Bridgetown NPCs

First, the complete, correct (until I spot some kind of error, I suppose) collection of Bridgetown images.

Summer night

Spring

Winter

Autumn sunset

Fall

Early summer

Late summer (original image)

OK, that project now complete and out of the way, some NPCs you may encounter.

Eward Galland — A middle-aged, sturdy fisherman.  He owns a boat that he operates with his son, Holte.  He's widowed and also lives with his daughter, Vittoria, who is an accomplished tracker and trapper of small animals, preferring to avoid the company of the Bridge-folk for the solitude of the woods.  Despite his rather taciturn children, Eward himself is friendly and kind, and among the townsfolk, is the most likely to be convinced to help in a tough spot.  Bring danger or trouble to his children, though, and you'll see a dark, ugly side of Eward. He lives very close to the south gate. Eward and his stoic son Holte are your go-tos if you need help traveling up or down the river a short distance (no more than a few days in either direction, probably) and know almost all of the towns, villages and hamlets along the river for many miles in either direction. Vittoria, on the other hand, is most likely to ignore the characters entirely, although she's got a wild beauty about her and has occasionally attracted unwanted attention from local boys and young men.

Braz Quint — Owner of the Hamath's Spirits, the inn, tavern, and general store for the Southgate district, including a storefront even just outside the gate, backed up against the gatehouse wall.  Braz is a large man, who displays a degree of wealth unusual for this part of town.  His common room is nearly always full, while his rooms rarely are except when a wagon train, caravan or large cargo along the river is in town along with its visiting workers and merchants.  In addition to running the inn, he also is a local brewer, and most of the folks in at least the south end of the city drink small beer brewed by Quint as their day to day drink.  Friendly on the surface, Quint is also notoriously untrustworthy and cowardly.  The locals like to hang out in his common room and drink his spirits, but otherwise don't trust him with much. That said, he somehow seems to know more rumors than people are willing to tell him (why they don't trust him much). It's not clear how he hears them.

Bruna Greyne — Although she purports to be a simple assistant and serving woman at the Hamath's Spirits; a distant relative of Quint's taken in by his charity, secretly she's actually an agent of the Giersa crime family from out of town.  Rumors about how Quint got saddled with her from the few who suspect her affiliation involve him being deep into debt with the mafiosos. If dealing with Shule (see below) isn't your thing, but you need an underworld contact, which is a bit more difficult in Bridgetown than in most comparably sized cities given the intolerance for crime that Bridgetown has, Bruna is a good bet. 

Dillon Kendrick — An extremely skilled craftsman, Dillon claims to be able to fix anything that comes through town, and make most of what else is needed.  His skill with his tools makes him a popular person in town.  Idle talk around town occasionally refers to rumors that he honed his skills working with the Giersas in Garenport, and has "retired" to the country—with a head full of secrets.

Geoffrey Vincent — The Lord Mayor and official town leader, Vincent is notorious for being somewhat indecisive, and its no secret that Camilla, his sturdy farmwife and a highly religious person, actually calls the shots.  She is greatly respected, but has little patience for fools. They're both somewhat elderly, but have still three young children, having been married late in life and struggling to conceive for many years.

Evike von Rajecz — As a Tarushan "Gypsy" Evike is one of the most exotic townsfolk.  She lives simply in a worn but once colorful traveling wagon or coach that's been parked in a tight alley for many years, long having given up her roaming days, but is famous for her fortune-telling—which is only taken half-seriously by the townsfolk. She's still relatively young and pretty, and many of the men are fascinated by her. It's not clear what exactly is behind her wagon, since it is unreachable (her wagon blocks the way) but there are rumors among the busybodies that all kinds of unusual things happen in that alley behind her wagon, including that an entire secret low house exists there. A house of ill-repute, of cultic sacrifice, or simply of decadent luxury are all popular rumors. Evike acknowledges none of them.

