View source for Dragonwilds:Dowdun Reach

{{Infobox Scenery
|name = Dowdun Reach
|image = Dowdun Reach.png
|imagesizeh = 300
|release = 31 March 2026
|update = 0.11 is live now! Enter Dowdun Reach...
|location = [[Dragonwilds:Ashenfall]]
}}
'''Dowdun Reach''' is a [[Dragonwilds:power level]] 6 mountainous region in [[Dragonwilds:Ashenfall]] located south of [[Dragonwilds:Silverthorn Keep]] in [[Dragonwilds:Fellhollow]], accessible through its gatehouse. [[Dragonwilds:Player Character|Players]] must first complete [[Dragonwilds:Withering Heights]] to gain access to this region.

This region also introduces the [[Dragonwilds:Black Knights]], an order that arose independently of the mainland's {{RSL|Kinshra}},{{CiteJournal|journal=Black Knight Helmet|quote=The Black Knights on Ashenfall have completely different origins from that of the mainland. They have no direct connection to the Kinshra, and are instead evolutions of the Shadow Knights. Two connected but ultimately different factions, yet they converge on similar armours.}} and the [[Dragonwilds:Black Knight's Fortress]] along with new [[Dragonwilds:mithril]]-tier material progression.

== History ==
=== The Children of Shadows ===
The keep and its settlement grew from the [[Dragonwilds:Children of Shadows]], a Zamorakian order who chose the mountains, then called the Dowdun Mountains, as their meeting ground.{{CiteJournal|journal=Mithril Helmet|quote=The Children Of Shadows were once little more than a disaffected rabble. They gathered with the purpose of plotting against Saradominists, but, in truth, most of their time was spent infighting. But even infighting demands a forum, and the Children of Shadows chose Fellhollow Mountains.}}

The region's value was secured through an accidental finding. A young Zamorakian mining rock for a raven habitat struck a mithril seam and tried to conceal the discovery, but she was found out and killed. Mutiny followed until the order stabilised, at which point the Children of Shadows held the only known source of mithril on Ashenfall.{{CiteJournal|journal=Mithril Helmet|quote=The mithril in Fellhollow Mountains (known at the time as Dowdun Mountains) was discovered by a young Zamorakian who wanted to make a raven habitat, something similar to a dovecote. She mined rock and hit a mithril seam. The shimmering metal stunned her, as it has to generations of dwarves. She hid her discovery. We do not know why, but we can guess that greed played its part, as it is wont to do. Yet, her discovery was discovered, and the young Zamorakian was killed, left to be picked apart by her ravens. Ravens are an unsentimental bunch. Mutiny followed, until the Zamorakian chaos subsided. The Children of Shadows now had mithril, a metal that was desired by many.}} The order's mining operation belonged to the peacetime that followed the [[Dragonwilds:Human-Garou War]], when the four major faiths of Emberwood coexisted.{{CiteJournal|journal=Steel Full Helm|quote=There was no war. No conflict like that in Emberwood, indeed the four major faiths got along rather well with one another.}} Since the order believed manual labour was below them, goblins were press-ganged into hauling the ore out of the mountain in exchange for scraps of food.{{CiteJournal|journal=Mithril Platebody|quote=The Children of Shadows were no miners, so the extraction of mithril from the mountain was a slow process. Goblins were forcibly employed at the cost of a little food.}} Mithril itself was withheld from both arms and armour by strict policy. The Children deliberately kept the supply short to keep its value high, treating it as a bribery currency used to influence those who could further Zamorak's goals.{{CiteJournal|journal=Mithril Platebody|quote=Making mithril armour and weapons was not permitted, however. To do so would cheapen the metal, to make it seem widespread. Mithril, it was determined, would be a metal of bribery. It would only cross palms, not swords. By keeping it desirable in this way, the Children of Shadows could control its value, and that value would remain high. Only then could they lobby those who would further Zamorak's goals.}} The smiths within the order lived dual lives, openly forging deliberately dulled weapons to arm the Saradominists in Bramblemead while covertly delivering superior goods to their own pilgrims in the Dowdun Mountains.{{CiteJournal|journal=Mithril Platebody|quote=Among the order, however, the Children of Shadows had some smiths. These smiths lived dual lives: forging deliberately dull weapons to arm the Saradominists in Bramblemead, and scratching together time for pilgrimages to the Dowdun Mountains. There, they would deliver hardy weapons and armour in the name of Zamorak.}}

