Trostenwald

Trostenwald
Official map of Trostenwald and surrounding areas, by Deven Rue from Explorer's Guide to Wildemount.
General Information
Full name	Trostenwald
Leader	Crown appointed starosta
Current leader	Starosta Fryda Langer
Guard unit	Crownsguard
Location Information
Plane	Material Plane (Exandria)
Continent	Wildemount
Region	Marrow Valley
Districts	Northward Lochward Hillward
Societal Information
Population	8,900 (in 835 PD)
Races	66% Human 13% Halfling 8% Half-elf 13% Others
Affiliation	Dwendalian Empire

Trostenwald is a small rural town governed by the Dwendalian Empire. It's located in the Marrow Valley in the Western Wynandir region of Wildemount, bordered by the blue waters of the Ustaloch from the east side and by the Amber Road from the west. Notably, Trostenwald also served as the place where the Mighty Nein adventuring party first met.

Description

Trostenwald is most notable for its unique strain of grain and wheat, which led to a boom in breweries around the turn of the century creating a uniquely sweet ale known commonly as trosts. Of the initial glut of breweries, three brewer families have survived and prospered to this day. The town now primarily exports fish, crops, and ale.

Trostenwald also has a contingent of Crownsguard who act as law enforcement for the town. The Lawmaster (local Dwendalian leadership) is a dwarf named Norda.

Lochward

Bordered by the Ustaloch, the Lochward is the most eastern and central ward of the town and is where the docks and fishing village are. The five to six main dock structures of this ward protrude out into the lake from between ten to thirty or so feet and service the small fishing boats that work on the lake.

• Rinaldo's House: This house belongs to Rinaldo, a meek middle-aged man with kind eyes, an unkempt chin beard, and cracked calloused fingers.
• Jacklewere Smiths:
• The Old Mud Hole Tavern: A small dark tavern containing four tables, it was described as being like a dive bar and smelling of old wet wood, ale stain, and peanut. The barkeep of this tavern is Vosna.
• Lochward General: This large wooden barn type building in the lochward has a door that opened two ways and is run by an old woman named Harper Mince. Among the goods that lined the walls of this general goods store tools are tools for farming and building, packs of supplies, lumber, iron nails, maps of the empire (7sp), and healer kits (5gp).
• Natural Remedies - Herbs and Medicinal Things: This shop sells herbs, incense, medicinal things including means of tending to wounds and loss of stamina, but many come in for 'performance-enhancing' fungus. The store has basic health potions (60gp). The proprietor of the shop, Davies, has a small satchel filled with skein that he was willing to sell for 1gp each.

The building is a small humble shack that has a strong musty pungent smell of fungi, which can be detected even while approaching from the street. On the outside where the doorways open, there are strings of herbs that are tied up and left to dry out. On the inside, there are shelves upon shelves of flora and fauna that are being cultivated in pots for various remedies and for sale. Some of the fungi have grown beyond their shelves.

Hillward

This area, with the safety provided by the Crownsguard barracks, is where the guild halls and wealthy reside.

• Crownsguard Stockade: A prison and a courthouse in Trostenwald, the center place for the Crownsguard's operations in the city.
• Warm Dew Bathhouse: A small but well put together bathhouse, visited by Caleb and Nott.

Fan art of Caleb and Nott at Burnished Bibelots, by Michael Jäger.

Northward

The Northward is a place of industry, including the local breweries, bordering the fields. Jester, Beau, and Fjord helped load and move crates there for the Baumbauch Family Brewery, and gambled with the other workers. Indeed, it seems the general work around the water in this ward consisted largely of individuals moving crates around.

• Baumbauch Family Brewery
• Market Area: A small market street where simple wares, vegetables, meats, and handcrafted goods can be purchased.
• Burnished Bibelots: A general store located on the southern portion of the Northward by where it borders the Lochward on the outskirts of the market street.

