Thornhaven
A Frontier Trading Post
At the edge of the Ashwild, where the trade road meets the River Keld, stands a rough-hewn settlement held together by ambition, timber, and the iron will of its founder. Thornhaven is a place where fortunes are made, secrets fester, and every stranger who walks through the gate might be the one who changes everything. This is what a Marchforge town pack looks like.
The Lay of Thornhaven
Thornhaven sits at the convergence of the Ashwild Trail and the River Keld — a rough-hewn frontier trading post built around a central market square. Timber palisades encircle the settlement, more statement of intent than true fortification. Smoke rises from a dozen chimneys. The air smells of pine resin, river mud, and opportunity.
The Keld Gate
NorthThe main entrance to Thornhaven. A rickety wooden bridge spans the River Keld here, wide enough for a single cart. The pilings are reinforced quarterly — and always slightly behind schedule. Two militia with pikes stand watch during daylight hours.
Market Square
CentralThe beating heart of Thornhaven. Merchant stalls crowd around a stone well and a weathered notice board covered in wanted posters, job listings, and one faded map nobody can read. On trade days, the square is shoulder-to-shoulder. On quiet days, it feels exposed.
The Palisade
PerimeterRough timber walls standing twelve feet high, with four watch platforms at the corners. Effective against wildlife and bandits. Against anything more organized, the townsfolk prefer not to think about it.
The Burned Quarter
EastA cluster of charred foundations and blackened timbers — the remains of six buildings destroyed in a fire two months ago. The official cause is a knocked-over lantern. The unofficial cause is the subject of every whispered conversation in town. Nothing has been rebuilt. Nothing grows there right.
Thornhaven Hall
WestMaren Ashford's longhouse and the seat of Thornhaven's governance. A sturdy timber structure with a central hearth, a meeting table that seats twelve, and a locked back room that Maren alone enters. Town decisions are made here over strong ale and blunt words.
The Riverside Docks
SouthThree small jetties jutting into the Keld, used by flatboats and pole-rafts carrying goods downriver. A fishmonger works the bank. The docks are Thornhaven's quietest corner — good for private conversations and worse for private meetings.
The People of Thornhaven
Every person in Thornhaven has a reason for being at the edge of the world. None of those reasons are simple. Click any character to reveal their full backstory, secret, and quest hook.
Maren served for fifteen years in a mercenary company before the weight of what she'd done drove her to leave. She came to the frontier to build rather than destroy, founding Thornhaven as a place where people could start over — just as she had. She governs with fairness but brooks no nonsense, and the townsfolk respect her for it.
She's been receiving threatening letters from Gregor Valke, a bandit lord she once served under. He knows where she is, and he wants a cut of Thornhaven's trade profits — or he'll tell the town what she did during the Saltmere Raid.
Maren asks the party to intercept a messenger on the Ashwild Trail before a sealed letter reaches the town notice board. She won't say what's in it. If pressed, she'll admit her past is catching up — but not the full truth.
Dorek arrived in Thornhaven three years ago with a lockbox and a handshake. He set up the only currency exchange in town and quickly made himself indispensable. Merchants trust him because he's precise. What they don't know is that precision serves his own interests first.
He's been clipping coins — shaving thin layers of gold and silver from every transaction and melting the shavings into ingots stored in a hidden cellar beneath his shop. He's amassed a small fortune that doesn't appear in any ledger.
Dorek hires the party to retrieve a stolen lockbox from a rival fence in a nearby camp. What he doesn't mention: the lockbox contains his private ledger detailing every clipped coin. If the party opens it, they hold his fate in their hands.
Elara came to Thornhaven claiming to be a simple hedge witch. In truth, she's a formally trained wizard who fled the Athenaeum — a prestigious magical academy — after a political disagreement with its headmaster. She chose the frontier because she thought no one would look for a wizard in a place that barely has plumbing.
The Athenaeum hasn't forgotten her. She's seen their agents in nearby towns and knows it's only a matter of time. She has powerful magic she refuses to use openly, for fear of being found.
Strange blighted plants are creeping outward from the Burned Quarter — twisted, blackened things that shouldn't grow. Elara needs someone to gather samples from the center of the corruption. She suspects magical contamination but can't investigate without revealing what she really is.
Hamund once served a prominent temple in a city far to the south. He was known for his healing gifts — until a desperate night when a miscast blessing killed the very person he was trying to save. He was quietly defrocked. He's wandered ever since, offering prayers and aid to those who'll accept it.
He's a defrocked priest who accidentally killed a young acolyte with a miscast divine spell. The guilt has never left him, and he hasn't attempted to channel divine magic since. He fears the gods have abandoned him — or worse, that they haven't.
