The Trading Post of Skara

1.  THE TRADING POST OF SKARA

SKARA is not much more than a homestead surrounded by high stone walls. Within the stone walls the stench of the pigsties and racks of curing furs mingles with the ordinary smell of Vynheim ‘civilization’ – horses, wood smoke, and humanity. There are two main buildings in the settlement – the TRADING POST and the INN, along with stables and a makeshift forge. When trading is good, there will be tents pitched outside the walls with traders – human, dwarf, and even wild elf, bringing all kind of business to Skara. Times are not so good.

1a. VIGMAR’S TRADING POST

VIGMAR BEAR-HUSBAND is a big, impossibly hairy man. He barely speaks, except to brusquely state a price. He is widely un-liked by the woodsmen, who resent his price-gouging. The joke goes that Vigmar sneaks out into the forest at night for midnight trysts with his bear-wife, the only female who would have him as a husband. The whispered rumour says that he is a were-bear, and that at least some of the missing woodsmen met their end at his paws.

Vigmar’s trading post has the monopoly on the fur trade in Skara, a monopoly that was built by a pioneering spirit and a physically ruthless way with rivals. Adventurers will note that he stocks a range of general equipment and simple weapons – handaxes, spears, short bows, and the like – at ‘village’ prices (AFF 106-8). The only armour he stocks are small shields and coats of heavy fur. The latter protect as a leather cuirass, but cost 70GP. He buys furs, and also takes a first option on any trinkets of treasures discovered by the woodsmen – or the Adventurers – in the forest.

VIGMAR BEAR-HUSBAND

Adventurers Bargaining with Vigmar suffer a -2 (Difficult) modifier to their Skill Test.

SKILL 8 STAMINA ⑫⑪⑩⑨⑧⑦⑥⑤④③②①

Weapon	1	2	3	4	5	6	7+
Handaxe	2	2	2	3	3	3	4
Fists	1	1	1	1	1	2	3

 Vigmar gains +1 to damage rolls due to his prodigious strength.

Armour	1	2	3	4	5	6	7+
Heavy Furs	0	0	0	0	1	1	2

1b. ARNULF’S INN

ARNULF SMALL-BEER is tall thin man of jaundiced complexion. He is a thoughtful, quiet man, and seems to quietly resent his rough customers. From the watered wines and ales that he sells, he certainly doesn’t enjoy displays of drunkenness. The rumour goes that he is a defrocked priest of Hamaskis, but this doesn’t seem likely as the inn contains not a single book, as far as anyone knows. That being the case, Arnulf displays his education to his unwitting customers by constant, often sarcastic, literary references. If he isn’t dealing with a customer, he will most likely be found sitting with eyes closed, his hands crossed, as if in meditation.

Arnulf’s inn sells cheap, watered down beers and wines and bacon stews at ‘village’ prices (AFF 107). There are four rooms, each with three beds (5gp/room/night), as well as a common room (1gp/person/night).

ARNULF SMALL-BEER

SKILL 5 STAMINA ⑥⑤④③②①

Weapon	1	2	3	4	5	6	7+
Dagger	1	1	2	2	2	2	3
Fists	1	1	1	1	1	2	3

1c. GWALIN THE TINKER

GWALIN is an itinerant sword-straightener, horse-shoer, armour-mender and all round petty craftsman. A DWARF, he is of immense girth, and the broken veins in his bulbous red nose tell of the liquid origins of his mass. He is outwardly jolly, but is extremely lonely, and can be a tearful drunk. Some say that he was a renowned smith in the forges of Fangthane itself, but those days must be long in the past. He travels the trading posts of the Vynheim wilderness, building up bar tabs that his tinkering can barely cover. He carries all his possessions on his back, which makes for an odd sight in the wild – a near ball-shaped Dwarf carrying a pack nearly twice his own size, tools (and weapons) hanging from straps and buckles. When in Skara, Gwalin sets up ‘home’ in the stables.   

