Totburh

Totburh was founded as Tothyll when Count Stilicho settled the Berrocinga Saxons in Logres in 398 e.v., not far from an Iron Age hill fort destroyed by the Romans in the 2nd century. Tothyll became Totburh in 445 when High King Vortigern had the settlement fortified and redeveloped on an orthogonal grid, in part out of gratitude for the Berroc Saxons reinforcing his army at Glevum.

Totburh is three days' ride from the Castle of the Roe Deer Gate

Without the walls and military presence afforded by its status as a burh, Totburh would have been burned to the ground when the Saxons of Kent raided Berroc in 471 and 472, laying siege to the settlement more than once. They were able to penetrate the walls, but a relief force from Wigarons Fort was able to repulse the invaders.

## Earthen Ramparts

A series of three earthen ramparts protect the northern and eastern sides of the settlement. The west faces the river and to the south is a naturally steep incline. A wooden substructure keeps the 12-foot high ramparts from collapsing or shifting. A 15-foot high wooden palisade surmounts the innermost rampart.

## New Stone Wall

The river facing side of the settlement has recently been rebuilt with a stone wall. The walls are 10-feet high with wooden merlons for additional protection.

The thegn’s hearthweru patrol along the walls. The leader of the hearthweru is a settled Dane named Svein. Like the hearthweru under him, Svein is a professional warrior. A recently converted Christian, Svein wears what he calls the finger bone of St. Martin around his neck on a thong. When not engaged in combat he can be found hunting, boasting, or carousing. A barrel-chested man with long blond hair and braided beard, Svein looks like a stereotypical Norseman.

Svein’s daughter, Æsa, has followed in her father’s footsteps, earning a place in the thegn’s hearthweru. A skilled spear and shield fighter, she’s respected by her fellow warriors despite her young age.

## Palisades

The remaining three walls are wooden palisades constructed on top of a rampart.

## Main Gate

A gate tower made of stone has been constructed in the southern wall.

## Smaller Gates

Each wall has a stone tower equidistant from the corners.

## Defensive Towers

Newly rebuilt in stone, these towers are three stories tall. The ground floor opens to the settlement, the second floor opens to the gangway on the palisades and stone wall, and the third floor is the roof.

## Internal Road

A road runs the perimeter of the burh, just inside the rampart. It provides for the quick movement of troops and merchants.

## Thegn’s Compound and Residence

This large wooden hall is the home of the settlement’s thegn and his hearthweru. It’s situated on a small rise and separated from the rest of the settlement by a gated palisade. Within the compound is the thegn’s two-story manor; a weaving shed; a bower where the thegn’s daughter, Herewynn, sleeps along with the female slaves; a manorial church; a kitchen; a well; and a latrine.

The thegn, Oswyn, and his sons, Wlencing and Alfred, sleep on the upper floor of the manor house. His 30 hearthweru sleep with the male slaves on the lower floor.

Athilda isn’t as dead as most people believe. Distraught over his loss, Oswyn had Eadda attempt to resurrect her; Athilda rose from the dead, but came back different ~ she is a vampire, under the control of Eadda/Lilith. She fled over the wall and now lives in the Roman ruins northeast of Totburh.

## The Mint

Coins are minted in this squat stone structure. The coin is stamped with the head of the sovereign and a mint mark, and inscribed “Athelstan on Totburh” on the reverse, indicating who the minter is and in which burh the coin was minted. Athelstan isn’t a permanent resident of the burh; he travels between three burhs, operating the mints under a license from High King Aurelius Ambrosius.

Every six years, Athelstan oversees the collection of all the community’s coins, replacing them with newly minted coins, collecting the half fee for exchanging the coins.

## Parish Church

A small stone church that serves the western side of the burh. The parish priest, Eadda is a young, evangelizing priest eager to combat the evil he sees everywhere. He wishes he were born a couple of centuries earlier as there were so many more Pagans that needed conversion.

A scucca haunts the graveyard around Eadda’s church. It comes out at night seeking solitary prey.

## Wooden Church

A small wooden church that serves the eastern side of the burh. Halfdene has been the parish priest for Totburh for the last 30 years. He is a compassionate priest, known to overlook the occasional pagan reference as long as the person confesses later. His wife, Wifrun, is rail-thin, having never fully recovered from the pox that struck Totburh 15 years ago.