=== The Rasmodels ===
During the {{RSL|God Wars}} and the [[Dragonwilds:Human-Garou War]], [[Dragonwilds:the Rasmodels]], a noble house who migrated from the mainland, arrived in Ashenfall and settled within [[Dragonwilds:Brynmoor]]. The family first operated within the [[Dragonwilds:Temple Woods]] and [[Dragonwilds:Bramblemead]], and their standing gave the Children of Shadows access to circles the order could not otherwise reach, with members of the order serving the family as its first bodyguards.{{CiteJournal|journal=Black Knight Helmet|quote=The Black Knights, or Shadow Knights as they were originally known, began life as bodyguards for the Rasmodel family. The Rasmodels were nobility on the mainland, and retained that air of nobility in Ashenfall. They were invaluable to the Children of Shadows, as they could move in higher circles, and higher circles were where the seeds of chaos are best sown.}} The order made the mistake of dismissing the family as preening peacocks, and the Rasmodels moved deliberately into leadership seats within the Children's own ranks until the family and the order had become one and the same.{{CiteJournal|journal=Black Knight Helmet|quote=The Children of Shadows made the mistake of seeing the Rasmodels as peacocks, preening and insufferable. As time passed, the Rasmodels exerted their influence over the Shadows. They moved into positions of leadership. Every pie had a Rasmodel finger in it, and suddenly the Children and the Rasmodels were synonymous.}} With that influence came demands, and more of the Children were assigned to the family as personal bodyguards.{{CiteJournal|journal=Black Knight Helmet|quote=That influence came with demands. The Rasmodels wanted protection. Their scheming in Temple Woods and Bramblemead would lead to the odd fallout, and having bodyguards leant them legitimacy as well as protection. Some of the Children were assigned to the Rasmodel, and a different kind of seed was sown.}} The family's reputation for poisoning their rivals grew alongside that influence. When one of the family was finally caught in the act, the whole house was banished north to Dowdun Reach, and they took their most loyal bodyguards with them.{{CiteJournal|journal=Poisoned Mithril Arrow|quote=The Rasmodels were notorious for their use of poison. When they lived to the south, in Temple Woods and Bramblemead, it was often said that you should cover your cup, mouth and ears around a Rasmodel. One of the family was finally caught red-handed (or green-handed, considering the poison used), and the rumour moved to certainty. They were banished to Dowdun.}} At Dowdun Reach, the Rasmodels moved freely through the region and continued operating as they had before. Their scheming eventually overreached. The youngest Rasmodel was caught poisoning a sleeping official, and what remained of the family's standing collapsed overnight. They were barred from the rest of the Reach, restricted to a single part of the keep, and survived only because their bodyguards had grown loyal enough that moving against them was too dangerous.{{CiteJournal|journal=Black Knight Platebody|quote=Very suddenly, the Rasmodels fell back to the walls of Dowdun Reach. Their cover was blown: the youngest had been caught pouring tincture into the ears of a sleeping bailiff. Their entourage and influence no longer meant anything, and they were forced to live in the keep. A wing was allocated to them, mostly out of fear: the bodyguards were loyal to the Rasmodels, and the Children of Shadows wanted to wake up in the morning.}}

Dowdun Reach grew into a settlement in its own right, home to the Rasmodels, the Zamorakians, and the goblins pressed into their service. When the head of the family died, his eldest son [[Dragonwilds:Black Knight Titan|Milliburn]] worked to restore the family's lost pride, taking charge of the keep's training and quartermasters, and was duly elected Master of Dowdun Reach. The Children took to calling him Lord Rasmodel, the name used for him hereafter.{{CiteJournal|journal=Black Knight Platebody|quote=On the death of the father, the eldest Rasmodel son, Milliburn, looked to regain some of the family's lost pride. He burrowed himself deep into Dowdun: he was integral to the training of forces; he took charge of the quartermasters. He showed all the hallmarks of a leader, and was duly elected as Master of Dowdun Reach. The Children of Shadows took to calling him 'Lord Rasmodel'. His bodyguards never left his side.}} The new Lord Rasmodel slept poorly. His dreams spoke to him in unfamiliar words, in a dull and interminable voice, and he came to suspect the Archmage Alric of being behind his restless nights. That restlessness hardened into resolve.{{CiteJournal|journal=Black Knight Platelegs|quote=The Children of Shadows learned to be wary of Lord Rasmodel in the mornings. He was cruel before noon, fair in the afternoons, and stern all day. Those who were close to him knew the reasoning: Lord Rasmodel slept poorly, and would complain that his dreams kept him up. He was confused by them: they talked in words that he didn't recognise. He found their voices to be dull and interminable, like being locked in a room with a droning aristocrat. The dreams made him impatient and quick to bore. His relationship with Alric, Archmage, deteriorated. Rasmodel even suspected that Alric was behind his restless nights.}} Milliburn raised a new martial order, the [[Dragonwilds:Black Knights|Shadow Knights]], who would later be known as the '''Black Knights'''. The order grew from his deep distrust of [[Dragonwilds:Fellhollow]] and its dragons [[Dragonwilds:Imaru]] and [[Dragonwilds:Xikotal]], and his own bodyguards formed its core.{{CiteJournal|journal=Black Knight Platelegs|quote=One morning, Rasmodel emerged with a different kind of impatience. He was resolved that something had to change. Fellhollow, Imaru and Xikotal were not to be trusted. A new order of knights were to be created, and he was to lead them. At their centre would be his bodyguards, loyal and unquestioning. The Shadow Knights were born, and time would harden them into the Black Knights.}} For armour, the order drew on a precedent set within the Children generations before. [[Dragonwilds:Sadia Vulketra]], a member who feared an eventual Saradominist reprisal, had already worked with the Amalgamated blacksmith [[Dragonwilds:Vesk]] to produce the first suit of steel gear in the Fellhollow area, starting with a black horned helm.{{CiteJournal|journal=Steel Full Helm|quote=Kuldra would put a stop to that mindset in the end, but it was the Children of Shadows who forged the first steel gear in Fellhollow. One member, in particular, Sadia Vulketra, began to feel that the order lacked the strength it may one day need to defend against the Saradominist forces. There was no war. No conflict like that in Emberwood, indeed the four major faiths got along rather well with one another. Yet, the history books told Sadia exactly what the priests of Saradomin would do to the worshippers of the god of chaos. She forged a helm first, with the assistance of one of her many lovers, a blacksmith Amalgamated called Vesk. The first helmet was styled with great curling horns, stained black by the forge's flames.}} Outfitting the Knights in bulk demanded materials, and these came from an unexpected source. Xikotal brought the Zamorakians an offering of coal and iron as a misguided attempt to draw them into the wider Fellhollow community. The gift instead fuelled and fortified their separation from it.{{CiteJournal|journal=Mithril Platelegs|quote=In the end, the choice was made for Rasmodel. The dragon, Xikotal, had a gift. In one claw, he had coal, in the other iron. He wanted to help the Zamorakians, to bring them an offering that might soften their determination to isolate. In the dragon's optimism, the gift would bring the Zamorakians into the wider Fellhollow community. Rasmodel had his steel. He could outfit his new order. With the misguided dragon's help, he had his knights. They would ensure the rest of Fellhollow would keep their distance.}} The keep's marksmen kept watch for dragons above all else, and their eagerness had to be violently curbed after an incident during one of Imaru's diplomatic visits.{{CiteJournal|journal=Shadow Crossbow|quote=Climb the turrets of Dowdun Reach in its prime, and you would have found the Black Knight Snipers. These were the elite marksmen of the Black Knights, tasked with looking outward when the rest of the order would look inward. They would scan the skyline for threat - for the beating wings of a dragon. There was no greater trophy for the Black Snipers. One one occasion, a bolt was loosed at Imaru. She had arrived at the keep for diplomatic purposes, and was rewarded with a bolt to the neck. You could see the conflict within her, as her urges were swallowed. For a second, a disdainful eye moved to the Black Sniper. But she reset and continued to talk to Lord Rasmodel and Alric like nothing happened. Restraint was certainly beaten into the Black Snipers that night.}}