Other locations

• The Nestled Nook Inn
• Post Office: The post office has fast horseback courier services that run all along the roads in the empire and with approval outside the empire to the south and west. One of their couriers is a young boyish girl with shortish brushed hair, freckles and a bit of dirt on her cheeks, wearing leather armor.

Society

Demographics

In the southern, more rural region of the Empire, especially near Felderwin, which is one of the largest tilling and farming areas of the entire Empire, there is a very heavy halfling population. While Trostenwald is not its core, 13% of the population is halfling. The total population of Trostenwald is about 8,900 as of the year 835 PD. Humans consist of 66% of the population and half-elves encompass 8%.

Notable people

Name	Type	Description
Adelaine	NPC	A redhead barmaid at the Nestled Nook Inn.
Davies	NPC	Owner of the Natural Remedies - Herbs and Medicinal Things. Is a tan-skinned half-elf man in his late-20s with darker hair that is a bit ratty and clustered.
Jossyd	NPC	Jossyd was the watchmaster of Trostenwald.
Noah	NPC	Owner of a large fishing vessel in the Lochward. A man in his mid-40s, he has a five-o’clock shadow and a small scar on the bottom left side of his chin. He wore a heavy knitted cap that is folded back on his shoulders and a long coat.
Norda	NPC	The Lawmaster (local Dwendalian leadership)
Oglen Hornsblower	NPC	Owner of the Burnished Bibelots.
Rinaldo	NPC	A meek middle-aged man with kind eyes, an unkempt chin beard, and cracked calloused fingers.
Sheenah	NPC	Older man whom runs the Hillsbrook Parchment and Binding.
Vosna	NPC	Barkeep of the The Old Mud Hole Tavern, is a man in his thirties and an avid reader of the works of Samuel.
Yorda	NPC	Runs the Nestled Nook Inn.

Notable breweries

Fan art of Trosts, by Lynaiss.

• The Baumbauch House
• The Husseldorf House
• The von Brandt House

History

Background

Trostenwald was settled near 635 PD and came to prominence in the early 9th century. It started to flourish when the inhabitants discovered that the surrounding fertile farmlands were able to produce a unique type of grain and wheat, leading to a boom of breweries. When the glut subsided, three large families stood triumphant in the local business of fermented delights. Now Trostenwald thrives on their exports of fish, crops, and ale.

At some point before 829 PD a very influential local family fell into ruin because of their corruption, socially sullying all those associated with them, whether or not they were participants in said corruption; part of the innocent who ended up disowned and impoverished were Otis Brunkel (who would end up leaving to join the Claret Orders) and their mother.

The Fletching and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities carnival had set up east of the Lochward on the southern bank of the Ustaloch, having their first show on the day of Grissen (see Calendar of Tal'Dorei). This was where Mollymauk Tealeaf and Yasha Nydoorin worked, with Molly as an entertainer and Yasha as a security guard.

"Session Zero"

Beauregard, Fjord, and Jester helped to load crates for the Baumbach family and swindled from their employees. They met Demedan Baumbauch during this job, though they came to calling him 'Dimmi-douche'. This house also has the blessing of Fryda Langer, the Starosta.

The house of Rinaldo was in the process of being repaired, as this is where Beauregard, Fjord, and Jester had saved Rinaldo's daughter from a giant snake that had come out of the loch. He had taken a collection of 4gp, 22sp, 48cp from among the other local fisherman as means of rewarding the party for their service for having come and aided when no one else would. A scrawny young man around 14 or 15 with a puffy red afro and pale skin, who lived three houses up, had been helping Rinaldo with various jobs and was using a large heavy butchering knife to carve the skin off the snake and fillet it for meat. The damage sustained to the dwelling included: destroyed furniture and cabinets, its door being ripped off its hinges, and the roof partially collapsed.

"Curious Beginnings" (2x01)

When the party arrived in the town, there was a new visiting carnival called "The Fletching and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities". This carnival was the site of a ravenous zombie attack when an old man suddenly keeled over and transformed. The new adventuring party, later known as the Mighty Nein, was able to kill the zombie with minimal casualties. However, all of the performers except Yasha were taken into custody for suspicion of wrongdoing. In the Hillsbrook Parchment and Binding found Caleb a book on hoe technique here called Jamison's Hoedown, priced at two silver pieces by Sheenah.

