Highcastle

Highcastle

  Highcastle lies in High Dale, at a crossroads of old trade routes between Cormyr and Sembia. The settlement takes its name from the ruined keep just south of the town, and for generations has served as the largest community in the dale and a waypoint for traders passing through.
 

Geography & Setting

Highcastle rests amid gentle hills, with fields and pastures stretching outward toward forested slopes. The keep’s ruins rise on a low ridge, visible for leagues around. Of late, the fields to the south have suffered as the nearby swamp has crept inward, and many farms speak quietly of the hunger that followed the wet season when crops failed.
 

Government & Defence

The town is governed by a Dale Council and an elected High Constable; in 1367 DR the High Constable was Irreph Mulmar. Defence is vested in the militia and mercenaries such as the Pegasus Archery Company, headquartered nearby at Arrowpoint.
 

Economy & Society

Traders pass through each spring and summer, buying and selling local wares. Highcastle’s exports include ale brewed from local grains and whatever produce survives the year. Even so, traders arrive fewer now than in better years, for the famine that has now visited the dale has left many farmers skirting ruin. The settlement’s walls are modest; the emphasised defence lies more in patrols and militias than in grand fortifications.
 

Notable Locations

• The Dale Council Chamber - the seat of local governance, flanked by barracks for the Watchmen.

• The Eagles’ Eyrie - a modest inn catering to travellers who cannot afford finer lodgings.

• The Shield and Keep - a stout ale-house popular among locals.

• The Swordsmith’s House - a fine inn which shuts during the lean winter months.

• The Keep of Highcastle - once the fortress of Baron Amadin, now mostly ruins and the subject of local treasure-legends.

 

Local Notes & Rumours

The creeping swamp to the south brings more than damp air; farmhands whisper of strange lights on the water at dusk and of livestock lost without track. Some say the old bandit-king’s hoard lies buried beneath the castle rubble; others claim the famine was a curse brought by the desecration of those ruins.