Kemal MacCormack — This brusque woodwose is one of Southgate's primary sources of non-seafood meat, furs and leathers.  In addition to hunting and slaughtering, his place just outside of town on the banks of the river doubles as a small tannery and leatherworking facility.  He's taken a liking to the similarly taciturn Vittoria Galland, calling her his "little niece."  He knows more about the lands nearby than anyone else around. Herds of cattle, pigs and sheep fill his fields, although he seems to like hunting more than tending them.

Gisati Tahhi — A middle-aged kemling woman, who lives in a large house with a bunch of children, none of them her own.  Most of them are orphans—or presumed to be—who shipwrecked on the banks in the winter with her eleven years ago just north of the harbor when they were all infants or toddlers.  They were brought into the town and her services as a small orphanage were seen as good for the town.  More children were moved in, the biggest wave after a bout of plague swept through the town.  Curiously, she claims no knowledge of who her charges were or what the mission of the ship was that brought them.  The captain was killed in the wreck, and her claims of amnesia seem to be legitimate. There are fewer kemlings in this town than most, partly because an underworld war in town about a generation ago drove the underworld truly underground, and they now keep an extremely low profile. As another consequence, though, the Chersky mafia was truly routed, and no one, criminal or otherwise, would tolerate their presence in Bridgetown if it were known. This is one of the reasons why Oisin (see below) comes here frequently; it's one of the very few cities of any significant size where there is almost no chance of a Chersky spy seeing him. Some are suspicious of Gisati because of her race, but many in town admire her caring for the orphans and don't tolerate talk about her.

Anton von Lechfeld: Anton is a renowned scholar and investigator into the obscure and the occult. He had a storied career at the Academy in Mittermarkt, but is now retired to the Northwoodshire countryside after the death of his wife in Timischburg, where he continues his research independently and lives with his teenaged daughter Revecca. Von Lechfeld is an older, middle-aged man, who has a dispensation from various authorities to study things would otherwise be illegal for most. His knowledge of the occult, necromancy, daemonology, and the forbidden is prodigious, although he himself is no necromancer or daemonologist. Rather, he's occasionally offered his services to various organization, such as the Shadow Rangers, the pursuit of rooting out these baleful influences. He studies them with an eye towards protecting his people from them. Von Lechfeld tends to be friendly and polite, if closed off and quiet. His eyes get hard and he will go out of his way to help anyone who is on the track of a vampire, but he clams up and will often send away anyone who brings an influence who he believes might threaten his daughter. Von Lechfeld still travels a fair bit consulting his colleagues, or otherwise doing research, and sixteen year old Revecca is used to being alone for weeks at a time, other than a few household live-in servants.

Drancent Hewe: Hewe is also a renowned Zobnan scholar, although his area of expertise is not the occult, and he will generally indicate his distaste for any investigation into "generic" occult items, and provide a very high DC due to his reluctance to address it. He spends about a third of his time in Lomar, where his people are and his "permanent address", but he also has highly profitable "gigs" in both Garenport and Barrowmere, where he'll spend months at a time as a guest researcher in their universities and academies, living relatively large in houses in the center of town. But he's already set up in a house near Professor von Lechfeld, and is eyeing it as a retirement destination... not that he's ready to retire by any means. His real passion is history, and he is especially knowledgeable about ancient kingdoms and places, languages, the history of the Kin kingdoms and their comings and goings, meaning that he is spending more time rather than less in Bridgetown, since its close to his area of research. More recent history, or history of more recent people like the Hillmen, he finds boring. The older and more obscure, the more interesting to him. Hewe is a Zobnan grisling, and a confirmed bachelor, although he's still only in early middle age (because of the pale coloration of grislings in general and their white hair in particular, they sometimes look older than they are anyway.) He's in good shape, but he is somewhat indolent in his habits. He can sometimes be more easily persuaded to help out by someone who brings him a bottle of fine wine, exotic cigar, or who buys him a very fine meal first. He's a snappy dresser in finery that looks a bit exotic, but would otherwise be fit for what most people imagine nobility dresses like. In spite of all this, he's not averse to some real adventure, and if you have a really exciting (to him) thing that you're looking for, he could even be convinced to come with as a guide or on-site expert. Although he'll probably pack way too many clothes and require his own packhorse (or two) for all of his luxuries.