Mystic cloth, a humming fabric that the keep's magi believed had come from Zamorak himself, was long reserved for the Archmage and his council.{{CiteJournal|journal=Mystic Robes|quote=A long-held frustration of the Zamorakian magi, the magical sect of the Children of Shadows, was that Zamorak never came to them. At no point did Zamorak ever set foot on the shores of Ashenfall. This fact is key to understanding the resentful mentality of the shadow mage: they feel a constant undercurrent of abandonment. It also explains why they believe that mystic cloth 'came from Zamorak himself'. Mystic cloth was only for use by the Archmage and his council. It was not only a sign of standing within Dowdun Reach; it was a sign that you should probably get on with your work. If you heard the hum of mystic cloth behind you, you had better not be doing something untoward.}} That changed when a cleric from Emberwood, an attaché of Imaru and Xikotal, arrived at a trade meeting wearing the cloth. Alric burned the contract and cast the envoy from the top of the keep, and the cloth was afterwards freed for any common magi to wear.{{CiteJournal|journal=Mystic Robes|quote=The role of mystic cloth changed when Archmage Alric and Lord Rasmodel agreed to meet an attaché of Imaru and Xikotal. It was some cleric from Emberwood, looking to renew an annual trade agreement. It was to be a routine meeting, and Alric thought nothing of it. He planned to look at the cleric with disdain and sign the contract provided. But to Alric's scorn, the envoy turned up in mystic cloth. A mystic cloth waistcoat, and a mystic cloth cap, jauntily worn. She was good-natured and jovial, which only made the interaction more painful for Alric. Alric dared not look at Rasmodel, but he knew that there would be a smirk on that smug face. Alric burned the contract and blasted the envoy off the top of Dowdun Reach. The contract would have to wait. From that point on, mystic cloth was not reserved for the greatest magi. It was free for any common magi to wear. Alric resolved to wear a different cloth.}} As the cloth became more plentiful in the Reach, Lord Rasmodel permitted its trade with carefully chosen partners, which brought the Children of Shadows into their first dealings with an offshoot of the garou, and a friendship of sorts grew between Lord Rasmodel and the Moon Garou merchants.{{CiteJournal|journal=Mystic Robe Legs|quote=As mystic cloth became more available at Dowdun Reach, Lord Rasmodel made the decision to allow its trade. The trade partners would be carefully chosen - no Saradominists, obviously. It led to the first interactions between the Children of Shadows and an offshoot of the Garou. They showed no animosity to the Children; more a kind of unbridled curiousity. A friendship, of sorts, grew between Rasmodel and their merchants.}} The Moon Garou's physiology kept them beyond the usual methods of infiltration, so Lord Rasmodel turned to Alric, who proposed that the humming cloth itself could be worked to surveil the Moon Garou.{{CiteJournal|journal=Mystic Robe Legs|quote=It frustrated Rasmodel that he could not infiltrate the Moon Garou, as he did with all other civilisations: he had no one in the Reach with the physiology. So, he resolved to meet with Alric, something he deemed a last resort. Alric suggested something interesting. He could not change the appearance of a human to resemble the Garou: that was beyond his capabilities. But the mystic cloth: within that fabric was an opportunity. The material was known to hum, to resonate. But, like a parrot, it could also retain resonance and repeat it. With work, the mystic cloth could surveil the Moon Garou.}} Meanwhile, the goblins of the Reach had been promised gold, food, and passage back home to the [[Dragonwilds:rsw:Felldip hills|Felldip hills]], and received only scraps, so calls to rise up against Lord Rasmodel and Alric circulated among them.{{CiteText|text=Goblins of da Reach Unite!|quote=Dey promised us gold an food and travel back home, to da Felldips. But have dey provided? NO. Dey have not provided. We only have food scraps which WE have to cooks! I call on us all to rise up, like bread.}}

