Month #2: The City of Pellod!

So, I got through January for #dungeon23! Rather than head straight down into level 2 of the Found Tombs of Arvakaten, I thought instead we'd scroll backwards, go wide-screen on this whole area of south-eastern Allansia's Pirate Coast, and then focus in on the dusty port of Pellod, several days downstream from the Found Tombs, and a useful base for Heroes to return to (and where every "room" for #dungeon23 is actually a building or place of interest).

Pellod was created by Graham Bottley as an example of a Dominion and Dominion Management for the Heroes Companion (p. 43), and fits in very well with what we already know about the surrounding area from previous books and adventures, such as Titan, Dungeon of Justice, Temple of Terror, and Curse of the Mummy, among others. This is what we initially know:

The City of Pellod

Ruler: Baron Cript

Dominion Grade: 6

Type: Small City

Income: 200GP/month

Army: 50 Soldiers, 50 Watchmen, 200 Militia

Description: A small city of 5,000 inhabitants, Pellod lies on the Allansian coast north of Rimon. With the vast Desert of Skulls to the east, almost all food, supplies and trade reach Pellod by sea. Pellod is an independent city that owes no tribute, but has passed through a succession of rulers every few years or so. The portly and vicious Baron Cript is the current incumbent of the Baron's Tower, but how long he will hold on to power is anyone's guess. The vast majority of citizens make a living from ships, the sea, or hospitality to travellers.

Extrapolating from this, we could get:

"The southern walled city of Pellod is an oft-overlooked port on the trading routes between Arantis and northern Allansia; a former Carsepolitan outpost and garrison town that survived the War of the Wizards largely intact and has now grown into a city-state in its own right. It lies on the eastern edge of a rocky peninsula that juts out into the Western Ocean, not too far south from Blood Island. The original fort was built on a hill overlooking the fly-blown estuary of the river Murab; the city has grown up to encompass both and the spaces in between. The buildings of the city are constructed with slabs of white limestone or blocks of fossilized coral; the absence of nearby timber in these arid wastes means wooden buildings are scarce. Poorer dwellings are made from mud-brick or stonework scavenged from older ruins, of which there are plenty."

We could do a lot more at this point on things like weather, currency, and so on, but instead let's dive straight into the detailing the dwellings of the more interesting inhabitants of Pellod.

The Baron's Tower (#1/28; #32/365)

The Baron's Tower is the old original Carsepolitan fort, rebuilt and refortified. It is the current home of Baron Cript (portly, vicious), his wife, the Lady Antorana (weak, dull), and son, the Honorable Drekha (ugly, youthful), and protected by 50 professional soldiers. Also in residence are Foryaz the Furious, a priest of Solinthar (short, mean), Grim Klarag, the house wizard (thin, flamboyant), and lots of servants.

Once a week, the most powerful guilds and temples meet with the Baron to thrash out a treaty or deal. However the meetings rarely achieve anything other than the sight of a retinue of important Pellodian personages travelling up the hill to the Baron's Tower, using a colourful variety of transport contraptions and contrivances (sedan-chair bearers, exotic steeds, covered palanquins, etc.).

The captain of the guard, Poldar Proudfist (nondescript, paranoid), is surprisingly competent and has a number of spies in both Pellod and the lawless outland settlement of Dust Town, sniffing out various potential threats to the beloved city-state of his birth.

The Baron's Tower itself is a functional small keep of white limestone slabs, with the use of wood restricted to ornamental covered balconies and the like. The interior is cool and airy, if somewhat dusty. A small flock of DEATH HAWKS have taken up residence among the ramparts; these occasionally attack stray animals or small children. As with any structure of this size or history, there are rumours of deeper dungeons beneath the Tower, burrowing into the hill itself.