Shule: Shule is also a subject matter expert, but not an academic; he's the kind of person you go to for street smart wisdom and experience. As a goblin informant around town (whichever town he happens to be in, and he does wander quite a lot... but for peace and quiet, Bridgetown is his favorite and he's most likely to be found there) his information seems nearly unbeatable. In addition to being an informant about what's going on in the criminal underworld, Shule is also an important liaison between the PCs and potentially all kinds of other criminals and the services that they might offer; smugglers, black-marketers, fences, protection, and more. However, if it's the Chersky Mafia that you're trying to get information on, the only thing Shule will give you is whatever intel can be used to discomfit them. He hates the Chersky Mafia with an abiding passion, and isn't super keen on any kemlings at all, frankly, whether they're related to the Chersky Mafia or not. This can occasionally get the PCs in trouble, if Shule's prejudice against the Cherskies causes the PCs to be seen as enemies of them as well. Shule has a rat that he always keeps with him, and he's rarely seen without it perched on his shoulder, or resting in one of his pockets. Sometimes he holds it up on his wrist and speaks to it. Some who know him believe that the rat is actually the eyes and ears of Shule's outfit, and that somehow he is able to communicate what he sees back to Shule, which explains his preternatural street smarts. Others, of course, think that this is superstitious nonsense. 

Oisin Dughall: This large and strong woodwose used to be associated with the Chersky Mafia himself, as many urban woodwose were, as shakedown and protection, rather than deeply involved with the organization. Oisin, however, had a falling out with the Mafia. He's been "out" for a number of years, and spends most of his time in the rural areas of the Hill Country, avoiding the cities, and trying to keep a low profile. Bridgetown, in part because it is not connected to the Cherskies, and because it's the only city of decent size that has a rural character, is one of his favorite stops. That said, he's a friend to many rural homesteaders, hunters, scouts, trappers, and other men with a lonely occupation in the wilderness. He's hard to find, but because he wanders across the Hill Country, he could be nearby almost anywhere if the GM needs him to be. Other hunters, trackers, homesteaders, and woodwoses may also have knowledge of where to find him, although they're often suspicious and protective, and will only share such knowledge if convinced that the seeker is a genuine friends of Oisin. Oisin's support to potential PC activities can be quite varied. There are fewer experts with more knowledge of the backwoods and backcountry of the Hill Country than Oisin, and he can be consulted about what happens and what's to be found outside of settled areas, where his advice and knowledge is second to none. Where he can be even more helpful, though, is that because he's always on the move anyway, it's not hard to convince him to travel with the PCs for a short time, offering his expertise freely. He's rarely lost, he makes good time across the wilderness, and he's an expert at finding food as well as avoiding trouble from other travelers, wildlife, or anything else that you might find in the wilderness. He's also a fierce fighter when he needs to be. However, he'll never stay with the PCs for long; a few days to maybe a week or two tops—and less if they are heading into a town, city or even a village for more than a night, or if they are magnets for trouble getting involved in all kinds of combat with all kinds of things. Oisin is friendly to those he knows, but always chary, with everyone. His eyes dart around carefully, he rarely looks you in the eyes, he often stops and ignores you, even mid conversation, as he listens for something beyond you; in short, he always behaves paranoid. 

