Hello friends! Today’s Torchbearer Thursday post is a couple days early (we’ll actually probably have another post on Thursday). It has been cross-posted with my Bridge of the Damned Kickstarter project. Please back it if you’re interested in seeing the finished project!

You can catch up on the project here:

• Adventure Design: Robber’s Bridge
• Adventure Design: Robber’s Bridge (Part II)
• Adventure Design: Robber’s Bridge (Part III)
• Adventure Design: Robber’s Bridge (Part IV)
• Adventure Design: Robber’s Bridge (Part V)
• Adventure Design: Robber’s Bridge (Part VI)
• The Bridge of the Damned
• Adventure Design: Robber’s Bridge (Part VII)

In the last update, I shared some details of the Runungs, a Bjorning clan that lives on the southern side of the Bridge of the Damned. In this update, we’ll take a look at the Saxalings, a Gott clan that lives on the northern side of the bridge. As you’ll see, the two clans share a turbulent history. A treasure, precious to both clans, has been stolen by raiders who are using the ruined bridge as a base of operations.

The Saxalings

The Saxalings are a Gott clan that owe fealty to Tancred the Fair, greve of the southern march of the Gottmark (formerly the Bjorning jarldom of Vanskrdal). During the Gott conquest, Saxaling Chieftain Hincmar and his warriors seized most of the Runung clan lands north of the Jotnarsbru, including Kviholl, the personal holding of the Runung chieftains.

The Runung Chieftain Grima and his household were caught unaware by the rapidity of the Saxaling advance through their lands. Grima and many of his huskarls were slain, and much of the Runung regalia fell into Saxaling hands. The Saxalings adopted some of those seized treasures as part of their own clan regalia.

Ishildis, daughter of Hincmar, is now the Saxaling chieftain and rules much of the land along the northern bank of the Vimur River from her hall at Skyholl (formerly Kviholl).

For nearly two decades, the curse of the Bridge of the Damned has prevented passage across the Vimur River. As a result, most skirmishes between the Gotts and the Bjornings have taken place at sea, where the Bjornings hold the advantage. The Saxalings have grown slack in guarding their southern border.

Recently, Bjorning raiders somehow managed to evade the curse and cross the river. They attacked the nearby village of Saxatoft while its lord, Ridder Fulk, was away at Skyholl. The raiders plundered and burned Fulk’s manor and stole a precious gold buckle that once was part of the Runung regalia and now is part of the Saxaling regalia. The theft has damaged Saxa Horse-killer, the Saxaling ættir (ancestral founder and spirit of the clan), and the Saxalings are desperate to get the artifact back.

Saxatoft

This once bucolic holding is currently a battle-scarred mess in the wake of a recent Bjorning raid. The manor has burned along with some of the fields, many of the stock animals have been driven off or slain, and numerous thralls have taken to the hills. The holding must be set to rights before it can be used as a settlement. Most of the people of Saxatoft are Bjorning and Græling thralls owned by several Gott peasant families, all overseen by Gott nobles of Fulk’s family.

Town Rules

Skills: Peasant, Rider, Steward
Traits: Pragmatic, Proud
Alignment: Unaffiliated
Haggling: Ob 3
Telling Tales: Ob 3

Available Locations

Flophouse, Home (equivalent to Flophouse), Inn, Market, Manor (burned), Shrine, Stables, Street, Tavern

Saxatoft Laws

• Frightening a mare that is with foal is a criminal act. Punishable by whipping and a fine (Ob 2 Resources test).
• Defamation of the Gott overlords is a criminal act. Punishable by whipping and three days in the stocks.