Freeholds

Connects to: 05.20, 24.02, the Duchy of Thring, the Hills of Gore and the City of Shuttered Windows.

The lands surrounding the Citadel of the Verlime (18.07) were known far and wide for their mild climate and fertile soil, and the House of Verlime built its doomed fortress on the proceeds of the taxes on the farmers who worked those lands. The wine, pipe-weed, and distinctive purple honey produced there were famous as far away as the Bitter Coast, and the region provided much of the grain, pork and ostrich meat necessary to feed the south. When the Citadel of Verlime fell to the elves, many fled for fear that the elves would soon turn their attentions beyond the ruined fortress, but the sack never came.

The next five years were hard on the farmers, and though the elves left them be, bandits and orc raiders were not so kind. Food shortages lead to widespread hunger and some venerable vintages vanished forever. Soon, however, the lean times drove humans and halflings from far and wide to working the fallow fields of the Verlimes, either out of greed or out of a simple desire to have enough to eat. The farms no longer were under the protection of any noble house, but the farmers would pay small bands of mercenaries to protect them from the orcs. To this day, many young adventurers get their start defending the Freehold for the customary wage of 15 sp a day, and many old adventurers retire there after a big score.

Today, though, some of the richest families are beginning to consider themselves aristocracy, and are no longer satisfied with mere wealth. Some, like the noble families they ape, have simply decided to call themselves a House, while others, like the Furhoofs (17.05), have bought titles from the Duke of Thring, and all five of the Blackwort brothers have purchased citizens’ charters from the City of Shuttered Windows. Worse, wealthy Freeholders are starting to hire their own men at arms, and have started raising their eldest sons and daughters to be warriors instead of farmers, and those would-be knights threaten to tear the community apart with drunken brawls that escalate into violent family feuds.

Hex Summaries:

• 09.09 (A Being of Salt and Chalk): not being able to turn your love into a statue can be a tragic thing.

• 10.09 (The Haunted Statue): strange runes are written on its pedestal and it is not weathered in the least by wind or rain.

• 10.10 (Bees! Giant Bees!): are their honey and wax worth braving their stings?

• 11.03 (The Farnsfall Holding): a new settlement being carved out of the wilderness by the naïve self-proclaimed Baron Farnsfall.

• 11.05 (The Burnt Caravan): the remains of the halflings and their ostriches lie burned amidst their plundered wagons.

• 11.08 (The Bolger Freehold): were halfings raise racing ostriches, vegetables and large families.

• 11.11 (Corpse Grove): dryads killed by vampires become corpse trees.

• 13.02 (The Glade of Cerelaine): the retreat of an elf who is conducting experiments on humans.

• 13.03 (The Timberlode): a strange community of xenophobic elves who don’t seem to like anyone, not even trees.

• 13.06 (Ettin Castle): the home of the first ettin, which was created by grafting heads onto one body in order to smooth over election irregulars.

• 13.08 (The Tangled Web): once the home of Severard of the Seven Chins, now the home of the giant spider that killed him.

• 13.09 (The Tasty Tomb of the Thaumaturge): Severard of the Seven Circles is slowly being mummified in the honey of strange bees.

• 14.09 (The March of the Clay Golem): it would not be wise to impede its progress.

• 15.04 (The Breen Holding): nothing fertilizes a field like an ankheg, shame about how they eat the farmhands.

• 15.07 (KFE!): the home of the best fried entrails in all of these lands.

• 16.04 (The Hobgoblin Caves): the best place to buy shoes or shroomwine in all of these lands.

• 16.09 (Alphonse’s War Ostrich Ranch): Alphonse’s black war ostriches have been bred large enough to carry an armored knight.

• 17.03 (The Last Skirmish): the haunted site of a bungled battle that never should’ve been.

• 17.05 (Furfoot Freehold): a wealthy halfling holding whose heir seems to have been driven mad by his adventuring experiences.

• 17.06 (The Lamplighters): brave men keep the lamps lit to ward of elementals and other things from a local road.

• 17.07 (Newhill): a hill that was kicked up during the destruction of the Citadel of the Verlimes now serves as the closest thing the Freeholds have to a capital.

• 18.02 (The Steading of the Minotaurs): Lastmaze is a hard bitten minotaur outpost founded by minotaur embassy staff after their nation’s conquest.

• 18.03 (Ritethal): any who drink from a nearby lake will do as they are told.

• 18.06 (The Town Beyond the Lamps: Aggoth): the villagers know several rituals that they say placate the fey of the woods.

• 18.07 (The Shattered Citadel of the Verlimes): the elemental-infested ruins of the proud seat of the Verlime dukes.

• 18.10 (The Weremen of Brindlebrook Swamp): when the full moon rises those infected transform into clones of Barnabus Bluenose, a wizard who has thus obtained a curious form of immortality.

• 19.04 (Stargazer Keep): the home of Lord Ward and his famous exorcist dogs.

• 19.05 (The Sowing Path): a track used by the villagers of Aggoth in their rituals.

• 20.03 (The Skibart Holding): a well-defended halfling holding known for its exceptionally potent pipeweed.

• 20.04 (The Keepers of the Sainted Foot): a strange gathering of monks who produce holy beer that is not only refreshing but useful in warding off the undead.

• 20.08 (The Village of Treebrush): little is left here now but travelers can still hear the story of Lisbet in the inn.

• 20.10 (Flea of the Daggerfeet): a colorful local bandit and the leaping terrors that he has tamed.

• 21.06 (The Abandoned Beacon): a ruined beacon tower that should’ve warned the Verlimes against the approach of the elven army.

• 22.03 (The Changlings of Northburn Holding): the people here pay a steep price for their immunity to orcish raids.

• 22.10 (The Night of the Falling Stars): true evil comes from above, not below.

• 22.11 (Longspear Bridge): the site of Hardrald Longspear’s heroic defense against an orcish horde.

• 23.11 (Winds): a trading town built on a crossroads, with one of those crossing roads providing useful undead moans.

• 24.11 (The Stolen Hills): the very place where Tiamat’s severed black head fell to the earth.

• 24.12 (The Grey Comedy): the current location of a famous circus troupe.

• Ettiennes: Recently emerged ettins named after Alvise Ettienne, the first ettin created by the wizard Severard.

Connections:

• After the end of the goblins wars, in which the orcs and dwarves destroyed the goblin forests that once lay between the Kingswood and the coast (24.02), these lands were ruled by the High Kings of Gore (05.20). The Verlimes were able to carve out their Duchy after the fall of the High Kings.