Bandits and Warbands of Soderfjord

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Soderfjord is not a safe or stable realm. It is split up into competing and sometimes warring jarldoms, and law and order is in short supply. The ethos of the Northern Reaches involves a warrior code of strength of arms, courage and seeking death in battle, with a certain survival of the fittest.  Combined with the stretches of forest that cover much of the lowlands, and it becomes easy for bandits, brigands and worse to lurk in hideouts to prey on villages, travellers and the like - those who cannot defend themselves and fight back are liable to swiftly fall prey to those who take whatever they want. Some of these bands seem quite mundane and will fit into the description of bandits as given in the B/X D&D rules, armed with hand weapons, leather armour and only enough basic training to be slightly better than the peasants they are trying to rob. But then there are others, with the weapons and skills of professional warriors and the attitude of predators.  

Here are the most prominent and notorious of raiders that might be encountered. 

Rethgar's Reivers specialise in raiding from their longship, The Reiver's Razor. They have a secret base set into the cliff of a fjord, with an illusion covering the entrance. The Reivers know this well enough that they can sail their longship in between the two dead trees that stand either side of the disguised entrance. Rethgar's Reivers are mostly exiled or renegade warriors, formerly in service to one of the Jarls or other feudal lord. Some fled after committing crimes, others grew angry and disillusioned with their former lieges. Although the reivers as a whole do not profess any particular faith or deity, some have affinity with either Hel, Loki or Chaos in general. Others simply have a strong hatred of the Jarldoms and the society that forced them into exile. Rethgar is a fugitive from Ostland, having previously been part of a Jarl’s bodyguard who had an affair with the Jarl’s wife and then tried (and failed) to kill his liege lord.  

• Leader: Rethgar the Hated (human male, 8th level fighter, Align C, Str 16, Int 13, Wis 12, Dex 10, Con 13, Cha 14)
• Base: The Reiver’s Razor (longship), no known fixed location
• Members: 12 Recruits (1st level fighters), 14 Reivers (2nd level fighters), 2 lieutenants (4th level fighters)

The Bloodbeak Ravens are both bandits and mercenaries, fighting and raiding for whatever money they can get. They are consumate opportunists, and can even engage in trade if the other side seems too tough to rob. At other times they have turned to slave-trading if they think that it won't be too much trouble. They are utterly unreliable and can switch sides or turn on employers on a whim, particularly if they sense weakness or a chance for wealth. They are also wide-ranging and nomadic, they have been seen in both Ostland and Vestland and even around Landfall in southern Norwold, never settling down for long. Those who know of their reputation will avoid them if possible - only the naive or desperate would try to deal with the Bloodbeak Ravens.  

• Leader: Skottir the Ruthless (human male,  9th level fighter, align C, Str 15, Int 10, Wis 14, Dex 16, Con12, Cha 17), Mahalvak (human female, 5th level magic user, align C, Str 8, Int 16, Wis 16, Dex 10, Con 13, Cha 14)
• Base: None (itinerant)
• Members: 30 footmen (1st level fighters), 20 horsemen (2nd level fighters), 3 lieutentants (4th level fighters)

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Hel's Horsemen are among the worst of a bad bunch. As their name suggests they are all mounted on warhorses, and many of them do indeed follow Hel, Goddess of Death. They revel in slaughter in a way that other bandits and warbands do not bother with, and will leave their victims prominently displayed as a horrible warning to others. Their leader is a terrifying figure known as the Deathdealer, who has an uncanny, perhaps supernatural, ability to sense and recruit murderers and psychopaths, even offering to spare their lives if they put up a good fight, ensuring that Hel's Horsemen are the most brutal and bloody of the warbands. He rides a huge black stallion and wields a magical battleaxe and shield. His downward horned helm is distinctive and believed to be cursed by dark powers. 

• Leader: Deathdealer (Human male 15th level Chaos Warrior, Align C, Str 18, Int 12, Wis 10, Dex 12, Con 18, Cha 7), Agathi, Queen of Skulls (6th level cleric of Hel, align C, Str 13, Int 12, Wis 17, Dex 8, Con 11, Cha 12)
• Base: Unknown but believed to be in the Snowvale Valley
• Members: 10 Slayers (3rd level fighters), 5 Skull-takers (5th level fighters), 2 Spinecrackers (7th level fighters), 4 priests of Hel (3rd level clerics), all are chaotic

Garrath's Woodsmen are skilled at stealth and ambush within the forests of Soderfjord. They are aided in this by some elves who have taken a dislike to the Jarldoms as a whole and who see Garrath's Woodsmen as useful in slowing the encroachment of civilization. Garrath and his woodsmen tend to ignore the peasantry and instead focus on those who have wealth, particularly the Jarls and their households. This does not mean they are necessarily benevolent or have any sense of social justice, merely that they do not waste their time on low-value targets. Garrath will sometimes recruit common bandits from smaller gangs into his band, particularly if they prove capable of using his stealthy hit and run tactics. 

