World of Eave: Copperwood

Copperwood has just beaten back a goblin invasion and is now experiencing a sudden of people and trade from both the Moonsilver Alliance and the Emaan Empire.  The invasion was basically perpetrated by the Emaan Empire as they are moving north and displacing the goblins living among the coast.  It all ended in Copperwood with help from Emaan Empire's Nyss of the Blood, the Moonsilver Alliance's Naikel of the Moonsword and a group of adventurers that were stuck in between the two factions.

Now that the invasion is over, Copperwood is stuck between two powers that don’t get along, but they are both staying.  Nyss of the Blood has set up a small compound to hunt the goblin survivors in the Cold Woods that lie to the west of Copperwood.  But there is another reason why he is staying in Copperwood: Iona Raven's Daughter is a priestess of the Raven Queen.  A curvy, full figured woman who has captured his heart.  Iona is one of the adventuring group.  Nyss is doing everything to make his presence known to be a good thing.  Niakel doesn’t trust him and left in charge for the Moonsilver Alliance a dragonborn fighter by the name Agartaan Turanoth.  It may have been a stab at the Emaan forces there, for their animosity toward the dragonborn.  Agartaan is Knight of the Moon however and is a good choice to lead the Moonsilver contingent. 

There are elves from Courvale that fled before the goblin army and ended up in Coppperwood.  There were only fifty-six elves that made it out of Courvale alive.  The last fifty-six elves of Courvale for most of them left for Emaan Empire over the course of years.  They are led by an elf named Voremon, but their spiritual leader is Ervan of Corellon who leads four acolytes.  There is Liselai Autumnbloom, the most powerful mage in Copperwood.  She was in the first wave to flee Courvale and she came north and settled in Copperwood years ago.  She has a tower in town and is teaching two apprentices.  She sells low level scrolls and spells.

Copperwood is experiencing a period of rapid expansion.  Before there were only two inns, The Silver Frog and Cold Comfort; and three taverns: The Dancing Maiden, The Copper Dragon and The Sad Devil.  Now there are three more inns and eight more taverns being built.  The harbor is being expanded to accommodate the increased traffic that Copperwood in now getting.  Sormen, the village elder is a bit overwhelmed.  He is getting help from his two assistants, the handsome Cowri Granson and Rade One-Hand.  Unfortunately Cowri is firmly in Empire's pocket, while the one-handed Rade is leaning in toward the Alliance.  There is much in the way of new construction here as well.  Not just damage caused in the war with the goblins but new construction as well.  Homes and shops and defensive construction.  There is the House of the Coins and Shield, the temple to Erathis and Bahamut.  The young priestess Corine of Earthis who now runs the temple is a bit swamped with her duties ever since the old priest died.  The Moon House is a temple to Sehanine, and it is run by Holmis, a half-elf who is a devout man and secretly a member of Eclipse.  The name of a spy agency that is run for the Moonsilver Alliance.  As of late there are more temples being built to Kord, Pelor and Avandra.  There are two major trading houses who are at war with each other.  There is the Darvan Trading Coaster based in Moonsilver and Vorkaan Trade House based in the citystate of Altanille, a magocracy that lies across the Sea of Morning.  They are bringing more and more materials to rebuild and fortify the city.

As for defenses, Copperwood is very well defended.  Besides a wall that is being built around the town, there is Brightscale Keep that lies two-miles up along the river is where the Moonsilver Alliance has based themselves.  Already, the Moonsilver Alliance has gotten more troops in here then they had here during the invasion, now that they have more time to arrange the defenses.  Some three-hundred souls make up the Moonsilver's forces and that includes archers, infantry, cavalry, acolytes and a small handful of arcane casters.  The Emaan Empire has a small camp across the river.  Nyss of the Blood still commands in Copperwood.  He is looking at building a bridge on the upriver side of the town and has started planning it.  He only has forty Imperial Emaan Flameshields and ten minotaur Doomhammers as well as the ship named Royal Pain.  Many of the settlers that are coming to the southside of the river are Emaan citizen.  That has caused some strife with the Moonsilver Alliance, but Agartann doesn’t really say anything about it.  The Emaan Empire keeps a low profile, they havent built any defensive buildings for themselves.  Then number of the Emaan Empire hasn’t increased either, all while the Moonsilver Alliance keeps on sending more and more troops here.  With Cowri on the side of the Emaan Empire influencing Sormen, the Alliance will be hard pressed to stay with any power in the months to come.

