Memories of Holdenshire: Main Locations
Memories of Holdenshire is an adventure that covers a lot of ground, moving from the city of Northminster across the wilderness into the Weirwood and finally to the small town of Hengistbury.
Northminster
Population: 11,000 (60% human, 12% halfling, 28% other)
Government: The town is ruled by Abbot Briar with a tradition of quasi-religious monarchy.
Defense: A town guard keeps watch on the imposing exterior walls and polices the townsfolk, but the criminal underbelly is also quite capable of defending itself.
Commerce: Fishing is the primary industry and basic everyday supplies are available, as well as simple crafts and weapons. Black market items such as poisons are also available from the Redwall area.
Northminster was founded as a single religious abbey approximately 400 years ago along the shores of the Northern Ocean, though exactly what god was worshiped here has been lost to time. A township built up surrounding the abbey and some 150 years ago it was overtaken in a brief but bloody conflict. Statues and icons of faith were destroyed, leaving the massive abbey as a hollow monument. Now the position of "abbot' has been passed down for generations and the current abbot rules over Northminster from a place of ill-defined religious authority.
The city's size has made it a tempting target for goblin attacks from the east using the catacomb tunnels to infiltrate past the exterior walls. A lack of action on these threats combined with increasing taxation from Abbot Briar has left the populace disgruntled, and there are murmurs of action against the abbot (particularly amongst the criminal element in Redwall).
Northminster Abbey
The center of Northminster is dominated by a large stone abbey which has become the seat of power for the city. The abbey is a wide three-story structure of ornate design, and it as well as its nearby structures and the 20-foot wall that surrounds it all are crafted from ochre-red stone. The abbot and his "clergy" form the ruling class of Northminster within the abbey itself, while the town guard is stationed in the other interior buildings within the wall. Stumps of broken statues and shattered religious iconography still mar the walls and provide a glimpse of what the abbey used to represent.
Abbey Catacombs
Whatever faith the original builders of the abbey held included ritual burials. In the distant past the abbey graveyard was relocated to make room for the surrounding city, but a network of catacombs lined with carefully wrapped humanoid remains still sprawls beneath with countless hidden entrances and exits. Most townsfolk avoid the tunnels, fearing the angry spirits of the abbey told of in their urban legends.
Redwall
The structures surrounding the abbey wall form a nearly quarter-mile-long alleyway on three of its sides. The alleyway was long ago overtaken by the criminal element in Northminster and is locally known as Redwall owing to not only the ochre-red stone but also the fresh splashes of blood that often paint it. The town guard rarely risks patrolling in the area—it is widely regarded as lawless and dangerous despite its ironic location just a barrier away from the guard station.
Weirwood
The Weirwood coats the hills north of Hengisbury with thick greenery and the dark woodlands are home to countless secretive fey creatures. A ritual made millenia ago linked this place with the realms of the fey and the forest itself sprung out of fey places. The magic that made this link has long since crumbled away but the many pixies, satyrs, sprites, and other darker mischievous fey creatures consider this place a home away from home while the citizens of nearby towns consider it a place of unnatural danger.
Weirhenge
A stone circle sits in a clearing at the heart of the Weirwood, the site of an ancient ritual that once connected the Waking, the realms material, to the Dreaming, land of the fey. It sits now broken and eroded, a far cry from its original purpose but still a place of power. While there is little community amongst the fey, they have a mutual understanding that the Weirhenge belongs to all fey, and they usually respect each other's use of the ancient stones for whatever ritual they see fit (for good or ill).
Hengistbury
Population: 150 (85% human, 15% other)
Government: The county is governed by Lord Pemberton and Lady Sybill Pemberton who reside in Hengistbury keep.
Defense: The small town is defended only by the sheriff and ranger Brand Torek who serves Lord Pemberton.
Commerce: Hengistbury is a small agricultural town and basic everyday supplies and gear are available from the tavern, market, forge, or trading post.
Based on the banks of a winding river, Hengistbury is an idyllic and rustic farming community on the western edge of the county of Holdenshire. Normally peaceful and dull, the town has been recently plagued by threats from all sides. Kobolds have been raiding from the east, rumors abound of creatures and lizardfolk stalking the marshes of the Fogmoor across the river to the south, and fey beings have been spotted coming from the Weirwoods to the north. Still it's not clear what is baseless rumor and what is a real threat, and the townsfolk are increasingly wary as their small and mundane home comes into contact with the mystical and dangerous.
Travelers through Hengisbury will likely stay within The Bleeding Heart Tavern which has an unusual arrangement—although owned by the Pembertons, it is staffed by a rotating selection of the town's inhabitants. So while the tavern itself may not change, how exactly it is run changes often.
The town is centered on an old wooden temple to the goddesses of agriculture and hunting. It is maintained by Lady Pemberton who offers healing to those in need and believes in leading by example as opposed to actual sermons and preaching. The unnamed temple serves as a town meeting hall, and the ancient timbers far predate the town itself.
Thornbury
A few miles upriver from Hengistbury is its smaller sister Thornbury. The 100 or so people of Thornbury have a friendly rivalry with Hengistbury, holding annual festivals where they compete for victory and bragging rights in cheese rolling, pie eating, and sheep shearing competitions. Most of the local fisherfolk can be persuaded to ferry passengers between the two.