GWALIN

SKILL 7 STAMINA ⑩⑨⑧⑦⑥⑤④③②①

Weapon	1	2	3	4	5	6	7+
Battleaxe	3	3	3	3	4	4	5
Crossbow	2	2	3	3	4	4	5
Fists	1	1	1	1	1	2	3

Armour	1	2	3	4	5	6	7+
Chainmail Cuirass	0	0	0	1	2	2	3

1d. BRIDGET FEATHER-HAIR

BRIDGET FEATHER-HAIR is a hunter. Of strikingly angular features, she wears bright feathers in her hair, the colours she chooses changing with her mood. She is a notable archer, and is also a fletcher whose arrows are in great demand. There is widespread belief that her craft possesses magical qualities. The rumour has it that she spends time with the WILD ELVES, and that under her clothes her body is covered in their strange tattoos. She claims that she will only make arrows for hunters tracking beasts for which they know the ‘true name’, which she claims to learn through herb-induced trances. In reality, though, she can be persuaded to make a small number (1-3) of arrows with special, if minor quasi-magical qualities. Example minor qualities: +1 SKILL, or roll two d6 for damage choosing the best. Other, particular qualities could be imbued, given time, motivation, and the right material – specific wood, rare feathers, or particular stone of metal arrowheads.

BRIDGET

SKILL 7 STAMINA ⑧⑦⑥⑤④③②①

Weapon	1	2	3	4	5	6	7+
Longbow	2	3	3	3	3	4	5
Spear	2	2	3	3	3	4	5
Fists	1	1	1	1	1	2	3

Bridget is an expert archer, receiving +2 to SKILL and +1 to damage rolls when using her bow.

1c. WOODSMEN

At any one time there are 2d6 WOODSMEN in Skara. These are hard, wiry, men and women, all gnarled muscles and flint-eyed stares. Even more so now that the GIANT SPIDERS have made the forest that much more dangerous. While not the most communicative, these hardy people can be persuaded to tell what they know of the people of Skara, and the wilderness.

WOODSMEN

SKILL 6 STAMINA ⑥⑤④③②①

Weapon	1	2	3	4	5	6	7+
Shortbow	1	2	2	3	3	3	4
Spear	2	2	3	3	3	4	5
Fists	1	1	1	1	1	2	3

What the (2d6) Woodsmen Have to Say

2 - It’s a curse, aint it? You find old bits and pieces out there in the woods, overgrown like. But there were people here a long time ago, and they’re not happy we’re here, tramping over their graves like.

3 - What eats spiders? Frogs? Toads? We need to find a giant frog or two and let them loose up here. Silly Siggi should get one his wise men or wizards to sort it out, but I bet they can’t. Turn men into toads, yes, but what we need is something, I dunno, big as a horse? Maybe Vigmar could volunteer!

4 - Here’s how I see it. If there’s a storm coming, you sacrifice to Sukh. If the winter is bad, we offer something up to Farigiss. That’s rational thinking. So I don’t see why we shouldn’t try, you know, appeasing Arhallogen. I know the Wild Elves worship some of the Beast Lords, s’not done them no harm. Oh, forget it. I didn’t say nothing.

5 - There’s some good hunting to be had up top, if you climb the stairs. Some big, nasty bears, and wild boars not much smaller. Spear a few of those and you’ll be in hog heaven – well, at least you’ll have a few weeks of pork stew and weak beer. Just mind you don’t skewer a pretty she-bear. Only Vigmar’s allowed to stick his spear in her! Hugh-huh!

6 - The Jarl needs to send his fighting men up here. But no, Silly Siggi is too busy pretending that he isn’t even a Vynheimer at all. Wishes he was over the sea, somewhere, in some city where the buildings are taller than any tree. Dreamer! His uncle ought be ashamed.

7 - I saw one of them giant spiders a couple of weeks back. Looked me right in the face, aye, about as far away as from that fella over there to here. Its eyes were clever!

8 - King Harald’s Crown is a weird place. I don’t like spending more time than I have to even near there. It’s so quiet – you don’t realise how noisy the forest is until you climb that dead hill.

9 – There’ll be a nest. A great, crawling nightmare of a nest. And we need to find it and burn it, before we’ve got our backs to Bjorngrim’s Sea, with all this land lost to evil and chaos.

10 - Ingmar, Tomas, Hakon… I bet they’re strung up in some tree, right now, wrapped up in webs and begging for someone to come.

11 - I was drunk, I’ll admit it. But some of them trees move. No, really, they do. They walks!

12 - I reckon that story your Mam tells you is true. You know, the one about the man who went off into the Freezeblood Mountains and fell in love with one of the daughters of Arhallogen. Must have been a leg man! Huh-huh! It’s all his kids that are swarming through the forests, stands to reason, yeah?