Targos
Targos is a fishing town in Icewind Dale and a leading member of the Ten Towns in the 14th and 15th centuries DR. It is the biggest of the Ten Towns after Bryn Shander, sitting alongside Easthaven in size.
“The folks in Targos are as hard-headed as the trout in their lake. They'd rather stay shut up behind their walls than admit they need help from anyone. Stubborn an' proud, the lot of 'em. Makes a dwarf feel right at home.”— Beorne Steelstrike
Targos is a sprawling town with cluttered streets. The buildings have little to no breathing space, being built so close to one another inside the city walls. As you get closer, you notice that the town is quite sprawling, with narrow streets and high, two or even three-storey buildings, many of which are either tarred or blackened in what looks like remnants of a fire. Between the buildings, you can see what’s probably laundry lines, as well as lanterns hanging to light the cobblestoned narrow alleyways.
It’s less snowy here, with the cliffs and the lake, as well as the narrow streets and overhangs protecting the streets, but the wind is strong and biting.
By the mid-1480s DR Targos became abuzz with commerce and industry that brought the city's expansion. The newer inhabitants started to construct shacks beyond the city's wooden walls and the town threatened to grow beyond them before long. The shanty-town outside of the city walls has only been growing, and while old residents living inside the walls tend to not count the newer addition to the city itself as part of Targos, the bustling commerce outside of the walls has given it quite a lot of reputation, and its inhabitants lovingly call it the New Targos.
Unlike Bryn Shander, Targos's nights are rather quiet as the fishers go to bed early, in order to be ready for the next day's early rise. During the day, the Targosians focus on getting the job down and minding their own business, rather than that of everyone else.
The travel time for a merchant caravan between Luskan and Targos was approximately twenty-one days via the Ten Trail.
Government
Though Targos and the rest of the Ten Towns are resolutely independent and competitive with one another, they do maintain a council with a spokesperson from each town to manage affairs affecting them all. Typically, in the mid-to-late 1300s DR, the smaller towns would follow the lead of Targos and Bryn Shander. Currently, the speaker of the town is Naerth Maxildanarr, a human merchant.
Defences
The town and much of the harbor is surrounded by a wooden defensive wall, called the palisade. Together with Bryn Shander, Targos was the only other of the Ten Towns to be walled. It has historically protected Targos from both barbarian and orc raids and other dangers from the wilds. The wall was extended over Maer Dualdon, to form a safe harbor. The timbers used were firs from Lonelywood.
The town is patrolled and defended by the Targos Guard, a militia comprising 100 to 500 people circa 1358 DR. They were outfitted with light armor but dwarf-crafted weapons. Circa 1489 DR, it comprised 200 militiamen and 16 veteran soldiers, led by Captain Skath. Circa 1312 it was led by Shawford Crale and circa 1489 DR by Captain Skath.
Eccentric gnomish tinkerer Oswald Fiddlebender was briefly an aerial scout for the guard in the early 14th century DR.
Industry & Trade
The harbor's deep water allowed the construction of vessels that were large for the area. As a result, Targos always enjoyed the largest fishing fleet, the best boats, a safe harbor, the most skilled sailors and fishers, and consequently the greatest catches. It thrived off and dominated the local fishing industry more than any of the Ten Towns. Like most of the Ten Towns, Targos specializes in trading knucklehead trout.
In the early 1300s DR, it already dominated the local fishing industry and took more knucklehead than any other town. In the mid-to-late 1300s DR, its hundred-boat fleet took in a larger catch than the other three towns on Maer Dualdon combined. Some of the town's biggest vessels were two-masted schooners and Targos's fleet was twice the size of Termalaine's. In the late 1400s DR, it faced off competition from Easthaven (whose growth had stolen trade from Targos and Termalaine) by focusing on its strengths in fishing and it still maintained a fleet of over a hundred boats.
Almost everyone in Targos is connected in some way to the fishing industry and the core work of bringing in the knucklehead catches. Specialty craftsmen and traders provide supplies and equipment for fishing and sailing. The Dockworker's Guild of Targos is active circa 1485 DR. This is the only guild in the Ten Towns and spoke for the loaders, shipwrights, and warehouse workers. It sought expansion to the other towns to grow Targos's influence.
