Falcon’s Hollow
A blunt, sawdust-choked stop on a winding trade route, a festering haven of injustice and cruelty, Falcon’s Hollow rests perilously close to the infamous Darkmoon Wood. The long shadow of Droskar’s Crag casts a shroud of gloom on the desperate souls who call this place home. Many come here to make their fortune cutting darkwood lumber in the lush wood, while others journey to this remote fringe to start over, piecing together their shattered lives on the edge of an untouched wilderness far from the things of man. Persecuted zealots and outcasts flock to Falcon’s Hollow to practice their strange and often deviant rites unfettered by the mores of civilization. Finally, Falcon’s Hollow lures many explorers with the promise of great adventure nearby. The town, its people, and everything in it belong to the corrupt Lumber Consortium, controlled by the de facto leader of the town, the loathsome Thuldrin Kreed. His petty decrees and the consortium’s overpriced goods keep the people of the town prisoner as surely as if Kreed and his goons used manacles and chains.
Home to fewer than 1,500 humans and a smattering of other races, most of the townsfolk care only for the paltry coins paid for their backbreaking work and what simple comforts they can buy. A few, however, understand that what’s bad for one is bad for all, and they struggle endlessly with the Lumber Consortium to improve the lives of their neighbors—and by extension, themselves. The community thrives on a tenacious mix of greed, debauchery, and stubborn self-reliance. As much property of the Lumber Consortium as the buildings, cut timbers, and other assets in the town, the people of Falcon’s Hollow live in abject poverty and unending misery. Those born into Falcon’s Hollow (or those foolish enough to move there willingly—or even unwillingly) face lives filled with anguish and devoid of hope or betterment.
F1. Brookman’s Well: A small spring on the edge of town that supplies most of Falcon’s Hollow’s fresh water.
F2. Goose’n’Gander: The local general store in Falcon’s Hollow is run by the only gnome resident, Brickasnurd Hildrinsocks, who sells everything from standard amenities such as grain, lamp oil, ink, and mining supplies, to such rare oddities as alchemist’s fire, antitoxin, a petrified pseudodragon, and taxidermy nixies.
F3. High Market: With access restricted by Boss Teedum’s most loyal “boys,” the High Market consistently serves only those with some amount of influence in the town (Thuldrin Kreed and his lackeys, Deldrin Baleson, Vamros Harg, and visiting Lumber Consortium bosses and managers). Kreed holds a lottery once per month to allow in nine lucky residents for up to 3 days. All residents who work for the Lumber Consortium (which is nearly everyone, but excludes such notables as Laurel, Namdrin Quinn, and Lady Cirthana) are automatically entered, as the drawing is done by employee number. The winning residents can bring along up to three family members.
The High Market sells meats and vegetables without a hint of rot on them; nicely made clothes of materials other than canvas, cotton, and leather; spices (including a popular vendor who sells only salt); and various items that cost more than 10 gold coins.
F4. Hollow Tribunal: This is where the diminutive halfling Magistrate Vamros Harg dispenses merchant licenses, stamps mining and lumber claims, and passes judgment on criminal and civil cases. Harg is an attractive young halfling fond of finery whose romantic interests run toward his own gender. Most Falconers enjoy the irony of the Hollow Tribunal’s name, since the justice meted out there is rarely equitable. The fact that Harg is firmly in Gavel Thuldrin’s pocket is well known, but it is rarely uttered in public by those who value their lives.
Thuldrin Kreed owns Vamros Harg and the halfling knows and hates it. Harg was a failed barrister in Carpenden before coming to Falcon’s Hollow. Kreed supported Harg and put him in power with the understanding that he could just as easily tear down the magistrate at the first sign of disobedience. Vamros doesn’t dare oppose Kreed directly, but every chance he gets he nudges cases away from Kreed’s greedy eye and tries to give people a fair shake. The halfling is ashamed of his own cowardice, but if a group of hardy adventurers supported him in opposing Thuldrin Kreed, Harg might just step up to the challenge and start doling out true justice.
F5. Jak’a’Napes: This leaning ramshackle inn located next to the town’s stables offers lodgings and food to the many travelers who pass through Falcon’s Hollow. The owner, a rotund red-faced human named Jak Crimmy, with a single wisp of bright red hair on his otherwise bald head, is a retired bard who sports an easy smile. Jak’s cinnamoncrusted flapjacks are legendary in town, as is his skill at juggling frying pans and his astonishing marksmanship with a heavy crossbow (Jak is a man of many talents).
