Locales 1:
Ghenna Prison
Built on a rocky outcropping on the western shore of Beleme the place now known as Ghenna has always had an ominous reputation. The 13 floor stone tower is best known for its unusual ability to squelch the magical abilities of anyone inside. Whether this is a function of its design or its location is a mystery. What is known is that the tower was first built by the ancients to use in magical experimentation. If they were afraid a spell would run wild they would test it there. To cast a spell inside the building in the first place the ancients would have needed a way to bypass the anti-magic field, though whatever it could be is unknown today.
When the Trolls overthrew the Ancients they began using the tower as a prison. The bowels of the tower became home to horrid abominations of magical creation that could not be controlled. Occasionally one of these creatures would escape and cause chaos, free to use whatever magical powers it had.
Eventually the humans brought down the Trolls and inherited the tower. It took generations for adventurers to kill all the monsters roaming its halls, but once they did the imperial authorities in the area realized the place’s usefulness. They reopened the tower and dubbed it Ghenna Prison. The Empire used it to imprison dangerous men and women with magical powers.
Eventually the Empire crumbled and the nation of Beleme inherited Ghenna prison. They didn’t miss a chance filling it with a growing number of witches, heretics, and political dissidents.
The past two hundred and fifty years have been fairly uneventful in Ghenna. Seventy five years ago they remodeled the tower; essentially turning the center of the tower in a large column that served as guard stations leaving the outside ring of tower dedicated to prison cells. The only thing that connects these two sections on most floors are rope and plank bridges.
The other major development occurred twenty years ago when the crown of Beleme promoted a new warden to oversee the prison.
Gaist the Ferocious is a massive man, believed by many to have some ogre blood in him. His size is only matched by his reputation for brutality. Any prisoner who steps out of line is beaten within an inch of their lives, and if they don’t learn from the mistake they’re killed. The warden is also known to raise and train dire wolves to further his incessant bullying of the inmates. Gaist also has an unsavory reputation of forcing himself on his more attractive female prisoners. The crown knows all of this but pay it little mind, no one has escaped on Gaist’s watch, and no one they put in Ghenna is ever going to see the outside of the tower again.
I hope that isn't where the PCs are starting the campaign off in. Gaist freaks me out, just from the description of what he is capable of doing to his prisoners. Talk about twisted.