>Ten Years Ago
"I don't give a gods-damn what we're facing, Samir," King Dasmund said, "Your solution is out of the question!"
"But, my lord, if they come any closer, the village will be lost."
The kingdom of Stonetree had been built atop a mountain. By some magical force, a massive tree had grown at the peak of the mountain, and it was in that tree that Dasmund carved his castle. A small, nearly self-sufficient community had grown at the mountain's top, and their wealth was the subject of envy from the barbarian hordes who lived at the base of the mountain.
Two days ago, the barbarian horde began its climb up the twenty-thousand rocky steps of Stonetree to take the kingdom by force. Dasmund had built a peaceful kingdom, and it seemed that they all would be killed if the approaching threat if they could get all the way up the mountain.
Samir, the court wizard, offered what seemed like the only possible solution: using extremely powerful magic enhanced by the life-force of the great tree itself in order to destroy the steps leading up to the castle and about a dozen stone houses made at its peak. The destruction would mean there being no way in, or out, of the kingdom.
"Scout Hasmal! Report on the position of the enemy!" King Dasmund called out.
"Sire, they're only a few hundred feet from the peak."
"Samir, are you sure this will work?"
"Certainly, my lord. But once done it cannot be undone."
"They're nearly here!" The scout called out from the balcony of the war room.
"Gods damn me for what I am about to do," King Dasmund muttered to himself. "Fine! Samir, destroy the staircase!"