Nightwick Village Minisetting Part II: Important Locations

      1. Lord Eckhard’s Manor – Lord Eckhard (L Fighter 6) is a stout, boisterous man with a grey speckled beard and a loud voice.  His small manor house is the best defended building in Nightwick Village and houses him, his family, and 40 men-at-arms.  Eckhard is a good judge of character (70% chance to guess alignment) and will always trust Lawful characters and the company they keep.  He possesses a fine (+1, non-magical) suit of Plate armor and a magical +1 greatsword named Winter.  His “lovely” daughter is easily mistaken for an orc and is still a virgin.

      2.  Halfdan’s Tower – Halfdan the Black (C Magic-User 9) tries to stay out of the day to day business of Nightwick Village, preferring instead his collection of animated cadavers.  He rarely leaves his tower, instead sending bewitched animals to conduct his business in town.  This usually involves stealing corpses or other unsavory items.  Halfdan hates Bishop Notker the Unshaven for exiling him from Lichegate.  He will show immense interest in any party that is searching the ruins of Nightwick Abbey or actively working against the bishop.  He will loan out his services to such adventurers, though eventually he will demand compensation.

      3. The Medusa’s Head – This cozy inn is the only establishment where one can purchase alcohol in Nightwick, except for Rupert's cart.  It’s proprietor, Bruno (L Fighter 4), is a retired adventurer who wished to set up an inn with his wife.  She left him to join a Frogling circus and he has never forgiven her.  Under the bar Bruno keeps three throwing axes he can hurl to great effect (+2 to hit and damage) as well as a broadsword he has named Damekiller.  A bard (N Changeling 2) will sing hauntingly beautiful tales about the last war each night, much to the delight of Bruno’s guests.  Most of the cliental are Eckhard’s men-at-arms; however, adventurers, traders, and woodsmen clutter the overly small common room in the cold months.

Bill

Ale 1 ep

Beer, regular 1sp

Beer, Frogling 1gp

Wine 1ep

Meal, common 1 ep

Common Room Floor 1sp

Private Room 10gp (1d4 available at any given time)

      4.  Blacksmith – Duncan (N Fighter 1) is a simpleton who can make excellent arms and armor as long as the customer does not want them monogramed.  He can neither read nor write; however, few in Nightwick would take advantage of the poor man.  His goods, while ugly, are of the highest quality, and all who have ever taken advantage of his low intellect have me t with a bad end.  His mother was a witch who placed a spell on him when he was a young boy.  Anyone who takes advantage of his stupidity will take a -2 penalty to all saving throws for one year.  If someone were to kill Duncan, three Dretches would appear each night and attempt to slay the murder.  They would appear until they were successful, adding one to their number on each attempt.

      5.  Ranger – Randulf (N Ranger 4) acts as a guide and protector for the woodsmen who operate outside the village during the day.   He carries a quiver of regular arrows as well as 20 +3 Wolf Slaying arrows.  These work against regular and magical wolves as well as werewolves and most other varieties of wolf-like creatures.  Randulf is not a fan of the Church of Law, but operates against it subtly and will not refuse service to someone solely based on their religious affiliation.  If someone attempts to convert him, however, he will often leave them to die in the forest.

      6.  Frogling Merchant – Rupert (N Frogling 3) maintains a cart in the village commons even during non-festival months.  He sells potions for exorbitant prices and other goods at reasonable ones.  During the fall and winter he becomes sluggish; however, this does not affect his ability to haggle.  Rupert is a distant relative of the head of the van Toad house and enjoys a steady shipment of fresh goods.

      7.  Church – This small church is actually just a peasant’s hut with a cross on top.  Originally Nightwick Abbey was to serve as the Church for the people of Nightwick Village; however, recent events have obviously made this impossible.  Now this makeshift house of the God of Law is run by Father Roderic (L Cleric 3) and two acolytes without spellcasting ability.  Roderic offers cure spells to the faithful for free and is very lenient on who qualifies as the “faithful.”  Due to this leniency he is not very popular with Bishop Notker, who constantly seeks to replace him with a loyal toady. Thus far no one has accepted the dubious honor.  The Acolytes sell Holy Water, and it is the only place in town where this can be purchased.  The Church is based around the finger bone of St. Gax which was supposedly saved from the Abbey before its ruin.

      8.  Woodsmen’s Lodge -- This lodge houses some 50 woodsmen (Normal Men)  who gather various forest products during the day.  The hall is usually empty since the woodsmen prefer the food and drink of the Medusa’s Head to those found in the Lodge. On certain days of the lunar month, the pagan woodsmen fill the hall and perform rituals in secret to placate the various spirits of the Fogbound Forest.

      9.  The Old Wall – The wall around Nightwick Village is in terrible disrepair.  Only a small section of it is capable of being manned.   The rest has been hastily put together out of the remnants of various abandoned huts and houses.  It has served the town well, though they rarely suffer more than a small raid from one of the goblin tribes in the Fogbound Forest.  No one knows whether the wall would stand against a host of undead from the Abbey.

      10.  The River Deep – This tributary to the Dark River provides the majority of the water for Nightwick Village.  It runs through a patch of Devil Vine that often glow a color outside of our spectrum (mauve) at night.  Those who use the water typically boil it first, and so far no one has shown ill effects from drinking it.

      11.  Graveyard – This graveyard has fallen into disservice since the Sword Brothers began worshiping the foul things that sleep beneath the Abbey.  During those dark times, monks and magicians in the service of the Brothers would cart bodies away from the cemetery in the night for some unholy purpose.  Now it has more or less returned to the Fogbound Forest.  Vines and trees grow straight out of graves, toppling over headstones and moving the contents of one grave below a different marker.  Digging through the graves has a small (25%) chance of turning up a body (10% chance to animate once uncovered, 30% chance of having grave goods of treasure type determined by the judge).

      12.  Graveyard – this new graveyard has seen few burials.  Instead, locals typically bring bodies here to burn them on funeral pyres.  While many passing servants of the God of Law find this barbaric, the adherents within Nightwick Village see it as a necessary evil.