Digfel was a quiet mining community prior to the arrival of Baron Samuval’s delegates. To describe Digfel as uninteresting would be an understatement. The town of only a few dozen people was most famous for its alehouse The One Eyed Goblin. With little strategic value this town was spared any invasion in the War of the Lance and has been widely considered a forgettable community.
This all changed in 427 AC, in the years following the War of Souls the town was finally of interest to someone. Baron Samuval had first heard of the mines of Digfel in his first years of carving out his territory. Needing a steady flux of metal to support his troops and “delegates” he did not want to have to rely on trade to make it happen.
Instead he staged several incidents around or near the community making it seem that bandits and highwaymen were about. Approaching the town he laid out a plan that would allow the citizens their freedom and safety but yet ensure his trade would not be troubled by the situation. The town council convened and chose to allow Samuval’s men into the community for protection. In the town there was no law official and not even a militia to help.
What at first seemed like an ideal situation quickly took a turn for the worse in only a few days. Samuval ordered that to ensure that the mines to be secured that he would need to protect them. Within hours of his men reaching the mines he had them under his control. While he did allow the mine owners continue to operate them at first, he managed within a year to convince them to sell.
As his interest was in the mine he began to set up a large compound nearby. The residents of Digfel reached out to other local communities for help, but quickly learned that these communities were aligned with Samuval or had their own problems. This resulted in several issues in which at first members of the community tried to drive out the Baron’s men.
The results of this were swift and Baron Samuval announced that these men were traitors of the Barony of Samuval. He also reminded the community of the pledge they made when they allowed his men in. The residents quickly released that there best course of survival was just to give in. Within a few months all resistance ended, all but a few who pledged to carry on. These men have hidden out in the abandoned mines in the area. Often they sabotage the working mines and waylay the supply caravans.
The community of Digfel presently has grown to several hundred residents as the mines have been expanded. It is home to a large compound that contains a foundry, barracks and offices of Baron Samuval. The town itself is currently patrolled by the Baron’s men, constantly looking for those who are involvement with the resistance.
