Thestwick, The Haunted Fen City
Deep in the Alderham Fen, a small community toils away in the shadow of a long-forgotten keep. Now, the greedy lord of their duchy has come to reclaim the fen. Slowly but surely, he and his team of lackeys are draining the hostile environment of its waters. He wants your party of adventures to help ensure his plan goes off without a hitch.
Throughout your Thestwick adventures, you'll learn about
- the local eelers who use birds to help them fish the waterways
- a quartet of supernatural foes that harry the village
- the duke and duchess, their captive engineer, and their big plans for the swamp
- the dangerous magical lairs just outside the village waiting to be explored
Thestwick is a dark and moody town, perfect for early level play, a monster hunting mini campaign, or a Halloween one-shot. With the four primary villains of the setting expanded in such detail, you can either run straightforward combat gauntlets or complex tales of politicking and uneasy alliances. All is not well in the fen, and your players will have to make some tough choices.
Adventures in Thestwick can also dive deep into the moral quandry of whether or not to help the duke, the locals, or the supernatural creatures that also call the fen home. Your players will have to decide for themselves whether they trust in man's ability to reshape the environment for the good of society. Of course, they could also just say “screw that” and go attack the local troll.
Maps
Thestwick is a bit of a departure for Borough Bound. In lieu of grand and crowded city streets, this is a backwater village that's just barely held together. It's also got a decidedly unsettling vibe. There are dangers in these waters, and they may arise as the fen drains. The first map encompasses the northwestern corner of the city, and the obvious point of interest is the massive waterpump. This colossal windmill is the key to the duke's reclamation.
To the east of this, we see Alderham Creek, the main waterway that connects the fen to distant Lotthingham.
The southeastern corner of Thestwick is dominated by the massive fallen tower that crashed into the city from the adjacent keep. As it only recently collapsed, Thestwick's residents are still struggling to figure out how to handle the massive structure. Lady Mabel's cottage is the one pocket of luxury in the dilapidated fen village.
Accompanying our main town map is a set of additional maps from our collaborators that depict the lairs of each of monsters who live outside the village. These maps will help you to add a bit of dungeoneering into your campaign while barely leaving the town.
Finally, patrons at the Chief Courier tier and above also gain access to a variety of interior maps: the windmill, the aviary, the thatching workshop, the duchess's cottage and more. You'll be able to fully immerse your players with the huge variety of maps we have available for this idiosyncratic city.
Music
Our Thestwick EP offers 6 tracks: 2 combat tracks, a dungeon ambience, and a few contemplative tunes for exploring the city and surrounding fen. This is a Gothic-adjacent setting, so the music here is somber and moody.
If you want even more music, patrons at the General Messenger tier or higher get access to track variants. You'll get a creepy organ solo for exploring Thestwick Watch to the southeast, groovy witch music for chats with bog hag Anise Bloodbirch, and an ambient rendition of “Thurleigh Reeds” for slow and focused play.
