Players Guide to Saltmarsh

What follows is a brief gazette of some of the places of interest in and around Saltmarsh and the Southern Marches. This information is based on what a local might know and there is no guarantee that the information is accurate. Some of these entries will contain titbits of information and rumours that may or may not be true but may be useful for the characters as stepping stones to adventure.

Towns, Villages & Keeps

Blackstone Keep

Blackstone Keep and village is a fortified demesne on the Longspear Trail. The keep is owned by the legendary elven adventurer, Gregor "the Great." Gregor inherited the keep and the surrounding lands when the former Castellan died in 580CY. The lands around the keep are wild and untamed and the keep maintains a sizeable garrison , and regular patrols, to both protect the local farmers and travellers on the Longspear Trail from the depredation's of humanoids from the nearby Hool Marshes and Dreadwood. The keep is an important way stop on the Longspear Trail and offers many services for travellers. The local inn, The Travellers Inn is renowned for it's hospitality and service.

To the north of the keep in the outermost reaches of the Dreadwood is a long abandoned limestone mining complex that is now known as the Caves of Chaos. Adventurers sometimes seek out these caves in search of adventure and the riches said to be hidden within, but few ever return. It is rumoured that Gregor himself led a few sorties into the caves in the past and that one of his followers lost a sword of dancing somewhere in the ruins.

Burle

Burle (population 5,000) is the largest town in the Southern Marches and is also the provincial capital, home to region's rulers the Walmsley family. The Walmsley's own many businesses as well as several estates in the surrounding countryside and it is here that they usually reside. The town itself is run on behalf of the Earl by the Sheriff of Burle. Burle is a walled town and is the centre for commerce and trade for the Southern Marches.

Harlaton
This small farming community (pop 75) lies at the foot of the Terraces, a region of gently rolling hills. The surrounding countryside contains some of the best arable land in the province. It is a sleepy little village, with only one tavern/hostelry (the Pitcher and Pitchfork). Farmers here trade some produce here rather than take it all the way to Burle, but most of the excess harvest goes to the market of Burle.

Milthorpe Manor
Milthorpe Manor lies about 4 miles east of Saltmarsh just off the Coast road that links that town to Seaton. For many years the manor was abandoned after the mysterious disappearance of its former owner, the merchant Eldkruss. Over the years the manor gained a reputation as being haunted and was avoided by the locals of Saltmarsh because of this. However, ownership of the ruin recently came to a young adventurer known as Shadowblade and he and his companions cleared the manor house of vermin, including a band of smuggler's operating from the sea caves beneath the house, and began working on restoring it to it's former glory.

Palfray Keep

The keep lies in the hills east of Saltmarsh and is the home of the Palfray family. The Palfray's are one of the Souterhn Marches' "old" families having first settled in this borderland several generations ago. The current head of the family is Count Sandior Palfray.

Saltmarsh

Saltmarsh (population 2,000) is a small, respectable fishing town. Fishing is the main industry but there are some tiny farms in the neighbouring countryside. The town boasts a small weekly market (held every Moonday) to which traders are attracted from the nearby towns of Seaton and Burle.

Seaton
Seaton (population 3,500) is located on the coast about 20 miles from Saltmarsh. Like Saltmarsh the towns main industry is fishing although there are a few orchards and sheep herders in the uplands to the east of the town.

Caves, Dungeons, Mines & Ruins

Caves of Chaos
The Caves of Chaos are said to lie in the forested hills north of Blackstone keep. The caves are thought to be home to numerous bands of humanoids and attempts in the past to clear the area of this menace have failed. Adventurers are warned to search out the caves at their own peril. The elven fighter/mage Gegor "the Great" is thought to have lost a magical sword in the caves several years ago. Several bands have gone in search of the sword but they have failed to find it, and more often than not, return from the caves.

Broken Spire Keep
Once the home of the Palfray family Broken spire Keep lies in the heart of Thornwood. The keep was abandoned about 100 years ago for unknown reason and most people have forgotten that it even exists. The Palfray's refuse to discuss why they abandoned it.

Garlstone Mines
Garlstone mines are a long abandoned silver mine in the hills east of Burle. The entrance to the mines lie about 8 miles north of Tallow's Deep. The mines stopped being profitable about 60 years ago and have been abandoned ever since.

Gedhart Abbey
Gedhart Abbey named after its founder, Gedhart of St Cuthbert and was once an important abbey of that particular faith, holding many valuable tomes, manuscripts and valuables of the church. However the abbey was attacked and overrun by humanoids in 547 CY and has been abandoned ever since. There are rumours that several artefacts of the church lie buried still in secret chambers and more than one party of adventurers has set off in search of these fabled treasures. So far none have returned.