The whole thing might be moot however.  To the west the river feeds into the Cold Woods and finally into the Frozen Marshes.  In the middle of the marshes lies the greatest threat to the area, Birthice.  Birthice is an elemental volcano, spewing ice and snow.  The elemental chaos is strong in this area as well, the elemental energy slowly mutating creatures that were native to the Frozen Marshes and the Cold Woods.  Lizardmen, for example are cold blooded creatures that usually don’t live in the cold environs of the volcano.  But they do.  The elemental energy of the volcano has mutated many of the creatures who live here to survive here.  Many ice borne creatures have made this area home, but the most dangerous one locals call Hoarfrost, an ancient white dragon.  He makes his home near the top of the volcano.  Frost giants have gathered in this area for they heard the call of the frost titan Gröingar Icy-Death.  He is a frost titan, a shamen of Thrym himself and he is as mean and unforgiving as Birthice itself.  He is attended by the Handmaids of Thrym, six female frost giants and their leader Zordia Frozen-Heart, a giant who is as accurate with her bow as she is with a thrown rock.  Birthice just erupted spewing its cold all the way to Copperwood where it changed the rain to sleet and then snow just as the invasion was broken.  It snowed in the summer causing all to wonder about the ice-volcano.

Groups of adventurers have started out for Birthice, but the one with the greatest chance is the one who did a lot of work during the invasion.  Besides Iona Raven's Daughter, there is Kade of the Ten Blades, Ervan of Corellon, Otto the Mage, Streng the Barbarian and Thonkil the Dwarf.  They ended up slaying the hobgoblin warlord that was leading the goblins.

Other dangers to Copperwood include Henstock the Bandit, an outlaw in the Cold Woods that lie to the west.  He is a handsome man and he avoids killing, preferring to rob his marks.  He is unfortunately being somewhat rousted by the remains of the goblin army and he and his bandits are in a constant fight with them.  There is the herbalist Firena that nobody knows is a worshipper of Suless.  A woman of middle years but still looks beautiful, she has been in the town for several years now.  She set herself up as an herbalist and sells potions, salves and unguents to people as well as buying the odd component from adventurers who gathers them.  She is also slowly corrupting people.  She is thinking about running however due to Marnuck and his Witch Hunters have come to town looking for followers of Suless.  They hunt for followers of the Whore Goddess for Marnuck's own wife was taken and killed by the followers.  There is a newly minted thieves guild that has been set up by way of Kade for the remaining Blades have come to out of Krusad and set up shop.  Otto is wanted in Moonsilver, for the mage is also a con-man.  He has a bounty on him and he is hiding out with his fellow adventurers.  Already Otto and Kade have convinced Streng (a bounty hunter) that Otto is not really Otto.  He is wanted alive by Renata Fallingwood and the bounty on him has risen to 500gp.  Other bounty hunters are still on the case, such as Misker Bow-weaver.  It is getting rough in this boomtown.  Thonkil is a lieutenant of the Copperwood Militia and he has to deal with all these problems and more.  During the siege of Copperwood, an old dwarf comes for a visit.  His name it Lhonkan.  He has said that Khun'drukar is open.  Only a few of the orcs that overran the small but ancient dwarven clan.  Thonkil is the grandson of the last of the ruling council.  He might be leaving the militia and going to Khun'drukar.