The Town of Thall
The town of Thall is
located approximately 30 miles
north-northwest of Tantras along the Dragon Reach. The
small village is home to 1800 souls, who live and work
in and around the wooden-walled village. The village
lies along two trade routes. Running north and south
is The Dragon’s Tail, which connects Tantras and
Calaunt and follows the coastline. The other is known
as either the Grislick Hills Pass or the Hlintar Way,
and runs east from the village to the town of Hlintar,
some 30 miles away. Both trade routes see consistent
traffic during the trading season, the spring and
summer months, with very reduced traffic during the
fall, and little during the winter. The Grislick Hills
Pass often closes during winter as the hills become
difficult to traverse in the snow.
These two routes
intersect inside the village and
divides the village into its four districts; Hearth,
West Shoppe, South Shoppe and Warehouse.
The Hearth district dominates nearly half the village,
lying on the west side of the Dragon’s Tail. It is
where almost all residents of the village live. Most
of the homes are tall and narrow two-story buildings.
Vines grow along the sides of many of the buildings.
There are close to 200 homes here, and the average
family, which spans three generations, consists of
three to five adults and four to eight children.
The original village
cemetery and mausoleum is located
inside the hearth district, and has some grave markers
from as far as seven hundred years ago, though most
grave markers are no older than 200 years. Shrines to
the gods Kelemvor, Tyr, Torm, Ilmater, Chauntea, Sune
and Tempus can be found in a stone building in the
center of the site. Old Ben is the groundskeeper and
lives in a small cottage across from the cemetery.
The grove of the Druidress Miori, one of the village’s
three aldermen, is located in the Hearth District. Her
grove is in and around the ruins of an old tavern
which burned down over 200 years ago. Now, the frame
of the tavern is covered in vines, small trees and
shrubs fill walkways and rooms, and a giant oak grows
over the old well.
The largest structure in
the city, the Stonesmite
Tower, also lies in the district. Standing 50 feet
tall, it was built by the Stonesmite dwarf clan for a
wizard whose name time has forgotten. It is now home
to the Village Watch, commanded by Captain Allan
Verhees. He and his score of men act as watch and
constabulary, and also man the towers located at each
corner of the village and the guardhouses at the three
village gates. The top of the tower is home to a light
catapult. Inside one of the rooms of the tower are
many runes and sigils inscribed into the walls.
The West Shoppe district
is a collection of shops and
businesses which lines the west side of the Dragon’s
Tail and acts as a buffer between the Hearth District
and the rest of the city. The businesses located along
the district tend to be specialized ones, such as the
limner, the florist, the baker and others. Like most
buildings in town, these are two-story structures,
with many business owners living in the upper floor.
Some shopkeepers live in homes of their own, and rent
out the loft space to travelers seeking privacy, with
rates ranging from 1gp per night to as much as 5gp per
night.
Several businesses bear
mentioning. The village’s lone inn, The Troll’s Head Inn, is located here.
It’s namesake comes not from a sign, for there is none, but from the lacquered
head of a troll kept on a pike outside of the inn. The proprietor is
Oliver "Pig" Miller, and ugly but affable man who is
one of the village’s three aldermen. His inn stands two stories, with a small third story on the
building’s south end. The ground floor of the inn
features a large barroom with tables and seating for 80 men, a bar, a kitchen, a commons sleeping room, two
baths and a wash room for clothing. The second floor has 30 rooms, each with two cots, a table with two
stools and a small chest. The small third floor consists of four suites, each with a bed, table with
two chairs, standing wardrobe and washbasin for bathing.
The Sheltering Stones,
the local watering hole, is
just across from the intersection of the two trade
routes. It is run by Tiny Rupert, a bear of a man who
loves to tell bad jokes.
Alark Mohair’s Curios
lies in the north part of the
district. The curiosity shop is housed in a one story
A-frame house, resembling a roof minus the house
sitting on the ground. Brightly painted red and
yellow, it is the home of Alark Mohair, the resident
jeweler. The shop itself is home to antiques, curios
and simple junk traded and found by travelers along
the trade routes.
The Whispering Bough is
the village’s only boarding
house. Mary Jane Cimino runs this little
establishment, which appears to be three
interconnected cottages. The outside is cozy and
quaint, the inside comfortable.
