Blackwind's Tower Chapter 2

Badger set down the heavy wheelbarrow with a grunt. He had asked for a cart and the wizard had produced a rickety wheelbarrow from inside his shop without a word. Then he had nodded at Badger locked the shop door and walked off at a brisk pace. Clearly, the wizard felt he had done his part. It had been up to Badger to drag and stuff the man’s body into the cart. He had furtively moved the body down a back alley before finding bags of garbage behind a butcher’s shop to pile on top of it.

At first, Badger had looked about for somewhere to quickly dispose of the corpse - garbage heaps, sewers or dark holes. But, it turned out, Pirn was pretty clean for a town of its size and clearly had no sewers. So Badger realized he was going to have to get the body out the gates to the garbage dump. Getting past the guards at the gates were not going to be easy.

As a stranger to Pirn, he was bound to attract some attention from the guards at the gate. Looking down at the load in the wheelbarrow Badger could see a loose arm dangling out from under a bag of garbage. Bending down he moved to push the arm back under the garbage.

“How do I get into these situations,” Badger thought as he carefully covered the body with garbage. Pirn was the end of the line for Badger. Located at the final stop on the edge of the Realms before the Wilderlands. Badger was a child of the cities. An orphan raised by a street gang in Shallowport. Chased out of Shallowport he had wandered further and further to the edges of the Realms. From here there was nowhere else to go.

“And now in my third day in the town, I am already disposing of bodies,” Badger mused with disgust. “At least this one was not my doing.” Still, depending on how he played it, the wizard should now owe Badger a favour. Of course, the wizard might not react well to being asked for a favour. “If I can just get this body out of here - and get back in.”

Ahead lay the Quarter Market gate. Two square towers with the gate between them. The gate was open and clear but three guards were on duty. Likely the gate would close at dusk. Looking about, Badger could see the shadows lengthening. Dusk would come soon.

Two guards had stacked their polearms against the wall and had their attention focused on a set of dice they were rolling onto the dirt just outside the gate. But a third guard was checking people walking in and out of the gate.

He needed a distraction of some sort Badger watched the gate for several minutes before he spotted his opportunity.  Approaching the gate leading a horse, was a man clad in worn armor, a sword swinging at his hip. The horse was laden with a half dozen full sacks. Just behind the horse came another, smaller man with a heavy sack slung over one shoulder. This pair was going to get the guards attention.

Badger quickly lifted the wheelbarrow and pushed it into the fading sunlight of the gate square. He had to time it just right. He approached the gate as far away from the alert guard as he could, timed for just as the two travellers approached. Badger ducked his head down and put his best “bored peasant” expression on his face. It was one of his best skills at avoiding notice. Look away but do not appear to be looking away.

“Hold and state your business!”

The guard spoke out, Badger kept moving assuming the guard was speaking to the incoming travellers. “Travellers looking to enjoy a clean bed in your fair town”, came the reply. Good, they have his attention thought Badger.

Surreptitiously, he peered toward the two guards to the right. Their attention was held by the dice and they did not even spare Badger a glance.

“Damn dice are against me today,” Badger heard one of the guards curse. Then as he moved off he heard one of the guards straighten up.

“Who is that with the wheelbarrow?” came a distinct voice. “Never mind him, throw the dice I mean to win back my coppers, Jadon”.

Badger relaxed his breath, his heart was beating a little faster than normal but he had things under control. He continued on down the road with a calm gait.

The Quarter Gate

Pirn was built on top of a hill. The path from the gate moved down the side of the hill at a gradual angle. To either side of the road, Badger could see small piles of garbage carelessly dumped. Mice and rats darted amongst the refuse.  It would be best to move further to one of the pits where the garbage was supposed to be dumped, Badger thought. He straightened and looked in the direction of the setting sun. He figured he only had a short time before the sun dropped beneath the distant hills. Unless he wanted to be sleeping outside he needed to move on quickly.

Up ahead, off to one side of the road was a large pit, a natural formation formed in the side of a hill. Piles of refuse filled the pit. A few wild dogs ranged amongst the garbage. Badger levered the wheelbarrow to the edge of the pit. He looked about to make sure no one was in sight. The towers of Pirn still had a clear view of him but he reasoned he was too far away for anyone to see what he was doing. He removed the bags of garbage and set them down then dragged the body from the wheelbarrow. The corpse was heavy but not something Badger could not manage. Too big to run in the street gang back home anymore, Badger was quite strong. That strength that had scared the gang leader and led to him being chased out of Shallowport. Badger grabbed the feet of the dead man and dragged him well into the garbage. Then he made two trips to drop the bags of garbage on the corpse to hide it completely.

As he checked that the corpse was covered, Badger heard a low growling. Looking up he saw a mangy black dog glaring at him from 15 feet away. Four other dogs edged forward behind the black dog.

“It's all yours, I was just leaving,” Badger said and waved toward the corpse with his hand. Time to get out of here. Badger carefully walked back up out of the pit to the cart.