Medbury
The village of Medbury (pop 200) is a small farming community on the Longspear Trail. The village grew around a way station built to protect travellers on the trail in 538 CY and has slowly grown as more settlers arrived.

Tallow's Deep
Tallow Deep is a mining community of some 200 miners and their families in the hills east of Burle. The mines produce ion and some silver and are quite productive. The mines were recently closed for a time due to an infestation of Goblins but they were reopened thanks to the efforts of the Champions of the Cudgel, an adventuring band operating out of Saltmarsh.

Forests, Hills & Marshes

Dreadwood
The Dreadwood forms the nominal tenth province of Keoland and is known as the Protectorate of Dreadwood. The forest is the homeland of a sizeable tribe of elves and they ward the forest in the name of their own king as well as on behalf of the king of Keoland. There is constant warfare in the forest between the elves, and numerous bands of humanoids and monsters that infest the forests western regions. Large scale efforts have been mounted on numerous occasions to rid the woods of the humanoids but the enemy retreats to hidden strongholds in the Hool Marshes only to return once the companies of woodsmen and elves retire. It is also suspected that the Sea Princes are in collusion with certain bands of humanoids that use the woods (and marshes) as cover for launching raids deep into the heart of Keoland but this has never been proven.

There are numerous ruins in the forest, and long abandoned holds. However adventurers are warned that several of these places are sacred to the elves and they do not welcome transgressors. Enter the woods at your own risk.

Good Hills
This range of rolling hills are the only highlands in Keoland and are home to many bands of halflings and gnomes. The soils of the hills are fertile and the climate favourable to growing both crops of various types, vegetables and orchards as well. The hills are also a source of considerable mineral wealth and there are several active gold and gemstone mines in the region.

Hool Marshes
The Hool Marshes is a region of quaking mires and bottomless pools. It forms the natural border between Keoland, Yeomanry and the Sea Princes further south. The trackless bogs are home to numerous biting insects, bullywugs, renegade humans, humanoids and many types of monsters. Only the brave or fool hardy attempt to explore this region.

Raven Hills
The Raven Hills are named after the large flocks of ravens that live in them. The limestone hills stretch from the Dreadwood to the sea and are weathered and worn at their southern terminus but contain many rugged rock outcroppings and caves as well. During winter the valleys are often cloaked in mists and the upper peaks covered in cloud making the hills a desoltae and bleak place to visit. The southern hills are fairly fertile and contain a few orchards and are favoured by sheppards. There are persistant rumours of ancient burial tombs in the heart of the hills and a long abandoned dwarfhold as well.

Thornwood
Thornwood lies several miles north of Saltmarsh and is usually avoided by the locals as they say that something sinister dwells n the heart of the woods. Timber wolves and bears are sometimes seen on the edge of the wood and there are rumours that humanoids sometimes prowl in the wild interior. The wood gets it's name by the great tangle of brambles and thorns that make it all but impenetrable except along game tracks. In the heart of the wood lies Broken Spire Keep, the long abandoned ancestral home of the Palfrey family.

Rivers, Streams and Bodies of Water.

Azure Sea
The Azure Sea is one of the main carriers of commerce between the west and central nations. Freebooters are fairly common, and the savages that inhabit the islands of the Amedio coast practice piracy. There are a sprinkling of other pirates in the east, and the Sea Princes are not above the occasional buccaneering.

Black Drain
Ther Black Drain runs from the hills north of Gedhart Abbey to the sea via the Hool Marshes, like all water ways that criss cross the marshes it flows sluggishly and there are many shallows, and snags that may catch thenunwary boater. The river is onlty suitable for small crasft such as canoes and row boats but given the number of lizardmen that infest the river, and marshes, travel along it isn't advisable.

Dank Brook
The dank Brook is another of the streams flowing through the Hool Marshes.

Dunwater
The Dunwater River begins in the Terraces and flows sluggishly through the Hool Marshes, it is one of many such rivers that crisscross the marshes. The river gained some prominace of late as rumours circulated that their is an adandoned keep near it's mouth.

Javan River
The Javan River is the longest river on the continent, beginning in the Barrier peaks and coursing southward for hundreds of miles before emptying into the sea just north of Monmurg in the Azure Sea. The last few hundred miles it widens out and meanders through the Hool Marshes, the river here is very treacherous, with many sandbars, banks and channels that end suddenly and can catch fast an unwary vessel plying the waters, and is considered to be the nominal boundary between Keoland and the Sea Princes.. Humanoids and monsters also infest the river in this region making the trip to Cryllor (the furthest point accessible by ship for just north of the town the river enters a dangerous gorge full of rapids and waterfalls that make further progress by ship impossible) dangerous to say the last. The river also forms the natural border between Keoland, Sterich and the Yeomanry.

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