Before the war, Hornwood Town was a small town, based partly on the lumber trade from Hornwood and partly on a few small veins of silver leftover in the lowest parts of the Crystalmist Mountains. The local temple supported gods of both mines and woodlands and sought a balance between the two. At some point, the town peaked out at a population of about four hundred and was down to about three hundred souls at the time of the Giantish Invasion.

When war came to Geoff, the town was attacked by twenty-five cyclopskin who were successful in taking the town, enslaving one-quarter of the population, the others having escaped the town or been killed.

Hornwood Town is situated on the north bank of the Deor River along the southeastern tip of Hornwood.