There was just as much activity in Boar’s Head since Duchess Drndyllyn sold her castle to Prince Bortimer to be a gift to his bride, Duchess Seraphina, as there had ever been. Most of the people that lived in the settlement surrounded by a sturdy palisade at the foot of the small fortification had opted to remain here until they saw how things were going to play out. The people that had attached themselves to Boar’s Head were spirited to say the least, the sort of ruffians one might invite to a battle or to knock some heads about in a tavern brawl. Many were of a mixed goblinoid descent and had nowhere else in the region that they felt at home. The sprawling city of Bozageest was also inhabited by goblinoids and their ilk, but it was a crushing urban existence that the more rurally inclined folks of Boar’s Head would just as soon shun. Everything that needed to be done could be done in Boar’s Head, and anything that couldn’t be done there probably wasn’t worth doing.

It was a delightful discovery among these hardworking and hard drinking people when they found out that the closest friend and bodyguard of Prince Bortimer was a burly swamp orc named Grogdahl. Nothing else that Duchess Seraphina and her husband could have done would have made the people of Boar’s Head happier than this. There were few so-called Huntsmen in this portion of Partum, and even fewer swamp orcs. It was rumored that the Marquis of Chute de l’Ombre had a pair of swamp orc huntsmen as his primary henchmen, but that was all the people of Boar’s Head could have known. Here was the genuine article right here in their very own town!

Another enticing tidbit of information that made Prince Bortimer more attractive to the folks around these parts was that he is the younger brother of the Archduke of Renatus’ wife, Lersha. The Archduchess was a terribly popular person in Boar’s Head. Her general aloofness and propensity for being an approachable if somewhat unsociable member of the nobility was the perfect mix for these people. She and Drndyllyn had always gotten along well, and it was said that Lersha got along even better with Seraphina, the halfling noble that married into Lersha’s family. Whispers abounded that the Archduchess would doubtless be paying a visit to Boar’s Head to welcome her brother to Renatus, and it wasn’t long before these whispers were proven to be true. In a simple looking coach with quite the luxurious interior Lersha arrived about midday along with her children and their nanny. After some pleasantries the Archduchess was welcomed into the great hall of Boar’s Head where she finally had a chance to have a long, and long overdue, chat with her brother.