Brythe Aermeld: This young lass can be placed wherever you need her to be. She was young, pretty, and ambitious, and was a student at the Academy in Barrowmere. She is a brilliant, if somewhat acerbic and sharp-tongued sorceress (or witch, if you prefer), but she's also an object lesson on why exactly witchcraft should be avoided. Corruption from her exposure to thaumaturgical rituals and energy has mutated her body. While she's still beautiful, after a fashion, she no longer looks remotely human, and is considered by sages to be a non-born cambion; i.e., a person who's exposure to witchcraft has made them half-daemon rather than one who was born half-daemon. Because of this, Brythe almost never leaves her tower; although her tower itself either seems to appear in multiple places, or there are multiple versions of it that she can travel between. It's been seen reliably in Garenport, Barrowmere, Simashki, Port Liure and Bridgetown, and reports of it being present in other cities exist as well. She will receive the PCs in the lobby of the tower, if they come to visit her in person, but will probably not show herself, preferring to keep the lobby very darkened, and her physical form hidden behind thick curtains or even a grated door. If she is gained as a contact, however, she doesn't need to be physically present to contact the PCs (or vice versa) she will give the character a small round stone inscribed with a few curious runes. If the character sleeps with this stone in his bedroll, or pocket, or otherwise on his person, he can speak to Brythe (and she to him) in his dreams as needed. If this is done repeatedly, eventually the rune will start to appear as a small mark on the skin of the character, and when it is fully realized, the stone will no longer be needed. Brythe is a prodigy in sorcery. She can, if convinced, cast spells for the PCs. She can give PCs spells that she believes that they are capable of learning. She can also offer all kinds of advice on occult and magical concerns. Most importantly, as she is constantly looking for a way to reverse her corruption and expand her own power, she will have things that she wants from the PCs, and is a great source of potential side quests and other tasks, which she will barter for with the benefits that she can provide. Brythe is very bitter about what has happened to her, and this is reflected in her arrogant and angry way of reacting to the world. Unfortunately, she doesn't accept responsibility for her condition, and hates the world, her former teachers, or anyone else who she can rationalize as a person to blame other than herself for her mutations. Or for that matter, anyone she can blame for doing anything wrong or inconvenient for her at all. But she is helpful, if you can tolerate her abrasive personality. Needless to say, she doesn't advertise to her neighbors what she is or what she does.

More on Bridgetown

I'm on a work trip to Hermosillo, MX again, and this time I'm staying over the weekend and all of next week. So, it's Saturday, I don't really have any meaningful work that I want to (or even could) do this weekend, it's in the mid-90s right now and expected to peak at 109º today, and I don't have a car. There isn't really any good reason to go out of my hotel room except to get something to eat, and even then, it's already like an oven at 10 AM (I went out about half an hour to a grocery store a few hundred yards away to get a Coca Cero--which for some reason in Mexico they spell Zero like the English word instead of Cero like the Spanish equivalent, although in my experience, Spanish-speakers are terrible spellers when it comes to letters that have the same sound in their language anyway--and some snacks. When I actually eat a real meal, which I'll probably do only once, I can eat at the hotel restaurant if I really want to, and not go out. Although I had thought about walking maybe a little over a mile to this great taco place, Tacos de Armando. It will be really hot, but today's definitely a shower day after I get back, so maybe it's worth it. 

Other than that, I've got my phone, some downloaded podcasts, my work laptop from which I'm posting this, and a bunch of books to read. And there's a decent chance that I'll take a siesta later too. What I did not bring, although oddly enough it did occur to me, was my sketch pad and art pens so that I could make a map. What I'm interested in potentially doing right now is Port Liure, and Bridgetown, my latest obsession. After running many, many iterations of Bridgetown, I've certainly come upon a favorite (maybe two, but one I think I like slightly better still) and as my image generations reset, I'll make a few variations in different seasons and lighting conditions.  So I'm thinking maybe a bit more development of the town itself and the surrounding area in a series of posts. And yes, I'll post more images, including some of the ones that I've already posted. I really am liking the idea, so get over it! :) I may even make a YouTube video on the place once I've got some development done, so I can post even more images. But I'll wait until later today when I can generate a few more variations before I do that. I've decided on one architecture that's my favorite, one that's my second favorite, and another that I quite like the images of, but it has a major structural flaw, so I am going to reject it. Oh, well. I'll post images and explanations later in this post. Let me first start with the original image that I decided on for the architecture of the town. It's a bit cool and dim, but on a mostly overcast day, that's OK. I also have a variation in brighter sunlight with more saturated colors, and one in bright fall colors. I'll make a winter, spring, sunset and night time variant before I'm done making images, although I don't know that I can get all four today before I run out for the day again. But this will be a good reference as I talk about the town just a bit.

