Kingston to Durbenford
Looking for work, eh? Well, there’s no better place for any tradesman or stout hearted warrior than Durbenford. Hear me out, that little logging town is growing fast, and with growth comes opportunity. Not just logging anymore, they make finished pieces from the lumber they harvest out of the Wyld Wood. There’s work for wood cutters and carpenters, for sure, but they need all manner of craftsfolk there from caulkers to potters, even limners I’m told. If’n your skills lay in stabbing and not being stabbed, well, they need guards for the trade caravans coming and going, the loggers in the Wyld Wood, and to keep the wealth of the growing town safe. Yes my young friend, head east to Durbenford if you’re looking to make your fortune.
Leaving Kingston heading west takes you along the Gap Road. This road is well paved, marked with accurate mile markers, and it is well patrolled along its eastern length, until one passes the border into the Duchy of Saxe, and thus into the Kingdom of Foere. There are coaching inns along the entire length of the road between Kingston and Saxentry, making for an easy and comfortable, if long, travel.
After crossing the border the journey continues on much as before along as the Gap Road retains its comforts and safety on to Saxentry. However, the Foerdewaith side of the border is not nearly as relaxed as that within the Kingdom of Suilley. While the latter is still recovering from the Wilderlands Clan Wars of nine years ago and just barely has the military might to patrol the road, the Kingdom of Foere is heavily militarized and able to post checkpoints every twenty-five miles. These checkpoints are largely staffed by peasant conscripts lead by minor noble officers, but all travelers must stop and present their tax stamps and other documents. Those without may be held for questioning or simply arrested and transported to Saxentry for trial.
Saxentry is a wealthy and bustling city, one can easily get lost there. Tarry not overly long for the people are welcoming of merchants but not vagabonds, and head out on Lord Haberon’s Highway, a clear but often muddy track that runs from Saxentry to Durbenford.
Leaving Kingston heading west takes you along the Gap Road. This road is well paved, marked with accurate mile markers, and it is well patrolled along its eastern length, until one passes the border into the Duchy of Saxe, and thus into the Kingdom of Foere. There are coaching inns along the entire length of the road between Kingston and Saxentry, making for an easy and comfortable, if long, travel.
Keston Province broke away from the Kingdom of Foere and swore loyalty to the Kingdom of Suilley, leading to a great animosity between the province and the neighboring Foere loyalist Duchy of Saxe.
Once you are in the middle of the high saddle of the gap between the Kal’lugus and Meridian Range, both parts of the larger March of Mountains, you pass between kingdoms. Still smarting from the loss of Keston and other breakaway provinces, the border is well guarded by High Point Tower. Travelers had best be able to pay the entrance taxes and provide a solid accounting of themselves and their reasons for entering the Kingdom of Foere.
Once you are in the middle of the high saddle of the gap between the Kal’lugus and Meridian Range, both parts of the larger March of Mountains, you pass between kingdoms. Still smarting from the loss of Keston and other breakaway provinces, the border is well guarded by High Point Tower. Travelers had best be able to pay the entrance taxes and provide a solid accounting of themselves and their reasons for entering the Kingdom of Foere.
Saxentry is a wealthy and bustling city, one can easily get lost there. Tarry not overly long for the people are welcoming of merchants but not vagabonds, and head out on Lord Haberon’s Highway, a clear but often muddy track that runs from Saxentry to Durbenford.
Points of Interest
Beside the above mentioned well known points of interest, characters will pass by the following.-
The border between the Kingdom of Suilley and the Kingdom of Foere is marked at the middle of the pass where the Gap Road reaches its highest point. High Point Tower is not very tall itself, only fifty feet from wide base to turreted top, and covers a likewise small area for such an important border tower. Then again, it does not have to be very large as the pass narrows at the top of the saddle, this short squat tower fills the entire pass from mountain wall to mountain wall. The tower proper sits off to the left with a short battlement extending from the base to fill the rest of the space. It is through this battlement that travelers must pass a pair of gates to enter the Duchy of Saxe and thus the Kingdom of Foere.
During the day, the gates stand open to receive travelers. To pass the gates, either entering or leaving Foere costs 1sp per person, 2 sp per horse, 8 cp per draft animal, and 1 gp per cart or wagon. These rates are steep and can be raised suddenly without warning should the Duke of Saxe care to. The high prices and mercurial sudden raises of them are to discourage casual travelers, merchants can easily pay the fare and handle any changes.
