Thornkeep

Hidden within the twisting paths of the Echo Wood, the lawless settlement of Thornkeep gives shelter to folk both dangerous and desperate. Here, the hardiest settlers and artisans ply their trades, ready to defend their own with blade or arrow; mercenaries and barbarians brawl in dismal taphouses, fueled by turbid moonshine and illicit backwater drugs; brigands and river pirates come to spend their bloody gold in unruly and dingy establishments; and monsters both benign and otherwise hide among the populace, eking out their debauched existences as they seek to inflict cruelties on their neighbors. Mercy, charity, trust—these virtues are in short supply in Thornkeep. This forest stronghold is a place where the bold and enterprising can make a fortune and perhaps even keep it—so long as they are strong enough to protect their wealth from the myriad dangers, both human and otherwise, that plague the town.
Thornkeep lies about 10 miles from the broad, sluggish West Sellen River and the ruins of the once-prosperous town of Mosswater. The settlement is a disorderly, ramshackle affair that huddles on a low hill beneath the bramble-covered walls of its namesake castle. The presence of the castle provides the people of Thornkeep with just enough protection to deter the pirates and brigands of the nearby River Kingdoms, while offering Thornkeep’s own bandits and thieves a safe base from which they can prey on traffic along the West Sellen or the Crusader Road.

Life in Thornkeep

The citizens of Thornkeep are free to do virtually anything they can get away with. The Baron’s soldiers enforce few laws, collecting “taxes” when the mood strikes them and occasionally making an example of an individual who disturbs the baron’s relative peace. However, they are quick to respond to open challenges to their liege’s position of power, such as bands of self-righteous adventurers who seek to take justice into their own hands. Short of this, the internal politics of Thornkeep largely goes unchecked by the town’s “official” watch. Any who defy one of the Blades—or who trouble a person under the protection of a Blade—can expect little help from the Baron’s guards if the offended faction retaliates.
In practice, the outlaws of Thornkeep usually exercise restraint and avoid picking fights within the town. Instead, they rob travelers passing through the area or pillage other communities. Nearby realms such as Daggermark, Lambreth, Tymon, and the county of Varno in Ustalav have all been harassed by Thornkeep’s brigands over the years, but none has yet found it worthwhile to mount a serious effort to clean out the bandit stronghold.
Thornkeep might seem like a den of evil and villainy at first glance, but one would be shortsighted to accept this as the whole story. The town is also a place of great opportunities, where anyone with sharp wits and talent can flourish. Merchants and artisans who lack the combat prowess to defend their trade can simply buy protection from the thieves’ guild, mercenaries, or even a powerful individual no one wants to rile. In fact, the protection racket in Thornkeep isn’t as ruinously expensive as it is in other settlements, primarily because there is plenty of competition—if the thieves try to take too big a cut, a merchant might decide to simply hire mercenaries instead. As a result, while there are indeed many bandits and thieves in Thornkeep, there are plenty of more-or-less honest townsfolk too.

Demographics

484 humans, 42 half-elves, 27 halflings, 19 goblins, 12 elves, 11 half-orcs, 8 gnomes, 7 dwarves, 20 other

Government

The current lord of Thornkeep is Baron Tervin Blackshield, who seized his lofty position by murdering his predecessor 2 years ago. Such has been the way of things in the forest town for 80 years or more: whoever is strong enough to depose the lord of the castle and make it his own claims the title of baron, and rules until the next would-be lord wrenches power from his grasp. The Druscors, the original noble family of Thornkeep, are long forgotten, having been replaced by a bloody succession of robber knights, bandit queens, mercenary lords, and the occasional bored adventurer. Baron Tervin rarely shows himself, and attends to the town’s affairs only when his own coin purse or the security of his reign are at stake. Most say Tervin’s reclusive nature is a byproduct of his justifiable paranoia, though some speculate that the baron hides a much darker secret.