As you can see, the bridge itself is pretty wide, and well protected by a strong gatehouse and tower that you will need to pass through to actually enter the town (you can presume that it's twin is on the other side), You can also see that the buildings built on the bridge are quite tall; six, seven or even eight stories, not counting the occasional tower or steeple. You can assume that they are multifamily "medieval apartments" more or less. Lacking electricity, as a Medieval-esque fantasy setting would, there are no elevators, so many people who live on the tallest floors, especially if they are older or otherwise somewhat incapacitated, don't often leave their apartments. Each building tends to have a steward and a bailiff who combined act as combination super, security, valet and butler of sorts for the whole building, and all people who live in the building tend to be a bit more community minded of each other, especially helping to take care of the needs of those who maybe live on the top floors. Although that isn't as necessary as a modern person might think; most families live in multi-generational households, so the elderly are, more often than not, cared for by their children or grandchildren. One side effect of this stronger community bond for an entire building, however, is that it is more difficult to take advantage of anyone. Thieves and con artists struggle to make a living in Bridgetown, and usually wander off to more lucrative settings to ply their "trade." The exception to this is some more organized crime, but in general, they do not prey on the residents of Bridgetown itself, being more content with smuggling, extorting or preying on visitors, or other crimes that largely target non-citizens of the town. That said, everyone knows not to cross them, and there is an uneasy recognition on both sides that escalation or upsetting of the current status quo would make things difficult on both sides. They tend to mostly leave each other alone, and it's most believe that the Mayor is aware of this organized crime, and is paid sufficiently well to look the other way rather than crack down on it.

The stewards for the various buildings in a smaller district of half a dozen to a dozen buildings meet together as district leads, and nominate one of their own to represent the district for meetings for all of their colleagues. These stewards have the added role of alderman for the district, and the aldermen meet once a month with the mayor of Bridgetown, Geoffrey Vincent.

Of course, not everyone lives in these types of tenements. More in the middle of Bridgetown, farther from either bank, are much larger homes, where the wealthy or important live, including the mayor, Anton von Lechfeld, and others. Most of them have an entire building to themselves, although there is often little space around the building, and their space is more often measured in going up rather than outward. Professor Anton von Lechfeld is a good example of a retired fairly wealthy man, and his townhome has a modest footprint, but six stories of regular floors, plus a narrow, peak-roofed tower. The farthest shown steeple-like tower in the image above would represent his house, perhaps. The mayor lives in the mayors keep, which is also the administrative center of Bridgetown, and is represented by the blocky keep-looking structure even further beyond. 

The town actually has a kink in the course of the bridge; it's not simply a straight line, so you can't see all of it at once. You can presume that there is more that's hidden from view by perspective, but it's also apparent how such a relatively small space can house many thousands of residents; a large city by d20 standards with between 15,000-20,000 people, depending on the season (although some couple thousand of those don't actually live in the city itself, but rather on farms, homesteads, ranches or tiny communities just outside of the city. But mostly, they economically support the city, and that's where they sell, for example, the yield of their farming, crafting or ranching efforts, and where they also depend on for protection and goods and services not available in their rural environment. 

Other than the height and cramped conditions of the buildings, you can also see that the "floor" isn't actually the lowest level, especially on the starlings themselves where there are windows with iron bars. These tunnels represent cells, sewers, and other infrastructure, but against the outer walls, there are also relatively nice apartments which is where the reeves and guards live, i.e., the combination pseudo-military and constable forces for the city, with their families. These apartments do tend to be darker, since they are built of heavy stone, and have relatively few and small windows.

As you can also see, there are open air markets and plazas here and there, although they are small, but mostly the lower floors are where shops and other businesses are located. 

As you can see, the purpose of Bridgetown is to be a fairly stable and "peaceful" home base of sorts; maybe even a place the PCs would want to set up as their own home. But meanwhile, they can spend more time with Anton von Lechfeld and his daughter, especially in the CULT OF UNDEATH campaign. If I do end up running for either the husband/wife team, or the greater D&D group that they were also part of, I'm probably going to pitch two ideas that they can choose from; Gothic horror, which will be Carrion Crown slash CULT OF UNDEATH and dark pirates, which will be Freeport slash CURSE OF THE CORSAIR COAST. So, I'd also like to do some development of Port Liure in another post, maybe later this weekend or later this week, at least. 