The Warehouse district
is bordered by the Dragon’s
Tail on the west and the Grislick Hills Pass on the
south. It is mainly a collection of large buildings
which house goods and livestock during the trading
season. Located along the southern part of the
district is John Stablehand’s stables. Here horses may
be stabled, bought and sold. Several trading
companies, such as the Six Silver Coffers and the Vast
Traders Consortium have warehouses here. An
independent merchant of note, Guilder Kailen,
maintains a warehouse here as well. Kailen is a
frequent visitor to Thall, traveling exclusively
between Calaunt and Raven’s Bluff. He often employs
local men to act as guards for the journey and is said
to pay well.
The South Shoppe
district is home to all of the
village’s industries, such as the blacksmith’s shop,
the masons and the glass blowers shop. Of note is Lui
Shan’s, a small bindery and printer run by a refugee
from the Tungian Wars, Lui Shan of Shou Lung. Luis
Shan buys and sells tomes and scrolls, and has several
maps of the Vast and surrounding regions.
The name of the town
blacksmith is Vaard. Vaard, a
rugged barbarian from the Earthspur mountains, works
all the metals in town. He and his two journeymen Hlar
and Ivarn also do some armor and weaponsmithing,
though none of the weapons are particularly exotic.
Kergan Stonesmite runs Stonesmite Quarries, which
extracts marble, quartz, copper and iron from the
coastal mountain ranges and the Grislick Hills, and
either ships the raw materials along the trade ways or
works them in the city for trade. Members of the
Stonesmite clan have lived in and around the city for
over 500 years, helping it rebuild twice. They are
very typical dwarves, acting dour and gruff, driving a
hard bargain, and always delivering upon their
promises.
The only temple in town
is the majestic Steadfast
Hall. This temple to Torm stands three stories and
dominates the square of the city. Built only 10 years
ago over the ruins of the old church by the Stonesmite
clan, the temple is built as if it were a tower rising
out of a the natural stone of a mountain, appearing at
once to be above and a part of the mountain. The stone
is a rich bronze color, and the doors to the temple
are deep redwood framed in gold. A golden lion statue
sits alert guarding each side of the temple, and seven
other lions sit alert along the ledges of the
mountain. Head of the temple is Deornath the Right Hand, the
third of the town’s aldermen. A retired adventurer and
crusader for Torm, he witnessed the colossal battle in
Tantras during the Time of Troubles and has battled
against the church of Cyric since then. When this new
temple was built he retired from crusading in order to
assume duties as temple leader. His congregation
consists of over two thirds of the town’s population.
Assisting him in his duties are fellow priests Arien
Borthien and Curan Ondier. A paladin of Helm, Ajantis
Bladesimmer, serves the temple as guard as part of his
church’s acts of repentance for conflict between the
faiths during the Time of Trouble.
Lord Barel Hestean is
the only nobleman in the
village. A bannerette knight to a noble in Tantras,
Lord Hestean maintains a fine home in the heart of the
residential district. The cottage is twice the size of
any in the city, and a beautiful garden is found on
the grounds of the home. Lord Hestean takes little
interest in how the town is run, preferring to spend
his time at his first love – falconry. But, at the
urging of Deornath, Lord Hestean is head of the local
militia, and once a month takes out his lance, mounts
his war horse, chooses his favorite falcon, and holds
drills outside the city with the militia, a collection
of irregulars and pikemen. Lord Hestean’s home also holds the only library in
the village, maintained by his herald Callista Medeore, a beautiful and witty
woman. She is something of a
genealogist and takes a great deal of pride in knowing
the tangled webs of relation among the villages many families.
The city has little
former organized government
outside of its aldermen. The three alderman are
usually elected less by mass vote and more by popular
consensus. The current aldermen are the druidress
Miori, Deornath the Right Hand and Oliver "Pig"
Miller. The three rarely meet as a group, preferring
to visit with one another in informal ways, such as
over dinner or after a church service. Each has agreed
to handle certain areas as ones of expertise. Miller
concerns himself with the economic aspects of the
city, Miori serves as arbitrator and Deornath serves
as ear of the people, listening to their complaints
and working to improve the city. Each is comfortable
with the other and there is no animosity between them.
Miori and Deornath are even linked in a more romantic
way, though nothing is ever apparent to the general
populace.
Shopping
in Thall
Tavern and Inn Prices