Tierhaven

Population: 250 people

Ruler: Sheriff Rudi Whittaker Known

For: Agriculture, Duck Ponds

Amidst thick forests where the druids of the old faith performed blood rites under the full moon lies the little town of Tierhaven. Along a single dusty road stretching near the crag are several longhouses, small homes of mud and brick with thatched rooftops, and a few buildings of stone which make up the town of Tierhaven. At the middle of the road is a humble chapel of the Sacred Fire, with a pair of competing public houses at each end of town. A paddling of ducks wanders across the dirt streets past a simple trading post. A marketplace springs up around the well at the center of town, but the traveler will find nary any shops, or even an inn for respite. Most visitors are homesteaders from outlying farms bringing wagons of grain to the mill along the brook, and the blacksmith spends his days making nails and horseshoes, not swords and chainmail. Make friends with the locals, though, and one of the many families are happy to take you in for the night. They take pride in their pleasant isolation, far from the trappings and bright lights of great cities and the wars of distant nations. Instead, they find solace on quiet nights, when they can gaze upon the sea of stars which watch down from above. Between traders, travelers, and the lone forgotten soul, more leave Tierhaven than remain. Still, strange noises haunt the west woods on dark nights. The rains and mists are always thick, particularly of late. The roads are miserable with slick, dark mud. Hunters sometimes return with talk of strange prints and claw marks found in the forests, quite unlike any beasts of nature or creatures known to arcane scholars. There are still tales of the time a homesteader awoke at midnight to wild shrieks from their barn, and too frightened to see what was outside for fear of their own safely, waited through the night only to find in the morning their flock slaughtered in myriad brutal ways. Others spoke of the wayward travelers who would pass through and never been seen again. Still, these remote instances do little to dull the secluded comfort of Tierhaven. If you were to ask the folk of Tierhaven what they thought of such happenings, they might smile and reply that every town has their tragedies, after all… Tierhaven is a small village which lies at the crossroads traveling through the Achtungwald. The local sheriff, Rudi Whittaker, keeps the peace in town. Along with her novice deputy Wilhelm Wolfsbane, the two mostly tend to keeping ducks off the road, locating stray sheep, and occasionally dealing with a beast from the forest who wanders into town to cause trouble. Achtungwald Observatory. This remote outpost of the Amethyst Academy lies not far from Tierhaven. Little more than a stone tower built atop a rocky crag overlooking the village, it was built several decades ago to monitor ley lines and thin places in the area. The last keeper was an old wizard named Grummelskin, a Tierhaven local who held the post for nearly sixty years before his death about ten years ago. The post has remained vacant ever since.