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Straddling a shallow ford on the Tanu River, Bywater boasts an inn, a toll house and a handful of simple peasant homes. It is a small, unremarkable place that would be little visited except for its ford. Bywater’s peasants farm the surrounding land, hunt in the nearby woods and watch over the river—sometimes, the swift current deposits interesting things at the ford. Travellers often rest at the Weary Traveller Inn, and their needs generate a steady trickle of coins for Bywater’s peasants. Most families will host impoverished travellers in a barn for a few coppers a night.

Lord: Hilduin Lorsch (lord of Woodridge)

Population: 34
Notable Resources: Ford
Notable Services & Industry: The Weary Traveller Inn
Languages: Common

Lore

A character might be steeped in local lore, or they could have heard about Bywater from another traveller.

Bywater is an unremarkable hamlet clustered around a small ford over the Tanu River.
The only building of note is the Weary Traveller Inn. The inn offers only the basics; travellers accustomed to the finer things in life will find little here to satisfy them.
Sometimes, interesting or odd things are washed down the Tanu River and get stuck at the ford. Some of these things are sold at the Weary Traveller Inn.

Adventure Hooks

Lucky adventurers find opportunities almost anywhere. Unlucky adventurers find complications almost anywhere.

Lurking Orcs: Orc tracks have been found in the nearby woodlands. Bywater is ill-prepared to fight off an orc raid, and its folk are not numerous enough to mount a proper defence. Will the characters neutralise the threat?
Sodden Treasure: Odd things carried downriver by the current are sometimes found at Bywater. A week ago, a peasant found a small wooden coffer. It held a sodden, unreadable scroll and an olden stone statuette depicting a crouching, toad-like monster whose face comprises nothing but a mass of intertwined tentacles.
Patrolling Soldiers: A patrol from Woodridge is at Bywater to collect the accumulated tolls from Eskeli Paaso (location 2). The six heavily armed soldiers are refreshing themselves at the Weary Traveller and making a nuisance of themselves. Their sergeant, Frans Mielo, is nosey, cantankerous and dishonest.

Notable Locations

A few locations in Bywater are notable.

1: The Weary Traveller Inn

Here, the offering is basic, but the welcome is warm. Iisak Hilppa (middle-aged male human) is the friendly ostler of this rambling one-storey inn. The inn stands hard against the river atop a small bluff. Iisak owns a rowboat and happily conveys folk—for a fee—across the river who do not want to get their feet wet.

2: The Toll House

The ford generates a trickle of revenue for Hilduin Lorsch, and here dwells the ford keeper, Eskeli Paaso (male human). This stout stone building overlooks the ford, and Eskeli or one of his family is always watching for travellers.

Tolls: Per person: 1 cp, per animal: 1 sp.

3: Helena Aune’s Home

Three decades ago, Helena Aune (middle-aged female human) found a wizard’s bloated corpse at the ford and claimed the wizard’s spellbook as her own. Much of the book remains a mystery, but she has mastered a few basic incantations. She enjoys talking with visiting wizards.

Credit

Words Creighton Broadhurst Cartography Tommi Salama

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The Hamlet of Bywater