michael_noah
First Post
Your adventuring party has recently arrived in the town of Durbenford, a major center of business in the northern kingdom Valencia. Located on the banks of Rynas' Tears, just south of the Kal'lugus Mountains, the city subsists not only on its profitable lumber and fishing industries, but frequent visits from merchants and farmers from the surrounding villages.
Having traveled for some time in the frontier west of Durbenford, you have come to this hub of activity for well needed rest, supplies, and the chance for more adventure. The town is clean, light, and cheerful at first glance. It is protected by 10' walls, but there are no patrols, for the surrounding area is free for the most part of any dangerous activities, and the open gates and easy going guards give away the confidence the town has in its safety.
You estimate the population at 7-10 thousand, well mixed in racial population at first glance. The people are readily seen walking the streets, stopping to let the occasional guard patrol pass. As you walk the main road toward the center of town you find a marketplace bustling with activity.
Vendors shout with loud voices, offering rabbit, dove, squirrel, and the occasional shocker lizard at reasonable prices, promising unique and exotic tastes. Local craftsmen have erected temporary booths to advertise their wares. Such goods range from pewter tankards and cutlery, to the finest steel shortsword ever made by dwarven hands. More prominent than either food vendors or local eateries and craftsmen are the merchants who have stopped here to sell items. The visible wares include relics, ancient suits of armor, herbal simples, and cure-alls.
As seen from your short walk through town, the city is divided by short walls into four sections surrounding the market square. To the northwest, there are many large and architecturally impressive homes composed mostly of stone. These buildings feature turrets and short towers, and all are hedged in by walls. Beyond these grand houses is visible a castle, the black cypress of Lord Marcus Durben flying on its walls.
To the northeast is a large residential area. The homes here are much less grand than those of the presumably noble class to the west. Here the structures are more likely of wood than stone, and chimneys rather than turrets bristle the sky. To the southwest is a quarter comprised of merchant shops, factories, smaller markets, and workshops. The southeast quarter of the city holds a mess of cobbled together homes of wattle and daub. People seen over the wall are dressed in rags and rush about more hurriedly than the cheerful folk in the square.
The most obvious common thread of the various quarters of the city is the ever present green mass of a strange vine, growing in any available nook and cranny. Zagnak recognizes it as a plant known only as “rat weed”, name so for its pest-like nature and ability to survive under harsh circumstances. It’s well known to the party druid that there is little danger in the plant, but that it can be quite an effort to fight its assault on all available soil. This is evident in that, while the vine is present everywhere in the city, the nobles have gone to great effort to curb its advance, for the greenery in the northwest appears to be more manicured than malevolent.
It is here, nestled at the foot of the fabled Kal’lugus mountains and along the banks of Rynas’ tears that a mismatched band of veteran warriors, mages, army captains, and a loner hermit begins the adventure that has been awaiting them their whole lives…
Having traveled for some time in the frontier west of Durbenford, you have come to this hub of activity for well needed rest, supplies, and the chance for more adventure. The town is clean, light, and cheerful at first glance. It is protected by 10' walls, but there are no patrols, for the surrounding area is free for the most part of any dangerous activities, and the open gates and easy going guards give away the confidence the town has in its safety.
You estimate the population at 7-10 thousand, well mixed in racial population at first glance. The people are readily seen walking the streets, stopping to let the occasional guard patrol pass. As you walk the main road toward the center of town you find a marketplace bustling with activity.
Vendors shout with loud voices, offering rabbit, dove, squirrel, and the occasional shocker lizard at reasonable prices, promising unique and exotic tastes. Local craftsmen have erected temporary booths to advertise their wares. Such goods range from pewter tankards and cutlery, to the finest steel shortsword ever made by dwarven hands. More prominent than either food vendors or local eateries and craftsmen are the merchants who have stopped here to sell items. The visible wares include relics, ancient suits of armor, herbal simples, and cure-alls.
As seen from your short walk through town, the city is divided by short walls into four sections surrounding the market square. To the northwest, there are many large and architecturally impressive homes composed mostly of stone. These buildings feature turrets and short towers, and all are hedged in by walls. Beyond these grand houses is visible a castle, the black cypress of Lord Marcus Durben flying on its walls.
To the northeast is a large residential area. The homes here are much less grand than those of the presumably noble class to the west. Here the structures are more likely of wood than stone, and chimneys rather than turrets bristle the sky. To the southwest is a quarter comprised of merchant shops, factories, smaller markets, and workshops. The southeast quarter of the city holds a mess of cobbled together homes of wattle and daub. People seen over the wall are dressed in rags and rush about more hurriedly than the cheerful folk in the square.
The most obvious common thread of the various quarters of the city is the ever present green mass of a strange vine, growing in any available nook and cranny. Zagnak recognizes it as a plant known only as “rat weed”, name so for its pest-like nature and ability to survive under harsh circumstances. It’s well known to the party druid that there is little danger in the plant, but that it can be quite an effort to fight its assault on all available soil. This is evident in that, while the vine is present everywhere in the city, the nobles have gone to great effort to curb its advance, for the greenery in the northwest appears to be more manicured than malevolent.
It is here, nestled at the foot of the fabled Kal’lugus mountains and along the banks of Rynas’ tears that a mismatched band of veteran warriors, mages, army captains, and a loner hermit begins the adventure that has been awaiting them their whole lives…
