City Watch - Farm Ward Station

Despite always being the first to engage any threat that arises, the Watch of the Farm Ward is severely underequipped and understaffed. While many sing their praises for being the stalwart defenders that protect citizens from the dangers beyond the city's walls, just as many are skeptical about their ability to protect the citizens. This is due to towns and homesteads being so incredibly far apart that it sometimes takes days before the Watch even becomes aware of a threat.

Leadership

The Farm Ward's Watch is a very diminutive force of untrained guardsmen that do what they can to protect the impossible. Under the leadership of Captain Jackson Chambers, an older human man that stands a little over six feet tall. He has a disfiguring scar that he earned in 695 during the gnoll attacks. Chambers is the type of person to fight first and ask questions later and he expects the same from his underlings. To most, he comes off as incredibly brash and cold. Very few have ever witnessed Chambers get emotional, since those who have died a long time ago.

He's seen far too much trouble in his day. Sometimes I wonder if he'll ever move on . . . but please, for the love of the Gods, don't tell him I said that.

- Vinia Shaw, Farm Ward Night Marshal

Chambers has a significant amount of military experience. He even served alongside Igor Urnst, the current Commander General of the Watch. Between the two of them and the rest of their squadron, they handled many border skirmishes in their day. When Urnst sustained a debilitating leg injury, Chambers decided that he should retire before he suffers the same fate, since he was not as young as he used to be and the pain of constantly marching and daily exercises was catching up with him. When Urnst became the Commander General, he offered Chambers a position within the city walls. Chambers politely declined and requested that he be able to stay out in the Farm Ward where he grew up. Urnst happily granted him the position of captain of the Farm Ward City Watch.

Uniform & Colors

While the guards in the city have nicer equipment, most of the Farm Ward guardsmen receive hand-me-downs from other stations or from the military. The secondhand equipment consists of padded gambesons, yellow tabards, and spears from a decade or so ago. It is common to see a guard in the Ward without armor.

Arms & Armor

The Ward cannot afford the metal required to equip each and every guard with a sword. Chambers encourages farmers to lend old farm equipment like scythes to the station so that they may fashion it into weapons. Gambesons are provided by the military and veterans that donate their old equipment to this struggling station. Chambers still carries the same sword that he used in border conflicts decades ago. 

Notable Conflicts

Some time ago, the Farm Ward was well equipped. Sergeants and up each had a horse and proper weaponry as a way to reinforce the borders around the city. In the year 695, a gnollish threat started to become reality as the creatures began tearing their way through the borders and into the Ward. With great force, the gnolls destroyed much of the countryside. The guard was no match for the shamans who could strike them from hundreds of feet away. In a matter of days, well over half of the guard's forces were completely destroyed. If Eladreth Moonstalker or Cayde Lowther had not have intervened, the entirety of the Farm Ward would have been left in ruin. To the embarrassment of Chambers, Lowther pointedly scolded his horrible tactics against such a potent threat. Chambers had no retort. 

Bloodiest damned thing I've ever seen. For what seemed like miles, there was nothing but black smoke and burned stone foundations.

- Cayde Lowther, Proprieter of the Bloody Boots Inn

In the year 702, there was another smaller conflict. Gnolls began to make their return. Despite the previous excursion leaving the Watch without much in the means of equipment, Chambers learned from his past mistakes. Without the help of any "heroes", Chambers and his guard easily dispatched the threat with tactics more guerilla-like. In a matter of weeks, Chambers only lost two guardsmen in the process of destroying the small army of gnolls piece by piece. 

Who's Who

Captain Jackson Chambers

Jackson Chambers is nearing his sixties and is constantly reminded of that by his silver hair and beard and the pain he gets in his knees after standing for too long. He wears a polished breastplate underneath his tabard. Chambers has an extensive military history as he wears a nasty scar on his olive-colored skin thanks to a belligerent on the border that attempted to kill him. He has been the captain of the Farm Ward for over three decades now and refuses to show any sign of slowing down. While he is stubborn, he is the first to admit that he has made a mistake, especially after the gnoll conflict all those years ago. He lost both of his children and his wife during the attacks and has truly never forgiven himself for the mass loss of life that he blames himself for.

Lieutenant George Aerald

Lieutenant Aerlad is a man with dark umber-colored skin and short black hair. Noted for being nearly six-and-a-half feet tall, he is incredibly athletic. Despite his foreboding size, Aerlad is an incredibly kind and gentle soul. Retired Ranger, guide and hunter he is a regular visitor to the Temple Farm of Melann.

Night Marshal Vinia Shaw

Vinia is a blonde woman with pale skin and violet eyes. Dressed in loose fitting simple cloths , including a vest and pendant of the watch she carries no weapons. Her body is more than familiar with strenuous work. In her youth, Shaw was a roguish mercenary that took any job that she could find. After accidentally killing a mother and her child, she swore that she would never work within the city walls again. Despite this slip, those that hired her frequently vouched for her when she applied to be a guardsman out in the Farm Ward.

Type

Guard post / house

Parent Location

Farm Ward

City Links

Greyhawk City

Greyhawk City Wards
Greyhawk City All Types
Greyhawk City All Wards

Watch Links

City Watch - Organization

City Watch - Profession
Greyhawk City Watch Stations

Watchhouses
‌ The Watch is divided up into various precincts that correlate to the city’s districts (not counting the Warrens and the Necropolis). Thus, there are ten Watchhouses. Each district has a Watchhouse (sometimes called a garrison) that serves as a temporary jail and a barracks for the guards on duty. Most Watchhouses are tall structures or even towers, which allows a single guard on duty to keep a vigil. Usually, however, the Watch is summoned by cries of danger, the sound of trouble (usually a fight), or the sounding of one of the warning bells mounted on poles throughout the city. An attempt has been made to place the bells on the streets farthest from a Watchhouse, so that a citizen in trouble can run to either the nearest Watchhouse or the warning bell. Typically, it takes anywhere from one to ten minutes for the City Watch to respond to a warning bell, but it could take as long as thirty minutes, depending on how far the trouble is from a Watchhouse, how well the area is patrolled, and what else is going on in the district.
A Watchhouse usually keeps about two dozen guards on duty at any given time, at least half of whom are on patrol. During the day, most guards patrol on their own, although occasionally they wander in teams of two or three. At night, a patrol always consists of at least three guards, and often has as many as six. The constable on duty at each Watchhouse is expected to go on patrol with their guards. Commanding the City Watch members in each district (again, except for the Warrens and Necropolis) is a captain of the guard. These ten captains answer directly to the Commissar.

Ptolus 5th Edition (p142)