Here's my alternate versions of this same Bridgetown image (so far). Later tonight I'll see about getting a sunset, a night time, and a winter variation. 

One is fall colors, the other is a similar season as the first image, just brighter and more colorful or saturated. 

I also had some great image variations of this second architecture, but when I realized that you could simply walk around the gate, I figured it wasn't going to work. Too bad. Cool design otherwise. I also noticed that it wasn't holding the architecture quite as steady as I initially supposed. But you can see the moods, seasons and lighting that I was going for. The "grimdark" one doesn't really look like winter, though, it just looks desaturated and abandoned. (I actually manually upped the saturation in an image editor a little bit.)

Too bad it didn't quite work, but the other one I have above is a better alternative anyway, assuming I can get the mood, seasonal and lighting variations I want. If there's one thing I've learned with AI images it's that you have to spend several days (at least with a free account that has limited images) doing iterations and modifications on the prompt to get something pretty close to what you really want. Sometimes your early passes will look good but on closer inspection, they have problems that you don't really quite want to mess with. 

This is really my runner-up design; a taller bridge that would be easier to pass underneath. The lower bridge looks more realistic. I actually posted a few of these on reddit for the heckuvit, and one guy said he didn't think it was realistic to build buildings on a bridge. What the heck? Do people not remember the historical London Bridge? All I did was take it out of London and make it basically the whole town by itself. Get a hold of Peter Spier's excellently illustrated version of it. But I grew up with Peter Spier books. Here's a (not Peter Spier) image of the old London Bridge.

If anything, my town is modest compared to what London Bridge was like. And maybe prettier because of the planted trees. My starlings are also considerably smaller, but then again, bridges like Karl Most in Prague have starlings more like mine. Anyway, here's the taller alternative. I probably won't continue running alternatives of this one, because I think I like the other one better, but it was a close thing.

When I come back to Bridgetown, I'll detail a few NPCs that can be found there. Plus, a few new variations of images, but just the "winning" model, not the rest.

Wraiths

While working on a Cult of Undeath image series, I was working on modifying this wraith image I found online. Here's a few of my iterations, just for fun.

Carrion Crown

I've been listening to a Carrion Crown actual play podcast. Thought I'd add some "album covers" to the mp3 files just to give it some visual interest while I'm listening. Here is what I used. 

Bridgetown Part II

Made some very slight improvements to Bridgetown's images, and made a major decision; Bridgetown is going to be where Alpon von Lechfeld lives, Revecca's father, an important sage-like NPC in DARKNESS IN THE HILL COUNTRY, and a raison d'etre for what happens in CULT OF UNDEATH. I also want to change Alpon's first name, since I believe that I subconsciously got it from the original Carrion Crown adventure path, although it applies to a very different character there, so I'm going to go with some similar like Anton or Albrecht von Lechfeld. 

Bridgetown will be a large town, as you can probably see from the image, although rather crammed. Not much more than two hundred feet wide, and about three quarters of a mile long, crossing the Humber River at nearly it's widest point; but at a relatively flat one. A number of hamlets and villages are within just a few miles, or even less than a mile in some cases, but they are simply farming communities that support the "greater Bridgetown" region, north of the Copper Hills and Haunted Forest and south of the Golden Wolds, which is what the farming frontier gives way to in the south and north respectively. The waters around the wide spot in the river on either side of Bridgetown are also rather slow and shallow, as the water spreads out and eddies in its especially wide channel, making for rich fishing.

Professor Anton von Lechfeld and his only daughter Revecca live in a townhouse, as nearly everyone does, but as a relatively wealthy fellow, his is wider than most and actually spans the entire width of the bridge (minus the walkways up against the water on either side, of course) and occupies every floor of his building (a real rarity in a town like this) including a peaked tower where his study, laboratory and library are.