LAW AND ORDER

Justice and public order in Thornkeep are relative. The Baron’s soldiers stop open brawling, arson, robbery, or murder in the streets—if they happen to catch someone in the act, that is. They generally ignore any crime that comes down to one person’s word against another’s, unless a public outcry erupts or someone makes it worth their while to take an interest.
Once someone has committed a crime, the injured party or anyone sympathetic to the injured party is free to seek any compensation she can—demanding repayment from the offender, administering a punitive beating, or simply driving out or killing the villain (although such brazen vengeance may attract the attention of the Baron’s guards, who tend to frown upon blatant lethal vigilanteism). If the wronged person is powerful enough or has powerful friends, justice can be swift and harsh. If not, the criminal most likely gets away with the crime.
Ordinary people can achieve something close to security by placing themselves under the protection of one of Thornkeep’s stronger factions. For example, many of Thornkeep’s merchants grudgingly pay protection money to the Three Daggers, but in return the Three Daggers severely punish anyone bothering one of their charges. Other townsfolk hire mercenaries such as the Blue Basilisks or the Goldenfire Order, or rely on the friendship of the Wolfmane barbarians to protect them from harm.
Buying protection normally costs about 10 to 25 percent of a business’s revenues or an artisan’s sales each month. It’s a good idea to pay on time.
Outside of such more or less businesslike protection arrangements, a rough and bloody sort of street justice is commonplace in Thornkeep. Many of the outlaws and sellswords who call Thornkeep home enjoy having a comfortable and somewhat safe place to live. They often have a hands-off attitude toward the ordinary people who provide them with food, clothing, and shelter, and may suddenly intervene when someone else picks on townsfolk. Strangers bullying the citizens soon learn that even Thornkeep has some rules.

Defences

Baron Tervin holds Thornkeep with a force of 30 loutish, illkempt mercenaries who have a talent for knocking heads. Thornkeep itself is not in good repair, but a castle is still a castle—shut the gates, and it’s hard to get in. There are almost no provisions for defending the town outside the castle walls. The townsfolk have organized a small militia of ordinary citizens to protect the town from external threats, but they are poorly equipped and ill trained. The best hope against a dire threat would be the intervention of the Blue Basilisks or the Goldenfire Order. Though mercenaries are usually not inclined to fight without pay, Ariane Redderfin and Iliara Starcloak would reluctantly do so if the alternative was Thornkeep’s destruction.

Industry & Trade

Most of Thornkeep’s inhabitants earn their livings from one of two sources: the surrounding Echo Wood and its plethora of natural resources, or the never-ending traffic of caravans, barges, and crusader bands traveling along the West Sellen. Thornkeep is not exactly a major crossroads, but it is a convenient stopping point for traders and travelers heading north and south along the Crusader Road, or east and west from Daggermark to Ustalav. Provisioning travelers is an important business for Thornkeep’s honest merchants.
Thornkeep imports flour, salt, beef, leather, cloth, ironwork, and luxury items from nearby towns and tribal holdings. In return, the people of Thornkeep produce timber, furs, woodwork, and simple glassware. Traders carry Thornkeep’s raw materials and finished goods to locales in Daggermark, Lambreth, Tymon, and the eastern counties of Ustalav. Those living in the craggy fields of Numeria have a tremendous appetite for Thornkeep’s wood and wooden products. Kellid barbarians, feared as raiders in many lands, also come to Thornkeep to trade.

FOREST RESOURCES

Thornkeep is naturally well situated to exploit the bounty of the Echo Wood. Woodcutting is the town’s primary occupation, and companies of loggers roam deep into the forest in search of the best hardwoods. The town’s sawmills turn felled trees into lumber to be sold in Lambreth, Tymon, and Daggermark, as well as closer settlements such as Fort Inevitable and Fort Riverwatch.
The Wolfmane barbarians and related tribes in the forest oppose the wholesale clearing of the land, and Thornkeep’s woodcutters have learned that it’s not a good idea to take too many trees from the same area if these vengeful natives are to be appeased. Trapping and hunting are also important industries in the Echo Wood. Beaver and sable, commonplace in the forest, provide valuable furs that trappers cure and ship to the larger city-states in the area. Likewise, deer, boar, bear, and duck are plentiful the farther one travels into the woods. Hunting provides a valuable food source for Thornkeep, and has helped the town to get through many a hard winter. Of course, dangerous monsters roam the wilder parts of the Echo Wood, and not all hunters make it home in time for dinner, if at all.

MANUFACTURING

Woodworking of all kinds is a common trade in Thornkeep. The town’s most prominent tradespeople include coopers, wainwrights, bowyers, cabinetmakers, and furniture makers. Many of the goods produced by these trades are exported elsewhere in the River Kingdoms and the eastern counties of Ustalav. The ready supply of firewood is also useful for smelting, smithing, and glassmaking, though few artisans in these industries have established workshops in Thornkeep so far, mostly because of the lawlessness of the area—not many bandits are interested in stealing lumber, barrels, or furniture, but higher-value metal and glass goods are a different story. Regardless of the inherent dangers in town, the opportunity to thrive in industry is clearly present in Thornkeep.

AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK

Thornkeep has little cleared land, and its people barely raise enough food to support themselves. The land isn’t suitable for extensive fields of grain or corn, but many townsfolk maintain good-sized vegetable gardens where they grow potatoes, squash, carrots, and various greens. The only commercial agriculture consists of several large apple orchards on the outskirts of town. Consequently, foodstuffs such as flour and cornmeal are major imports.
The landscape is better suited for raising livestock than staple crops. Thornkeep’s farmers include pig keepers and goatherds—there isn’t enough open pastureland for large herds of cattle or sheep. The town constantly runs short on beef, mutton, leather, and wool, all of which are in high demand.

BANDITRY

It’s hard to dignify the business of robbing travelers and raiding other settlements as an industry, but Thornkeep profits greatly from the activities of its criminals. Most of Thornkeep’s merchants don’t ask questions about where “foragers of the road” acquire their goods, so they effectively serve as fences by buying up stolen items. Since much of Thornkeep serves as a base for bandits, it’s naturally a good place to find men and women ready to stake their lives on their skill with blade or bow. Anyone who needs to hire muscle that won’t ask questions can find it here, and this reputation draws no small number of mercenaries in search of work to Thornkeep.

ADVENTURING IN THORNKEEP

Thornkeep attracts adventurers and opportunists like honey draws f lies. The lawless nature of the town means that there are few obstacles in the way of a clever, strong, brash, or lucky freebooter determined to make her fortune. Anybody with a desire to make a name for herself has every chance to do so here; it all simply depends on whether the individual has the determination to work hard and the strength to defend the wealth she amasses. Of course, Thornkeep’s lawlessness also means that there is little help for fools who get in over their heads, and numerous are those whose brashness and high aspirations have spelled only misfortune and tragedy.
Honest hard work is foreign to the nature of most adventurers (especially those fickle vagabonds who typically seek out Thornkeep), but those who persevere can make great money as merchants, loggers, miners, trappers, or practitioners of any of a dozen other trades. The city of Thornkeep is in good need of professionals such as healers, scholars, and engineers, since those learned types who make their way to the forest stronghold typically last only a short time before fleeing the backwater town or being run out by its rowdy locals.
Numerous challenges await in the wilder regions surrounding the city as well. Settlers both seasoned and amateur might hope to spend their amassed wealth to create kingdoms of their own devising in the nearby Echo Wood to the east or the windswept plains of Numeria to the west.
In addition to the mercantile and expansionist environment that draws ordinary people to Thornkeep, numerous opportunities brimming with danger and risk appeal specifically to adventurers.
Exploring Ruins: Thornkeep is well situated to serve as a base for exploring the ruins of the Echo Wood. Some of these are ancient Azlanti structures, almost completely buried under ages of forest growth. Other ruins include the dismal strongholds and crumbling towers of the Kingdom of Zog. Though the goblins made few works of great value or magical power, they did steal such things from neighboring lands, and some of those purloined treasures still lie hidden in secret caches or ruined vaults.
In addition, small settlements, manors, and adventurers’ keeps lie desolate and abandoned in the lands south and east of the Echo Wood. Over the centuries many would-be lords and settlers have tried to build strongholds in the empty lands between the Dagger River and the West Sellen, only to have their holdings and legacies fade into obscurity a generation or two later.
Mercenary Work: Of course, there is more than one way to make a living with a sword, and those willing to sell their blades can easily hire on as mercenaries. The merchants of Thornkeep and nearby communities always need more muscle to protect their commerce and storehouses against monsters and bandits. Merchants who’ve suffered particularly badly from brigands might hire mercenaries to hunt down and punish those who stole from them. Finally, some River Kingdoms merchants are not above hiring thugs to harry and plunder commercial rivals.
The Outlaw’s Life: Particularly bold and ruthless adventurers might choose a different path. Turning outlaw is likely to get one killed quickly, but the strongest (and luckiest) outlaws can become rich by taking up banditry. Outlaws based in Thornkeep are in easy reach of river traffic on the Sellen, caravans traveling on foot, and small settlements such as Fort Inevitable or Fort Riverwatch. It’s a dangerous and desperate life, but some flourish in it. Whether an outlaw is a gentleman of the road who sheds no more blood than he has to or a murderous reaver who carves a swath of terror with her dripping sword is a matter of individual preference.

