Targos

Targos was a fishing town in Icewind Dale and a leading member of the Ten Towns in the 14 and 15 centuries DR. It was the biggest of the Ten Towns after Bryn Shander, sitting alongside Easthaven in size. "The folks in Targos are as hard-headed as the trout in their lake. They'd rather stay shut up behind their walls than admit they need help from anyone. Stubborn an' proud, the lot of 'em. Makes a dwarf feel right at home."

- Beorne Steelstrike

Geography
The city sat on the southernmost shore of the Maer Dualdon, in a cove near a series of high cliff walls that sheltered its port from the savage winter winds. It lay at the end of Ten Trail ran up the Sword Coast North from Luskan. Paths linked Targos to Bremen (3 hours on foot), Bryn Shander (2 hours), and Termalaine (4 hours), the latter running around Maer Dualdon.

Description
Targos was a sprawling town with uncluttered streets. The buildings had breathing space, being separated by wide avenues. While the inhabitants were used to the sense of privacy provided by these spacious accommodations, they gave off a feeling of solitude for those not used to the town's life.

This, however, changed by the mid-1480s DR, when Targos became abuzz with commerce and industry that brought the city's expansion. The newer inhabitants started to construct shacks beyond the city's wooden walls and the town threatened to grow beyond them before long.

Unlike Bryn Shander, Targos's nights were quiet as the fishers went to bed early, in order to be ready for the next day's early rise. During the day, the Targosans focused on getting the job down and minding their own business, rather than that of everyone else.

The travel time for a merchant caravan between Luskan and Targos was approximately twenty-one days via the Ten Trail.

Government
Though Targos and the rest of the Ten Towns were resolutely independent and competitive with one another, they did maintain a council with a spokesperson from each town to manage affairs affecting them all. Typically, in the mid-to-late 1300s DR, the smaller towns would follow the lead of Targos and Bryn Shander.

Symbol
The heraldic symbol of Targos in the late 15 century DR was a black ship with a single sail and heading right, on a field of light blue. This was emblematic of how proud Targosans were of their fishing fleet.

Defenses
The town and much of the harbor was surrounded by a wooden defensive wall, called the palisade. Together with Bryn Shander, Targos was the only other of the Ten Towns to be walled. It had historically protected Targos from both barbarian and orc raids and other dangers from the wilds. The wall was extended over Maer Dualdon, to form a safe harbor. The timbers used were firs from Lonelywood.

The town was patrolled and defended by the Targos Guard, a militia comprising 100 to 500 people circa 1358 DR. They were outfitted with light armor but dwarf-crafted weapons. Circa 1489 DR, it comprised 200 militiamen and 16 veteran soldiers, led by Skath. Circa 1312 it was led by Shawford Crale and circa 1489 DR by Captain Skath.

Eccentric gnomish tinkerer Oswald Fiddlebender was briefly an aerial scout for the guard in the early 14 century DR.

Trade
The harbor's deep water allowed the construction of vessels that were large for the area. As a result, Targos always enjoyed the largest fishing fleet, the best boats, a safe harbor, the most skilled sailors and fishers, and consequently the greatest catches. It thrived off and dominated the local fishing industry more than any of the Ten Towns. Like most of the Ten Towns, Targos specialized in trading knucklehead trout.

In the early 1300s DR, it already dominated the local fishing industry and took more knucklehead than any other town. In the mid-to-late 1300s DR, its hundred-boat fleet took in a larger catch than the other three towns on Maer Dualdon combined. Some of the town's biggest vessels were two-masted schooners and Targos's fleet was twice the size of Termalaine's. In the late 1400s DR, it faced off competition from Easthaven (whose growth had stolen trade from Targos and Termaline ) by focusing on its strengths in fishing and it still maintained a fleet of over a hundred boats.

Almost everyone in Targos was connected in some way to the fishing industry and the core work of bringing in the knucklehead catches. Specialty craftsmen and traders provided supplies and equipment for fishing and sailing. The Dockworker's Guild of Targos was active circa 1485 DR. This was the only guild in the Ten Towns and spoke for the loaders, shipwrights, and warehouse workers. It sought expansion to the other towns to grow Targos's influence.

