Borough Bound
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Thestwick 02 - The Old Ways
🕑 Added 2022-03-27 14:27:10 +0000 UTCLife in the fen will never be the same
Welcome back to Thestwick-on-Alderham! This second release features more great collaborations, some bonus music, and incredible maps and art from our talented art team. Just as a reminder: Thestwick will consist of 4 releases. We'll be wrapping up the city in mid-April, and a Definitive Edition will follow a couple weeks after. If you ever have questions about our release schedule, the content we provide, or anything else, feel free to send us a message or reach out on our Discord!
Borough Guide
Now that we have met the duke, duchess, and architect, it's time to explore what life in Thestwick is like for the locals. Eelers feed the town with the help of their trained moorwings, but as the waters continue to drain, there are fears that this way of life may be ending for the residents of the fen. A nascent resistance is planning how they might defy Lord Fandry and his destructive reclamation. Plus, on the outskirts of town, a violent dog ghost has killed two members of the Lowland Reclamation Corps. Will your party dispatch the restless spirit, or weaponize him against the vile duke?
Maps
This map slots in directly east of map 1. In this corner of Thestwick, we finally get a view of Alderham Creek, the main waterway that connects the fen to distant Lotthingham. Eelers put their canoes in the water and set off in search of food each morning. Their faithful moorwings are raised in the town aviary, and aspiring eelers build their boats from scratch in the boathouse.
Patrons at the Chief Courier tier or higher get access to two building interiors as well! The aviary is a great place for fledgling rangers to potentially bond with a new flying beast, and the boat house is the perfect spot for some cross-river battles.
Music
Thestwick is a spooky town, and you're going to need some spooky music to bring it to life. "The Bone Mill" is a classic dungeon track: scratchy ambiences, mysterious strings, and eerie tones evoke murky basements and dangerous creatures lurking around every corner. If you prefer something with a more familiar instrumentation, the "Strings" arrangement might be better for NPC interactions or above-ground travel.
This week, we also have a bonus track! Will created a new variant of his tune "Grimdocks" specifically for Thestwick adventures. This lively track is perfect for backwater towns full of intrigue and interesting characters.
Haunted Dog | Collaboration with the Fluffy Folio
We've got more stellar work from our buddy Fluffy of the Fluffy Folio! This week, Fluffy provided art and a statblock for Black Alfie the haunted dog. You're just going to be so torn when we see this ghost pup... he's spooky, but a part of you will definitely want to carefully give him a belly rub.
Please support The Fluffy Folio on Patreon. He's got oodles of cute and creepy artwork, plus creative statblocks to spice up your 5e GMing.
Bone Mill | Collaboration with Cze & Peku
It's always great when BB team members Cze & Peku can design a direct tie-in map for our cities. This week, the king and queen of RPG cartography have provided a stunning map for the bone mill outside of Thestwick. The Thestwick version of the map is (surprise!) a bit misty and eerie, but there's also an exceedingly pleasant variant if your players want to explore somewhere that's not quite so explicitly threatening.
Cze & Peku have an absolutely incredible library of colorful and creative maps that anyone who enjoys tabletop gaming needs to check out.
Darkdiver Eel | Collaboration with Questiary
It's such a blessing that we can get the monster experts over at Questiary to design some 5e creatures for your campaigns. This week, they've created the darkdiver eel, a sort of vampiric river beast that can mimic the features of your adventurers. In addition to the awesome art, they've provided a statblock that you are absolutely going to use to piss of your players. It's a dastardly creature.
Questiary has an incredible website that makes it so easy to browse their catalog of monsters. Our patrons get a super secret link to the darkdiver eel so that they don't need to be a patron, but if you want access to their whole library, please do check them out on Patreon!
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Get this week's files below!
Delivery Kid
Thestwick 02 - The Old Ways - Delivery Kid Rewards
General Messenger
Thestwick 02 - The Old Ways - General Messenger Rewards
Chief Courier
Thestwick 02 - The Old Ways - Chief Courier Rewards
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This week's map variations:
