Bracken Hill
| Population | 150 |
| Demographics |
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| Region | The Kingdom Of Mana |
Bracken Hill is a small trading post and rest station along the highway between Manahelm and [[ Catapor ]]. The town is spread out in a line along the highway, with a small tavern towards the center. The tavern keeper, Argorwyrm, known by the townsfolke as ‘Keep’, runs the business, as well as renting out sleeping spaces in the basement and some miscellaneous structures out the back of the tavern. He also runs many other ventures from the tavern.
The Attack on Bracken Hill
This is a description of the events of the adventure Defending Bracken Hill.
On the 29th of Hex (June), 203CE, the town was assaulted by a large group of bandits who had created a base of operations in an old Goblin encampment in the roods to the North.
A large quantity of the town fled, but around 30 residents stayed to take up arms in other ways, including the local Blacksmith, Carpenter and Lumberjack, a retired healer, Argorwyrm, and some miscellaneous townsfolk.
Among those that stayed were Argo Turinden the trapper, who first discovered the camp, Lard the guard (no relation), who was the last guard remained posted in town after the rest were called to leave, and Bellindor Tristen, a bounty hunter based out of Catapor, who happened to be in town at the time.
Argo, Lard, and Bellindor travelled into the forest to gather more information about the camp, and found a structure and found a giant bandit camp spread out, surrounded by goblin palisade walls. Inside the camp were dozens of tents, as well as two wooden structures. One of the structures was sealed off from the light, and had a yellow sun (symbol of Solarum, the Golden Light) on the door. The other was a storehouse, which happened to contain a large quantity of black powder, likely stolen from Manan ships travelling along the South Tar.
Argo attached a rag to one of his arrows and lit it on fire, then shot it through a small window into the store room from 300ft away, causing a massive explosion that wiped out a fair quantity of bandits, and a lot of their equipment.
After returning to town, Argo, Lard, and Bellindor lead the preparations to protect the town. Lard set some traps and built an platform for archers on the tavern roof, Bellindor helped dig a lot of holes and created three mantlets, as well as helped plan for the assault, and Lard helped dig some of the holes and spent two days training the remaining civilians in archery.
When the bandits eventually attacked at night, they were ready. Lard and Bellindor had taken up positions between the tavern and the forest, behind the mantlets, and Argo was on the roof ready to guide the townsfolk’s volleys.
The first bandit to emerge from the forest was quickly dispatched by a well placed arrow from Argo, then the rest followed in, including multiple mages, and an ex-paladin of Solarum, the golden light, wielding a shield with a bleeding sun, and a sword that absorbed blood of enemies.
The ex-paladin had been cursed by solarum to always be lit, to have light blindness, and to take damage from direct sunlight.
All in all there were 23 bandits remaining to attack against 16 civilian archers and 3 trained fighters.
Lard and Bellindor took the fight to the to the approaching bandits and managed to keep them at mid-range away from the tavern, while Lard and the civilians shot arrows into them from afar.
After some time, a cluster of bandits started firing at the civilian archers, and they were told to retreat by Argo.
After a protracted battle, leaving Lard and Bellindor heavily damaged, the last man stadning was the ex-paladin, who managed to outlast countless blows from the adventurers, due to his good armor and combat expertise. Eventually, Lard managed to place the final strike and topple the foe.