Houndswatch

The village of Houndswatch is a very old settlement nestled in Houndstooth Dell, in the northern foothills. Though not large or populous, this quaint and peaceful hamlet had a history stretching back centuries, mostly to do with the ancient shrine near the center of town: a place sacred to Mercy, the Goddess of Laying Down the Sword. Three years ago, as the rebellion was drawing to a close, the entire population of the town was devoured by the ravenous Slobbering God except for one: Skip the Fearless, the child who took up the Heavenblade and slew the beast.

Geography

Houndswatch is a small village tucked into a wide, shallow canyon in the foothills of the mighty northern mountains. The buildings —about forty in all— are small, simple stone-and-wood constructions, arranged in concentric rings around the shrine at the town center. These end at a crumbling stone wall which encircles the town, outside of which are the various crop and grazing fields tended by the villagers. Near the village, a stream called Houndstooth Creek trickles out of the hillside and begins its course along the Houndstooth Dell toward the mighty river a few miles distant.

Inhabitants

The town never had more than a hundred inhabitants at any one time, but its people were always content to keep a small community. It was continually inhabited by generation after generation of villagers until the great tragedy three years ago. In the wake of the Slobbering God's rampage, the empty houses were eventually adopted by a band of refugees from upriver, displaced by echoing violence of the war. In the present day, the new villagers are led by the mayor Rinhilda: a crafty old matriarch of the rat kith who led them there. Though the disaster left no remains to bury, the old villagers are still honored by the new with an engraved stela placed outside the shrine of Mercy.