=== The Dreaming Stone ===
As the [[Dragonwilds:Dragon Rebellion]] tore through Ashenfall and the rest of the subcontinent fell to dragons, Lord Rasmodel and his knights held the Reach and protected those within its walls. During the Rebellion, [[Dragonwilds:Avisk]] had preserved his intellect within a stone as the rest of the [[Dragonwilds:Cabal]] died or awaited destruction.{{CiteNPC|npc=Dreaming Stone|loc=Black Knight's Fortress (Quest)|quote=While the others died, or cowered in fear waiting for their destruction, I preserved my intellect within this very stone. My knowledge, my genius, my... what you call soul... would live forever enshrined in glittering stone.}} Members of the Children of Shadows who pursued arcane knowledge found the stone buried beneath the desert sands and brought it to Dowdun Reach, where the mages studied it for its power and called it the Dreaming Stone.{{CiteNPC|npc=Dreaming Stone|loc=Black Knight's Fortress (Quest)|quote=Some sought martial expertise, others delved into arcane knowledge and secrets that the rest of your kind foolishly abhor. It was these who found me buried in the sand of the desert, biding my time.}} From inside the stone, Avisk whispered to the Children of Shadows to amuse himself, gradually pushing them into turning on one another.{{CiteNPC|npc=Dreaming Stone|loc=Black Knight's Fortress (Quest)|quote=Soon distrust began to brew among the humans. I had some small part to play in that. Boredom is a poison no one can resist, and the antidote showed itself in small amusements. A whisper here, a secret there, and soon they turned on each other without mercy.}}

When Fellhollow was falling to the [[Dragonwilds:Wither|Withering plague]], the Reach's response was to cut itself off entirely. A research group within the keep reported that the surrounding mountains should hold the contamination out, though waterways and crevices still posed a risk. Every pathway to Fellhollow was severed and the Reach closed to the outside world. Knights were stationed in [[Dragonwilds:The Crypt|the crypt]] as an early warning, since the dead rising there would be the sign that the plague had breached the mountains.{{CiteText|text=A Report on the Withering|quote=The people of Fellhollow are not well-equipped for the contamination. They have grown soft through their freedoms, and have mostly resorted to panic. We are the only ones studying and measuring the effects.}}{{CiteText|text=A Report on the Withering|quote=By our calculations, the size and breadth of the Dowdun Mountains should protect us. We would like to emphasise 'should' here: there is a risk that waterways and crevices in the rock may lead to intrusions. We mean intrusions in the broadest sense: the effects of the Withering, necromantic incursions and unwanted refugees. It is our recommendation that all efforts are made to seal Dowdun Reach. We should be focused on removing these opportunities for intrusion. All connecting pathways to the subcontinent of Fellhollow should be severed. We should also post knights to the crypt. It will be our canary in the mineshaft. If the dead rise there, we will know that the Withering has breached.}} The Shadow Knight snipers' standing orders were to shoot any draconic presence on sight, with the lone exception of lesser blue dragons, which were to be spared to preserve the local balance.{{CiteJournal|journal=Black Knight Sniper|quote=Now that Fellhollow's guardians are dead, the orders have become simpler. Lesser blue dragons are to be spared; the balance is to be preserved. But any other draconic presence - they are to be shot on sight.}} The deaths of Fellhollow's guardians changed the keep's smithing as well. The black metal of the knights' arms was steel treated by a process akin to vulcanisation, work Xikotal had once carried out himself as a gift to the isolationist knights. After the dragon's death the work passed to demonic methods, whose poorer results made the original dragonfire metal prized within the Reach.{{CiteJournal|journal=Black Sword|quote='Black', you may be aware, is not a material. It is instead a descriptor for steel that has gone through a process similar to vulcanisation. There was a time when the vulcanisation was performed by the dragon Xikotal, as a gift to the isolationist knights. With his death, the process moved towards the demonic. The resulting quality is lower, which has made the original, dragonfire 'black' metal sought after in Dowdun Reach.}}

