Alderhook

Alderhook is a forest outpost built where a navigable river meets an old overland trail through dense pine country. It began as a logging camp, then became a trade station for timber, resin, pelts, iron tools, grain, lamp oil, and adventurers heading deeper into the wild. Its mixed population lives behind a crude palisade and shares a fierce local custom: every adult wears a red fox fur sash marked with a gold-painted hand.

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Outpost

Alderhook

A timber outpost where every adult wears a gold-painted hand on red fox fur, and every favor becomes part of the town's defense.

TypeOutpost

PopulationApproximately 180 permanent residents, with another 20 to 50 traders, teamsters, hunters, and seasonal lumber workers present during the busiest months

WealthWorking poor with a few prosperous traders and timber contractors

GovernmentElected headwoman advised by a council of recognized households

ReadinessAlderhook can put nearly every adult into a fighting line within ten minutes. The settlement has no formal drillmaster, so readiness depends on habit, personal ties, and whoever gives the first clear order. The people are excellent at ambushes and defensive fighting, but poor at prolonged open combat. Their greatest weakness is that several residents are quietly divided over whom they should obey.

“Pine smoke hangs over Alderhook, mixed with the sharp smell of split resin and wet leather. Wagons crowd the muddy central road, while sawyers, hunters, teamsters, and traders move with the brisk confidence of people accustomed to danger. The outpost is welcoming in practical ways: a hot bowl, a repaired wheel, a place near the stove. Yet every kindness is measured, remembered, and quietly expected to be repaid.”

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Connections

Geography

RegionThe northern timber frontier, between settled river country and an immense old-growth forest

ClimateCool, wet, and heavily seasonal. Spring brings swollen rivers, summer brings biting insects, autumn brings clear trade weather, and winter can close the forest roads for weeks.

TerrainDense pine and cedar forest cut by ravines, peat bogs, rocky ridges, and a broad river suitable for shallow-draft barges

Travel Links

The King's Cut road leads south toward larger markets.The Alder River carries timber and travelers eastward.Old logging trails run north into the deep forest.A neglected hunters' path reaches an isolated mountain pass.

Culture

The outpost believes survival is a shared craft, not a personal virtue. People repair one another's roofs, stand together against raiders, and pass around food during lean weeks. They dislike grand promises and suspiciously generous strangers. Help is accepted only after its cost is understood, because Alderhook remembers every time an outsider's charity became a claim on land, labor, or loyalty.

Races

HumansDwarvesHalflingsElves

Religions

Ancestor reverenceShrine worship of local forest spiritsDevotion to gods of hearth, craft, and safe travel

Arts & Entertainment

Alderhook's songs are work songs first and entertainment second, with verses traded between human, dwarf, halfling, and elven families who arrived through different trade routes. Carved foxes decorate door lintels, wagon rails, and tool handles. The favored contests are practical: axe throwing, winter shooting, knot tying, and carrying a loaded pack uphill. Storytellers are respected, but anyone who boasts too loudly is invited to prove it outside.

History

Alderhook was founded on mutual defense, expanded through timber, and stabilized by trade. Its public history celebrates cooperation between settlers and merchants, but nearly every major success involved refusing outside control. The outpost's current crisis is not simply about missing workers or disputed trees. It is the latest struggle over whether Alderhook belongs to its people, its merchants, or the forest itself.

Thirty-two years agoThe First HandThe first logging families raised cabins beside the ford and painted a gold hand on red fox fur after defending one another from raiders. The official story calls the mark a symbol of unity. Older families know it began as a burial pledge made after a disastrous winter.

Twenty-one years agoThe Great WashoutAlderhook survived a flood that tore away half the original camp. The River Company later claimed its engineers saved the settlement by diverting the river. In truth, local workers broke the company's dam and accepted the flood rather than let the river be permanently controlled.

Nine years agoThe Crown CompactThe outpost signed a timber compact with the crown, granting limited cutting rights and formal protection. The compact's missing final page may contain a clause recognizing another people's claim to the deep forest.

Two years agoThe Surveyor's SilenceMara Venn found a dead surveyor wearing a River Company badge beyond the northern boundary. His maps showed several marked sites that do not appear on any public record. The council buried the incident to prevent the company from sending soldiers.

Government

LeaderMara Venn, elected headwoman and former river scout

Elected headwoman advised by a council of recognized households

Key Laws

No tree may be felled beyond the boundary posts without council approval.A resident must answer the alarm bell unless physically unable.Disputes involving outsiders are heard publicly before the council.Wearing the red fox sash without earning the gold hand mark is a serious offense.No merchant may claim land through debt alone.

Problems

A disputed forest boundary is threatening both the outpost's unity and its next shipment of timber.

The boundary posts that define Alderhook's protected forest have been moved, and Mara Venn refuses to order them restored until she knows whether the change was sabotage, a legal claim, or a warning from the Green Quiet. Her hesitation has split the council and allowed logging crews to work in disputed ground.