The sun was setting. Grabbing the cart he lifted and pushed at a brisk pace back toward the gate into Pirn.

Town of Pirn

For adventurers’ in a Stillwater Valley campaign, most of the places they can go for goods and services are limited. Padotan is the largest settlement in the valley and it only has a population of 200. Even with Padotan’s reputation as a place to buy and sell goods with no questions asked, the three or four merchant shops located in the village can only provide the bare necessities.

However, the town of Pirn, located just off my Further Afield Map to the east is an ideal location for adventurers to spend their hard-won gold on goods and services including a fair amount of simple magic.

Pirn Map

PIRN

Pirn is a small town with a population frequently in flux but rarely dipping below 1,200 or more than 1,600. There are about 200 buildings on a hill surrounded by a 25 foot stone wall. The town is at the westernmost terminus of the King’s Road and is the furthest extent of the reach of the Kingdoms known as the Realms. The Lord Mayor of Pirn is appointed by the King but the King makes his choice from a list of candidates sent to the King by the guilds of Pirn. Usually, the list has only one name on it. The Lord Mayor of Pirn is in complete control of the town in all but name.

Development

I envisioned a town laid out similar to late medieval towns in Tuscany. Situated on a hill for protection with a number of merchants maintaining lofty towers. The towers were originally built for defense before the stone walls were constructed. Now the towers are built for prestige. Each merchant wants to have the tallest tower. The towers on the town map are represented by the dark blue squares.

The area where the town is located is on the edge of the wilderness. Stillwater valley is relatively safe but goblin warbands have still be known to attack Pirn. The most recent unsuccessful attack occurred just 8 years previous. For this reason, there are few farmhouses located outside the walls of the town. Most farmers live in the town and maintain a small shack on their plot of land. There are also some farms located inside the walls of the town.

Modeling

I started off with a render of a market square. I was not following any plan at all. So I created the town map to use as a guide. I have completed most of the buildings around the Quarter Market a few of the side streets and a section of the wall including the Quarter Market Gate. It is doubtful I would ever model the entire town because it would be a lengthy undertaking.

The Quarter Market and the Black Witch Inn

One of Pirn's Towers, Blackwind's Home

An Encounter at Pirn

Darkness fell over the town of Pirn. Shopkeepers carefully locked up their shops and retreated to their homes. Carts were packed up and rolled away. Lights began to come on in the taverns as what little activity occurred after dark moved to those few establishments.

In the narrow streets of the Quarter Market, all was quiet, except one slim figure moving carefully through the shadows at the edge of the street.

Badger checked the location of his cudgel tucked into his cloak once more and continued quickly along the street. He had hoped to waylay a late closing shopkeeper but had tarried a little too long in his den and now it was late.

Then ahead Badger saw one shopkeeper closing and locking a back door to a shop. Edging closer Badger readied his cudgel. If he could get close, a quick rap on the head and he could make off with the shopkeeper’s purse. He peered at the shopkeeper thirty feet ahead of him. The shopkeeper held himself like an older man, stooped and thin. It appeared he had a beard though his back was too Badger.

Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, Badger saw movement. A large figure stepped out from an alleyway. Badger was shocked that he had not noted him. Badger edged back into the darkness. The figure raised a crossbow and aimed at the shopkeepers back.

“Look out!”

Not thinking Badger yelled a warning and leaped forward his cudgel raised at the ready. The shopkeeper began to turn at the noise. A crossbow bolt struck him at that moment in the back and strangely fell to the ground.

The shopkeeper turned to face his attacker. Badger could see he had a short, white beard and a narrow face. The shopkeeper raised one hand and mumbled something in a strange lyrical speech. Balls of violet light flew from his fingertips striking the assassin multiple times. Badger faltered in mid-step his mouth hanging open as the smouldering corpse of the assassin crumpled to the cobbled street.

Badger meets a surprising Shopkeeper

The shopkeeper looked up at Badger and murmured again in the strange language. Badger felt his muscles tighten. He could no longer move. The shopkeeper stepped toward the corpse lying on the street. Badger strained his muscles with all his might. Only his eyes moved. There was a moment of panic while Badger struggled to breathe but he realized his breathing was still normal he had just been holding his breath. Blackness briefly swirled in front of his eyes but he fought it away and refocused.

The shopkeeper, no the wizard, Badger could no longer consider the old man a shopkeeper, stood up and glanced toward Badger. The old wizard had finished his inspection of the smoking corpse and was now up in Badger’s face staring intently at him.

“So. Who do we have here?”

The old man looked into Badger’s eyes appraising him.

“Not an assassin I think. A thief perhaps?

“Hmm?” the man groomed his beard.

“Well I have a use for you young man”

The old man snapped his fingers and turned to the corpse. “You can start by disposing of that”.

Badger felt control returning to his body. He fell to his knees and took a deep breath.  He had to flee, run, get out of here and away from this crazy wizard. Shopkeepers were safe prey, but magic was something else entirely.

As Badger got to his feet and turned the old man glanced expectantly at him.

“I’ll need a cart”, Badger heard himself saying.