of experience, to simulate the effects of real opponents on a real battlefield.
Dangers
The biggest dangers in the Boros come from the students and masters of the academy. The masters are there to teach the students, and many of them believe in very physical education (to the point where clerics are stationed with each class, armed with bandages and healing magic, just to be on the safe side). The students pose a danger to each other from their various rivalries that sometimes spill over into open warfare on the streets. Anyone caught between such warring classes should prepare themselves for a long battle, at least until the masters get their students back under control.
One creature, in particular, poses a danger here, a minotaur known as “Madhorn.” Madhorn is one of the few creatures able to perfectly navigate the confusing warren of the Boros Garrison, and he’ll sell his services as a guide to newcomers. To the surprise of many, he even acts honorably (being Lawful Neutral in alignment instead of the normal Chaotic Evil for a minotaur), but he is inadvertently the cause of many of the students’ riots in the area. This is due to the fact that apart from being a guide, Madhorn also runs a tavern called “The Underground Stables,” where he serves ale that is FAR too strong for normal humanoids. He somehow has a blind spot for the trouble that the students cause, most likely because he simply kicks them out of his establishment when they get too drunk, and then promptly forgets about them. These drunk students then head back to their dormitories, and one thing leads to another. After a day or so, everything calms down again, until Madhorn brews up another batch of ale.
Kim Frandsen
Latest posts by Kim Frandsen (see all)
- Finder’s Archive – Crypt of the Eternals - June 2, 2023