Guilds and Factions

Given the baron’s lack of interest, the people who actually keep order in Thornkeep are a fractious collection of mercenary leaders and guild masters known as the Blades of Thornkeep. Numerous factions make Thornkeep their home—the Blades are simply the leaders of the biggest gangs or armed juntos. None of these freebooters are quite strong enough to overthrow Baron Tervin and his soldiers alone, but each is unwilling to support another Blade as ruler. Baron Tervin would like nothing more than to crush each of the Blades in turn and thus protect himself against his likely successor, but he rightfully worries that the effort of suppressing even just one of the gangs might leave him vulnerable to the attacks of another.
The membership of Thornkeep’s Blades changes frequently. When a faction grows strong enough that other groups residing in Thornkeep have to take it into account, the leader of that faction generally becomes counted as a Blade, and when a faction weakens, that status can be lost. At the moment, the Blades of Thornkeep include Yunar Barask, the guildmaster of the Three Daggers thieves’ guild; Ariane Redderfin, captain of the Blue Basilisks—a band of mercenaries; and Iliara Starcloak, the leader of the Goldenfire Order of wizards-for-hire. Chief Darioth Wolfmane, leader of the Kellid barbarians encamped in the Echo Wood, has no interest in the town’s politics, but everyone knows that the barbarians would be powerful allies if they decided to take sides. Finally, Graalsk—chieftain of the Brambleclaw goblin tribe—often calls himself a Blade even if no one else does, and boldly claims to be a friend to the people of Thornkeep, even though few trust the goblin any farther than they could throw the little monster.

GOBLINS OF THORNKEEP

The town of Thornkeep is about as lawless as it gets, and its rugged citizens are often so self-serving and amoral that they’d sooner slay a neighbor where she stands than give up a single scrap of the meager property and valuable belongings they’ve clawed together. Still, Thornkeep is, at its essence, a settlement with its roots embedded in the strictures of civilized society, and as such, it is not an entirely inhospitable place. For every thief in town there is also a hardworking farmer, baker, or trader, and while many of its residents are debased scavengers or rampant thugs, Thornkeep is also home to a number of peaceful people and their families.
So what then to make of the town’s goblin residents? Goblins are notorious for being dog-hating, baby-eating, fire-mongering monsters that have little to do with the creature comforts of a civilized humanoid society (unless said society has a nearby junkyard good for looting). Still, many of their kind inhabit Thornkeep, and the people of this town tend to, at the very least, tolerate their presence. The reasons for this strange relationship are several, but below are some of the most commonly cited rationales for the goblins’ permitted existence.
There Aren’t Very Many of Them: A single goblin is more or less a funny-looking pest, and while it might try to gut your horse on occasion, it can easily be taken care of if need be. Because the entire Brambleclaw tribe can fit in a closet and they generally restrict themselves to the briars on the south side of town, the people of Thornkeep rarely feel threatened by the creatures, and even if they did, they have a lot more firepower than the little monsters.
They’re Useful: Goblins are notoriously good at crafting crude items out of seemingly unsalvageable junk. Since they’re already predisposed to picking up scraps, most of Thornkeep’s residents see no harm in letting the little brats sweep up after them. Even better, goblins’ ravenous hungers can be sated by the foulest food sources, and because of this, Thornkeep has been virtually rat-free for several years.
They’re in Good Company: Even in a settlement of humans, it’s possible for goblins to garner a few trustworthy allies, and Great Chief Graalsk is a remarkably good schmoozer when it comes to fawning the greater powers of Thornkeep. While the Brambleclaw tribe’s “friends” probably wouldn’t call the goblins the same, they probably would notice if they were gone, since the buggers do provide a semi-reliable means of cheap labor and buffoonish entertainment.
All this being said, goblins are still wicked-evil shorties who believe that they’re great yodelers and that writing steals the words from your head. Given good reason and the opportunity, most of Thornkeep’s normal folk wouldn’t think twice before sticking a sword through each and every goblin in the Briarwarren.

