Coldhollow¶

Coldhollow is the frontier town at the edge of the Frostspine and the original sanctuary: no combat, no creature aggression, and full safety within its bounds. It holds the market quarter, the chapel (the respawn point for Coldhollow's region), and the residents with whom players build rapport.

Chartered 1152 SR as the supply town for the Delvings silver-lead mine, around a wayfarers' hearth that "has not gone out in any man's memory." When the mine was sealed in 1187, the town half-emptied — the derelict north edge dates from that exodus. The chapel keeps the founding hearth today.

Layout¶

Place	Room	Notes
Town Square	1007	The heart of town; Rex and his little flock of roosters live here
Square sides	1042–1045	North (town hall), East (market row), South (apothecary), West (watchtower)
Market quarter	1030–1039	Ten shop rooms, off the square's east side
Chapel	1021	The region's respawn point (Death)
Town gate	—	The boundary of sanctuary; the trail begins beyond it

The square spreads to all four sides: the town hall keeps the north side, the market row the east, the apothecary the south along the chapel road, and the watchtower the west by the gate. Named ways (GO HALL, GO MARKET...) never appear in the exits line — the room descriptions point them out.

The market quarter¶

Ten shops form the commercial core. All trade is open: find the appropriate vendor and use SHOP, SELL, or BUY. See Vendors & Economy.

Vendor / service	Offers
Smith	weapons, basic armor, weapon repair
Apothecary	potions, healing supplies
General store	miscellaneous goods
Furrier	hides, light armor, cloaks
Gemcutter	premium buying for gems and jewelry
Locksmith	`OPENBOX` (fee), `REPAIR` lockpicks
Banker	silver handling
Town Hall	records, the registrar — and the public lockers behind the curtain (`GO HALL` at Market Row)
Cleric	blessed goods and services
Innkeeper	lodging and food

Some shop rooms include disposal objects (a well, a barrel, a midden) that destroy anything placed in them, useful for clearing unwanted items.

Residents¶

The townsfolk are persistent social actors; they track rapport with each player and respond to how they are treated.

Rex the Rooster — lives in the town square; a memorial pet, always himself, and the quiet leader of the little flock that gathers around him. See Pets.
Reeb — Rex's shy younger brother, a mahogany Rhode Island Red who never strays far from him.
Ripp — a rescued silver-laced Wyandotte, fiercely protective of Reeb and deferential to old Rex. A companion pet; see Pets.
Rox & Ren — Rex's Buff Orpington egg-brothers, hatched from the same clutch and never once parted. They roam the square and market together — friendly to a gentle hand, but far too quick and too settled to ever be picked up. Ren is the broad, grizzled elder; Rox the bright, restless younger.
The Hedge Witch — a reclusive elemental-lore keeper who can serve as a mentor, teaching an element word once rapport is high enough.
Other mentors — several residents can teach a fixed element word, each with their own personality and rapport requirement.

TALK <npc>             start a conversation
TALK <npc> <message>   say something specific
FEED <npc>             offer food — the strongest rapport-builder
LEARN   (STUDYFROM)    ask a mentor here to teach you a word

Building rapport through FEED and TALK is the safest road into magic: a mentor's lesson is risk-free, unlike daring a word above your tier. See Magic → Learning words.

The Withered Yard — the gated graveyard (levels 5–10)¶

Off Shuttered Lane (the derelict north edge), behind a rusted lychgate and a mossy wall, lies the town's abandoned burial yard — and the town's abandoned buried. Three mortal routes lead in, none of them polite:

Climb the wall at the slump (a Climbing check).
Pick the lychgate — a stiff lock, worth meaningful lockpicking skill.
Pop it magically — the wizards' 407 Unlock, the whispered key.

Inside are restless skeletons and grave ghouls (the ghouls carry tarnished crypt keys), and — drifting between the stones — pale shades. Shades are ethereal: mundane steel passes straight through them. Bring virtue — any enchanted weapon, holy metal, or a blessing from Father Hollis in the chapel next door (BLESS <weapon>, 30 silver, half an hour — see Law & Honest Work for the town's other services). The undead never bleed, so rely on direct damage rather than attrition.

At the head of mausoleum row a locked stone crypt descends to an old barrow, and the barrow has a tenant: a crowned barrow-wight, king of something older than the town. It guards a white orichalcum shortsword — blessed metal that flares white fire against the dead and never needs a chapel's permission.

The Undercroft — the drains beneath Shuttered Lane (levels 0–1)¶

Before the gate, before the graveyard, there is the gentlest hunt in the realm — and it is right under your feet. Off Shuttered Lane, a collapsed cellar opens onto the old drains dug in the mine-supply years to carry off the meltwater, long forgotten and long since claimed by rats. From the Town Square, walk to the derelict north edge and simply go DOWN — no lock, no climb, and the walls' pale drain-moss gives light enough to see by, so no lantern is needed.

The drains are a small warren of nine chambers, lit and forgiving, stocked with easy prey for a brand-new character:

giant sewer rats and grey plague-rats — level 0–1, low on health and slow to hurt you: ideal first kills, especially for a square learning the sword. KILL RAT, and mind your roundtime.
the warren mother — a bigger rat (level 2) at the bricked-off dead end. She is not aggressive: she won't start the fight, so you pick your moment. A steady hand takes her single-handed for a tidy reward.

Every rat is skinnable — SKIN the kill and sell the pelt at the Coldhollow furrier — and the whole run pairs naturally with the Finding Your Feet orientation tasks (TASKS) and HELP NEW. When the rats come easily, you're ready for the trail.

Getting to the trail¶

Head out from Town Square toward the town gate, then onto the Frostspine Trail (The Frostspine). The gate marks the edge of sanctuary: step through and the wilderness — and its creatures — begin.