Trellsheim

(LG Large City, 70% Hill Dwarf, 15% Human, 10% Half-Orc, 3% Halfling, 2% Other, @ 35,000 inhabitants).

The largest city of The Hill Lands, Trellsheim lies at one end of a shallow, rocky valley between the southern and northern Foothills of The Great North Range. The weather is cold and dry, but some crops and livestock do thrive on the surrounding ranches and farms. The city is roughly square in shape and surrounded by two 5 ft. thick, 20 ft. high stone walls, an inner and an outer, which are separated by a five foot space whose bottom is made of sharp rocks.

There are two gates, North and South, and at the center of the city is a circular open area full of statues known as the Plaza of Heroes. Four main boulevards go north, south, east and west from the Plaza, with a grid of streets stretching out from them. The city is ruled by a Lord Mayor and a Council consisting of two members from each of the city’s four Zones, one appointed by the nobility and one by the Merchant's Guild. Trellsheim covers approximately 577 acres within its walls, and claims the surrounding land for ten miles in every direction. One well-maintained road, the Low Road, leads to Trellsheim from the south, and another, the High Road, leads north into the mountains. These roads, out to 20 miles, are regularly patrolled by the city’s well-respected Guard. Water for the city is supplied by numerous wells.

The current Lord Mayor of Trellsheim is Ardous Bardenholme (LG male Hill Dwarf battle master fighter 15), who has held the post for the last 30 years. As he well knows, Trellsheim sits in an ambiguous position: its location allows it to serve as the clearinghouse for most trade going to and from the Dwarves of the Great North Range, which supplies great wealth, but its location also makes it commonly subject to attacks by Orc raiding parties and sometimes full armies. He struggles to keep Trellsheim politically independent and militarily unconquered.

Fondil's Bakery

Fondil Happypeace, an elderly Halfling baker, runs this famous bakery, which every single morning fills its zone with mouth-watering bready smells. A genuinely jolly soul, Happypeace's only worry is the rising cost of wheat, which is hard to grow in the surrounding land. He'd pay a lot for some solution.

The Cybok Smithy

Cybok, a particularly burly Hill Dwarf with enormous forearms, and his assistant and apprentice smiths, can make just about anything out of metal, repair just about anything made of metal, and have a large stock of arms and armor for sale in the store attached to the smithy. Cybok also has a strong interest in buying magical items. Just why he won't say.

The Trellsheim Tract

A weekly two-sheet large broadsheet newspaper nailed onto signs around the city early every Oneday. It is written and published by a Human sage named Corman and his small staff of reporters and writers. It features city and regional news, and occasionally word from the larger world, as well as a calendar of events, looking-for and for-sale ads, and obituaries.

The Academy

Trellsheim does not have public schools or anything like a university, but the closest equivalent is The Academy, run by a High Elf sage (and some say wizard, or fey creature, or...) named Lethonel Treeshadow, who claims to be able to teach any subject, from Three Dragon Ante playing to swordsmanship to Dwarven cooking to Telleconian history to the geography of the Underdark, that a student requests, and, judging by the testimony of former students, he can do all of it very well. He has up to 40 students at a time, who study with him personally (he does employ an administrative staff of Halflings) in classes of 5 at a time (always exactly 5 students, and no more, must enroll before he teaches a subject). It is unknown how any one person, even a High Elf, could know so much at such a high level.

City Guard

The Trellsheim Guard is a force of 500 soldiers/police (divided into 10 Companies of 50 apiece, with half of the Companies in reserve for four months, and then back on, and then  in reserve, and so on), all of them well-trained and well-equipped fighters and rangers (most 2nd or 3rd level, with commanders up to level 6), that defend the city, patrol, keep the peace, enforce the law, investigate crimes (a special division of rogues) and arrest and imprison wrong doers. The Guard Captain is a Hill Dwarf named Dreg Tallhill (LG Hill Dwarf champion fighter 7), a grizzled veteran of many adventures and battles and a no-nonsense commander. The Lord Mayor is technically the Chief Commander of the Guard, but that power is used only in the direst of emergencies. The Guard has access to heavy siege-repelling weaponry (including some magical ones), such as catapults and ballistae, that are housed on and in the walls of the city, and at least 30 soldiers are patrolling the walkway atop the outer wall at all times, as well as manning the ten watchtowers that are evenly spaced around it. At any time, at least four 6-man patrols are scouting the land around the city for approaching danger. In times of need, the numbers of Guard could be augmented to about 2,000.

Jixby Adans

A young Human thief (rogue level 2), Jixby is in serious trouble. By an amazing stroke of luck, and an overhead piece of information, she was able to get into a wealthy merchant's home and steal a valuable artwork before the agents of the local Thieves Guild could, and now they are looking for her with murderous intent. She would do anything for some powerful protectors, and she suspects that this strange object she stole is no mere piece of art...

The Tradehall

This long, tall wooden building is a cathedral to commerce, and it looks like it. Serious gold was spent on (and used in) its construction, and most of the goods that are moved through Trellsheim move through it. Most of the Merchant's Guild have offices and storage rooms here (heavily protected, of course), and it also houses a large bazaar that specializes in money changing, vehicles, horses, farming equipment, and adventuring equipment. The owner of the building is an obscenely wealthy Human merchant Osgo Hibbert, a rotund man who looks uncannily like a frog, which has lead to some strange rumors.

