River Harbor

Evenshade’s Harbor is the village’s lifeline to the wider Heartlands and the Sword Coast. Built into a gentle bend of the River Chionthar, it accommodates cargo barges laden with grain, timber, and manuscripts, as well as small passenger vessels. The twin stone piers form a sheltered basin; alongside them, wooden docks serve local fishermen and itinerant traders.

History

• Founding (c. 1050 DR): Villagers cleared swampy shallows to create the first simple wooden landing.
• Stone Pier Construction (c. 1080 DR): Under Baron Aeric Evenshade, two robust stone piers were erected to secure larger vessels.
• Shipwright’s Slipway Added (c. 1220 DR): Master builder Romlyn Forgehand built a drydock area for hull repairs and small keel‐replacements.
• Harborhouse Erected (c. 1240 DR): A two‐story timber-and-stone Harborhouse was completed, serving as customs office and Harbormaster’s residence.
• Modern Upgrades (c. 1300 DR): Lantern buoys and iron mooring cleats were installed; a floating pontoon dock was added to accommodate seasonal flooding.

Layout & Facilities

Stone Piers

1. North Pier: Main cargo unloading—wide flagstone deck, crane rails for barrel hoists.
2. South Pier: Passenger embarkation and fish markets, with covered stalls under a simple awning.

Wooden Docks

• Four smaller docks fanning out from the riverbank, each named for its typical users: Fisher’s Dock, Weaver’s Quay, Merchant’s Cantilever, and Scribe’s Landing.

Harborhouse & Customshouse

• Ground Floor: Customs hall with ledger tables, portcullis gates, and scales for weighing goods.
• Upper Floor: Harbormaster’s office and living quarters, with balcony overlooking the river.

Shipwright’s Slipway

• A gentle ramp and cradle system for hauling small vessels ashore for hull maintenance, carpentry, and basic caulking.

Defenses

• Along the riverfront, Evenshade maintains several ballista harpoons, each mounted on stone or timber platforms overlooking the docks. These formidable weapons, built of oak and iron, are designed not for war but for harbor defense. Each fires a massive, barbed bolt tethered to a heavy rope, wound on a winch. When loosed, the harpoon can pierce the hull or rigging of a fleeing ship, allowing the The Watch of the Scroll to hold the vessel fast or to drag it back to shore. Though rarely fired, the presence of these ballistae serves as a deterrent against river pirates and smugglers, reminding all who dock in Evenshade that the harbor is well-guarded and that illicit trade cannot easily slip past the town’s defenses.
• For more information, see the Harpoon Ballista stat block further down this page.

Signals & Control

Primary station — Harborhouse Balcony Mast (day flags & night lanterns)

• A dedicated mast on the Harborhouse’s river-facing balcony is the authoritative signal point.
• Operated by Clerk Soren or the duty signalman; visible to both piers, the wooden docks, and mid-channel.
• Stores day shapes, flags, and a lantern board with shutters for coded flashes.

Secondary stations — Pier Heads (pier-specific routing)

• North Pier head and South Pier head each have a short signal pole and a hand-horn.
• Used for fine routing (e.g., “North Pier only,” “Fish market hold,” “inspection boat launching”).
• Ballista crews glance to these poles for fire/hold cues.

Acoustic signals — Harbor Horn & Bells

• A bronze harbor horn is mounted under the Harborhouse eaves (1 long = cast off; 2 = heave to; 3 short = inspection).
• Hand bells at each pier head echo critical calls during crowd noise or squalls.
• In dense fog, the horn cadence supersedes flags/lanterns.

Tertiary repeaters — Two-Bend Road Posts

• Painted sightline posts at each bend host a small repeater pole with two semaphore paddles.
• Runner from the Watch mirrors Harborhouse orders so carts/arrivals upstream get the message before reaching the harbor.

Mobile fallback — Signal Skiff

• A light skiff with a bicolor lantern and flag kit runs messages to moored or approaching vessels when visibility or wind angle makes mast signals hard to read.
• Also ferries sealed notes (waxed) for captains under inspection.

Night marks & hazard aids

• Lantern buoys (white steady for channel, red for hazard) are tended from the pontoon dock.
• Each ballista platform has a hooded red lamp it can unhood briefly to mark “weapons live/aiming” without blinding crews.
• Night Rule: At night, display at least 2 lamps for every code. (daytime single-shape signals are permitted.)

Master Mast (Harborhouse Balcony)

• Three fixed mounts on a vertical backboard (matte black) with two reflective metal horizontal rungs (one between HIGH and MID, and the other between MID and LOW), to provide position reference.
• HIGH: 8 m above deck • aperture mask: circle
• MID: 5 m above deck • aperture mask: square
• LOW: 3 m above deck • aperture mask: triangle
• Hooded oil lanterns (Fresnel/parabolic) tilted 5–10° down to reduce glare.
• Colored chimneys (green/red/white) may be used, but position/rhythm are primary.
• The use of red chimneys is important, however, to grab the attention of both harbor crew and riverboat crews.

Range Pair (Approach Alignment)

• Rear Light: the Master Mast’s MID lamp.
• Front Light: short pole on the channel-side pier head, aligned with the channel centerline.
• When Front over Rear appears vertically aligned, the pilot is on the correct bearing.

Repeaters

• Pier-head poles (North & South) with three mounts (H/M/L) for local routing.

Sound Signals

• Harbor horn under Harborhouse eaves; hand bells at pier heads.
• Rule: In dense fog or conflict, horn precedence applies.

