Forges of the Mountain King

[Rhodes]

Assuming use of the Aereth setting, what nearby town or village would make a good base of operations for the PC's on the Mountain King adventure path?

Thanks.

[Harley Stroh]

There's a small village just to the south named Watchgate. The village hosts hunters and furriers coming down from the hills, and the occasional passing merchant (those these are fewer and fewer since the fall of Leherti).

Watchgate is defended by a simple earthen rampart, topped with sharpened stakes. It is host to a pair of good inns, one which doubles as the local watering hole and tavern (with the unfortunate name of the "Silver Ogre Inn" ... locals just call it the Ogre). The village is centered around a four-story stone tower that also serves as the citizen's final point of defense. Captain Feniril (a retired half-orc ranger) is the head of the watch. Feniril is ostensibly the leader of the town, but in practice he grudgingly shares these duties with Amin of the Cowl, an aging wizard with ties to the druidic cults of the region. The local smith is a towering dragonborn calling himself Haften; it is commonly avowed that if it is forged of metal, Haften can make it, and so far the smith hasn't been proven wrong. Gortan the Slim (a misnomer if ever there was one) maintains a pair of mercantile shops that provide for most other goods; twice a year, at the break of spring and the end of fall, Gortan hires local hands to escort his merchant train south and west to the Blade Reach, to trade furs for goods with passing merchant vessels en route to Arvale City.

Watchgate's idyllic face conceals a murky past, as it wasn't a decade ago when local farmers and hunters would offer up blood sacrifices to appease the spirits of the woods. With modern eyes it is hard to determine whether these offerings were wicked, or simply in-line with the druidic expression of the cycle of life. These practices ended with the arrival of Captain Feniril and his men, but many of the old timers still remember the time when they knelt in fealty to the Thing in the Woods.

//H

[Rhodes]

Wow, thanks for prompt and detailed suggestion. Sounds like Watchgate will fit the bill.

[Harley Stroh]

You're welcome. Welcome to the forums.

//H