Interlude 1: Exploring Farweald

[EvilGenius]

Here's a little description of entering Farweald.

Your small group of wagons turned south into the forest about 4 hours ago, onto a small road of hard packed dirt and gravel following a wide, lazy river. There were a few fishermen on the opposite shore, gathering nets of fish (pike, it seems) and stowing them in their small flat bottom boats. They waved to Lonz, but he barely acknowledged them.

The forest around you is mostly pine and oak, mixed with scrub oak and a fair amount of brush on the ground. You hear birds on your trek, but don’t see many other animals. Still, the forest seems pleasant enough, and peaceful. The terrain is hilly, but the road and the river seem to be mostly flat and even. Several times on the journey you see rocky outcroppings and what may be stone monoliths in the distance. You mention them to Lonz, but he appears uninterested.

It is nearing dark when you start seeing lights ahead in the forest. Soon, you emerge from the forest into a cleared area. Before you lies a large town surrounded by a tall wooden wall, around 15’ high. The terrain is a little hilly here, and the town wall follows the contour of the hills, putting the top of the wall over 50’ high in a few places. The wall is highest on your right, near the river, and you can see the lit windows of a large building inside the wall, looking out over the forest. The river you have been following passes through a nearly submerged gate in the palisade to the west of the large building.
Ahead of you is a wide gate, open to allow you through. There are guardsmen to either side of the gate, and two sentries looking over the top of the wall. They wave to Lonz in obvious recognition, and again Lonz barely grunts a greeting, keeping his attention on driving the wagon.

As you pass through the gates you see a large, well-kept town spread before you. Most buildings have a foundation of stone with fine wooden walls and either thatch or slate roofs. There are a few people bustling about, and you notice that everyone you pass warily eyes your group.

On your left, just inside the gates, there is a small open field with a large statue of an Oeridian man with a long beard in front of storm clouds. The statue looks somewhat neglected. On the right you see several streets of nice houses, getting nicer as they get further back from the road. Behind them all is a tall hill with a grandiose building, the same building you could see above the walls as you approached town.

There are fewer friendly greetings as you roll toward the center of town, and more wary looks. You notice a few tieflings, here and there. They appear to be engaged in mundane tasks and the other town folk seem to pointedly ignore them.
After the quiet of the forest, the noise of town is almost startling. In the distance you hear the loud buzzing of a sawmill and loud splashes. There are also the distant sounds of blacksmiths, from roughly the same direction. You overhear snippets of conversations as you pass by people going about their business.

You enter a central square with several large tents which are being packed up for the night. It looks as though there is a decent sized market here during the day. Several more tieflings are here, performing manual labor. Lonz doesn't slow his wagon for them, but he does slow begrudgingly for a few dignified elves packing up a beautiful tent.

After carefully navigating around the elves, Lonz turns his wagon down a side street past several beautifully maintained wooden homes. You hear the sound of horses ahead and after a minute, your wagons pull into a large unloading area next to a sleepy looking three-story inn. The sign reads The Tinkers Rest. You all climb down from your wagons as a few men come out of the Inn and start unhitching the horses. After a moment, a few more men come over from across the street, and lead the horses back across the street to a livery.
Lonz takes out a coin pouch and grudgingly hands out the originally agreed upon price of 5 silver pieces apiece. “You weren’t as useless as I thought you’d be, even the tiefling. A word of warning, though. The tiefling won’t be welcome in the nicer parts of town.” Lonz turns to start directing the men unloading his wagons, then calls back over his shoulder to you, “I’ll probably be making another trip out in a few weeks, if you’re still around and looking for something to do”.

After a moment or two of talking amongst yourselves, you decide you would like to sell the equipment you had recovered from the bandits. One of the porters suggests you could take your goods to Haupt’s Wonders, a ‘fancy’ store, and gives you directions to the next major street over.

[EvilGenius]

From there, the party went into the very fancy store (except the tiefling, who was definitely NOT welcome), and sold the looted equipment. You also found out that dragonborn are apparently held in high regard by many in town, and several dragonborn used to live in town, though they left a year or so ago.