The immediate vicinity around Bridgetown is relatively quiet and peaceful; orderly and safe. But, as always, not everything is as it seems. About a year and a half ago, a serial killer stalked the streets of Bridgetown, striking seemingly at random and widely enough separated in time that it took some time to put together the clues to identify him. The man was hanged, of course, but persistent rumors of either his ghost or the ghost of at least some of his victims linger on certain foggy nights, and small attached building to the main buildings where he lived has never been reoccupied, and still gives off a sinister mien to those sensitive to such things. Worse, he seems to have been some kind of strange cultist, and persistent rumors that he wasn't the only one in town also still linger. 

Danger from hostile Tazitta tribesmen wandering further afield than normal from the Haunted Forest or even the downriver Tazitta Bandlands is one thing, but rumors of some other kind of mysterious threat occasionally striking isolated farming homesteads of ranches have started coming in to town from its more far-flung neighbors. Strange cryptids, including the skunk ape are said to lurk in marshes along the riverbanks and rumor claims that they attack lone boats late at night... although always with some degree of separation from the person telling the rumor. Strange cattle mutilations occurring out isolated ranches far from the homes of any people have also started to spread.

The most obvious ominous feature is the Blackstone menhir, a tall standing stone of dark basalt, with heavily weathered carvings or runes that are undecipherable on it. This stone stands about a mile outside of town, but can be seen from taller towers. It has a notable sinister feel to it, and even those not sensitive to occult or psychic "emanations" report feeling uneasy, light-headed and anxious just being within a few hundred yards of it. Few indeed can approach it close enough to study it up close without being triggered into a fainting spell, a panic attack, or a bout of such unease and nausea that they must withdraw from it. On moonless nights it is especially avoided, when the people of Bridgetown claim that some form of queerness from the distant (but not as distant as they may like) Plateau of Leng or from deep within the Haunted Forest approach the Blackstone menhir, although if there is any truth to this local legend, nobody has any idea what it is that they do. Professor Anton von Lechfeld may be the foremost expert on this phenomena, although he doesn't advertise his deep expertise in matters of occult.

Anyway, here's the fixed images.

AI images are all about doing enough iterations to get what you really want. Here's probably my favorite; slight variations on the ones above.

Bridgetown

I haven't quite decided where to put Bridgetown, but I really like it as a dense, yet small market town built entirely on a large bridge crossing a large river. It will probably cross the Humber River north of either Pinytop or Cockrill's Hill, or the Black River in Timischburg. The town is, obviously, built on a single bridge. I have a neighborhood of Port Liure based on this idea too, if you look up posts tagged PORT LIURE and the post titled X IS FOR RUA DE XAVIER, you'll see it. That's more of a single neighborhood in a dark, haunted hive of scum and villainy, though, whereas Bridgetown plays it more straight, as a small town built on a large bridge, and guarding a strategic river crossing, as well as acting as a funnel for river traffic; only relatively low barges can pass underneath the bridge. More often, traffic stops at Bridgetown, unloads, spends the night, assesses a toll or tax, and reloads on to either caravans or wagon trains bound by land to the various towns and villages of the Copper Hills and the Golden Wolds (if on the Humber River) or reloaded the next day on another boat or barge, and sent down on the other side of the bridge further up (or down) the river. Because of this strategic chokepoint nature, Bridgetown is a relatively wealthy town, and because of its wealth, it pays for a standing peacekeeping force that enables it to be independent of the power struggles between Garenport, Barrowmere, or Bucknerfeld, all of which would love to take control of it and bring it into their fold of control and patronage. 

Obvious threats and dangers to Bridgetown include the Tazitta tribesmen, when they're on the rise (as in the DARKNESS IN THE HILL COUNTRY campaign), queerness from the Plateau of Leng in the north seeping southwards, and just the wild wilderness around it, the Haunted Forest is nearby as well.

Anyway, here's various images of Bridgetown.

Above are the original images. I decided I wanted it both lower to the water and more contained on the bridge, without hinting at more town on the banks. The following are all the same version, but in different "moods."