Further limits on entering or exiting the kingdom via the Gap Road (and it is the only safe pass for thousands of miles) are imposed by the soldiers manning the High Point Tower. Those entering the kingdom must present themselves to the captain of the guard, state their business, and receive the appropriate papers of transit and tax stamps. Again, merchants have no trouble here, but casual travelers are likely to be questioned and even denied entry. Those exiting the kingdom merely have to present their transit papers with tax stamps.
All of this is to limit the entry into the kingdom of undesirable elements from the breakaway provinces to the east. There is a certain belief among the loyalist population in the Duchy of Saxe that the spark of rebellion is spread by vagabonds, adventurers, casual travelers, and others who have no business being on the road. Malcontents are not welcome in the duchy.
During the day, the gates stand open to receive travelers. To pass the gates, either entering or leaving Foere costs 1sp per person, 2 sp per horse, 8 cp per draft animal, and 1 gp per cart or wagon. These rates are steep and can be raised suddenly without warning should the Duke of Saxe care to. The high prices and mercurial sudden raises of them are to discourage casual travelers, merchants can easily pay the fare and handle any changes.
Further limits on entering or exiting the kingdom via the Gap Road (and it is the only safe pass for thousands of miles) are imposed by the soldiers manning the High Point Tower. Those entering the kingdom must present themselves to the captain of the guard, state their business, and receive the appropriate papers of transit and tax stamps. Again, merchants have no trouble here, but casual travelers are likely to be questioned and even denied entry. Those exiting the kingdom merely have to present their transit papers with tax stamps.
All of this is to limit the entry into the kingdom of undesirable elements from the breakaway provinces to the east. There is a certain belief among the loyalist population in the Duchy of Saxe that the spark of rebellion is spread by vagabonds, adventurers, casual travelers, and others who have no business being on the road. Malcontents are not welcome in the duchy.
-
One of the many glaciers in the Kal’lugus Mountains, Kalil Glacier is hardly known at all beyond its immediate environs. The glacier is home to a clan of frost giants who have long warred with their neighbors on the Jerinot Mountain Glacier. While there are always rumors that the many giant clans of the Kal’lugus Mountains will descend to rampage across nearby lands, few ever wander out of their mountains for the rivalries between clans is greater than their hatred of the smaller folk in the soft lands beyond.
This is changing with the rise of Jarl Hengrid the Long Locked, a frost giant of cruel cunning and expansive imagination. Backed by her huge brood of sons, twelve in total, she has managed to rise to the leadership of the Kalil Glacier clan, subjugate three hill giant clans from the high valleys, decimate her rivals on Jerinot Mountain Glacier, and strike a deal with the scattered stone giants of the Kal’lugus Mountains. The force she is building will be more than enough to destroy either Keston Province or the Duchy of Saxe. First though, she needs information. Some of her followers have been dispatched to watch the lower lands, others have been shrunken by powerful magic and sent to infiltrate the smaller folk. The time is drawing nigh, and when all the answers to her questions are answered Jarl Hengrid the Long Locked will unleash both her giant hordes and mighty ice magic upon the rich soft low country.
This is changing with the rise of Jarl Hengrid the Long Locked, a frost giant of cruel cunning and expansive imagination. Backed by her huge brood of sons, twelve in total, she has managed to rise to the leadership of the Kalil Glacier clan, subjugate three hill giant clans from the high valleys, decimate her rivals on Jerinot Mountain Glacier, and strike a deal with the scattered stone giants of the Kal’lugus Mountains. The force she is building will be more than enough to destroy either Keston Province or the Duchy of Saxe. First though, she needs information. Some of her followers have been dispatched to watch the lower lands, others have been shrunken by powerful magic and sent to infiltrate the smaller folk. The time is drawing nigh, and when all the answers to her questions are answered Jarl Hengrid the Long Locked will unleash both her giant hordes and mighty ice magic upon the rich soft low country.
-
Built by Lord Haberon whose land it crosses (at least in the north, his lordship has purchased the right of way for the strip the highway runs on where it passes through other fiefs), this toll road charges 5cp per person or animal, and an additional 5cp per axel for carts and wagons. With this small fee Lord Haberon has built a rather tidy fortune. The trail is not guarded at all, nor is it maintained as more than just a pair of tracks heading northwest and southeast. However, the fee needs be paid for the trail runs through the feudal domains of no less than a dozen often prickly and usually heavily armed nobles. Those traveling along the road and bearing a stamp from Lord Haberon on their transit papers (you did remember to get them when entering the Kingdom of Foere) are safe from harassment by the nobility. The right of way for the highway is only one hundred yards from the center of the trail, so keep mind of where you wander off. Other than the first fifteen miles that pass through Lord Haberon’s domain travelers do not have the right to fish the streams, gather wood in the forests, or hunt. The nobility whose land you pass through do have the right to enforce the King’s Justice on poachers. In other words, they’ll hang your for a trout as easily as for a stag. The good news is that Lord Haberon is aware of this issue and operates a fair trading post at the start of his highway where you can buy supplies, firewood, and other necessities (but not armor or weapons, no sane man arms vagabond peasants).