The store manager, Dendy Hawkins, recommended either the Tinkers Rest or the Hunters Lodge for accommodations. You've been at the Tinkers Rest, and it looked decent. Those visiting the town on trade business often stay there, but tieflings may not be overly welcome. The Hunter's Lodge is on the eastern edge of town, near the eastern gate. It is frequented by those in town who have business in the surrounding forest; hunters and trappers, mostly. People in town also find guides or escorts there if they need to go into the deeper forest.

[EvilGenius]

I shared a map of Farweald in Google Drive with everyone, to help with town exploration. You came in through the northern gate and when you got to the town center, made a 90ish degree turn and went to the two areas across the street from each other with the large fenced in yards. The yard on the north side of the street is the Tinkers Rest. Across the street is Lolm's Livery Stables.

If you take the little side street north from Tinkers Rest to the next major 'spoke' street, Haupt's Wonders is the brownish building on the north side of the street, one down to the west.

The Hunter's Lodge is at the eastern gate, surrounded by trees.

[EvilGenius]

Next up, probably finding accommodations for the night.

[NukeHavoc]

What country are we in?

[EvilGenius]

You aren't technically in any country. To the north is the former Rovers of the Barrens, now a largely abandoned wasteland. To the south, on the other side of the forest are the Bandit Kingdoms. To the east lies the now shattered remains of one of the former Bandit Kingdoms, Grosskopf, and further to the east, the equally shattered remains of Tenh (from whence you have all recently arrived). To the west, on the other side of the forest, is the land of Iuz, much reduced now, but still dangerous.

You are in the Felreev Forest, in a town of my creation, Farweald. The town is located on the Cold Run river, about a hex south from the northern edge of the forest.

https://post-greyhawk-wars-585-cy.obsid ... eev-forest

[NukeHavoc]

Town stub page created in the wiki (including the map) for quick reference: http://wiki.griffcrier.com/index.php?title=Farweald

[NukeHavoc]

Brigga says: "Thank you, Honored Merchant Dendy, son of Hawkins. Your conversation and reasonable prices do your employer a great service. I shall take you up on your suggestion of visiting the Tinker's Rest. An odd name for an establishment, but perhaps it means something different to humans than it does to my people. Tinkers. Rest. As though such a thing were possible!"

Brigga takes a moment to speak with her new found companions. "It seems there are two lodging establishments worthy of mention in this town: The Tinker's Rest" (she chortles at this, still finding the concept funny) "and the Hunters Lodge. My own interests take me to the Tinker's Rest, as I have questions that I must ask. Still, it would be useful for strangers such as ourselves to learn more about this town. Perhaps one of our number would be interested in spending time at the Hunter's Lodge? We could meet up tomorrow morning and share notes over porridge and ale.".

[erilar]

Perhaps one of our number would be interested in spending time at the Hunter's Lodge?

My druid character will offer to stay at the Hunter's Lodge. "Certainly sounds like a cozy place. Breakfast at the Tinker's Rest shortly after dawn then?"

[EvilGenius]

This sounds fine. Everyone should note which place they are going to stay and then I'll proceed.

[NukeHavoc]

Brigga will stay at the The Tinker's Rest.

[erose914]

Erk will stay at the Hunter's Lodge. "It sounds more like home to me."

[Lars Porsenna]

I will find a back alley to sleep in...

...unless I find some Ksogrites or other Tieflings, then I invoke my Succor benefit.

Damon.

[EvilGenius]

I will find a back alley to sleep in...

...unless I find some Ksogrites or other Tieflings, then I invoke my Succor benefit.

Damon.

Damon, no Ksogrite pops out of the woodwork but you have seen some tieflings in town. You wander back to the town center. Full dark has fallen on Farweald now. The buzz of the sawmill has stopped but you do still hear the distant and muffled sounds of a smithy, somewhere on the west side of town.

You see a few tieflings hurrying along a road that turns south east. On the center marketplace, in between the south road and the southeast road is a large, three story stone building topped with an impressive dome, unusual amongst the mostly wooden structures in town. The building is well lit and you hear the noise of a small crowd inside, obviously engaged in some sort of festive activity. You draw closer to the building and see a sign on the side of the building, "Ye Olde Gaming House".

You can no longer see the tieflings; you assume they continued down the south east road. Looking in that direction, you also notice that the terrain is a little hilly. East-southeast there is a large grassy hill topped with a small copse of trees.

Where would you like to go from here?

[Lars Porsenna]

Follow the Tieflings and see if there is a place I can stay.

Damon.