A small, shuttered window in the sanctuary, the hagioscope, opens to Hygerd’s cell. Hygerd, an anchorite (a form of religious hermit), spends his days walled in the cell praying and offering guidance to villagers who visit him through a second window that connects to the outside. He’s unable to leave the cell and would choose to die there in the event of an attack.

Hygerd has been in his cell for 25 years, ever since he finished his study at St. Swithun’s. Most villagers come to visit Hygerd when they have a problem and need spiritual guidance. While the parish priests offer guidance and support, Hygerd, a man on his way to sainthood, is closest to God in their eyes.

## Manorial Church

A medium sized stone church with a bell that serves the thegn and his retinue. Earnwulf, a rotund man in his late 30s, serves as the manorial priest. His wife, Heagyth, and two sons, Godred and Grimwold, live with him. Wulfrun, a slave, also lives here, tending to the garden that feeds the family.

This church, adjacent to the thegn’s hall, is the largest stone structure in the burh and one of the newest, built five years ago. Earnwulf has recently acquired a relic, the right hand of St. Swithun, which is proudly displayed in a reliquary in the nave.

The church’s bell, if rung 13 times during the dark of the moon, will summon Tawil at ‘Umr from the depths. Cynred, the blacksmith, cast the bell for the church and knows of its special properties, creating it at the request of Grimcytel.

## Market

Beyond the main gate is an open area where traders and ceorls come to sell and trade their produce and goods. Traders sell from the back of their wagons or from their baskets. Slaves are frequently sold here. The market reeve, Wihtgar, supervises all trades and ensures that the king’s tax is paid for every transaction.

A nearby Briton tribe, the Varennii, occasionally bring their produce to sell. If the produce is eaten, the consumer must roll a Hard CON check: if successful, nothing happens; if failed, he or she loses 10 CON points. This check is made each time the tainted produce is eaten. When CON is reduced to zero, the unfortunate turns into a child of the Green God.

## Blacksmith

Cynred, the settlement’s blacksmith, lives and works in this wooden structure. He has forged tools, armor, and weapons for the settlement for the last ten years. He is a surly, thick bearded man covered in the grime and scars of working the forge. Cynred chose to serve the thegn as a slave rather than suffer paying taxes. His wife Aylild, age 23, and son Wynstan, age 8, are also slaves by extension.

## Alfric’s House

Alfric’s house is a single room wooden structure with a thatched roof. A common ceorl, he and his wife Bregeswith, both in their 20s, live here. Bregeswith is expecting her first child. They work the fields outside the palisade and their own private plot behind the house.

## Delwyn’s House

Delwyn is the settlement’s leech (healer). He’s been in Oswyn’s service of for the past ten years and is unfailingly loyal. A stooped, bald man, Delwyn mutters under his breath as he works. He views every person he heals as a personal success and feels the pain of family members when he’s unable to help someone. His house is filled with all the accouterments of a leech and the aroma of dried herbs and freshly made unguents hang heavy in the air.

Two slaves, Aelfgiest and Lambin, live here as well. They assist Delwyn with his procedures, usually by holding down patients and collecting supplies as needed. Enslaved for debt, Aelgiest wants to become a leech and aims to buy his freedom. Lambin, enslaved for assaulting a woman, has no desire to become a leech; instead, he focuses on keeping the household fed.

## Unfurth’s House

At 58, Unfurth is the oldest man in the settlement. A skilled bowyer, he lived in the same house when the settlement was called Tothyll. His wife died many years ago and his two children were captured by rebel Cymru under Vortimer and later sold to Byzantine slavers.

## Sigeric’s House

Sigeric, a poor ceorl, lives here; his wife, Oslafa, died last winter during childbirth. Oslafa came from Wigarons Fort, a settlement along the Severn. When Oslafa died, Sigeric refused to return the morgengifu, stating that since the child lived for several hours after Oslafa died, he does not have to pass the morgengifu onto her family. Oslafa’s family, led by her mother Aethelu, a wealthy ceorl, is demanding the return of the morgengifu or she’ll take it by force. Oswyn is urging Sigeric to pay as much of the morgengifu as he can. Hopefully that will appease Oslafa’s family.

## Madulf ’s House

Madulf, another ceorl, is Totburh’s resident potter. Prior to his purchase of a potter’s wheel from a Frankish trader, residents either made their own hand-thrown pottery or paid dearly for it from traders. Madulf ’s business and skill has grown so much that he frequently takes surplus wares to nearby settlements to sell.