Missing workers, concealed evidence, and commercial pressure are pushing Alderhook toward violence.

Three lumberjacks vanished on a company contract, and the River Company demands that the Red Hands escort replacement crews immediately. Mara's flaw is caution hardened into secrecy: she knows more about the disappearances than she admits, but fears public panic and keeps delaying a full search.

Economy

Industries

LoggingRiver transportCarpentryHuntingPack-animal trade

Scarcity

Food becomes scarce after a poor hunting season, and iron is always expensive because the nearest forge lies many days downriver. Magical healing is rarer still. Alderhook can usually pay in gold, silver, timber, or labor, but coin vanishes quickly whenever the roads become unsafe.

Wealth LevelWorking poor with a few prosperous traders and timber contractors

Exports

Sawn pine and cedarResin and pitchPeltsDried mushroomsCarved wagon parts

Imports

GrainSaltIron toolsClothLamp oilMedicine

Defenses

Fortifications

A rough palisade of sharpened pine logs surrounds the central buildings.Three raised watch platforms cover the road, riverbank, and northern tree line.Every home keeps a crossbow, spear, or woodcutter's axe within reach.The fox sash functions as a visible signal of mutual defense.

The Red Hands(Twenty-four regular defenders, with forty to fifty additional adults able to join during an emergency)

The Red Hands are a rotating guard of lumberjacks, hunters, traders, and teamsters. They patrol in pairs, sleep in shifts, and answer first to the settlement's elected leader, though many still follow Mara Venn's commands without question.

Law & Order

crime Level: Moderate, with theft, smuggling, sabotage, and occasional violence between logging crews
enforcement: The Red Hands investigate crimes through witness testimony, trail reading, and public questioning. The council handles serious cases, but its judgments depend heavily on family reputation and the accused person's defense record. Outsiders receive fair treatment when evidence is clear, though they are watched closely from the moment they arrive.
typical Punishment: Restitution, labor on communal repairs, temporary loss of trading privileges, or expulsion beyond the palisade. Serious violence can result in a public duel, imprisonment in the supply shed, or a death sentence carried out by the Red Hands.

Sella Brant

NPC

Herbalist and sawmill medic

A tall elven herbalist with a shaved temple, a basket of dried plants, and a red fox sash whose fur has faded almost white.

Della Moss

NPC

Courier and trail runner

A freckled halfling woman with a missing front tooth, a whistle around her neck, and a habit of tapping every doorframe before entering.

Corin Ash

NPC

Captain of the Red Hands

A scarred human man with a gray beard, a missing fingertip, and a fox sash tied over an old military coat.

Hester Cole

NPC

Blacksmith and wagonwright

A broad dwarf woman with silver braids, blue-stained nails, and a fox sash decorated with tiny brass buttons.

The Brant and Cole Forge

Shop

Smithy

Hester Cole's forge is built into the old floodwall, with a bellows powered by a small waterwheel. She repairs axes, wagon rims, crossbows, and common weapons, charging in silver pieces when possible and labor when not. Hester refuses to sell arms to anyone who will not explain where they intend to use them.

Moss and Mending

Shop

General outfitter

Della Moss operates from a narrow shop attached to the stable, selling trail gear from hooks and rafters. Her prices are modest, but she keeps certain items under the counter for people who have earned her trust. The shop is also Alderhook's unofficial message office, where travelers can leave sealed notes without involving the council.

The Millstone Inn

Tavern

Lumber crews, river pilots, Red Hands, visiting traders, and travelers who understand that loud boasting earns them a place at the cleanup table.

The Millstone Inn is a broad log building with a stone hearth, a long communal table, and a porch overlooking the river road. The innkeeper serves meals in heavy bowls and keeps a public board listing unpaid favors. Travelers receive a warm welcome, but no one is allowed to sit near the stove without first answering three questions about their business.

The Old Hand Council

Faction

Civic traditionalists

The Old Hand Council is a loose alliance of founding families, long-serving guards, and tradespeople who believe Alderhook must remain self-governing. They keep records of debts, defense oaths, and land claims, and they treat the fox sash as proof that the community belongs to those who protect it.

The River Company

Faction

Merchant syndicate

The River Company is a commercial partnership that controls most barges and freight leaving Alderhook. Its agents present themselves as useful friends, offering credit, medicine, and safer transport. In practice, they want the outpost dependent on company warehouses and willing to surrender its independent timber contracts.

The Green Quiet

Faction

Forest preservation network

The Green Quiet is not openly organized, but its members include hunters, herbalists, and several mixed-heritage households who believe the deepest forest should never be logged. They communicate through carved marks and altered trail signs. Some want negotiation, while others have already begun sabotaging cutting camps.

