NPC - Renalto the Fabulous - Minstrel (Inn of the Welcome Wench)
Renalto the Fabulous of Hardby on his way to Verbobonc from parts south. The stop-over in Hommlet proved to be longer than anticipated as he missed the stage while releaving himself in an alley between out buildings at the Inn of the Welcome Wench.
The minstrel is truly a bard and one of great skill as well as being an agent of the Gynarch. His favorite persona is that of the arrogant though talented Renalto. He has recently come from both Celene of the Gnome elders of the Kron Hills on a delicate diplomatic mission regarding the missing daughter of the Gynarch. He is pursuing inquiries in Hommlet where she was last seen and has purposefully missed his stage to Verbobonc.
Three other patrons of the Welcome Wench, a small band of adventurers as the appear, are also agents of the Gynarch and the group are preparing a journey to Nulb where the trail now leads.
NPC - Alfreda outside the Inn of the Welcome Wench - Hommlet
Alfreda is one of the new serving girls at the Inn of the Welcome Wench. After the coming of the adventurers in 576 who reclaimed the old moat house and saved Prince Thrommel from his imprisonment in the Temple of Elemental Evil the fortunes of Hommlet have been on the upswing and so have the fortunes of the Inn.
Alfreda is a woman of the Old Faith and Jaroo believes she has a calling as a druidess but for the nonce she helps support her parents and family by working at the Inn. Soon she needs to make her decision on whether to dedicate herself to the Old Faith or lead a more simple village life as a follower.
Her family are fairly devout and are hoping she chooses the druidic path though they fret over the seperation and danger it will mean for their daughter.
Adventure Idea - Death of a Dryad
The rangers of the Gnarley Forest have come upon a scene of horror where a once living grove has been stricken and one of its dryad inhabitants slain in a manner none have encountered before. Half-a-dozen other dryads from the grove are missing along with the Druidess Delphine.
Huge tracks of some giantish creature can be seen in the soft earth but they disappear only a short distance from the blighted grove. Splintered trees litter the ground and all about the grove the wood and brush is as dead as if exposed to long and fridgid winter, and this only the beginning of summer.
The rangers have sought both druidic and elven help while they search for any sign of the missing dryeds, druidess or giantish invader.
Project - Cairn Hills - The Bandits Retreat - Part 2
1).
This room lost its original roof (a heavy stone slab) centuries ago and the bandits replaced it with beams of rough board covered with tarps then dirt. The walls rise 8 feet to the north and west and 10 feet to the east and south, but the western wall props up the roof an extra 2 feet with stone blocks and wooden planking. A lookout post is kept in the upper left and lower left corners of the room where a bandit can stand on a sturdy table and peer out through a gap in the boards. From the outside these gaps are obscured by weeds and stones with dirt heaped againt the planks to make it less noticeable that there is a chamber under the dirt of the plateau. The jobs is reasonably well done but any searching of this area will reveal this and all other plank covered chambers of the tomb complex.
The center twenty feet of the north wall and part of the roof can be opened to allow the entrance of animals and wagons. Room 1). acts as a stable for the bandits horses and draft animals. It normally has at least one wagon that the use for hauling supplies or loot if they have been successful in a raid or ambush of a caravan.
The room will contain at least 4 bandits whether the bulk of the raiders are out or not. The number of mounts varies between 4 horses and 2 draft animals at minimum to over 24 horses when the brigands have returned.
The guards will usually have one person watching during the day but they no longer bother keeping a watch at night.
NPC - The Styrkarsarjar Crew
NPC - The Styrkarsarjar Crew - Shipmaster Asger
Shipmaster Asger is a Fruzti warrior-priest of Tor the Volke God of Storms. Tor is a popular deity of worship among the Schnai and marginally less devoted to by the Cruski. The majority of Tor's worshippers are male and those who go out upon the waters, but most of the Volke spend time sailing in one form or another, so among men the worship of Tor is second only to Vatun, Veli or Ve, and among Battle-Maidens, those women of the Volke dedictaed to warfare, Tor is their primary deity, though all the pantheon is respected and offered up prayers and sacrfices during their holy days.
Asger is young for a Shipmaster but after the death of his father the elders of his clan chose him as the best replacement. Among the Fruzti longships are owned by families rather than individuals and the captain or Shipmaster is chosen by a council of clan elders, but once chosen the Shipmaster is in charge of the ship till his or her death.
Asger has proven to be an excpetional leader and Shipmaster. He had raided with his father since the age of fourteen and now in his late thirties he has seen a dozen raid seasons come and go. This is the first time he has been lost.
The strange island before him with its pig-faced orc inhabitants and towering mountain of smoke and fire calls to him and if his duties as Shipmaster didn't preclude it he would have set off with the thirty raiders to explore and bring back supplies.
NPC - Gyda - Cruski Noblewoman
The Cruski have had more interaction as traders with the lands to the south and have adopted more of their ways than the Fruzti or the Schnai. They are the least populous of the Manskr (as they name themselves rather than the outlander misnomer "Suel Barbarian").
The nobility among the Cruski has begun to set itself apart from the common tribesmen and are seen as less than worshipful of Veli or the other gods as they should be. Gyda is a good example of the new generation of Cruski nobility and yearns for the culture and goods brought from the southern warmer lands.
Still she has learned the basic magic of the Sedr and is a trained warrior. She has brought the art of Falconry to the frigid lands of the north as well as a lack of the facial tattoos and scarring that normally marks powers and events in the life of a Cruski.
There is a legend among the Cruski, that like the Rhennee they too are not from this Oerth but from some equally frigid world where a huge rading party of longships was swallowed by a fog and deposited on the shores of the Thillonrian peninsula ages ago.
NPC - Solveig Sylvi-sister
Solveig is a young warrior and younger sister to Sylvo of Fruzti who is an experienced warrior and war-leader. Unbeknowest to Sylvi or to any of the crew of the longship Styrkarsarjar but for two other sword-sisters onboard, Solveig is a member of the Valkyr, a secret cult of Votan worshippers who practice Votan's form of Sedr magic. Sylvi does not suspect and would frown on her sisters membership in the cult.
The other two Valkyr are Yeva and Helka, both about the same age as Solveig. All three are good friends and joined the Valkyr together when they were first inducted into the warrior's hall of their tribe of Fruzti.
Solveig is slightly headstrong and desires to prove herself in battle, especially if her sister is around. She and her two Valkyr companions have volunteered to be part of the group that will take the captured pig-orc boats to the beach and search for fresh water and provisions.
