---
type: npc
campaign: The Hollow Between
role: village headwoman
status: alive
---

# Mara Thornfield

> [!info] Quick Reference
> **Role:** Headwoman of Briarcross
> **Location:** [[campaigns/the-hollow-between/locations/briarcross]]
> **Public face:** Practical, unsentimental, deeply tired

## Appearance

Broad-shouldered, mud-spattered, and always carrying a ring of keys she never lets anyone else touch. Her clothes are plain and durable, but she wears a silver ferry token on a cord at her throat.

## Personality

Mara is steady, guarded, and sharper than she first appears. She dislikes panic, hates performative courage, and trusts competence more than charm.

## Goals & Motivations

- Keep Briarcross intact through the current crisis
- Restore the old customs strongly enough to quiet the bell
- Prevent outsiders from turning the village into a story people tell elsewhere

## Connections

- Relies on [[campaigns/the-hollow-between/npcs/brother-hale]] for ritual knowledge she does not admit believing in
- Distrusts [[campaigns/the-hollow-between/npcs/ysa-of-the-reeds]] even when Ysa is correct
- Feels protective anger toward [[campaigns/the-hollow-between/npcs/tam-rowan]]

## Secrets

Mara's family has quietly maintained one part of the old bargain for generations: someone in her line must carry the bridge keys and keep the western hill path closed after the first bell. She has recently failed to do this twice.