Districts
The city's "Ash Quarter" was a neighborhood that was blackened and destroyed during the battles of Icewind Dale in 1356. The Quarter was lit on fire to control the spread of the crystal plague. By 1450s, the area has been mostly built over.
Guilds and Factions
The Dockworkers' Guild
Zhentarim
The Harpers
History
In the early days of Icewind Dale's towns, Targos was the most accessible, lying as it did at the end of Ten Trail, and it enjoyed being end-of-the-line for the caravans. However, when traders from the towns began gathering at a campsite further south, and this led to the founding of the newest, tenth town, Bryn Shander, in the late 1200s DR, where most caravans now stopped, Targos would lose something of its prominence. When the barbarian army under Wylfdene set out to destroy the Ten Towns and established a camp outside of Lonelywood, the Council Representative of Targos at the time, the person only recorded as "K.T.", sought out an assassin to aid the speaker of Lonelywood in assassinating Wylfdene and averting disaster. However, Purvis, the assassin, was unsuccessful, and Wylfdene died by another's sword. To escape the shame of failure and claim the killing as his own, he murdered the speaker of Lonelywood and his wife.
In the Year of the Griffon, 1312 DR, gnomish tinkerer Oswald Fiddlebender's airship crash-landed in Targos after setting the northern side of the town ablaze with a collection of potions that spilled off his flying ship. After that, together with his niece and assistant Maralie Fiddlebender, the gnome briefly settled in Targos, brewing potions and scouting the valleys of Icewind Dale for the Targos Guard.
Later the same year, Targos was besieged by the goblinoid forces of the Legion of the Chimera, which sought to destroy the Ten-Towns. The Targos Guard built fortifications outside the town by disassembling buildings in Targos's harbors, but goblins infiltrated by breaking into old smugglers' tunnels (which the Targos Guard had previously collapsed) and the basements of houses. The then ruler of Targos, Lord Ulbrec Dinnesmore, called for soldiers, mercenaries, and adventurers from Luskan and Neverwinter to join the defense of the town. But the Legion's forces attacked and burned many of the arriving ships as they sailed up the Shaengarne, with only a few, like the Wicked Wench, making it safely to port with a group of adventurers from Luskan aboard. With the help of these adventurers, the town rooted out the goblins and survived several waves of attacks on the palisade, and dealt with other internal issues.
In the mid–14th century DR, the councilman of Targos was Kemp, who led the town through an assault by the Tribe of the Elk barbarians in the Year of the Crown, 1351 DR and the Battle of Icewind Dale triggered by Akar Kessell and Crenshinibon in the Year of the Worm, 1356 DR. During that battle, Kessell fired a magical beam of focused sunlight from his tower, Cryshal-Tirith, that blasted Targos, burning both major buildings and townsfolk where they had watched the walls. The beam resulted in a large fire that spread throughout the town. Next, Akar Kessell's forces surrounded and occupied Targos. Many inhabitants of the town escaped on the ships that had escaped the fires while others hid and barricaded themselves within their homes, preferring time and the elements to take the lives of the savage invaders. However, a few took up arms and actively fought Kessell's minions. One of these defenders was the "Old Scout", the father of Pilot Demitrick. He, along with three trusted comrades, carried out guerrilla strikes on Kessell's forces, targeting patrols and supply caravans. After three days of this, to find out who was responsible, Akar Kessell tortured several citizens of Targos, and then captured Pilot's mother to force the Old Scout to surrender himself. Once he had them, Kessell killed them both as an example of his tyrannical will. Eventually, the siege was broken by the Companions of the Hall, who slew the evil wizard and destroyed the Crystal Tower. The Battle of Icewind Dale left Targos with an entire district of the city incinerated and blackened by the killing beam from Kessell's crystal tower. The area was later known as the "Ash Quarter". The scorching ray had destroyed most major structures and left several hundred people dead, though fortunately missed the ships where they lay in the harbor. The first winter that followed the war was a hard one. But Targos was rebuilt with the collective effort of the Ten Towns and the newfound alliance with Reghedman barbarians.
During his term as the Speaker, Kemp was distrustful of outsiders and guarded his town's interests greedily.Kemp was still the Speaker of Targos as of 1364 DR.