• Leader: Garrath the Slick (human male, 6th level fighter, align N, Str 13, Int 14, Wis 14, Dex 13, Con 10, Cha 14), Sherthi the Quiet (Male Elf 5th level spellsword, align N, Str 16, Int 13, Wis 10, Dex 12, Con 10, Cha 14)
• Base: Underground beneath the Hollow Oak, in the forest between Soderfjord City and Gudholm
• Members: 4 Spellswords (3rd level elf spellswords), 5 scouts (2nd level elf rangers), 20 foresters (2nd level human fighters), 20 woodsmen (3rd level human fighters), 3 lieutenants (4th level human fighters).  

Ottothar's Sea Serpents are piratical raiders who are based in Ostland and will sail across the seas to plunder the coasts, fjords and rivers of Soderfjord in their longship The Brine Venom. In this respect they are similar to Rethgar's Reivers. However, they are entirely given over to the Cult of Chaos and are led by a Chaos Warrior and a chaotic cleric who somehow commands a pack of hellhounds who travel with them on the ship. 

• Leader: Ottothar (human male, 7th level Chaos Warrior, align C, Str 16, Int 12, Wis 10, Dex 12, Con 14, Cha 12), Hallath (human male, 5th level cleric of Chaos, align C, Str 13, Int 10, Wis 15, Dex 11, Con 14, Cha 15) 
• Base: The Brine Venom (viking longship) and also The Forsaken Keep in Sognesholm, Kalslo Island, Ostland
• Members: 25 raiders (2nd level fighters), 3 raider bosses (4th level fighters), 4 dark adepts (2nd level clerics), 5 Hellhounds (as monster entry, 4HD each). All are chaotic

Wulfgar’s Howling Brethren are a small, select band of lycanthropes who will sometimes resort to man-eating as well as plunder and pillage. They have conducted some raids in their human form during the day but on the nights of the full moon they will attack villages in their animal or hybrid forms. They try to be careful not to let infected victims live unless they are certain they want to recruit the target. Wulfgar himself is a werewolf, and there are three other werewolves, three wereboars and a neutral-aligned werebear who is sometimes sickened by the werewolves wanton violence but does not know where else he would belong. [Although the rules could do with some revision, a DM could use my old rules for scalable werewolves here.] 

• Leader: Wulfgar (Male Werewolf, 6th level fighter)
• Base: Somewhere in Moderfeld, eastern Soderfjord
• The Pack: 3 werewolves, 3 wereboars, 1 werebear (as monster entry). Wereboars are neutral with chaotic tendancies

The Swooping Hawks are a band of marauders who have tamed a number of griffons and now use them to launch aerial attacks on villages, ships and caravans. They were formed by the mage Vaargen Clawscar (named for a face that was horribly slashed by an angry griffon in an attempt to subdue it). Because their griffons cannot carry too much loot, the Swooping Hawks look for targets with high-value lightweight treasure such as gems, jewellery or sometimes valuable people for kidnapping. Unusually they are led by a woman, Kelthi the Unwanted. Vaargen tends to stay behind in the Eyrie, a lair in the Hardanger Mountains, though he occasionally comes along on raids riding his own griffon Fury. They are accompanied by a small flock of harpies known as the Sisters of Song who leave the bandits alone as long as they can feed on targets. 

• Leader: Kelthi the Unwanted, (human female, 8th level fighter, align C, Str 16, Int 12, Wis 12, Dex 10, Con 13, Cha 16), Vaargen Clawscar (human male 12th level magic user, align C, Str 8, Int 17, Wis 12, Dex 13, Con 15, Cha 12)
• Base: The Eyrie, a mountain base somewhere in the eastern Hardanger mountains
• Members: 8 Skyriders (4th level fighters mounted on griffons), 6 wingriders (3rd level fighters mounted on giant hawks), 4 Sisters of Song (Harpies, as monster entry)