## The Fields

In addition to the fields inside Totburh’s walls there are several large fields that lay between the ditches and the forest. Farmhouses cluster around these fields, which are cut into strips allotted to each farm. Delwyn uses a fallow field to grow medicinal herbs.

## Derman’s House

Derman and his wife Haunild, both ceorls, live here with their two grown sons, Turec and Wulfric, as well as six slaves. Derman, a quiet, taciturn man fond of riddles, works the larger fields with the other families of the settlement. Haunild, a portly, eager to please woman, watches over the slaves to ensure they do their work. Turec and Wulfric both help in the fields.

Derman and Haunild are both followers of Nyarlothotep. They’re powerful witches who sell their skills to the highest bidder. Their specialties included withering crops and killing livestock. Both Turec and Wulfric are Haunhild’s sons through Nyarlathotep and both possess innate magical abilities.

## Guthlaf ’s lean-to

Guthlaf, his wife Rowena, and their 16 year old daughter Oslafa are some of Oswyn’s slaves. They herd cattle, swine, and sheep through the fields and forests around the settlement. Guthlaf willingly entered himself and his family into slavery as payment for a debt he owes Oswyn.

## Mildoina’s House

Mildoina is an unmarried woman, age 25. She is one of several of Totburh’s apiarists, providing honey, wax, and mead to the settlement and further afield through trade. Her father was an apiarist before her and when he died she inherited his land. She is a pleasant enough woman, provided the person she’s talking to isn’t a man trying to tell her what to do. She communes with Eostre to improve her hives' output.

Mildoina has been having a secret affair with Lanfranc, the cellarer at St. Swithun’s monastery.

## The Mill and Grain Preparation Site

A water-driven mill, operated by Octa, the miller, is on the banks of the river. For a quarter penny, or equivalent trade, Octa grinds customers’ grain so that they can take it home for baking. Near the mill are three buildings with sunken floors and ramps leading up to double doors, where grains are prepared after harvest.

## The Roman Ruins

The Roman ruins, remnants of a villa, are five hours northeast of the settlement. Little remains other than a few stone walls, a small building, and floor mosaics. Most of the stone has been plundered by Totburh and other settlements for building material. Shepherds frequently visit the spot to shelter their flocks from bad weather. Rumors abound that the Roman family buried their silver and gold in catacombs beneath the villa before fleeing.

A vampire, Athilda, and a ghost, Gaius, haunt these ruins.

Gaius Mons, a Roman sorcerer, was executed in this villa centuries ago but his evil soul refused to stay away. A vile fungus grows over his grave on the north side of the villa. It is slowly spreading outward from the grave, covering about 200 square feet. Items left near to the fungus become infected and begin to sprout fruiting bodies within 1D6 hours. Those who come into contact with the vile fungus find that it slowly begins to dissolve their flesh as it takes root. Unless the affected area is cleaned and purified, the fungus continues to fruit over the body until nothing is left, a process normally taking 1D4 days. The victim loses 1D6 hit points per day, although a successful Hard CON roll reduces this by half. Burning the affected areas, a Hard First Aid, or Medicine roll will purify the infection. If totally consumed, the victim’s body becomes a new spawning area for the fungus.

## The Forest

The forest stretches for miles around the settlement and along the rivers. There are few paths cut through the old growth, however main roads do run along the river edges, skirting the forest. The edges of the forest have been cut back, providing Totburh with lumber and additional farmland.

The forest is dark and foreboding. The oaks, alders, and other hardwood trees prevent most light from reaching the ground. Squirrels, deer, wolves, boars, and other animals call the forest home. Its here that many of the settlement’s darkest fears take root, despite the priests’ condemnation of those beliefs as mere superstition.

The forest is also home to a group of charcoal burners led by Begilda who live a two-hour walk from Totburh. These freemen survive by cutting timber, reducing it to charcoal, and then selling the charcoal in Totburh. They’ve built several huts around their clearing for housing. The residents of Totburh do not trust the charcoal burners, believing them to be outlaws, even though they’re not. Oswyn tolerates the charcoal burners as they provide a useful service. Another forest-dweller, Edric the Bloodhand, on the other hand, actually is an outlaw.

Not far from the charcoal burners’ encampment is the sacred oak of the nemeton (a Celtic sacred place), where the Beag Ma Aisus practice their divination. This grove has a pall about it and reeks of decaying flesh. Animals and the charcoal burners both shun the place.

Begilda and the other charcoal burners practice an arcane ritual that summons a fire vampire to the midst of their pyre. They worship the creature, offering animal sacrifices unto it, believing they can control it. Begilda aims to one day turn it loose on Totburh—if she can find a way to fully bind it to her will.