In the month of Tarsakh in the 1369 DR, a merchant calling himself Boswell Peddywinkle recruited adventurers in Luskan for an expedition to Targos and performance of tasks there; the journey took 21 days. They stayed at the Wolf's Pelt Inn.They soon set off again, but would learn their employer had ulterior motives.
15th Century DR
By the mid-1480s DR, Fenwick Chaucer was holding the Speaker's seat. In the Year of the Iron Dwarf's Vengeance, 1485 DR, Targos, and the Ten Towns as a whole, were faced with an attempt by Luskan's Arcane Brotherhood to take political power via Vaelish Gant, an influx of items crafted out of black ice that corrupted their owners, and the increasing powers of the cultists of Auril. During Isarr Kronenstrom's murderous rampage around Icewind Dale that same year, some inhabitants of the Ten Towns believed that the murders were orchestrated by the speakers of Bryn Shander and Targos to sow chaos and raise an army. Another rumor placed the responsibility on the Dockworker's Guild of Targos, claiming that all the murdered people had crossed the guild in some way. Both these rumors were, of course, completely false.
In the late 1480s DR, four Red Wizards of Thay rode into Targos seeking vengeance against a local Harper agent, Edgin Darvis. Finding him absent in his cottage, they murdered his wife Zia, but not before she hid her infant daughter Kira in a secret compartment. When Edgin came home, he found Zia dying. The tragic loss led him to quit the Harpers. However, they would soon be joined by Holga Kilgore.
Naerth Maxildanarr, a rogue from Luskan, arrived in Targos circa 1487 DR and based himself in the Luskan Arms inn. He bought influence among the town's fisherfolk with his coin and a show of down-to-earth charm, and by 1489 DR had quickly risen to the Speaker's position after the previous person apparently tired of the role. A member of the Zhentarim, Naerth's goal was to dominate local trade and turn Targos and all of Icewind Dale into a hub of the Black Network in the north. His agent Skath meanwhile led the militia.
When Auril the Frostmaiden descended onto Icewind Dale in the Year of Dwarvenkind Reborn, 1488 DR, spreading her unending winter, Naerth, together with the Speakers of Bryn Shander and Easthaven, took the drastic step of holding monthly lotteries to determine who of the inhabitants was to be sacrificed to the Cold Goddess. At dusk before the new moon, the ill-fated person picked in a lottery held the afternoon before would then be sacrificed at a bonfire. Accusations of rigged lotteries were frequent, but ignored. Under the tyranny of the goddess, Targos faced the harshest of winters. The bigger boats of the fleet were frozen in the docks, leaving fishing to be done by smaller boats dragged over the ice and limiting the food supply dramatically.
Points of interest
Inns & Taverns
The Luskan Arms: The oldest inn in the Ten Towns. The innkeeper was a man named Owenn Tarsenel circa 1485 DR.Salty Dog Tavern: A tavern located in a cove at the base of the cliffs, run by Gohar circa 1312 DR.
Three Flags Sailing: One of the taverns by the docks that served fishermen, ran by Ethen Yarbroul, lovingly referred as "Ma" by the locals circa 1485 DR.
The Trip and Shuffle: A rough tavern located near the gate and run by Russell, a former Purple Dragon knight fleeing from a death sentence in Cormyr.
Weeping Widow Inn, run by Cahl-Hyred circa 1312 DR.
Wind Gate
Wolf's Pelt Inn: A cozy inn and tavern, ran by Kalas Winters and his family circa 1369 DR.
Shops
Gallaway Trade Depot: A general store located in the main town at the top of the cliffs.Graendel's Fine Dwarven Craft: A dwarven smithy ran by Graendel Granitefist, one of the original inhabitants of Mithral Hall before its fall and reclamation.
Market Square: A square located in the center of town.
Pendro's Pawnshop: A pawnbroker who did business out of a ramshackle building on the outskirts of town, later, turned into a bakery, known for its Endevver Buns in the late 15th century DR.
Triglio's General Store: A general store named after a local fishermen's chantey, ran by Morven Duskbrook since 1385 DR.
Other
Temple Pavilion: A temporary temple and hospital set up in a large tent during the Legion's attack in 1312 DR. It was led by Denham Fisher, a priest of the Red Knight
Type
Large town
Inhabitant Demonym
Targosian
Location under
Included Locations
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