Within the sealed Reach, the Dreaming Stone's power was eventually turned to fuelling a demon portal, and the [[Dragonwilds:Mage of Zamorak|Mages of Zamorak]] were soon summoning demons in growing numbers. The wizard [[Dragonwilds:Valerius]] wrote of the undertaking as an attempt to summon beings from another world in the hope of learning from them.{{CiteText|text=The Pride of the Avernic|quote=We are looking to create a demonic portal, that we might summon beings from another world. Imagine! We could learn so much!}} Meanwhile, the Black Knights operated under two sets of orders. The first set was simple. Any demon that broke free of its summoner was to be put down, and the mages were to be protected. The second set was kept secret. It held what the order called the 'Demon's Share', a policy under which the knights were to allow one mage to die before stepping in whenever a demon went rogue, used in practice to keep the mage population trimmed. Above even that, the knights' highest standing order was to destroy the demon portal outright if the summonings ever got beyond control.{{CiteJournal|journal=Shadow Cowl|quote=Lord Rasmodel gave his Black Knights two sets of orders. The first they were free to discuss, and were encouraged to do so. They were there to protect the magi from the demons. Should one break from its bindings, it was to be put down. In an outbreak situation, the Shadow Knights had full jurisdiction and a freedom to kill with impunity. The second set of orders was not to be discussed, not even in the company of another. There were two salient instructions. Instruction 1: The Shadow Knights would allow for the 'Demon's Share'. Should a demon become unruly, one single mage fatality was encouraged before the demon was to be put down. It was like the culling of rabbits. The mage numbers needed to be managed. Instruction 2: Should the flow of demons be too much for the magi to control, the Shadow Knights were to collapse the infernal portal. This was the primary directive: the demons and magi were secondary.}} Archmage Alric uncovered the arrangement, coming to Lord Rasmodel with a ledger showing one hundred and seventeen magi deaths across one hundred and seventeen incidents, exactly one mage lost each time, and raging at what the numbers proved.{{CiteJournal|journal=Shadow Body|quote=Alric had been monitoring the Black Knights. He had suspected something for years now, but today he had proof. The sheet was from a ledger, and it accounted for the number of magi casualties since Alric had become Archmage. There were one-hundred and seventeen deaths, and they came from one-hundred and seventeen incidents. There was no single incident where more than one mage died.}} Lord Rasmodel's answer went out the next day. The Black Knights were now to allow two magi to die with each incident.{{CiteJournal|journal=Shadow Body|quote=The orders went out from Lord Rasmodel the next day. All Shadow Knights were to allow two magi to die with each incident.}}

The Dreaming Stone had always been a point of contention, and the breaking point came when a demon appeared in the middle of a Black Knight training session and killed the unarmed recruits. Alric and Lord Rasmodel argued the matter out in the war room. When they emerged, control of the Dreaming Stone and the demon portal's power belonged to Lord Rasmodel, and the magi had lost most of their authority.{{CiteJournal|journal=Zamorak Hood|quote=An infernal demon materialised during a Shadow Knight training session. The recruits were memorising guard rotations, so only their teacher was armed. It was a massacre. Alric and Lord Rasmodel locked themselves in the war room to argue. None were to enter. Only the two of them know what was said - oh, to be a raven, watching - but everyone knows the result. The Dreaming Stone, and the allocation of power that came from it, would be managed solely by Lord Rasmodel. The demon portal would have its power rationed. Alric and his magi had their wings clipped.}}

Alric refused to accept losing command of the Dreaming Stone. Denial is the first tenet of [[Dragonwilds:The Gospel of Zamorak]], and Alric's faithful lived by it.{{CiteText|text=The Gospel of Zamorak|quote=Deny what is written.}} They secretly redirected the stone's power so that its energy spread to every room of the keep instead of flowing along a single line.{{CiteJournal|journal=Zamorak Robes|quote=Alric was never going to accept this new status quo. His faithful began re-routing the power of the Dreaming Stone. Energy tethers from the Dreaming Stone passed through and round residences. The Library, which warded against magical overflows, had its power siphoned. Where the Dreaming Stone's energy-flows were once arterial, they were now like capillaries. The energy spread everywhere, a webbing throughout the Reach. And that had consequences. Some of those consequences were explosive, sudden. The capillaries would overload, leading to fires and outbreaks. The magi would blame the Shadow Knights for these discharges, since Lord Rasmodel was now steward of the Dreaming Stone.}} The rerouting coincided with a separate scheme of Alric's to capture demon souls in enormous numbers and use them to supercharge the demon portal.{{CiteText|text=Alric's Plan (Part 1)|quote=If I could bottle and transpose the soul of a demon - or whatever makeshift thing they have as a soul - could I infuse a demonic gateway? My theory, my hope, is that the gateway would enthrall others of their kind. They would be drawn, consciously or subconsciously, in numbers that we could barely contain. A portal like that would need an incredible number of demonic souls to keep powered, but, in that respect, I am not worried. The infernal gate would supply itself.}} The tens of thousands of stored demon souls bled into the walls of the fortress itself rather than powering the gateway, and demons could summon themselves anywhere within it. Alric claimed this outcome as his plan all along, warning his magi that nowhere in the Reach was private any longer and that an avernic would be listening whenever someone spoke against them.{{CiteText|text=Alric's Plan (Part 2)|quote=My infernal gateway is no longer a gateway. The tens of thousands of demon souls are no longer powering it. It seems that they have been quietly bleeding into the fortress itself. Each brick now whispers with the avernic. They are in the walls. Demons now summon themselves, at their own whims, from any room. I do not run from this. It was my intention. I claim it. This is what I tell my magi: there is no corner of Dowdun Reach that is safe from us now. If you connive against us magi, a demon may be listening. If you walk without a partner, an avernic may digest you. This is the rule of the keep now.}} The rerouting caused other problems too. Overloaded energy tethers set off sudden fires and magical accidents, which the magi pinned on Lord Rasmodel and his knights. Later effects were worse. With the altered flows now running through sleeping quarters, residents stopped dreaming properly, tempers grew short, and a sickness of voices spread outward from the magi wing. The afflicted either fell unconscious or heard competing voices fighting inside their own minds.{{CiteJournal|journal=Zamorak Robe Legs|quote=The flows ran through people's rooms as they slept. It pulsed and hummed and bled. People began to change. Dreams became rarities; nightmares the commonplace. People heard whispers in quiet moments. Through lack of both sleep and solace, the magi were frayed at the edges. They would be quick to anger. Then the infestation came. People fell sick; a great wave moved from the magi wing outwards. The lucky were feverish or comatose, left to die on stretchers. The unlucky carried battles in their heads. Voices warred within them, and they would buckle over in pain as screaming headaches took them.}}

