During the first hundred years many halflings were killed, eaten by swamp horrors or drowned in floods. Hundreds were infected with deadly diseases, disfigured and shunned, becoming forsaken and feral. These Bushfolk Halflings are not generally affiliated with the more civilized halfling population, having effectively become the woodhicks of the swamp.
Bushfolk Halflings are a motley and widely scattered group of pitiful halflings, many driven to ferocity by years of anguish and hardship living in the dangerous or evil parts of Dreadmire. There are approximately 120 Bushfolk Halflings living in virtually every part of Dreadmire, on all sides of the rivers. Of these 120, there are 73 isolated crazies living in tree houses, camouflaged shacks, under piers, on wooden platforms supported by stilts, reinforced clay holes and air-filled underwater alligator caves.
A score of these Bushfolk Halflings are various forms of undead or lycanthropes, their bodies corrupted by the Dark Pollen or infected by others. The remainders are outlaws from the civilized halfling shires, ranging from “unstable” to “overtly dangerous.” While a well-armed party should be able to deal with most of these pathetic souls, there are known to be a few insane clerics and nutty sorcerers among them that could cause harm if encountered on a mentally bad day.
A common theme among many Bushfolk Halflings is body art, which includes charcoal tatau and blue "war paint" derived from flax flowers. Bushfolk Halflings are drawn to Tatau Warrior or Houdoan.
Four Bushfolk Halfling families have banded together to form the beginnings of what could be a rural thorp of sorts, a shack town called "Bark". If Bark has a leader, it is Joneph, the Houdoan that heals their wounds. Survival against starvation and carnivorous creatures looking for snacks has brought them together.
Bark (thorp): Conventional; AL CN; 10 gp limit; Population 24; Demographic isolated (halfling 100%). Bark is located just east of the Meander River.
Authority Figure: Joneph, female halfling Brb2/Clr2/Hdn6; AL CN; Diplomacy 4, Survival 6.