People Along the Way
The following NPCs can be encountered along the route.-
The youngest child of Hengrid the Long Locked, Jarl of the Kalil Glacier frost giants, is on a mission. He and his friends, a warband of frost giants and winter wolves, are waiting and watching High Point Tower. Cunning and wise beyond his years Sven knows that attacking the fortification is far more difficult than it looks. True, its battlements are rather low but even frost giants are wary of attacking a wall that holds dozens, or perhaps more, puny but well-armed humans.
Yet, the tower and the humans there must be gotten rid of. With the border fortification eliminated his mother could use her powerful ice magic to build a new one made of stout ice and frozen stones. From there the clan could control travel along the Gap Road, extracting whatever fees they want from the human merchants. They could even use their ice fort as a base to raid the soft warm lands beyond the mountains. Such dreams are what keeps the frost giant in place above the pass watching for a weakness, counting the carts and wagons that pass, observing the order and changing of the guards, and waiting. Patience will reward him, and the blood of the humans will freeze when the frost giants descend to claim what is truly theirs. Afterall, these are their mountains, aren’t they?
Yet, the tower and the humans there must be gotten rid of. With the border fortification eliminated his mother could use her powerful ice magic to build a new one made of stout ice and frozen stones. From there the clan could control travel along the Gap Road, extracting whatever fees they want from the human merchants. They could even use their ice fort as a base to raid the soft warm lands beyond the mountains. Such dreams are what keeps the frost giant in place above the pass watching for a weakness, counting the carts and wagons that pass, observing the order and changing of the guards, and waiting. Patience will reward him, and the blood of the humans will freeze when the frost giants descend to claim what is truly theirs. Afterall, these are their mountains, aren’t they?
-
Young Lord Nasiby, a sobriquet he hates, inherited his father’s fief three years ago. While the late Lord Naisby has happily signed a binding agreement with Lord Hardon permitting the passage of the Highway through Naisby lands, Young Lord Naisby detests having commoners crossing his ancestral home. They are coarse, loud, obnoxious, a terrible sight to look upon, ruin the creeks with their filth, are constantly gathering firewood from his parkland, and he suspects they hunt his deer. Several times he has brought suit against Lord Hardon at the Ducal Court, and every time has seen his suit dismissed.
In response to these losses and unwilling to simply challenge Lord Hardon to a duel or other violent confrontation to resolve the issue, Young Lord Naisby has taken to harassing travelers along the Highway. Every band heading along the Highway that passes through his lands is met with mounted men-at-arms who scrupulously never set foot upon the Highway, but follow the travelers from a distance, a constant menacing threat. The Nasiby serfs are ordered to approach camps along the trail at night, again staying well off the Highway proper, and make a racket until dawn. His foresters watch the parkland like hawks, so far they have caught three poachers who the Young Lord Nasiby ordered executed as per his right as a lord of the Kingdom of Foere.
In response to these losses and unwilling to simply challenge Lord Hardon to a duel or other violent confrontation to resolve the issue, Young Lord Naisby has taken to harassing travelers along the Highway. Every band heading along the Highway that passes through his lands is met with mounted men-at-arms who scrupulously never set foot upon the Highway, but follow the travelers from a distance, a constant menacing threat. The Nasiby serfs are ordered to approach camps along the trail at night, again staying well off the Highway proper, and make a racket until dawn. His foresters watch the parkland like hawks, so far they have caught three poachers who the Young Lord Nasiby ordered executed as per his right as a lord of the Kingdom of Foere.
Adventure Hooks
The following seeds can be expanded and even linked together.-
While traveling the Gap Road east of the March of Mountains, the characters come upon a nearly naked man fighting off a dozen armed peasants. If they fail to intervene, the man is cut down, although he will take five of his attackers with him. The peasants are easily driven off, they have no problem ganging up on a lone unarmored man, but the sight of a band of heavily armed adventurers kills their bravery cold.