Hamund has been hearing whispers rising from the old stone well in the market square — voices that call his name. He believes something is trapped below and wants someone brave enough to descend. He'll offer his journal, which contains maps and lore from a lifetime of travel, as payment.
Kessa grew up in the Ashwild. She knows every trail, hollow, and game path within fifty miles of Thornhaven. She sells pelts and serves as a guide for caravans, but her real value is intelligence — she's the first to know when something changes in the wilds.
Two weeks ago, she found humanoid tracks near the Burned Quarter — large, clawed, and walking upright. She hasn't reported them to anyone. She's terrified of what made them, because the tracks match stories her grandmother told her about things that shouldn't exist.
Merchant Aldric Thane's caravan is three days overdue. Kessa found the trail but it veers off the main road deep into the Ashwild. She'll guide the party, but the trail leads somewhere she explicitly warned the merchant never to go.
Shops & Inventories
Three establishments serve Thornhaven's commercial needs. Items marked with gold are custom creations unique to this town pack.
Ashford General Goods
Proprietor: Tam Ashford (Maren's nephew — eager, clumsy, honest)
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Trail Rations (5 days) | 3 gp |
| Rope, 50 ft hemp | 1 gp |
| Tinderbox | 5 sp |
| Torch (bundle of 6) | 1 gp |
| Waterskin | 2 sp |
| Traveler's Pack | 8 gp |
| Frontier Map (local area, hand-drawn) | 5 gp |
| Bear Trap | 10 gp |
| Thornhaven Firebrew (strong local ale, 1 flask) | 3 sp |
| Keld River Salve (heals 1d4 HP, herbal) | 15 gp |
Elara's Apothecary
Proprietor: Elara Thornwick (knows more than she lets on)
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Healing Potion (2d4+2 HP) | 50 gp |
| Antitoxin | 50 gp |
| Potion of Darkvision (1 hour) | 75 gp |
| Dried Healroot Bundle | 5 gp |
| Ashwild Smelling Salts (end one charm/sleep effect) | 25 gp |
| Thornhaven Smoke Bomb (10 ft fog, 1 round) | 15 gp |
| Blightward Paste (adv. on saves vs. disease, 8 hrs) | 30 gp |
| Herbalism Kit | 5 gp |
Dorek's Exchange & Curiosities
Proprietor: Dorek "Coinbite" Varn (fair rates — for him)
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Currency Exchange | 5% fee |
| Gem Appraisal | 1 gp |
| Compass of Faint Bearing (points north, faintly magical) | 40 gp |
| Sealed Letter of Credit (good at any major city) | face + 10% |
| Signet Ring (custom, 2 day wait) | 25 gp |
| Locked Iron Strongbox | 15 gp |
| Curious Coin (unknown origin, hums faintly when held) | 100 gp |
| Used Adventurer's Journal | 3 gp |
Adventure Hooks
Each hook connects to the NPCs and locations above. Both offer branching paths — the DM chooses which truth fits their table.
“The Burning Truth”
The Burned Quarter didn't catch fire by accident. Elara has noticed blighted plants creeping outward from the ruins — twisted, blackened things that pulse faintly in moonlight. Brother Hamund swears he hears chanting at night. If the party investigates, they find a collapsed cellar beneath the ruins containing a still-smoldering ritual circle drawn in ash and something darker.
A cult operating in the nearby forest has been using the ruins as a summoning site. The fire was a ritual that went wrong — or exactly right. The corruption is spreading, and the cult will return.
A desperate townsperson attempted a forbidden ritual to save a dying loved one — and lost control. The truth is tragic, not sinister. But the corruption doesn't care about intentions.
Connects to: Elara Thornwick, Brother Hamund, The Burned Quarter
“The Overdue Caravan”
Merchant Aldric Thane left Thornhaven ten days ago with a cart of trade goods and was expected back three days ago. Maren is concerned — Aldric is reliable, and the Ashwild doesn't forgive mistakes. Kessa found the caravan trail, but it veers sharply off the main road into deep forest. Something pulled him off course.
The caravan was ambushed by agents of Gregor Valke — the bandit lord from Maren's past. Aldric is alive but being used as leverage. This ties directly to Maren's secret and forces the party to choose sides.
Aldric intentionally detoured to a hidden ruin he'd been researching for months. The party finds him alive but trapped inside. What he found down there is worth a fortune — and has already attracted attention.
Connects to: Maren Ashford, Kessa “Redtail” Mirova, The Ashwild Trail
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