F6. Low Market: Open to everyone in town, the Low Market sells the High Market’s food leftovers (including meats and vegetables just starting to go bad), heavily salted meats, and other foodstuffs that barely survive their trip to the market. Nothing in the Low Market sells for more than a few gold, and almost everything is worth only coppers.
F7. Lumber Consortium Headquarters: Once the most impressive building in Falcon’s Hollow, Thuldrin Kreed has allowed the office to fall into disrepair, for the most part, while his own manor house continues to nearly shine in opulence. Kreed only uses this building to host important consortium guests and other official business he wishes to keep out of his private estate. Otherwise, this once-grand and bustling building usually remains empty.
F8. Quinn’s Carnival: Namdrin Quinn and his companions wow crowds with feats of skill and magic by night. Rumor has it that after the tents close Namdrin and his merry band entreat with dark fey, whose anger mounts at the constant lumbering incursions into the wood. Some say Quinn the shadowdancer spies for the vengeful fey, who plan retribution and murder.
Namdrin Quinn: Half-elf shadowdancer Namdrin Quinn led a band of veteran adventurers who used to venture into the vale with frequency. After a particularly dangerous quest claimed the life of Namdrin’s wife, Tessa, he ended his career and established his carnival of wonders on the edge of town. Namdrin is a sinewy half-elf of corded muscle and bone, with a long face haunted by loss. His sunken eyes do not fix on any who attempt to speak with him, instead staring off into a distant and fading memory of the happiness that once touched his soul. For more information on Namdrin Quinn and his carnival, see E1: Carnival of Tears.
F9. Roots and Remedies: Creeping ivy and full window boxes cover the facade of this rugged-looking, two-story shop bearing the faded sign “Roots and Remedies.” Owned by the local herbalist and healer, Laurel, the small, mudtracked shop smells of burnt earth and spicy incense.
Bunches of dried herbs hang from the ceiling, along with dangling pots, presses, alchemical apparatuses, and glassware of more arcane purposes. Pouches of rare plants, jars of colored glass, and all manner of dried, preserved, and jellied animal parts fill high shelves and tables doing double duty as displays and workspaces. In the shop’s rear stand a rack of herbs, a table covered in stray powders and measuring equipment, and a pot that loudly bubbles whenever Laurel has the shop open.
Laurel: The local herbalist, Laurel is a rail-thin half- Garundi woman with severe-looking spectacles and hair pulled back tight. A tough woman, Laurel’s income stems as much from her sale of snake oils and aphrodisiacs as from questionable cure-alls and bitter teas. As quick to suggest expensive remedies as she is to remind angry buyers that she is not, in fact, a physician, Laurel does her best to help those who come to her in need, but her tight income, need to survive, and pride prevent her from admitting failure.
F10. The Sitting Duck: Located a little too close to the town palisade for many folks’ comfort, the Duck is the local hot spot for adventurers, explorers, and other rapscallions looking for excitement. The tavern serves a potent local brew of fermented darkwood leaf that can floor an ogre in a few tankards. Raucous games of “knivesies” and “lefty-loosy” (two dangerous local recreational activities, both with a high rate of maiming) often rage late into the night. Many adventurers share tales of Darkmoon Vale, Droskar’s Crag, and other surrounding locations for the price of a mug of ale.
F11. Temple of Iomedae: Falcon’s Hollow has few clerics. Despite little competition from other churches and a demonstrated record of concern for the town’s residence, Lady Cirthana, priestess of Iomedae, continues to struggle to win converts in the beleaguered town. Few townsfolk trust Cirthana, and most lay their medical concerns at the feet of Laurel. Most residents of Falcon’s Hollow avoid the temple of Iomedae as much as possible, as the Lumber Consortium has made itself clear in denouncing the meddling of the Inheritor in the town’s affairs. Many other religious sects who fled here from Olfden and larger cities to escape the Church of Light’s persecution resent the recent arrival of Iomedae’s followers. Tensions run high among congregations, often resulting in less-thanholy brawls on the muddy thoroughfares of Worship Way.
Baleson’s Deputies: When he became sheriff, Deldrin Baleson immediately put together a small group of deputies to provide him with backup in dealings with Kreed and Boss Teedum. Traditionally, the town’s sheriff could expect support from the Lumber Consortium and its horde of hired goons, but Deldrin does not want to rely on such questionable allies (if even he could).