Relations
Built on the same lake, Targos and Termalaine were traditional rivals for fishing, oftentimes bitter, with fishers exchanging rude remarks and nasty glares when passing each other in the water and even getting into brawls, on rare occasions even leading to deaths. Disputes over fishing waters, crossed lines, blocked courses, bumped boats, scared fish, and poached catches were all causes for conflict. Their antagonism and suspicion of one another prevented them from cooperating long enough in any effort to improve the Ten Trail south to Bryn Shander.

History
In the early days of Icewind Dale's towns, Targos was the most accessible, lying as it did at the end of Ten Trail, and it enjoyed being end-of-the-line for the caravans. However, when traders from the towns began gathering at a campsite further south and this led to the founding of the newest, tenth town, Bryn Shander, where most caravans now stopped, Targos lost its prominence.

In the, gnomish tinkerer Oswald Fiddlebender's airship crash-landed in Targos after setting the northern side of the town ablaze with a collection of potions that spilled off his flying ship. After that, together with his niece and assistant Maralie Fiddlebender, the gnome briefly settled in Targos, brewing potions and scouting the valleys of Icewind Dale for the Targos Guard.

Later the same year, Targos was besieged by the goblinoid forces of the Legion of the Chimera, which sought to destroy the Ten-Towns. The Targos Guard built fortifications outside the town by disassembling buildings in Targos's harbors, but goblins infiltrated by breaking into old smugglers' tunnels (which the Targos Guard had previously collapsed) and the basements of houses. The then ruler of Targos, Lord Ulbrec Dinnesmore, called for soldiers, mercenaries, and adventurers from Luskan and Neverwinter to join the defense of the town. But the Legion's forces attacked and burned many of the arriving ships as they sailed up the Shaengarne, with only a few, like the Wicked Wench, making it safely to port with a group of adventurers from Luskan aboard. With the help of these adventurers, the town rooted out the goblins and survived several waves of attacks on the palisade, and dealt with other internal issues.

In the mid–14 century DR, the councilman of Targos was Kemp, who helped to protect the town from invasion by the Tribe of the Bear barbarians in the and the magical light beam sent by Akar Kessell in the. During the subsequent historic Battle of Icewind Dale, Akar Kessell's forces surrounded and seized Targos. Many inhabitants of the town hid and barricaded themselves within their homes, preferring time and the elements to take the lives of the savage invaders. However, a few took up arms and actively fought Kessell's minions. One of these defenders was the "Old Scout", the father of Pilot Demitrick. He, along with three trusted comrades, carried out guerrilla strikes on Kessell's forces, targeting patrols and supply caravans. After three days of this, to find out who was responsible, Akar Kessell tortured several citizens of Targos, and then captured Pilot's mother to force the Old Scout to surrender himself. Once he had them, Kessell killed them both as an example of his tyrannical will. Eventually, the siege was broken by the Companions of the Hall, who slew the evil wizard and destroyed the Crystal Tower. The Battle of Icewind Dale left Targos with an entire district of the city incinerated and blackened by the killing beam from Kessell's crystal tower. The area was later known as the "Ash Quarter". The scorching ray had destroyed most major structures and left several hundred people dead, though fortunately missed the ships where they lay in the harbor. The first winter that followed the war was a hard one. But Targos was rebuilt with the collective effort of the Ten Towns and the newfound alliance with Reghedman barbarians.

During his term as the Speaker, Kemp was distrustful of outsiders and guarded his town's interests greedily. Kemp was still the Speaker of Targos as of 1364 DR.

In the month of Tarsakh in the, a merchant calling himself Boswell Peddywinkle recruited adventurers in Luskan for an expedition to Targos and performance of tasks there; the journey took 21 days. They stayed at the Wolf's Pelt Inn. They soon set off again, but would learn their employer had ulterior motives.

By the mid-1480s DR, Giandro Holfast was holding the Speaker's seat. In the ,, Targos, and the Ten Towns as a whole, were faced with an attempt by Luskan's Arcane Brotherhood to take political power via Vaelish Gant, an influx of items crafted out of black ice that corrupted their owners, and the increasing powers of the cultists of Auril. During Isarr Kronenstrom's murderous rampage around Icewind Dale that same year, some inhabitants of the Ten Towns believed that the murders were orchestrated by the speakers of Bryn Shander and Targos to sow chaos and raise an army. Another rumor placed the responsibility on the Dockworker's Guild of Targos, claiming that all the murdered people had crossed the guild in some way. Both these rumors were, of course, completely false.