"The Midnight Chase" (2x03)

The party, with Fjord's help, came to an arrangement with a boat owner, Noah, and acquired safe passage to Crookedstone Island in the center of the lake in exchange for a bottle of fire whiskey, though he settled for a bottle of cheap wine.

On the passage back to shore, the party (bringing along Kylre's head) tried to buy Noah's silence with six gold pieces, but after seeing Fjord disguised as a Crownsguard he immediately gave up the party in an attempt to absolve himself of any blame, saying that they had taken over his boat and forced him to take them to the island.

"Disparate Pieces" (2x04)

Beauregard spent a night learning the Way of the Cobalt Soul from Expositor Dairon and Archivist Zeenoth in one of the brewery's warehouses.

Caleb took Nott with him as his daughter to the Warm Dew Bathhouse in disguise. While he bathed, Nott ate all the cucumbers from the bathhouse, tore the towels into strips to replace her wrap bandages, and stole the brass doorknob and a decorative flower vase. She gave the flowers to Yasha. Later, Caleb found two books of interest in Burnished Bibelots. One of them was an old note and sketchbook written in a strange language that, although it didn't radiate any magical aura, had hints of an arcane nature in the back of the book. The other was a book written in Zemnian, "Fiends of Folklore". Later, Caleb found the first book contained two complete spells, and sold the second book back to the store. Nott found and stole a shiny but dented brass baby-bottle and a tarnished platinum flask, which she switched out for her own flask filled with whiskey.

Molly visited Natural Remedies Herbs and Medicinal Things, looking for hallucinogens. The owner offered a small satchel filled with fine blue-grey dust, a dried and ground fungus called skein because when eaten, the user sees the weave of time. Mollymauk, Yasha, Fjord, and Beau each bought a single experience of the drug within corked glass vials. Through Beau threatening to expose the owner's drug business, Fjord was able to buy one healing potion for the standard 50gp and received an extra vial of Skein for fun.

At Lochward General, Jester bought a large map of the Dwendalian Empire and Beauregard bought a healers kit to replace the one she had given to Jester as a gift.

At the Post Office, Jester sent a letter to her mother requesting money to be sent to her in Zadash. Delivery from Trostenwald to Nicodranas on the Menagerie Coast cost her 5gp. Beauregard pretended to be a representative of the Baumbauch family and fraudulently collected three parcels from the courier.

"The Gates of Zadash" (2x08)

Photograph of the letter from "The Gentleman" to Demedan Baumbauch.

Beau opened the parcels, learning they contained four letters:

• A shipment ledger from Nogvurot
• A smaller shipment ledger from Deastok
• A complaint letter from the purveyor of the Rotted Stump in Rexxentrum
• A letter from The Gentleman to Demedan Baumbauch

“

To the Baumbauch family, I would happily request that if you are to send the aforementioned and already paid shipments to our establishment, that they would not be containing any sort of animals which could chew through and ruin and spoil the shipments we've been given. We request an immediate refund [...]

”

– 

Complaint letter from the purveyor of the Rotted Stump

[!h]

"Beyond the Boundaries" (2x32)

When the Mighty Nein arrives at the town it was as busy and lazy as they remembered from when their adventures began together. People were coming up and down the various streets with carts and wares, and a lot of carts were built up on the outside that were either waiting for some sort of sign to continue travel or were still packing up before they left. They first visited the Nestled Nook Inn, followed by the stockade to pay off Gustav’s debt that stood at 2,100 gp. They bargained for a lower price and ended up paying 1,500 gp to set him free. Afterward, they returned to the Nestled Nook Inn to settle down for the night and prepare for the journey to come.

Trivia

• The name Trostenwald loosely translates to "comfort forest" in German.
  • "Trost" meaning comfort (usually in the context of consolation)
  • "Wald" meaning forest

References

Art: