Bohnen hooks

## Bohnen overview

Bohnen is a large, human-dominated village with aspirations to become a proper town. It's situated on the Aara River, right next to the Schattenwald Forest and along the northwestern edge of Bean Lake (so called cause it looks a bit like a bean). A canal is under construction which will connect Bean Lake to the sea out East. That would connect Bohnen with De Vrouw seaport, and give the village faster access to the seasonal tourist area of Wandell. Bohnen does some river trade with Ros to the southwest, and handles goods that come from the Gopnik settlement Vlast to the East. There's a road north to the cpaital city, Bela.

Bohnen itself doesn't produce much besides food. The local diet is beans, cabbages, rye and oats - the locals don't eat much meat, maybe some chicken and fish, or the odd game animal. There is a florist who breeds and sells fancy rose bushes to nobles in Bela. Otherwise, Bohnen mostly just handles other people's rarities. The weather's always a little bit damp, the nearby forest is spooky and Schadenwald is full of dangerous things. Gopnik dwarves, Ros traders stop by seasonally. Iberiyan nomads come as far south as the forest, but they don't venture close to the village. Work on the canals is mostly happening in Kreys - a nearby transit hub that's sprung up along the canal dig site. There are a few Kubernetes and a lot of northen types from Tafel just to the West, but they haven't been to visit Bohnen in a few months.

The local humans have thistle, madder and other orangey, yellow and green dyes available. They wear a lot of wool and a mix of linen or cotton for their underthings. The local sense of dress is modest, in keeping with the slightly cold climate. People of all genders wear flattish, wide toed shoes, heavy ankle length skirts or Lederhosen. The locals like to add lots of homemade embroidery on their clothes and textiles, especially simple floral designs. People with long hair would tie it up in a bun or put it under a cap or bonnet. Beards and facial hair are kept neat.

#### Some history

Bohnen's history is full of minor tragedies and paranormal incidents. The town's biggest claim to infamy was a case of missing kids - a large group of the village's children either ran away or were abducted, about 140 years after the foundation of Vestfal (or about 60 years ago today). The locals blamed goblins and staged a half-hearted raid on the local hill tribe but found no sign of any human children - the goblins and villagers haven't been on speaking terms since.

The village used to be a quite large goblin settlement (~250 years ago) called Hallstatt, which was simultaneously overrun by Ros and Iberiyan war bands. the Pit dates back to that time, as well as a cluster of much older kurgans (burial mounds) that are both goblin and Giant sized, now overgrown by forest. The Pit was a super old site for skull cult ritual goblin burials, but had already fallen into disuse in the latter days of Hallstatt, after goblins started cremating their dead.

### What's in Bohnen

The village is constructed mostly from timber, daub and terracotta brick - roof tiles in wood, painted with Tudor-esque white walls and dark timbers, and earthy red paint on window shutters and planter boxes.

The Rathaus is alongside the north road, it's a practical, round two storey building with stone foundations salvaged from Halstatt’s old goblin ramparts. The roof of the Rathaus has a sort of striped maypole sticking out the top, with a bedraggled blue Vestfalian flag half-heartely attached. Burgomistress Kohl lives here.

The Market District is a messy wedge of cobblestone plaza just north of the canal, repurposed from old goblin brickwork. On the lake-facing edge of the market square there’s a very old wood carving of a stylised dragon’s head, which is said to come from the prow of an old Ros longboat. Next to it is a sad little placard that simply reads “V150: ten years since our children left”. Along the Western edge of the Market square the local brewer, Ronika, keeps a tacky beer garden decorated with a Vestfalian’s idea of whimsical goblin sculpture (a bit of a tiki bar aesthetic).

South of the lake, in the bend of the 'bean', is the village's windmill. To the south of the village, and further south of the lake, are the beaten-down and eroded remains of old goblin fortifications - mostly earthen ramparts, some low stone structures that have since been reclaimed to use in cob walls or village houses.

Southeast of the village, and on the far side of the lake, the forest encroaches. Here there are many old barrows: the florist has planted her roses to take advantage of the fertile soil from the old grave mounds. And in the forest itself, a tributary of the Aara River flows down into a massive cavern known as The Pit.

### The Pit

The Pit was most likely a disused service elevator before it became used as a burial and ritual site. Its lowest reaches have been collapsed by tectonic activity, but there’s just enough weird rock and twisted metal at its very base to indicate that it contained a structure a few millennia ago. I also like the idea that there is the very rotten skeleton of a massive Giant in the lower reaches somewhere - perhaps fallen or thrown down there, a long long time ago.

The upper level of the Pit also has more recent burial middens housing the bodies of dead Ros and Iberiyan raiders, as well as an untidy mass grave with some goblin villagers in it. The goblin spirits are not going to like this, so, undead goblins are gonna be an issue.

### The Umbrians (local Goblin tribe)

Local goblin culture has a bit of an Austrian or Tirolese flavour. The locals call themselves Umbrians (but they’re from a mashup of very old tribes, the IRL parallel would be Hallstatt culture). Umbrians live in a hilled area to the East of the Pit, right in the heart of Schattenwald Forest. They wear longer hair in one or two large braids. They wear small leather caps or peaked felt hats; all genders wear breeches and clogs or riding boots, paired with short sleeved shirts; formal dress adds an embroidered harness, a hat with a feather in it and a short jacket with toggle buttons. These goblins can make basic iron tools, keep goats for milk and large tahr for riding, make cone shaped pottery, burn their dead and are rapidly picking up bits from Vestfalian culture. They play alphorns sometimes. Goblin settlements stay up in mountainous nooks where nobody else can really be bothered to make a settlement. They dress in grey, yellow and cream and they’re blonder than other goblins (though they still have the pale freckled skin, large noses, brow ridges and large hands that are typical of goblins). Goblins make nice herbal liqueurs and are interested in trading for beer.

### Various NPCs:

Visit from some kind of administrator/inspector (I need to get the right wording for this). Dark indigo livery, small Jacobean style high collars, fitted and simple. Right in time for a plague of undead, nice. This inspector comes with a guard of well armed and armoured ‘security’, who also carry different amulets that help ward against divine magic.

Schrank - a thuggish little man from the Brotherhood of the Lambent Scythe, snooping around the village on TS’s trail. Has a hilarious monobrow. Wears outdated civilian clothes and weird pointy toed cult boots. Has some slightly formal speech mannerisms in common with TS.

Hill tribe goblins: Andrig, Sandri, Madio, Gitte. They’ll observe the party from the hillside, riding on tahr. They might approach the party with advice on how to put the undead in the Pit to rest. Gitte (Ranger) is the most wary of outsiders, and Madio (Fighter) is the most open to interaction.

Undead goblin bossmonster: Vatluna, the goblin shaman. Still thinks that Hallstatt is under attack, screams a lot in Romansch about it. She attacks people who look like raiders or like they’re armed. Uses Entangle over an area of effect. Vatluna appears out of a dark mist that makes it hard to see and means she’s hard to hit. Holy damage will hurt her, so will fire. Her mobs are wizened, semi skeletal undead who are easy to knock down, but who attack in large numbers and whose 1D6 bites are infectious (impose an Affliction). They come up from the ground, grab and grapple, and try to bite at anyone who disturbs them.

Lukas, Ria and Maxi - assorted petty thieves from Ruprecht’s old gang. They assume he got eaten by ghosts. If they see him they’ll probably be unfriendly. They all wear breeches with diamond shaped knee patches (the gang stole a shipment of pants about a year ago) but otherwise dress in unremarkable browns, greens and a bit of grubby yellow.

The Three Hanses: Hunter, Alchemist and Miller. They all have weirdly similar looks: tall, gangly, brown man-bun and stubbly beards. Miller Hans lives just out of town with his sister Gerda, the local baker. His mill sits on top of an old giant’s kurgan and Gerda’s bakery is just outside the walls of the village, for fire safety. Alchemist Hans lives closest to the Pit, apparently there’s good herbs nearby, including some of the ‘interesting’ ones he cultivates. (he’s not above sneaking in the Pit to get some grave soil or bone fragments for Reasons). Alchemist Hans has a bulletin board for his permits, and a small canvas stall that he sets up in front on market days to sell his wares. He’s a bit behind on his permits but they do all check out. Hunter Hans has a shack in the woods for tanning hides, and a little butcher’s shop in town, with a bedsit on the upper floor. His shop has some magical cooling going on, and lots of official permits confirming it uses proper arcane magic.

Burgomistress Lena Kohl - an older human lady, very colicky and skinny with a little pair of round spectacles. Wears a pale blue dress with rabbit fur trim, a fringed orange silk and wool shawl, a blue-trimmed straw bonnet, pearl earrings (fancy!) and a small starched ruff. Fussy, wants things to be orderly, permanently stressed from living in an extremely haunted region of Vestfal. She runs things by virtue of her grandma coming along and driving out the remaining Ros and goblins from the area with a band of mercenaries some 200 years ago, in the early days of Vestfal, and converting the old goblin ramparts into the village’s foundations. The top job’s been female by default ever since.

Joost, a textiles trader from the north - visits seasonally with a big wagon. Joost has a voluminous all-black outfit with white lace collar and cuffs, red trimmed apron and a silly little pilgrim hat (very Dutch inspired). He is plump with a silly blonde goatee. Sells cotton, high grade wheat, dried herbs and flowers, carved ebony and soapstone boxes and little spiced biscuits. His wagon smells and looks a bit like the inside of a Trade Aid shop, in contrast with his Puritanical appearance. He probably also sells illicit highs.

Chantecler (Two): a half-dwarf bard who plays the theorbo (a kind of long necked lute with lots of strings). They have a barrel chest, short puff and slash sleeves and pants and very sturdy, muddy boots. They are busy getting kicked out of Bohnen despite their paperwork being in order. They speak with an Y'd accent.