The madness spread into the order itself. Black Knight numbers fell as more knights succumbed, and the order's charter forbade resignation.{{CiteJournal|journal=Shadow Chaps|quote=The Shadow Knight numbers were dropping. It was impossible to resign from the order - that was written in the charter - but more and more of the knights were falling into madness. If it were physical wounds, Lord Rasmodel could have done something about the epidemic. He could amputate the problem with a single swing of his sword. But his enemy was intangible.}} Among the afflicted was a soldier Lord Rasmodel had known long before, whose rambling mimicked the droning voice of his own dreams.{{CiteJournal|journal=Shadow Chaps|quote=One of the mindless disquieted Lord Rasmodel more than the others. She was an afflicted soldier that he knew from long ago. She rambled in a voice that mimicked the droning of a bored aristocrat. Lord Rasmodel knew that voice well. He stumbled from the bedside of the soldier and took no other visitors that day.}} Lord Rasmodel resolved to see the stone destroyed, blaming its whispering for the madness of his order and accusing Vulketra and his fanatics of needing its power for their own schemes.{{CiteText|text=Rasmodel's Diary|quote=Vulketra and his deranged fanatics need this stone for their schemes; need its power to turn against my forces. They need its strength to bind the demons to their wills and slaughter me and mine.}}{{CiteText|text=Rasmodel's Diary|quote=The stone will be destroyed. I will see to it. I am done with its whispering and the madness it inspires in my once glorious fraternity. It shall fall to the edge of my blade and I will see it shatter to dust.}}

Milliburn shattered the Dreaming Stone with his warhammer. The voices that had plagued him for decades briefly ceased.{{CiteJournal|journal=Black Knight Titan|quote=Lord Rasmodel, on his knees, heard no voices. For the first time in too, too long, he could hear his own breath. His heart played a welcome beat. For decades, he had felt like he floated above the world. Now he was part of it again.}} The reprieve was brief, and the afflictions that followed were worse than before.{{CiteJournal|journal=Zamorak Robe Legs|quote=Lord Rasmodel shattered the Dreaming Stone with his warhammer. It smashed - its shards tossed to the winds. For one glorious moment, the voices stopped. Lord Rasmodel felt peace in that moment. But something worse was unleashed, and the horrors doubled.}} The magic released in the breaking twisted the fortress's residents, prolonging their lives and cursing them with madness.{{CiteNPC|npc=Dreaming Stone|loc=Black Knight's Fortress (Quest)|quote=I am unsure of what happened next, but the powers involved, the sheer magic at work... it had a terrible effect on this fortress. Those who dwelled within became twisted and strange. Life prolonged, but cursed with madness.}} His family appeared around him in their finery, and his father bade him rest. The twenty-fifth Lord of Rasmodel retired.{{CiteJournal|journal=Black Knight Titan|quote=Ringing around him was his family. The Rasmodels. They were all there - all the ones he knew, loved and had met. They were dressed as the finest nobility, the Rasmodels at their height. They had regained their standing - the name meant something again. His father knelt down and lifted Lord Rasmodel's bloody chin. Their eyes met. "Rest", his father said. "We will take it from here." Milliburn Rasmodel, twenty-fifth Lord of Rasmodel, took his retirement.}} He remains within the keep as the [[Dragonwilds:Black Knight Titan]]. The keep's demons felt the aftershocks as well. Some fell still, as though a controlling force had been cut from them, while a subset gathered the scattered shards and fought one another over their stockpiles, becoming the shardbound.{{CiteJournal|journal=Shardbound Lesser Demon|quote=When the Dreaming Stone shattered, the aftershocks weren't felt just by humans. Demons were affected too. If anything, their reactions were more unpredictable. For some, it was like a connection snapping - a hard reset. It was as if a controlling force had been removed from them; a marionette falling to the ground. For others, it was a fury. So much ash was tossed to the wind. A subset of that group gathered the shards for themselves, and they fought others for their stockpiles. They were the shardbound, and no amount of shards would settle them.}} The shards themselves lie scattered across the Reach and continue to whisper.{{CiteText|text=Shard of the Dreaming Stone|quote=A piece of the broken Dreaming Stone in Dowdun Reach's Nexus. It whispers if you listen closely.}} Groups of the afflicted would travel together and kill whoever they met, and the [[Dragonwilds:elite Black Knight]]s were deployed to put them down during the worst outbreaks.{{CiteJournal|journal=Elite Black Knight|quote=Latterly, they would deal with extreme epidemics of the madness. It was all too common for the voice-infected to move together in a chorus, a large group whose aim was to kill indiscriminately. Elites would quickly put a stop to them.}}

