Torven’s Ford

Torven’s Crossing & The Reed Docks

Torven’s Crossing & The Reed Docks

The shallow ford is marked by pale stones just beneath the water’s surface, worn smooth by generations of passage. A line of reed-wrapped poles marks the safest route across.

Downriver, a set of creaking wooden docks—collectively called the Reed Docks—jut into deeper water, tied with barges, ferries, and flatboats.

• Riverfolk and boat pilots linger here all hours
• Cargo is rarely left unattended or at least watched by someone
• Outsiders are noticed immediately

Blackwake River Forge

A squat, soot-stained forge crouched near the waterline, its chimney forever coughing smoke.

• Specializes in hooks, rivets, ferrules, and repair work
• Trades work with the cooper for some specialty woodworking
• Tries to stay out of the perpetual arguments between Haskel and Brune.

Haskel & Brune’s Yard (Boatwright & Cooper)

Two trades sharing one crowded yard—half hull frames, half stacked barrels. 

A carved sign hangs over the door: “If it floats or ferments, we fix it.”

• Boats on one side – made and repaired; casks, barrels and such on the other
• Constant arguing, constant work
• The cooper does a lot of caskwork for the vinegar merchant to ply trade downriver.

Lowe’s (‘The Lowe’) Smokehouse

A long, low building where the air never clears and the rafters are black with years of smoke.

• Communal smoking racks
• Workers move like silhouettes in the haze

The Sunbank Shrine (Pelor)

A clean, open-air shrine of pale stone facing the southern light lies past a stone building for reflection and shelter to the priest. Polished river stones arranged in sunbursts by children dot the path on either side leading up to the shrine.

• Maintained by Newward settlers
• Morning prayers, shared meals on holy days
• Holy water (1d6 vials/day) is available for a donation, but non-believers will be asked to wait outside while it is procured.
• Characters with questionable ancestry may feel unease or become ill (tieflings, etc.) for 1 hour being on the consecrated grounds.

Greywheel Mill

A broad waterwheel turning slow and steady along a diverted channel.

• Grinds grains from surrounding hills
• Provides flour for town and caravans
• Tends to hear a lot of news around the millstone

The Green & Market Circle

A worn oval of trampled grass and packed earth at the town’s center. The northern part of the market has some well worn spaces for carts and smaller stalls of fresh vegetables, fruits, and other fare from local farms (off map).

• A: Honey, mead and baskets of fruits (apple, pear, raisins, berries (in season)
• B: Quince, plums, blackberries,parsnips,leeks, onions, greens 
• C: Cabbage, turnips, skirret root, garlic, savory pies
• D: Emmental cheese, homemade rye breads – some spiced with garlic and cheese, farmers/cottage cheese
• E: Herbs & medicinals
• F: dried, salted fish
• G: Rope and woven goods (baskets), cloth pouches and sacks
• Central Tent: Candles, waxes and tallow, flasks of oil for lamps and lanterns, bases for salves and oinments
• Northern carts (left to right): Smoked sausages (pork/beef blend) and salted beef from the butcher, milled flours (from the mill), shockingly tasty wines and vinegars from the Old Vellum house, and fabrics from the Weaver as well as a few nice artcles of clothing 

Reeve’s Hall

A timber structure with a modest bell post and a single banner of Hadleigh colors.

• Administrative center for town meetings, proclamations, and defense
• Dispute settlement and town ledger

Marr’s Stead (Reeve’s Residence)

A fenced home just off the hall, with a small garden gone slightly to seed.

• Once orderly, now uneven
• Tools left where they shouldn’t be

The River’s Rest (Inn)

A sturdy, two-story timber building catering to traders and travelers.

• Clean beds, warm meals
• Stables attached

The Split Reed (Tavern)

A narrower, louder structure with a low-beamed ceiling and a permanent crowd.

• Riverfolk, laborers, locals come for a hot meal and hotter gossip

Ironhand Smithy / Tallow & Wick / Redhook Butchery

A loose line of practical shops along the eastern road.

• Ironhand Smithy: tools, fittings, nails
• Tallow & Wick: candles, grease, lamp oil
• Redhook Butchery: fresh cuts and cured meats

Thread & Shuttle (Weaver & Tailor)

A shared shop bridging Old and New districts.
Repairs, clothing, small luxuries, padded armor on request
Can create masterwork items on commission

Old Vellum Vinegar House (Vinegar Merchant)

A tidy, slightly removed compound of sheds, racks, and sealed casks.
Produces vinegar, preserves, trade goods. Smell carries faintly on the wind.

• There is a large mastiff dog that guards the house – it stares vigilantly but does not bark
• The grounds are well maintained by some laborers and the well-turned soil is rich and dark along the vines.
• Besides vinegar, they produce a small batch of red wine every year that is strikingly good; many attribute it to ‘there’s something in the soil’.

Northbank Stables & Vineyard Rise

Open land north of town where wagons gather and vines take hold.
Caravan staging and some livestock as well as barley, spelt, millet, and some wheat grainfields.
Some grape cultivation further north along some tree-lined fields (off map)

Reeve Halven Marr

Reeve’s Hall & Marr’s Stead

Middle-aged, once steady and dependable, however, recently seen drunk or absent at critical moments. Now strained, defensive, and quietly desperate.

Began investigating issues regarding some deaths near the town and roads but is now occupied with local town gossip that he’s a drunkard and stealing, though he swears he can’t remember or explain why things were in his possession. He sent word to the Cern Vaatha for help a few weeks ago when things flared up and they had sent a ranger (Cern Hrad) to investigate reports of imbalance in the land and what could be behind it. The ranger set out after some findings but never returned.

Aiyokha Skodevak

Old Vellum Vinegar House

A respected vinegar merchant whose goods keep caravans supplied and meat from spoiling. She is considered reliable, if somewhat distant.

• Flan woman, ageless in a way that is difficult to place
• Soft-spoken, deliberate, and never hurried
• Dresses simply, but with meticulous care
• Wears a shawl, scarf, or simple ornamented necklace with herbs and charms (clove, mint, lavender, or cinnamon)

Kethan Reedcloak

Reed Docks / River Escorts

Most experienced riverman in town and oversees other guards and river pilots. Keeps a watch on trade and a closer ear on whispers along the river. 

Kethan quietly monitors traffic along the Zumker and if a Cern Vaatha or Cern Hrad are in town works with them discretely. 

Good source for rumors and news on the river

Bren Torvessen

Greywheel Mill

A broadshouldered, quiet man with dark eyes and some grey peeking about his temples. Always working on something, Bren doesn’t like smalltalk or being idle. Knows tidbits about caravans but not much other than his trade. 

Hedra Ottukan

Ottukan’s Herbs

Older Flan woman, slightly stooped but sharp-eyed

Lives in a low, reed-thatched cottage near the river bend and offers remedies, poultices, and quiet counsel. She can train PCs in basic Herbalism skills for a meal and good conversation. Hedra also keeps a small stock of common spell reagents either gathered or procured from shipments when trade is good. 

Brother Elain of the Dawn

Sunbank Shrine of Pelor

Elain wants to see a harmony of the light with the aspects of nature but old beliefs see him as an unwelcome reformer for ways that worked ‘just fine’. He is young, earnest, and hopeful interpreting events through faith—but lacking experience

Orsik Flintwater 

Flintwater’s Gemsmithing

One of the few dwarves in town and he works with river-polished sand and stone.  Often keeps to his work and himself

Kerrin Ashwake

Blackwake River Forge

Kerrin specializes in iron fittings, anchors, and hull repairs. Weapons are serviceable but plain; river durability matters more than elegance.

Sidequests