The "Brains" Behind the Hommlet Trading Post

In the Temple of Elemental Evil Gygax wrote “If [the heroes] need more seasoning before continuing to the greater challenges, you may – and should – design and develop other adventures in the area”. The following is an entry in my series on Ultimate Greyhawk. Much like how comics and movies will reboot a franchise with a new take on an old concept, this is my personal re-imagining of the Greyhawk Campaign Setting beginning with the venerable town of Hommlet. 

The following location is numbered based on how it appears on the map of the village of Hommlet found in T1-4: The Temple of Elemental Evil. You can see the rest of the entries in the Ultimate Greyhawk sidebar of the blog.

13. The Trading Post

The obese and almost porcine Rannos Davl and the sickly thin “Greenteeth” Gremag run the trading post. Basic adventuring gear, horses, mules and a small supply of weapons and armor can be purchased here. Rare items need to be ordered from Verbobonc. 

Rannos Davl: Always looking for an angle to make some money. He is particularly interested in knowing about any dungeons with hidden treasures. He will send this info (for a cut of the take) onto a group of evil adventurers he frequently does business with. 

Gremag: A sociopathic serial killer. He tries to control the urges to kill. Not because he feels bad about what he does, but because he doesn’t want to get caught. Roughly once a month he will stalk and kill someone, ritually cutting out the person’s brains and eating them. He does this in a way, quite by accident, that has lead some to speculate that there may be a mindflayer on the loose nearby. In an interesting twist there really IS a mindflayer in the nearby vicinity who will hire (or manipulate) the heroes into killing Gremag to preserve its secrecy in the area. 

Both the groom Klaus and the guard Alina are in the town militia as well as spies for Rannos and Gremag. Klaus is a foul mouthed lazy punk with a serious drug problem. He does a piss poor job of caring for any of the animals sadly left in his care. Alina is not above using her considerable wiles to get ahead and to get what she wants (which is usually wealth of some kind). She will quickly betray anyone who puts their trust in her if it will profit her. She is quite competent with weapons and is not afraid to get into a scrap if need be.

Adventure Seed: The Mistress of Ravencrag

Some of what the Trading Post sells comes from the less identifiable loot stolen from caravans in the Viscounty. The evil traders are in league with a self styled a Bandit Queen named Freja. With the lure of easy riches,  bands of evil humanoids are being drawn slowly but surely to the Bandit Queen's banner. From Ravenscrag, a ruined fortress in located in the Kron Hills these bandits strike at gnomish villages and passing caravans. At this point the fortress could be taken by a stealthy band of adventurers or a well trained militia. However, left to it’s own devices the forces of Ravenscrag could become a serious threat to the Viscounty. Unknown to even the Bandit Queen, Ravenscrag was once a fortress dedicated to the Air Temple. Soon Emissaries from that Temple will come to court the favour of the Bandit Queen in an effort to swell the Air Temples power and recover cult relics hidden in the dungeons below.