=== Sixth Age ===
In the [[Dragonwilds:Sixth Age]], adventurers who have driven the withering from Fellhollow are directed onward by [[Dragonwilds:Death]] and find the keep standing between them and the [[Dragonwilds:Umbral Sands]].{{CiteNPC|npc=Death|loc=Black Knight's Fortress (Quest)|quote=You did well here, in Fellhollow, but there is yet more for you to do. A, shall we say, colleague of mine awaits your help in the Umbral Sands.}} During [[Dragonwilds:Black Knight's Fortress (Quest)|Black Knight's Fortress]], the adventurer works alongside the [[Dragonwilds:Wise Old Man]] and [[Dragonwilds:Doric]] to uncover the secrets of Dowdun Reach and unlock the way through to the desert.{{CiteText|text=Black Knight's Fortress (Quest)|quote=Uncover the secrets of Dowdun Reach in order to unlock your way through to the Umbral Sands.}} Thirteen shards of the Dreaming Stone are gathered from across the region and the stone is made whole once more.{{CiteText|text=Black Knight's Fortress (Quest)|quote=Collect the Shards of the Dreaming Stone around Dowdun Reach: 0/13}} The restored intelligence names itself Avisk, blames the cthonian for the keep's state, and lowers the barrier blocking the way onward.{{CiteNPC|npc=Dreaming Stone|loc=Black Knight's Fortress (Quest)|quote=Tremble, ignorant creature and marvel in my majesty! For I am Avisk the eternal, the greatest mind to ever grace the Aughra! Now, you will submit to me and become my thrall so that together we may...}}{{CiteNPC|npc=Dreaming Stone|loc=Black Knight's Fortress (Quest)|quote=I blame the cthonian, horrible things. Anyway, you wanted that barrier lowered? it's no trouble, just let me fiddle a few things and... yep, there you go. No hard feelings eh?}} With the keep's gatekeeper defeated, the door to Umbral Sands is opened.{{CiteNPC|npc=Doric|loc=Black Knight's Fortress (Quest)|quote=With the gatekeeper defeated, we should have that door open in no time. Take some time to kick back and relax, and we'll get working on it.}}

During [[Dragonwilds:Biohazard]], [[Dragonwilds:Zanik]] enlists the adventurer to investigate the corruption afflicting the region's residents. Samples gathered from the corrupted ravens point to a cthonian infection, and its source is traced high up in the Reach.{{CiteText|text=Biohazard|quote=Gather 10 biological samples from strange ravens in Dowdun Reach, and bring them to Zanik.}}{{CiteText|text=Biohazard|quote=Find the source of the cthonian infection, somewhere high up in Dowdun Reach.}} There the adventurer finds [[Dragonwilds:Putrilius]], one of the last of the cthonian demons that once ruled Infernus, who admits to being part of the madness while holding the mind of the Dreaming Stone responsible for how far it spread.{{CiteNPC|npc=Putrilius|loc=Biohazard|quote=I am Putrilius. Once one of the last remaining of the cthonian demons that were the rightful rulers of Infernus before it all went so very wrong.}}{{CiteNPC|npc=Putrilius|loc=Biohazard|quote=I would say I am part of this madness, yes, though I do not exactly claim credit for it. It was that... thing... that Dreaming Stone's mind that sent this wildly out of control.}} Zanik hopes the demonic corruption can be kept contained within Dowdun Reach.{{CiteNPC|npc=Zanik|loc=Biohazard|quote=Hopefully we can keep that demonic corruption contained in Dowdun Reach...}}

Sealed [[Dragonwilds:nodestone]] portals lie strewn across the Reach, and during [[Dragonwilds:What's Theirs is Mine!]] the adventurer unclogs them while helping Doric track down a thieving mage, with the Dreaming Stone's magic completing their restoration.{{CiteText|text=What's Theirs is Mine!|quote=Help Doric track down the mage that stole his keepsake, by unlocking portals around Dowdun Reach.}}{{CiteText|text=A Transport Network|quote=The portals are blocked, sealed on the other side. There are a number, strewn across the Reach. Find them and unclog them to return here. The magic of the Dreaming Stone will do the rest.}}

== Geography ==

* [[Dragonwilds:The Approach]]
* [[Dragonwilds:The Courtyard]]
* [[Dragonwilds:The Nexus]]
* [[Dragonwilds:The Library]]
* [[Dragonwilds:The Grand Hall]]
* [[Dragonwilds:The Garrison]]
* [[Dragonwilds:The Pastures]]
* [[Dragonwilds:The Menagerie]]
* [[Dragonwilds:The Crypt]]
* [[Dragonwilds:The Lake]]
* [[Dragonwilds:The Demon Gate]]
* [[Dragonwilds:The Cathedral]]
* [[Dragonwilds:The Bastion]]

