I know, the Hold of Stonefist isn’t a place where a lot of adventurers end up. The Hold was originally made up of people who were “politely asked” by the rest of the Rovers of the Barrens to move along, and, my friends, they haven’t gotten any better. Imagine a nation of unorganized bullies, led by an hereditary semi-insane strongman, and that is a fairly accurate representation of the Hold.

Although its capital has about 2,000 citizens, I am more interested in the second city of Bastro (population 1,700). Located on White Fanged Bay and the headwaters of the Frozen River, it has a slightly more dynamic economy because of the opportunity for trade and smuggling. As I said above, where the nation is led by a group of, at best, neutral evil thugs, there isn’t a lot of desire for upward mobility since pretty much anything that Mronf the Merchant manages to accumulate can be snatched at any minute. However, even thugs need goods, and not every axe, chain helm, or gaudy ring can be produced locally.

Thus, Bastro.

The other thing I can recommend about Bastro, other than leaving it, is the Stonefist Café. Great deals on hot coffee and mead, extremely large portion sizes, and reasonable prices all make the Stonefist Café the one place to stop when on your way out of town.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 14th, 2023 at 10:00 am and is filed under Everyday D&D. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.