The River Bell

Point of Interest

A stone bell tower built from salvaged flood masonry. Its bell once warned of raiders, but now its hollow interior hides Della Moss's stolen survey map and a narrow ladder leading to the roof.

The Hand Grove

Point of Interest

A ring of ancient cedar stumps beyond the palisade, each marked with a gold-painted hand. No one agrees who carved the oldest symbols, and animals refuse to cross the ring after sunset.

Alderhook Landing

Point of Interest

A muddy riverside landing crowded with flatboats, timber rafts, and freight sleds. The pilings bear fresh knife marks that form a warning in a language only Sella Brant recognizes.

The Blackwood Cut

Point of Interest

A collapsed logging road descending into a ravine where blackwood trees grow unnaturally straight and dark. The Green Quiet watches the place, while River Company surveyors insist it contains valuable timber.

Calendar of Events

Every first marketday

The Hand-Tally

The timber tally is read aloud, trade debts are settled, and every household renews the red fox fur sash bearing the gold-painted hand. Outsiders may trade freely, but only residents and sworn guests may wear the mark.

Someone has begun altering the tally to hide shipments of unregistered blackwood.

Late autumn, first hard frost

Foxfire Gathering

Alderhook holds a communal feast for returning lumber crews. The meal is meant to honor the dead and welcome new workers, with archery contests, wrestling, and songs in three languages.

This year, the missing crews may return from the forest changed, silent, and carrying proof that the outpost's founding story is false.

The third night after a new moon

The Quiet Circuit

The night watch walks the perimeter with shuttered lanterns, checking the old boundary posts and listening for movement beyond the logging roads. No one travels alone after sundown.

One boundary post has been moved several yards inward, shrinking the protected ground without anyone admitting who did it.

Secrets

The original Crown Compact recognizes a forest clan's right to the northern woods and forbids permanent company ownership there. If revealed, the River Company's claims collapse, but Alderhook may face crown investigation for hiding the document.

Settlement-wide political secretCompare the public timber compact with the incomplete copy held by Tomas Vale, then search beneath the council table.

One missing lumberjack survived and now shelters in the ruin beyond the boundary. If the players bring him home, he can identify the company survey operation, but his testimony may ignite a civil fight between Alderhook and the River Company.

Local survival secretFollow the altered trail marks beyond the Blackwood Cut and ask Sella Brant why one missing worker's name is absent from the memorial board.

The first gold hand was not a human symbol. It was a pact-sign offered by the forest spirits after settlers promised to defend the woods from outside exploitation. If the pact is broken, the spirits may withdraw their protection and turn the forest hostile.

Cultural and supernatural secretInspect the oldest fox sash in the Hand House and compare its paint with the gold marks on the cedar stumps.

Rumors

The gold hand on the fox sash was originally painted with blood, not paint.

The missing lumberjacks found a door in the forest that opens only for someone wearing the sash.

Elias Crowe has a sealed order from the crown appointing him governor of Alderhook.

Sella Brant speaks to the forest at night and receives answers through the birds.

Mara Venn buried the original Crown Compact beneath the Hand House.

The River Company barge sank because something climbed aboard from beneath the water.

Plot Hooks

The Crew That Did Not Die

Della Moss asks the players to help locate her missing cousin, offering a guide, supplies, and access to the bell tower map. The trail leads to an abandoned logging camp where the crew found a sealed ruin. The hidden complication is that one survivor is alive but protecting the ruin from both the River Company and the Green Quiet.

Investigation and wilderness rescueDella MossForty gold pieces, free lodging for a month, and a repaired set of tools or weapons

The Line in the Trees

Mara Venn asks the players to escort a boundary survey, hoping outsiders can investigate without appearing to favor any local faction. The boundary posts reveal signs of deliberate movement, but restoring them will place the players between armed Green Quiet saboteurs and River Company guards. The true complication is that the crown's original survey may legally support neither side.

Faction negotiation and dangerous surveyMara VennSixty gold pieces, legal trade papers, and a permanent right to shelter behind Alderhook's palisade

The Books Beneath the Barge

Elias Crowe offers the players a well-paid job recovering stolen company ledgers from a wrecked barge. The ledgers are real, but they also document illegal land purchases and payments to local officials. Crowe expects the evidence destroyed, while Tomas Vale wants it preserved. The wreck is watched by creatures drawn to the blackwood cargo.

Recovery mission with political consequencesElias CroweOne hundred gold pieces, river passage, and a company letter of introduction

Before the First Shot

Corin Ash recruits the players to prevent a Red Hands raid on a River Company camp. He believes the camp holds proof about the vanished lumberjacks, but his chosen guards are ready to attack before dawn. The hidden complication is that the company camp is already under assault by the missing crew's survivor, who believes everyone from Alderhook betrayed them.

Crisis mediation and covert infiltrationCorin AshA Red Hand sash, fifty gold pieces from pooled household funds, and the captain's personal favor

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