Rhythm Vocabulary

• Steady (on)
• Slow blink (5s on / 5s off)
• Fast blink (1s on / 1s off)
• Pulse (3s on / 1s off, emphasis).

Day Shapes (Non-color Backup)

• HIGH = Circle, MID = Square, LOW = Triangle (black boards).
• Shapes hoisted to the same H/M/L points to mirror lamp patterns.

MASTER CODEBOOK (Read by position → rhythm → optional color)

Pilot Mnemonics:

• “North is up; South is down.”
• “Low means no.” (LOW blinking = stand off/hold)
• “Bookends bite.” (HIGH+LOW = enforcement)
• “Three is trouble.” (all three lit = hazard/emergency; rhythm tells which)

Harborhouse Master Signals

* South Pier “arrival wave”: show MID+LOW slow blink for 5 seconds, then MID+LOW steady until acknowledged. This prevents confusion with Standby at distance.

Pier-Head Local Signals (fine routing & crowd control)

Ballista Platform Signals (low-glare, tactical)

Procedures

Decode Order (for pilots)

1. Align on Range Pair if approaching channel.
2. Read positions (which mounts lit).
3. Read rhythm (steady/blink/pulse).
4. Treat color as confirmatory only.
5. If lamps unclear, obey horn precedence.

Acknowledgment

• Addressed pier mirrors the code for one cycle and rings 1 bell for compliance, 2 bells if unable to comply.
• Skippers may acknowledge with one long whistle (underway) or lantern flash x2 (at anchor).

Night & Weather

• Never issue a single-lamp code at night.
• In heavy rain or mist, the Signal Skiff repeats the current Master code at mid-river.

Logging

• Clerk records time • code (positions/rhythm) • horn pattern • acknowledgment. (Great for plot hooks.)

Visibility & Geometry (practical spec)

• Vertical separations: HIGH–MID = 3 m, MID–LOW = 2 m; easily resolved at 200–400 m even in poor conditions.
• Lantern intensity: matched wicks; clean chimneys; weekly test for even brightness.
• Backboard: 9 m tall, 0.7 m wide, charred oak with two reflective metal horizontal rungs (one between HIGH and MID, and the other between MID and LOW).

Safety & Accessibility

• Color-independent by design; shape masks (circle/square/triangle) provide a distinct silhouette.
• Horn precedence ensures decode in zero-viz.
• Written mnemonics posted at pier heads and inside the Harborhouse log alcove.

Services & Trade

• Cargo Handling: Crane services, barrel rolling crews, and covered warehouses.
• Passenger Transport: Daily river shuttle to Berdusk and Iriaebor, weather permitting.
• Repair & Maintenance: Hull patching, mast repair, ropeworks, and sail replacement by resident shipwrights.
• Fishing & Wharfside Markets: Early-morning fish auctions under the South Pier awning.

Personnel

• Harbormaster Arlen Tidewalker: Half‐elf veteran of river trade, enforces docking rules and tolls.
• Clerk Soren Deepwater: Maintains cargo manifests and issues shipping permits.
• Master Shipwright Romlyn Forgehand: Oversees slipway operations and apprentice training.
• Dock Foreman Ilyra Nettles: Coordinates unloading crews and keeps the piers clear.

Rumors

• Sunken Ruins: Divers whisper of submerged foundations beneath the North Pier—perhaps remnants of an older village.
• Smuggler’s Lane: At midnight, a covert landing spot near Fisher’s Dock facilitates illicit trade in forbidden tomes.
• River Serpent: Fishermen tell of a pale‐scaled creature that follows loaded barges, only visible when lanterns glint on its back.

Ballista Harpoon

Large object, unaligned

Armor Class: 15 (wood and iron construction)
Hit Points: 75 (damage threshold 10)
Resistances: bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Immunities: poison, psychic

Crew: 2 (one to load, one to aim/fire)
Ammunition: Harpoon bolts (special)

Actions

Harpoon Shot. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 120 ft./480 ft., one target (ship, creature, or object).

• Hit: 27 (5d10) piercing damage.
• Special (Tethered Shot): On a hit, the target is struck by a tethered harpoon, attached to a rope and winch.

Winching the Vessel

Each round, one crew member can use their action to crank the winch. This creates a contested Strength (Athletics) check:

• Ballista Crew’s Effective Strength: Count the winch as granting mechanical advantage equivalent to a Strength score of 22 (+6).
• If two crew members operate the winch together, treat this as Strength 26 (+8).
• Vessel’s Resistance: The ship opposes this with a modifier based on its size and propulsion:

Results of the Contest

• Crew Wins by 5 or More: The vessel is pulled 10 feet closer to shore.
• Crew Wins (by less than 5): The vessel’s speed is reduced to 0 until the start of its next turn.
• Vessel Wins: The rope is strained but holds; the vessel may move normally.
• Vessel Wins by 5 or More: The rope is snapped, unspooling violently, and the harpoon is rendered useless. The ballista must be reloaded with a new harpoon.

Cutting Free

• Rope: AC 12, 30 hp, immune to poison/psychic.
• Most captains will order it cut before allowing themselves to be dragged in.

Flavor Text (DM Notes)

The Watch of the Scroll rarely hopes to drag a galleon bodily to shore—it’s more about halting escape. A restrained or speed-zero ship buys time for boarding parties, reinforcements, or negotiations. Against smaller craft, though, the harpoons can drag smugglers directly into Evenshade’s piers, kicking and screaming all the way.