Standing on the fringes of a vast and noisome swamp, Thornhill is a miserable, hard place of cloying mud, grasping thorns and insular, superstitious folk. There is a little cheer to be had in Thornhill; the few visitors describing it as dull and dreary as the surrounding swamps. For all that, though, a steady trickle of adventurers visit Thornhill for the half-buried and drowned ruins of several tombs said to lie forgotten in the surrounding marshland and the villagers have friends among the nearby degenerate lizardfolk who make excellent guides in the trackless, far reaches of the swamp.

• Ruler: Aelfgar Wymer 

• Government: Autocracy

• Population: 157 (127 humans, 15 half-orcs, 12 half-elves, 2 halflings, 1 elf)

• Alignments: N, LN, CN, NE

• Languages: Common, Draconic

Standing on the fringes of a vast and noisome fen, Thornhill is a miserable, hard place. The folk are insular and superstitious, keeping to the old ways and worshipping the spirits of the marsh. Surviving on a mixture of hunting, fishing and desultory trade with nearby tribes of lizardfolk, the folk here care little for the world beyond their dismal domain.

Thornhill stands atop a large island in the centre of the deep, but sluggish waters of the Fenwater. A once formidable stockade of aged, sodden timbers surrounds the place. Stands of sickly, dense thorn bushes grow over much of the island and the villagers have deliberately let the bushes grow wild to form an almost impenetrable barrier around the island’s periphery. 

Notable Locations

Most of the village comprises peasant homes. A few locations, however, are of interest to adventurers: 

1. Mud Bridge: This often muddy, stout wooden bridge is the only way to easily reach Thornhill.

2. The Drunken Lizard: Thornhill’s only tavern is a dank, shadowed place. The food and drink are adequate at best. 

3. Wennell’s: Thornhill’s trading station is run by the family of the same name. Densely packed with all manner of mundane things, there is little of obvious interest here for adventurers.

4. Aelfgar Wymer’s House: Here dwells the reeve and his spiteful, shrewish wife, Ricola Wymer. The house is well maintained. 

5. Hall of the Sun: Dedicated to Darlen, elaborate carvings of the rising sun decorate this otherwise humble hall. 

6. Gyric Walwin’s Home: An elderly sage, Gyric Walwin, dwells in this ramshackle old building. Vines and ivy grow over much of his home, crowding out most of the light from the building’s narrow windows. 

7. Osred’s House: Home to Ymma Winbow, this stone building is the oldest and largest in the village. The windows on the third floor command sweeping views over the locality. 

8. Blacksmith: This large building features a workshop at the front containing not only the normal accoutrements of the blacksmith’s trade but also a small pool.

9. Yonwin’s: The stench of this place permeates the whole village. Here the villagers sell their excess catch to Yonwin, a crippled halfling merchant.

10. Isle of the Lizards: A single hut stands upon this island, which the lizardfolk claim as a holy place; Most nights, Zissren leads her fellows in worship to their primitive gods.

Want More?

Thornhill appears in Villages of Ashlar (available in OSR and Pathfinder 1st editions here at the Raging Swan Press store). You can download for free the village’s maps (and the maps for all Ashlar’s villages) in Ashlarian Village Maps.