== NPCs ==

*[[Dragonwilds:Wise Old Man]]
*[[Dragonwilds:Postie Pete]]
*[[Dragonwilds:Doric]]
*[[Dragonwilds:OffalFoot]]
*[[Dragonwilds:Valerius]]
*[[Dragonwilds:Vannaka]]
*[[Dragonwilds:Zanik]]
*[[Dragonwilds:Snotpit]]
*[[Dragonwilds:Spittletoe]]
*[[Dragonwilds:Dead Zamorak mage]]
*[[Dragonwilds:Avisk]]
*[[Dragonwilds:Putrilius]]

==Resources==

=== Nodes ===
* [[Dragonwilds:Mithril ore node]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Anima vent]]s
* [[Dragonwilds:Coal node]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Gold ore node]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Silver ore node]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Limestone rock]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Granite deposit]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Sandstone rock]]

=== Trees ===
* [[Dragonwilds:Maple tree]]s
* [[Dragonwilds:Dead tree]]s

=== Plants ===
* [[Dragonwilds:Thorny irit root]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Redberry bush]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Onion (plant)|Onion]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Cabbage (plant)|Cabbage]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Pumpkin (plant)|Pumpkin]]

=== Fish ===

* [[Dragonwilds:Raw Giant Krill|Giant Krill]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Raw Armoured Catfish|Armoured Catfish]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Raw Infernal Eel|Infernal Eel]]

== Creatures ==

=== Aggressive ===

==== Bosses & Minibosses ====

* [[Dragonwilds:Black Knight Titan]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Blue Dragon|Lesser Blue Dragon]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Zogre]]

==== [[Dragonwilds:Black Knights]] ====
* [[Dragonwilds:Black Knight warrior]]
** [[Dragonwilds:Sergeant Blister]]
** [[Dragonwilds:Houndmaster Rexiton]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Black Knight sniper]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Elite Black Knight]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Black Knight guardian]]

==== Magi ====
* [[Dragonwilds:Zamorakian acolyte]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Mage of Zamorak]]
** [[Dragonwilds:Rat Master Skrexis]]
** [[Dragonwilds:Summoner Flament]]

==== Fauna ====
* [[Dragonwilds:Hellhound]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Hellrat]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Carnivorous chinchompa]]

==== [[Dragonwilds:Goblin]]s ====
* [[Dragonwilds:Goblin warrior]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Goblin archer]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Goblin bruiser]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Goblin runt]]

==== [[Dragonwilds:Undead]] ====
* [[Dragonwilds:Zombie]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Skeletal warrior]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Skeletal marauder]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Skeletal archer]]

==== [[Dragonwilds:Demon]]s ====
* [[Dragonwilds:Shardbound lesser demon]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Lesser demon]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Delrom]]
=== Non-Aggressive ===

* [[Dragonwilds:Sheep]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Chicken]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Deer]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Cow]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Raven]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Magpie]]

== Quests ==

* [[Dragonwilds:Black Knight's Fortress (Quest)|Black Knight's Fortress]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Biohazard]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Wanted!]]
* [[Dragonwilds:What's Theirs is Mine!]]

==Journal==
''Nothing discovered yet...''

==Music==
* [[Dragonwilds:Explore Dowdun Reach]]
* [[Dragonwilds:Cairn Toul (Dowdun Reach)]]

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150" style="text-align:left">
Dowdun Reach (Teaser Banner).webp|Teaser banner for Dowdun Reach
Dowdun Reach Concept Art (New Game Plus image).png|Concept art of Dowdun Reach Black Knight's Fortress
Black Knight Fortress (Early Concept Art).png|Early concept art of the Black Knight's Fortress
Black Knight Fortress (Early Concept).png|Early concept of the Black Knight's Fortress
Dowdun Reach (Early Concept Artwork).png|Early concept art
Dowdun Reach (Field).png|A field in Dowdun Reach
Dowdun Reach (Black Knight's Fortress 2).png|View of the Black Knight's Fortress in-game
Dowdun Reach (Trees).png|New trees appearance
Dowdun Reach (Black Knight's Fortress).png|Black Knight's Fortress
Black Knight Fortress (Area 2).png|Entrance of the Black Knight's Fortress
</gallery>

{{Youtube|fs-waQp66GY}}
== Trivia ==

* Rasmodel's diary blames a figure named Vulketra, referred to with male pronouns, along with his followers, as seekers of the Dreaming Stone's power. Whether this refers to the smith [[Dragonwilds:Sadia Vulketra]], a descendant, or a sect bearing her name is unstated.{{CiteText|text=Rasmodel's Diary|quote=Vulketra and his deranged fanatics need this stone for their schemes; need its power to turn against my forces. They need its strength to bind the demons to their wills and slaughter me and mine.}}
* Prior to the region's release, Mod Dutch stated that Dowdun Reach would have underground spaces to a greater degree than Fellhollow.{{CiteDiscord|author=Mod Dutch|url=https://discord.com/channels/1249729853096198236/1354747412119556189/1402710983356448858|date=6 August 2025|quote=Fellhollow will have underground spaces, Dowdun Reach especially so. More evolved plans will come for Umbral Sands and Scorned Wilderness.|image=Mod Dutch Answer - Fellhollow underground and ravines.png|ctximage=KytilSeren Question - Fellhollow underground and ravines.png|ctxquote=...Will we eventually have underground areas/caves/ravines in a similar fashion like in Minecraft?|name=Fellhollow - Underground and Ravine areas}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Dowdun Reach}}
{{Ashenfall}}