By 1489 DR, the Speaker of Targos was Naerth Maxildanarr, a rogue from Luskan who arrived in Targos circa 1487 DR and based himself in the Luskan Arms inn. He bought influence among the town's fisherfolk with his coin and a show of down-to-earth charm, quickly rising to the Speaker's position after the previous person apparently tired of the role. A member of the Zhentarim, Naerth's goal was to dominate local trade and turn Targos and all of Icewind Dale into a hub of the Black Network in the north. His agent Skath meanwhile led the militia.

When Auril the Frostmaiden descended onto Icewind Dale in the, spreading her unending winter, Naerth, together with the Speakers of Bryn Shander and Easthaven, took the drastic step of holding monthly lotteries to determine who of the inhabitants was to be sacrificed to the Cold Goddess. At dusk before the new moon, the ill-fated person picked in a lottery held that afternoon was stripped off and cast into the freezing tundra to die of exposure. Accusations of rigged lotteries were frequent, but ignored. In any case, those thought to have cheated the lottery were slain by the undead assassin Sephek Kaltro with a blade of ice in the heart; a human shipbuilder of Targos was one such victim. Under the tyranny of the goddess, Targos faced the harshest of winters. The bigger boats of the fleet were frozen in the docks, leaving fishing to be done by smaller boats dragged over the ice and limiting the food supply dramatically.

Finally, in the winter of the, this period of strife culminated in an attack by a rampaging chardalyn dragon, a creature forged out of black ice by Xardorok Sunblight and unleashed to destroy each of the Ten Towns. With Naerth's personal spy network alerting him to the attacks on the other towns, Targos had time to muster its militia and ready siege weaponry, though invisible duergar sabotaged these defense and murdered townsfolk. Fortunately, the creature was defeated by a group of adventurers and the efforts of the militias of the Ten Towns.

Notable Locations
The city's "Ash Quarter" was a neighborhood that was blackened and destroyed by one of Akar Kessell's attacks using Crenshinibon. This area had been completely built over by the late 14 century DR.


 * Inns & Taverns
 * The Luskan Arms: The oldest inn in the Ten Towns. The innkeeper was a man named Owenn Tarsenel circa 1485 DR.
 * Salty Dog Tavern: A tavern located in a cove at the base of the cliffs, run by Gohar circa 1312 DR.
 * Three Flags Sailing: One of the taverns by the docks that served fishermen, ran by Ethen Yarbroul, lovingly referred as "Ma" by the locals circa 1485 DR.
 * The Trip and Shuffle: A rough tavern located near the gate and run by Russell, a former Purple Dragon knight fleeing from a death sentence in Cormyr.
 * Weeping Widow Inn, run by Cahl-Hyred circa 1312 DR.
 * Wind Gate
 * Wolf's Pelt Inn: A cozy inn and tavern, ran by Kalas Winters and his family circa 1369 DR.


 * Shops
 * Gallaway Trade Depot: A general store located in the main town at the top of the cliffs.
 * Graendel's Fine Dwarven Craft: A dwarven smithy ran by Graendel Granitefist, one of the original inhabitants of Mithral Hall before its fall and reclamation.
 * Market Square: A square located in the center of town.
 * Triglio: A general store named after a local fishermen's chantey, ran by Jestin circa 1369 DR.


 * Other
 * Temple Pavilion: A temporary temple and hospital set up in a large tent during the Legion's attack in 1312 DR. It was led by Denham Fisher, a priest of the Red Knight.

Appearances

 * Adventures:
 * The Accursed Tower &bull; Legacy of the Crystal Shard &bull; Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
 * King of the Wolves &bull; Storm King's Thunder
 * Novels
 * The Crystal Shard &bull; The Silent Blade &bull; The Road to Neverwinter
 * Passage to Dawn &bull; Sea of Swords
 * Video Games:
 * Icewind Dale II
 * Film & Television
 * Honor Among Thieves
 * Film & Television
 * Honor Among Thieves

Connections
Targos