The man is Kalin ap Lluwe, a Wilderclanman far from home. During the Wilderclan Wars he joined his fellows in rampaging across the eastern provinces and kingdoms but was wounded in battle and left for dead. A Foerdewaith woman, the widow Olitia, found him and took pity, nursing him back to health. Her husband having been slain by an owlbear the year before the war, she kept the young Wilderlander after he had recovered. At first it was to work off the debt he owed for saving his life, a debt he freely accepted. Afterwards he had become such a fixture in the lives of Olitia and her young son Olivo that Kalin ap Lluwe was welcome to remain on their small ranch as a hand, the only hand the family could afford.
In time, and despite the horrors of the Wilderland Clan Wars and differences in culture, Kalin ap Lluwe and Olitia grew close, and then romantically involved. However, by law he could not marry a subject of the Kingdom of Suilley, and his legal status as a foreign resident was always in question. Earlier this day Kalin was met on the Gap Road by a group of men from the neighboring ranches, many who had fought in the Wilderland Clan Wars or lost loved ones to the rampaging warriors. The men attempted to waylay Kalin ap Lluwe while he was out tending the widow’s sheep. Their chase ended on the Gap Road. Our heroes must do something. It is only a matter of time before those seeking an end to the Wilderland clansman attack again.
The man is Kalin ap Lluwe, a Wilderclanman far from home. During the Wilderclan Wars he joined his fellows in rampaging across the eastern provinces and kingdoms but was wounded in battle and left for dead. A Foerdewaith woman, the widow Olitia, found him and took pity, nursing him back to health. Her husband having been slain by an owlbear the year before the war, she kept the young Wilderlander after he had recovered. At first it was to work off the debt he owed for saving his life, a debt he freely accepted. Afterwards he had become such a fixture in the lives of Olitia and her young son Olivo that Kalin ap Lluwe was welcome to remain on their small ranch as a hand, the only hand the family could afford.
In time, and despite the horrors of the Wilderland Clan Wars and differences in culture, Kalin ap Lluwe and Olitia grew close, and then romantically involved. However, by law he could not marry a subject of the Kingdom of Suilley, and his legal status as a foreign resident was always in question. Earlier this day Kalin was met on the Gap Road by a group of men from the neighboring ranches, many who had fought in the Wilderland Clan Wars or lost loved ones to the rampaging warriors. The men attempted to waylay Kalin ap Lluwe while he was out tending the widow’s sheep. Their chase ended on the Gap Road. Our heroes must do something. It is only a matter of time before those seeking an end to the Wilderland clansman attack again.
-
The growing wealth of Durbenford attracts more than just lumberjacks and carpenters. Where there is money to be found, there are those looking to separate it from honest hard-working hands. While the locals have managed to crack down on the usual sneak-thieves, pickpockets, and muggers, Durbenford is not prepared for the threat now facing it. Silas Hawlings has come to town and he aims to fleece every copper from it. His plans are in the early stages, a few tents for drinking and gambling on the road north of town, a few more tents for companionship, nothing out of the ordinary. Of course the ale is watered down and the games are rigged, that’s chump change as far as Silas is concerned. Lots of folks coming into Durbenford are looking for work, which means they end the long trek from wherever they are from short on cash. They have a friend in Silas Hawlings.
He’ll front you whatever you need to get started, find you work, even a place to stay. That road was long and dusty, a free ale on the house, after that Silas is happy to extend credit. Same with the games of chance, he’ll stake you a small bit as you look like a good person who just needs some fun in their life. Mind you, if you lose (and you will), he’ll cover your debts. Why don’t you spend some time over at Nancy’s tent, the gals and guys there are just fine. No worries, Ol’ Silas will pay seeing as how you’re new in town and all, and you’re good for it, aren’t you? Pretty soon newcomers owe Silas more than they can earn in a week, but that’s OK, he will take a cut of their wages until they get on their feet. It’s not like he owns several logging companies and other places of business and is paying himself while you work your life away trying to get out from under your debt.
He’ll front you whatever you need to get started, find you work, even a place to stay. That road was long and dusty, a free ale on the house, after that Silas is happy to extend credit. Same with the games of chance, he’ll stake you a small bit as you look like a good person who just needs some fun in their life. Mind you, if you lose (and you will), he’ll cover your debts. Why don’t you spend some time over at Nancy’s tent, the gals and guys there are just fine. No worries, Ol’ Silas will pay seeing as how you’re new in town and all, and you’re good for it, aren’t you? Pretty soon newcomers owe Silas more than they can earn in a week, but that’s OK, he will take a cut of their wages until they get on their feet. It’s not like he owns several logging companies and other places of business and is paying himself while you work your life away trying to get out from under your debt.
Comments