History

The village of Thornkeep is only a couple of hundred years old, but the story of this corner of the River Kingdoms began in vastly ancient times. The first people to build on this site were outcasts of the legendary Azlanti people who came to the Echo Wood over 10,000 years ago. An exiled noble and his followers built a secret stronghold here, but they were soon discovered by their enemies in Azlant and swiftly eradicated. All that remains of the settlement is a handful of hidden vaults and ruined towers throughout the western reaches of the Echo Wood, along with a legacy of lingering, mysterious magic.
For many millennia, few wandered the Echo Wood except barbarians and monsters. The next true power to rise in this remote realm was the goblin kingdom of Zog, a coalition led by seven canny barghests that had acquired a sizeable following of goblinoid scavengers and raiders. For over a century, they ravaged the lands around their heavily fortified base, going so far as to destroy the city-state of Alban in modern-day Lambreth. The goblin raiding parties threatened to overwhelm Tymon, Sevenarches, and even eastern Ustalav, but when a plague known as the Yellowtongue Sickness decimated their ranks, their undoing was quick and brutal. In 4217 ar, the half-elven heroine Tarwynna—a bold gladiator from the city of Tymon—organized an expedition against the goblin stronghold, and Zog was crushed.
The region remained depopulated until the year 4415, when the castle of Thornkeep was founded by an Ustalavic lordling named Antun Druscor. A bastard with no hope of inheriting his father’s title, Druscor knew that he would have to make his fortune elsewhere if he were going to live the life of ease and decadence he so desired, and so the arrogant noble established his own private holding on the east bank of the Sellen. A great hunter, he was familiar with the Echo Wood and often roamed the forest paths in search of game. However, Druscor had other prey in mind when he established Thornkeep; he knew that a base along the western edge of the Echo Wood would be a perfect hold from which he could exact heavy tribute from passing merchants and travelers. Thus did he establish his crooked domain and himself as its avaricious overlord.
The Druscors of Thornkeep earned quite a reputation as dangerous, grasping robber barons, and troubled the region for generations. Over time, however, the family’s fortunes waned, and the Druscors became lazy, sullen drunkards and bullies at best. Almost 90 years ago, Narman Druscor, the eleventh of his line, was deposed by Sir Jaroom Eliron, a rogue knight of the First Mendevian Crusade who saw an opportunity to win himself both a keep and a title with the edge of his sword. Baron Eliron was soon murdered by an ambitious underling, inaugurating the tradition of rule by might and bloody seizures of power that still prevails today.
By the middle of the last century, Thornkeep seemed fated to go the way of so many other tiny, bygone realms in the River Kingdoms and slowly crumble into obscurity. Only a few score of villagers and foresters remained in the run-down buildings that huddled around the dilapidated castle. Then, a tragic misfortune in a nearby town reversed Thornkeep’s long decline. In 4664, the prosperous settlement of Mosswater was attacked by hordes of mutated merrows, and many of its citizens were killed. Unable to repel the creatures stalking the streets, the survivors abandoned their homes. Thornkeep was only a few miles distant, and a number of Mosswater’s refugees chose to resettle in the forest town.
Reinvigorated by this influx of new settlers (and the relative wealth they brought with them out of Mosswater), Thornkeep began to grow once again. The booming establishment became semi-famous for its lack of real law or authority, and attracted a large number of outlaws seeking refuge, thieves eager to prey on the weak, Kellid barbarians desiring a place to trade, and bold entrepreneurs hoping to make their fortunes. In the last few decades, brigand companies, thieves’ guilds, and lawless freebooters have trickled through the town, entrenching themselves in the city’s hierarchy of debased authorities and establishing the corrupt and increasingly complex power structure that stands to this day. Some ruled Thornkeep for years before fading away; others lasted only weeks or months before being shouldered aside by newer, more ruthless gangs.
Today, the largest and strongest of Thornkeep’s gangs is the Three Daggers thieves’ guild, established about 10 years ago. But even the Three Daggers have to be careful, since Thornkeep is full of mercenaries and adventurers who might fight back if pushed too hard. Thornkeep’s dubious infrastructure sustains an uneasy truce between the town’s various gangs and the baron’s soldiers, manifesting from the half-hearted labors of hundreds of amoral thugs a precarious sense of harmony—and that’s good enough for most citizens.

Founding Date

4415

Type

Town

Population

Population 630

Location under

River Kingdoms

Owner/Ruler

Tervin Blackshield

Owning Organization

Mosswater Domain