Trostenwald

Trostenwold is a small town in the Marrow Valley in the Western Wynandir region of Wildemount. The town is bordered by the blue waters of the Usterlock. The town is under the rule of the Dwendalian Empire and is a trade stop on the Amber Road. The town also serves as the place where the new party first meets.

The town is most notable for its unique strain of grain and wheat, which led to a boom in breweries around the turn of the century. Of the initial glut of breweries, three brewer families have survived and prospered to this day. The town now primarily exports fish, crops and ale.

When the party arrives in the town, there is a new visiting carnival called "The Flatchling and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities". This carnival is the site of a zombie attack that the new party helped stop.

The town also has a contingent of Crown's Guard who act as law enforcement for the town.

Demographics
In the southern more rural region of the Empire, especially near Felderwind*, which is one of the largest, tilling and farming areas of the entire Empire there is a very heavy halfling population. And so while this city is not the core of it, a larger 20-25% of the population here in Trostenwold is halfling.

The Nestled Nook Inn
This inn is where the party first meet, and the first location described for the second campaign. Caleb and Nott slept in a second-floor room of this inn after an apparently rough evening. Beauregard, Fjord and Jester met a patron at this inn to collect payment, which in turn led to the two groups meeting.

Employees
Yorda, the 40 something year old woman barkeep, rents out the rooms and seems to manage the inn. She had shoulder length blonde hair and weathered skin.

Adelyn, a redhead barmaid who rushed from table to table taking orders and goes to and from the back kitchen to get meals for customers.

Menu
Trosts Meats
 * Bombock
 * Husseldorf
 * Vonbrant
 * bacon
 * pork belly

baked goods, eggs, porridge (mush), and potatoes.

Job Board
The board currently has one sheet posted by someone in the Hills Ward looking for folks to do an extermination run near the southern portion of the Usterlock. It looks like there seems to be a vole infestation.

The Flatchling and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities
Having their first show on the day of Grissen (see Calendar of Tal'Dorei), the carnival had set up east of the Lock Ward on the southern bank of the Usterlock, this carnival was where Mollymauk and Yasha worked, with Molly as an entertainer and Yasha as a security guard. The fee to enter the tent and see the show was 5 copper pieces.

This carnival became the site of a ravenous zombie attack when an old man suddenly keeled over and transformed. The party was able to kill the zombie with minimal casualties. However, all of the performers, except Yasha, were taken into custody for suspicion of wrongdoing.

Carnival Tent
The main tent was circular, made of heavy dark blue cloth and had lengthy streamers of white and silver attached to the top of it. The interior of the tent had a flattened floor of dirt and grass. The inside edge of the tent, where the cloth met the ground, was encased in a heavy tarp-like material. There were two entrances to the tent, a patron's entrance and a larger performer's entrance across it on the other side of the tent. The tent was held up by a column of wood made of a tree rounded off on all sides and had a small platform set into its the apex. There were four lanterns filled with magical flame that lit the interior of the tent. The carnival tent had a semicircle of seats made up of three sections; right, center and left.

Carnival Rules

 * No old or sick people were allowed inside the main tent.

Members

 * Gustav Fletching. The carnival master, he is a lanky half-elven man with ashy brown hair that curved ever so slightly past his mid back. He wore a long coat and tails that knocked around his skipping step, and a sort of top-hat that is floppy towards the top. He leads the procession towards the carnival tent.
 * Toya. Dwarven girl, maybe 12 years of age with braided golden hair in a long white dress. She had a beautiful mature voice and had been singing with the carnival for over two years. She had no family and was found singing in the streets for change. Gustav saw and seized an opportunity to utilize the girl's talents giving the girl a family she didn't have.
 * Mona and Yuli "The Knot Sisters". Women in full bodysuits, sporting serpentine makeup consisting of scales affixed to their face and arms. Extremely flexible and nimble, they are contortionist able to almost form one form out of their two bodies. They were seen dancing from side to side handing flowers to children and flyers to the adults during the procession towards the carnival tent.
 * Desmond Moondrop. A bald man and a shifting fool of the carnival. He was first seen wearing a frilled frock coat of bright red and face adorned with vibrant orange makeup to look like the setting sun. He followed the two sisters in the procession towards the carnival tent playing a fiddle. During the performance, first wore an outfit and makeup matching the deep blue of the tent, he was later seen to don an outfit of deep-set black. He was seen to be able to control and play the fiddle without physically touching it as if floated near him.
 * Bo "The Breaker". A tall and muscular half-orc man of greenish-grey skin. Well put together with a well-groomed handlebar mustache that curves out to the sides. He wears a billowing white silk shirt and black trousers. He followed behind the bald man in the procession leading to the carnival tent and was seen to play a large drum which he had slung over his shoulder.
 * Mollymauk. Following Bo the Breaker in the procession towards the carnival tent he was seen to walk in place and juggle two curved scimitars. He also used a deck of cards to read people's fortune for which he charged 2cp for a simple reading.
 * Orna "The Fire Fairy". A woman of short fiery red hair, and dark skin. She wore a simple dress of golds and reds. She wields a pair of metallic fans alight with flame. Following Mollymauk in the procession, she held a small candle up towards her lips and caused a gout of flame to burst out of her mouth, which brightened the vicinity and caused the townsfolk to collectively gasp.
 * Yasha. A burly looking pale woman, with arms crossed she followed behind the procession keeping an eye as a security guard and made sure that no business got out of hand. She was mentioned to have helped in putting up the carnival tent. During the performance, she confiscated and hold the parties weapons since you can't see the show if you bring a weapon.

Beasts

 * Kowery "Devil Toad". An enormous creature with green scaled slimy looking skin and a corpulent form. Large toad like legs framing a rotund torso and muscular manacled arms. It had a large roar and was soothed out of its aggression by Toya's song. He rescued Toya from the chaos of the zombie creature.

Attendees

 * A clueless and gullible farmer who came to have his fortune read from Mollymauk. He was suffering from a sickness in the form of a cough he'd had for three to four months. Mollymauk suggests breathing a tincture and that perhaps getting the cough looked at by a physician. He was not allowed within the tent.
 * In the front row in the audience on the left, a man stood up during Toya's song, arm outstretched towards her. His dirty cloak falls away, his face and skin wracked with age, his legs shook as he stood, his cheeks wet with tears. He gave a shout and let out a gurgling a breath of vocal pain as he grasped his chest and began to shake. Yelling again the skin in his arms began to tear away, and his bones started splitting and bursting out from beneath his flesh, writhing and cracking. Dust and blood shook from his wounds as his form swelled. It Appeared to have seperate control of its black and red eyes
 * A young woman killed and transformed by the curse effect from the zombie creature. She took 8 points of bludgeoning damage from a slam to the chest from the zombie creature. The zombie creature then proceeded to knaw into and rip off a piece of her flesh before making its way towards its next target. After a round she rose from the dead as a similar zombie creature.

Hillsbrook Parchment and Binding
The only bookseller in town, this shop is a boutique in a layout like a cross, with windows at the ends and a door at the back. The shop contains lots of books on farming technique, as well as books on how to grow and care for different types of vegetation, plants, and various beasts of burden. There are also books on the different seasons on what's best for different types of grain and wheat. There are a couple of books that deal with discussion on the Menagerie Coast, that talk about the Clovis Concord, and a discussion on the political structure that maintains the city states there.

The person who runs this shop is an older man by the name of ''(Shebaiti? Sheena?). ''The closest Library is in Zadash up north. That is where the library of the Cobalt Soul resides. Its a bit pricey to peruse their selection.

Caleb finds a book on hoe technique called Jamison's Hoedown. The owner wanted 2 silver pieces in exchange for the book.

Notable Houses
The Bombock House is one of the three brewer families in Trostenwold. Beauregard, Fjord and Jester helped to load crates for this house and swindled from their employees. This house also has the blessing of Frida Longa and the Starosta.

The Husseldorf House is one of the three brewer families in Trostenwold. The party visits their brewery during a brewery tour. They met Vos and June, who are the two very nice ladies who run the brewery facility.

The Vonbrant House is one of the three brewer families in Trostenwold The party visits their brewery during a brewery tour.

Trivia

 * Geek & Sundry confirmed the spelling as "Trostenwold" in the article "5 Things to Love about the New Critical Role Campaign".