INTERNATIONAL: CHARN

See ancient history re-enacted, down to the last immaculate, eye-catching detail! Every year, on the anniversary of the battle between the queendoms of Ulf and Bjalfason, the long-dead armies rise from their graves and re-enact their terrible battle. Watch from your haven on Vantage Rock as heads roll, limbs flop, and blood runs like water, and the corpses stack up like cordwood.

But don't think we'd force you to be a mere spectator. While accounts differ, most visitors report having to flee for their lives when chased by Bloody Hallbera, the princess credited with personally sticking the knife to hundreds of wounded after the battle's end. The first time was so good, Hallbera's apparently back to finish the job!

We promise, death has never seemed so real.

If you thought the Andestrean wilds were exciting, you haven't seen anything! Ulf Forest is a vast piney wood no humans have ever settled, despite occasional misguided attempts over the centuries. Find out why, when you begin this carefree walk on the wild side with nothing but a candle and a ball of yarn to find your way.

Deep in the woods, you'll be cut off from all human company, at least until the trees rearrange themselves and you meet spectral Ulf herself. If she calls your name, be sure you don't answer!

They say that rusted chains still rattle in the depths of this old melancholy castle, situated in the queendom Hallbjorn far in the northern Charn wilds. It would be no surprise if the tales were true, for old Hrafnista herself supposedly tortured more than a thousand people to death within its walls, just for her own amusement, before being beheaded by a jealous rival. If you're looking to get away from those tourist-trap hotels, this is the place -- just like all those haunted mansion stories you heard as a kid, except that this time you're the star of the show!

Stay overnight with the restless dead, in your ratty four-poster bed, and pass the evening in terrible suspense. Are you willing to play cat-and-mouse with ghosts in an old gothic castle whose horrific secrets you have yet to plumb, or is it easier to just jump from the parapets into the raging rapids below and end the tension? Smiley guarantees this is one vacation you'll be dying to get home and tell your family about -- unless you decide to move in permanently and join Hrafnista's family.

Do pale mu-Charn northerners really practice the black arts, or is that just an old wive's tale? Here's a chance to die for.

We'll set you up with a month-long tour of the janitor's closet in one of Charn's death chambers. You get a front-row seat, without having to do anything seriously "official."

Study bodies after hours, and determine if the leg bone is really connected to the thigh bone! Stick the torch to fresh corpses, and get paid for it! Watch people summon up Uncle Albion and get more than they ever bargained for!

We bet you never knew sackcloth and ashes could be in vogue.