Targos

Targos was one of the Ten Towns of Icewind Dale. "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.

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 15 century, when Targos became abuzz with commerce and industry that brought the city's expansion. The newer inhabitants constructed shacks beyond the city's wooden walls.

Unlike Bryn Shander, Targos's nights were quiet as the fishers went to bed early, to be ready for the early rise.

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, the smaller towns would follow the lead of Targos and Bryn Shander.

Defenses
The city itself, and much of the harbor, was surrounded by a city wall. Together with Bryn Shander, Targos was the only other of the Ten Towns to be walled.

The city was patrolled and defended by the Targos Guard, a militia comprising up to 500 people circa 1358 DR. They were outfitted with light armor but dwarf-crafted weapons.

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, the town was amongst the top towns of the region for dominance of the knucklehead trout industry.

Like most of the Ten Towns, Targos specialized in trading knucklehead trout. 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. Targos's fleet was twice the size of Termalaine's. Built on the same lake, Targos and Termalaine were fishing competitors, oftentimes bitter, with fishers exchanging rude remarks and nasty glares when passing each other in the water.

The Dockworker's Guild of Targos was active circa 1485 DR.

History
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, the gnome briefly settled in Targos, brewing potions and scouting the valleys of Icewind Dale for the Targos Guard. Later the same year, the city of Targos became besieged by the 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. The town survived several waves of attacks with the help of a group of mercenaries that joined the defense of the city.

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. During his reign, 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. In the, during Isarr Kronenstrom's murderous rampage, 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. These rumors were, of course, false.

By 1489 DR, the Speaker of Targos was Naerth Maxildanarr, a rogue from Luskan who arrived in Targos circa 1487 DR and bought influence among the town's fisherfolk with coin. A member of the Zhentarim, Naerth's goal was to turn the town into a hub of the Black Network in the north. Under his leadership, the town implemented monthly lotteries to determine who of the inhabitants was to be sacrificed to Auril, who had descended onto Icewind Dale, spreading her unending rime. 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 and limiting the food supply dramatically. The period of strife eventually culminated in an attack by a rampaging chardalyn dragon, a creature forged out of black ice by Xardorok Sunblight and unleashed to decimate the Ten Towns. 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.


 * Inns & Taverns
 * The Luskan Arms: The oldest inn in Targos that dated back to the days when Bryn Shander was nothing but a lone cabin. The innkeeper was a man named Owenn circa 1485 DR.
 * Salty Dog Tavern: A tavern located in a cove at the base of the cliffs.
 * Three Flags Sailing: One of the taverns by the docks that served fishermen, ran by Ethen, 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
 * 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

 * Kemp's House, home to Spokesman Kemp, located in the northern part of the town.

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; Honor Among Thieves: 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