6. Swine Pits - Anston

Low sheds, deep mud, loud opinion. The thorpe’s bacon and boots come from here.

You smell it before you see it—woodsmoke and cow dung, then the blunt stink of pigs. Round the bend: thatched roofs crouched over muddy yards, plank fences bowed, and a swine pit churned to black soup. Pigs grunt and shoulder each other in the wallow; boys with poles shout and laugh over the noise. Beyond the sheds, smoke curls from a low curing hut, and wet hides hang from a timber rack to drip.

Layout (quick map notes)

• Outer Lane: Rutted approach with a crude dung board to scrape boots.
• Main Pit: Chest-deep wallow ringed by plank fencing (counts as difficult terrain; Strength DC 10 to clamber the fence quickly).
• Feeding Sheds: Low, thatched lean-tos; slop troughs, water barrels, spare rails.
• Curing Hut: Brick fire trench with cross-poles and hooks; “no open blades” sign scratched on the jamb.
• Skinning Rack & Tubs: Stretched hides; lime and rinse tubs (mildly caustic; Con save DC 10 to work bare-handed without irritation).
• Pig Run: Narrow chute used to funnel hogs; also great improvised barricade in a fight.
• Back Fence (Mirewatch side): Pigs won’t cross after dark; rails show gnaw marks and little condensation halos on cold nights.

Hooks & micro-scenes

1. “The Night the Pigs Froze” — After sundown the hogs balk at the back fence, staring at Mirewatch. Quiet test: you hear the wallow go silent for a heartbeat, then a burst of anxious grunts. Investigate to catch a Whisper sign on the rails.
2. “Missing Sow” — A breeder sow crashed the fence and vanished toward the stream; recover before it bogs. Skill scene with Animal Handling/Survival DC 12; stirges may test you.
3. “Boiler Duty” — Help render fat and stoke the trench while Kornel lectures about law and tithe. Complete the shift → gain Advantage on Persuasion checks with Anston commoners for a day (“they worked our stink”).
4. “Fence for a Favor” — Kornel will donate rails to the bridge if you fix his gate hinges and carry a note to Curate Waldere (“bless the bellline, I’ll bring the nails”).

Encounters & hazards (use sparingly)

• Panicked Boar: Startles at sudden silence; DC 13 Animal Handling to turn, or it charges the weakest fence.
• Lizardfolk Poacher (sign): Webbed toeprints near slop barrels; single javelin gouge in a rail. Leaves before a fight unless cornered.
• Caustic Tubs: Tip check (Dex DC 12) or splash—1d2 acid and Disadvantage on Sleight of Hand for an hour without fresh water rinse.

Ties to other locations

• 3. Church of the Cudgel: Kornel gathers levy and tithe, usually delivers two rails and a bucket of lard to the parish each Godsday; first to volunteer men when the curate calls.
• 1. Mirewatch House: He refuses to step onto its rear yard after dusk; will lend rails, not his back, for repairs there.
• 5. Mounted Borderer Station - Anshan: Supplies grease & leather patches for tack; expects patrols to keep smugglers off the swine lanes.

If the party earns Kornel’s trust

• He offers a standing discount (–1 cp per ration item), keeps two rails aside “for heroes’ work,” and writes a blunt character note that helps with Captain Para Roanik (“They work. They pay. They talk straight.”).
• Once, he’ll send his two lads to aid a daylight job (bridge or boardwalk) at no charge.

Quick combat features (if it turns ugly)

• Pig Run: As an action, a PC can drop the gate to create a 20-ft choke granting half cover.
• Wallow: Difficult terrain; failed Dex save DC 11 = prone and restrained until you spend half movement to stand (slippery suction).
• Smoke Trench (curing hut): Light obscurement downwind; creatures entering take 1 fire on a failed DC 10 Dex save from cinders.

You smell it before you see it—woodsmoke, dung, and the blunt stink of pigs. Low sheds crouch over a black wallow. Boys with poles shout the herd along a plank chute. A broad-shouldered man with forearms like beams and a beard salted with ash plants himself at the gate, voice carrying over the grunting. "Boots on the scrape board—then you talk. I’m Kornel Tesár, and this mud is my living.”

PCs introduce themselves.

“Why are you here, then? Trade? Temple business? Or after the kind of trouble that eats men in two?”

If PCs hedge.

“Fine. You want the lay: the tower up the lane is Captain Para’s yard—names first, business second. Bring her tracks, tokens, or lies and she’ll sort which is which. If you want a roof and a bowl, the Bog & Barrel keeps cabbage hot and beds damp—Ailred takes coin by sound, and that ruin of a noble, Harl, sells promises for ale. The church is square and stern; Curate Waldere will bless your rattle-strings and your ears both. The mill turns steady—Praen’s got planks for the bridge and a daughter sharper than most knives. If you need cures or curses, Old Aggy keeps both in jars and smiles when men doubt her.”

If asked about the manor.

“Mirewatch? The house that hushes. Pigs won’t cross that fence after dark, and I won’t argue with swine about ghosts. If you must go, keep talking. Silence brings company.”

If asked what to watch for.

“Bridge first—one at a time or you’ll swim it. Stirge clouds at dusk—hold your torches high and your horses tighter. Big gators push up the ditches now; they’ll take a calf or a fool. We’ve seen long-toed tracks by my slop, spear-hafts shaved smooth—smells like lizardfolk with steel they didn’t forge. Someone’s selling to them from the river road.”

He glances east.

“And lights across the flats that don’t sway like lanterns. Dark robes slipping town-side some nights. Temple scum, the old kind, or their pups—could be. Captain Para wants marks on a map, not stories.”

If the PCs ask for rumors.

“Take your pick. There’s talk of a troll lair scaring off game. A mud man skulks the hedges—man, muck, and vines, say the boys. Rats big as cats worked through a cellar; seamstress screamed the roof loose. Old men mutter the town’s sinking and the fen’s listening again. And if you fancy long tales, there’s always a black dragon older than our grandfathers sleeping under Torr—me, I feed pigs, not legends. Oh, and if a pirate smiles at you on the Emridy, count your teeth and your knives after.”

If the PCs press for directions.

“Tower’s straight on—scaffolding and a rattle of hoists; give Para your route and live to give another. Mill’s on the stream bend; tell Praen I sent you if you’re laying boards. Church is the square stone that pretends nothing fails here. Tavern’s the low smoke-brown with the crooked sign and the wet floor. Mirewatch—you’ll hear it before you see it, when the air forgets how to carry sound.”

If the PCs ask what he wants.

“Simple. Keep the bridge standing, the boardwalk flagged, and the quiet loud. Bring back a spearhead with an upland mark or knock one cult scratch off a stone and I’ll call you neighbors. Otherwise, don’t block the gate—these hogs eat on time.”