Old Ones armed with “elfshot” lurk in the forest, waiting for humans to venture into the forest. Once a human enters a forest, the elves pounce, stinging their victim with elf-shot. The person feels nothing at first, but days later must succeed at an Extreme CON roll or fall ill with a disease the leech can’t treat.

## The Iron Age Hill Fort

A half-hour’s walk north of Totburh, the peak of this tor rises above the forest providing a commanding view of the region. A pyre is maintained here at all times, ready to be lit in the event of an attack from Kent. Other burhs have similar beacons and keep watch for the signal. In the event of a fire being lit, neighboring thegns dispatch their hearthweru and raise a fyrd (army) to assist.

Prior to the arrival of the Saxons, both the Celts and Romans worshipped Magna Mater at this site. The Saxons then proceeded to worship Eostre on this mount. This is where Mildoina communes with Eostre. On several occasions, she has seen the trees that ring the base of the tor begin to move and wave their branches.

A small cult has moved into the hill fort and refortified it. They practice their dark rites deep within a series of catacombs. Unseating the cultists from a fully operational hill fort will prove a difficult challenge.

## The Monastery

Across the river, about a day’s march from Totburh, is the Monastery of St. Swithun; dedicated to the Order of Black Monks. Horses can cover the distance in a few hours at a canter. The monastery was founded in the wake of King Coel's ending of the Christian persecutions under King Asclepiodotus in 275, more than a century and a half before Tothyll.

The monastery stands on a small rise surrounded by orchards and fields. The 30 monks, under the guidance of Abbot Grimcytel, are strict adherents to the Regula Benedicti. The monastery provides for all the monks, who are not allowed personal possessions. However, a vow of silence is not required. All 30 monks spend equal time working the fields and performing religious observance. A select few act as scribes in the monastery’s small scriptorium.

Grimcytel takes his work guiding the monks to salvation very seriously. A life-long monk, he is unfamiliar with weapons other than a knife. He’s on good terms with Oswyn and will like anyone who displays honest belief.

Hothere is the almoner and has the most contact with Totburh. He visits with two or three monks every week to meet with the parish priests and discuss any help the monastery can provide. A lean, hawk nosed physique belies his readiness to laugh at any occasion. He has a profound respect for Derwyn’s skill as a leech.

Lanfranc is the monastery’s cellarer. He is in charge of the storeroom and conducts trade with the people of Totburh. He trades away the monks’ surplus produce in exchange for salt, metal wares, and other things the monks can’t produce. He’s forsaken his vows and is sleeping with Mildoina.

Jurmin is a novitiate, who works in the scriptorium. He spends much of his day copying and illuminating manuscripts. His current work is a calendar of the seasons.

Medwin, age 11, is an idiot from Totburh. His father, Unfurth, was unable to provide for him so the monastery took him in. Medwin spends his days in the care of Hothere or one of his helpers. His body is covered in small scars from the many accidents he finds himself getting into.

Penda, age 28, is the lay bailiff of the monastery. He’s responsible for collecting the rents from the monastery’s various properties spread over the countryside. His father, Odda, was a great warrior in Totburh’s hearthweru and Penda hoped to follow in his father’s footsteps but lacked the necessary skills. Bitter, Penda accepts numerous “gifts” from the tenants and is willing to look the other way provided the rent is paid. Penda isn’t without redeeming qualities though; he lost a leg below the knee to a vicious wolf attack trying to save a child who’d been cornered. He relies on an ornate spear, a gift from a tenant farmer, to walk around and has become adept at wielding it despite his infirmities.

Despite the small scriptorium, the monastery has amassed a collection of Mythos tomes including the Testament of Carnamagos, the Sapienta Maglorum, and possibly the original, unexpurgated Confessions of the Mad Monk Clithanus. It also contains some pages from the Testament of Solomon. Grimcytel guards the existence of these tomes fervently and knights will need to convince the abbot of their good intentions if he is to allow them to see one of these “dangerous’ books ~ under no circumstances would knights be allowed to leave the monastery with any of these manuscripts.

A demon plagues the monastery, tempting the monks to steal, fight, and even murder. It’s taken up residence in one of the cellars, feeding from the energy given off by the misbehaving monks. The demon could be a lloigor, a ghost, or perhaps a long-forgotten demon, such as Phêth, mentioned in the Testament of Solomon.