Sheriff Baleson’s posse of deputies includes a Greenfire Circle druid, four burly lumberjacks uncowed by the consortium, and two retired adventurers (former members of the Azure Guard) hoping to clean up Falcon’s Hollow.
Boss Payden “Pay Day” Teedum: Payden, the pug-faced, mash-nosed human thug licking at Thuldrin Kreed’s boots, has a big bone to pick with Deldrin Baleson. The only reason he hasn’t tried to break the sheriff’s neck is that Kreed fears turning Deldrin into a martyr for other Falconers to rally around. “Pay Day” gets his name from the way he doles out “dues” to anyone who fails to follow “Mista Kreed’s” commands fast enough. Whenever Kreed ventures out onto the streets of Falcon’s Hollow, Teedum tags along, interposing his beefy frame between the gavel and those Kreed angers (which is nearly everyone).
Kabran Bloodeye: Kabran is a short-statured half-orc with blood-red eyes. He lost his nose as punishment for numerous criminal activities in Augustana, which led him to flee here. He wears a bronze nosepiece over the ugly crater left in the center of his face. As he breathes, it whistles disturbingly and leaks blood and mucus (which Kabran dabs away with a crimson handkerchief ). Kabran is the master of the Redrock Guild, an organized criminal syndicate that poses as a business club and moneylenders’ union, but most Falconers know its members constitute some of the vilest flesh-peddlers, sneakthieves, and murderers in town. The Redrock Guild maintains an uneasy truce with the Lumber Consortium, paying the large company a percentage of its take in exchange for a little legitimacy and protection.
Kabran’s most notorious establishment is the Rouge Lady, a burlesque and gambling hall whose back parlor doubles as an illicit brothel. Of the half-dozen girls who work at the Rouge Lady, by far the favorite among visitors and residents alike is the unfortunate young beauty named Ralla Hebbradan, who peddles her charms to earn enough copper for her and her young brother Hollin to survive. Few patrons ever catch a glimpse of the infamous basement of the Rogue Lady, but it is well known that Kabran enjoys flaying his enemies alive beneath the gambling hall, their screams adding somewhat to the Lady’s dark atmosphere. Sharvaros Vade: This odd hermit lives in a small shack just outside of the town proper, only a stone’s throw from the local cemetery. Most know Vade is a strange man but few are aware of his knowledge of necromancy. Vade conducts vile experiments on corpses unearthed from the graveyard with the reluctant assistance of his son in the deep gloom of night. Vade is bony and thin, with gray eyes and an unkempt black beard. He seems ever agitated, and frequently mutters to himself under his breath. His son, Savram, lives with Sharvaros and seems destined to follow in the necromancer’s footsteps.
Thuldrin Kreed: More than a little sadistic and cowardly, Thuldrin Kreed acts the part of town bully. Unfortunately for Falcon’s Hollow, he also runs the town he bullies. Often seen surrounded by thugs and murderers made loyal with coin (on the rare occasions he deigns to leave his palatial house), Thuldrin takes unwholesome pleasure in causing his fellow man to suffer. Strangely, though, Kreed can’t stomach pain and misery not caused by himself or his goons—in fact, he expends a great deal of the Lumber Consortium’s coins trying to protect lumberjacks and the people of Falcon’s Hollow from marauding monsters and other threats within the vale. Once he is sure of his employees’ safety, though, he wastes no time in tormenting and torturing them himself.
Unmistakably foul and cruel-hearted, Kreed uses sometimes petty but always passive-aggressive tactics against those who stand up to him. He frequently vents his frustration with his underperforming underlings or demanding bosses on his oft-neglected son, Jurin. Thuldrin usually forgets he even has a son until he needs someone weaker than himself to punish. When surrounded by his hired goons, though, Thuldrin frequently possesses something resembling a spine, and he has little trouble hiding behind Payden Teedum while calmly leveling insults or challenges. Of course, Thuldrin controls nearly all the power in Falcon’s Hollow, so those who truly anger him (with the exception of the wily sheriff) always suffer for their impudence.
Falcon’s Hollow
Town nonstandard (lumber consortium); AL NE
GP Limit 1,500 gp; Assets 40,550 gp
Demographics
Population 1,400
Type isolated (94% human, 3% halfling, 1% half-elf, 1% elf, 1% other races)
Authority Figures
Gavel Thuldrin Kreed, leader of the Lumber Consortium; Magistrate Vamros Harg, town judge and barrister; Sheriff Deldrin Baleson, sheriff of Darkmoon Vale; Boss Payden “Pay Day” Teedum, overboss of the Lumber Consortium