The Plaza of Heroes

This circular plaza is a park at whose center are seven statues of great heroes from Alech'nor's past. An absurd rumor has it that these are not statues at all, but the heroes themselves turned to stone by an lich long ago, and stored here until someone can find a way to reverse the curse and unleash the heroes to save the world again.

The House of Grandmountain

The hardy folk of the north have little use for "nobility", but they exist anyway, and the Grandmountains are perhaps the most prominent Hill Dwarven noble family in the region, very old and very rich and very "noble". They live in a large mansion on a large estate in the third Zone. Most of them are pretty useless, but the young leader of the house, Vestil Grandmountain, is a trusted adviser to the Lord Mayor and has long been a member of the Council. Somewhat of a scandal is the fact that she is still not married...

The Blessing and the Scroll

Reputed to be Trellsheim's best tavern by locals, it's also usually full of "adventurer" types passing through the city looking to make their fortunes by finding some danger to stick their noses into. Run by a Hill Dwarf woman named Bessa, it serves an excellent, home-brewed Dwarven stout, and the signature dish is the Braised Mutton with Creamed Leeks and Mint Sauce.

Corbus the Conjurer

(NG Human conjurer wizard 10) is said to be the most powerful wizard in the city, and is very well-respected, having contributed to the city's defense before, and served on the Council. He still adventures, and spends much of the time he is in the city doing magical research. He is known to use his magic to help regular citizens for free, if their cause is a good one and the need great.

Church of Moradin

As befits the church of a Dwarven god, the city's Church of Moradin is entirely underground, and atop it sits a museum of Dwarven arts and industry, run by the clerics of the church (admission is 1 sp). About 60% of the city (all races) is at least nominally a follower of Moradin, and his clerics are active in community service, running a House of Healing and charities for the poor.

Lanni Thwimble

(N Halfling thief rogue 8) This con man, information seller and spy knows much and tells some - for the right price. He wears a tunic that allows him to cast Mirror Image as a third level spell once per 24 hours.

Tilban Marsch

(LN Human arcane trickster rogue 4) The Telleconian Emissary to Trellsheim, given secret instructions by that metropolis' Council to subtly, by means legal and illegal, bring the Trellsheim Council and Merchant's Guild more deeply under its influence, so that trade agreements more favorable to Telleconia could be made. But in his two years here he has fallen in love with this city and decided to do exactly the opposite, and eventually defect, not the least because he has also fallen in love with a young woman of the city. He hopes to propose marriage to her soon. This information could be used against him by pro-Telleconian business interests in the city.

The Blackhorns

A black Dragonborn street gang of petty thugs, who delight in violence and larceny. Anyone who spends any time on Trellsheim's streets will have a run-in with these ne’er-do-wells, and it will not be pleasant. They are not affiliated with the city's Thieves Guild (not disciplined enough), and often war with the same.

Geyzor the Unholy

(CE Orc fiend pact warlock 7) No one official knows that this sinister Orc is in Trellsheim, as he was teleported in to act as an agent for Witch Queen Grosh of the Orc Tribes, and has spent the last seven months doing his best to weaken the city from within, supporting crime, poverty, disease, rebellion and chaos. The Guard suspects the existence of someone like him, but he is carefully hidden by Half-Orc sympathizers who act as upstanding citizens. The Guard would pay very well for information that proves his existence, leads to his capture, or for his capture itself. Preferably dead. Thwimble may know where is, and what his next target is.

Monastery of the Brothers of the Stone Fist

This plain stone building is home to a Dwarven religious order who teach and practice an obscure philosophical version of the worship of Moradin, and who also teach and practice a martial art designed to embody the insights of that philosophy. About 20 Brothers live and practice in the monastery, where they pursue a simple and humble lifestyle. They have been known to send Brothers out on missions or for difficult tests of skill. They only accept Dwarves (Hill or Mountain) as students, for complicated philosophical reasons that they will be happy to share with you at great length. Their art, called Brukat, is a brutal striking style that favors crushing blows delivered with hands, feet, legs, arms, elbows, knees and head. The abbot is Master Darg Dugan (LG Mountain Dwarf open hand monk 12).

Teela's Place

A multi-race, all orientations brothel.

Geeter's Tailorshop

Geeter Dinkelacker is a male Rock Gnome tailor who makes and repairs any sort of clothing. His secret: he knows, because he makes this individual's clothes, who on the city's Council is a cleverly disguised vampire. He wants to unburden himself of this horrible secret, but has not yet found anyone he can trust.

The Farmer's Market

A large flat area off the Plaza that is a year-round marketplace for farmers and other small merchants to sell their wares. Here you can purchase tomatoes, any sort of household item, a goat, a lightly used steal shield, a genuine magical spell cast on you for a bargain price, a real live pet dragon, and many, many other things. The sellers here are routinely shaken down for protection money by the Blackhorns and other gangs, and they would love some honest, effective and not too expensive defenders (the Guard does nothing!).