This one is meant to be set during a snowless winter day, but it kind of looks dead and abandoned to me.

The standard version, without any real mood per se. Just as is, straight up.

Although I wouldn't call Old Night a cheery fantasy setting, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to have at least one town that kind of gives off a homey and even pleasant vibe, so this is the version meant to do that; simply the standard one, but made brighter and more colorful.

An finally, the "fall colors" version, which is also meant to be more inviting than not.

I actually kind of like the last two probably the best; I want Bridgetown to be a more pleasant place the players are invested in protecting, and maybe even in setting up a homebase here that they can return to when not out doing other things.

Over time, I'll add a bit more to Bridgetown; some NPCs, rumors and other stuff to facilitate making it an interesting place.

Some images before going out of town. And a brief movie review.

Someone else's image; all I did was brighten it up, because ChatGPT tends to make stuff too dark and murky. I love this demon monster lady. I'd totally use this as a BBEG NPC.

The Highwayman from Darkest Dungeon made more realistic looking. 

An older image I had, but it had old fashioned explorers with pith helmets and stuff, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" kind of vibes. I asked ChatGPT to replace them with a D&D party, and this is what I got.

Another Revecca in her action girl pseudomage pose, but with her "vacation" outfit. Just for fun. I'm about done making Revecca variations, I think. 

A conceptopolis aboleth modified and placed in a murky underwater setting.

Three more variations of my Gloomwrought requests, although for the final one, I was kind of over the dark and foggy look and wanted a brighter variation.

Master of Vermin; one of my own Hero Forge images converted by ChatGPT to a supposedly "realistic" look. It still looks like a Hero Forge image to me, I'll admit.

Deep Ones. 

I found this on a reddit AI post, took the image, and had ChatGPT give him a different hat.

Another one of my favorite old generations.

Reading something horrible in the section of the library that he should stay out of.

Someone else's mindflayer, or illithid.

I also saw The Odyssey with my wife. I wasn't really very excited to see it, but she was, so I went. It wasn't as bad as I feared, which I kind of expected. It was even good, at least on a first pass. But it certainly wasn't great. And I think that the things that I didn't like are exactly what I expected to not like; the diversity stunt casting was annoying, and turning around and suggesting that their roles were small; little more than cameos, doesn't make that less so. The changes specifically to the character of Odysseus to make him more sad, serious, guilty, etc. was annoying. The themes Nolan added about war or whatever were unwelcome. The suggestion that Odysseus somehow "accidentally" caused the entire Bronze Age collapse was laughable. The historical Trojan War, if it happened, was at least a couple of generations before the Bronze Age collapse and the advent of the Sea Peoples, so to have Odysseus, Penelope, Telemachus and Menelaus all talking about them was silly.

So, I dunno. I'm not actually a big Christopher Nolan fan. I think he's an over-rated film maker. I like Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Inception quite a bit. I don't really care about the rest of his movies. Interstellar is his most over-rated movie, but y'know. He's over-rated in general. That said, this isn't his worst movie. I can't exactly recommend it, but I can't exactly tell you that you shouldn't see it either.

People love to talk about the Rotten Tomatoes audience score, but as it says in this video; Rotten Tomatoes isn't to be trusted. The Metacritic audience score is 5.2. That feels much more real.

Back to gaming; it looks like I am being asked to run at least some short term stuff, for this group that's losing it's GM. He's hopeful that he can continue the campaign online, at least in a month or two, but I'm skeptical, honestly, that that's going to work out. Either way, my big disconnect, of course, is that 5e is a combination of The Avengers and The Muppets, and I don't want my fantasy to resemble either. But this is a 5e group, and while, sure, I could say, "I'm running, you play what I'm running or don't play," I'm looking to be a bit more accommodating to that. Not quite sure how I'll do this, but I want a more traditional game, and I'll almost certainly offer up one of two options; a dark pirate campaign, with material drawn from the Freeport modules, or a Gothic horror campaign with material drawn (mostly) from the Carrion Crown adventure path.

Which I may need to pull ahead in my reading schedule...

Both Gothic horror and pirates in one image