The Shuttleford Villages

Among the many small villages and hamlets along the lengthy, winding Flanmi River, High and Low Shuttle ford are the largest, with some 1,200 or so folk in each village.

They flourished in the past as folk headed for Loutharn for the markets of the Wind Fair during the first week of Harvester, and coaching inns and taverns sprouted like weeds here. Now, however, the villages are avoided by most. There are two reasons for this.

The first reason is the innate unpleasantness of the people. They seem to revel in clutter and filth; the contents of chamber pots are dumped wherever is convenient, and many people here suffer unpleasant diseases as a result.

Shuttleforders are dishonest, vicious folk. In the past, the landowner of the two villages, Prince Kobasten of Naelax, held this in check by virtual military rule. However, he fell foul of Ivid's priests. Now an animus, he has fled the lands, and his fate is unknown. The villages thus exist in a state of virtual anarchy, since none of Kobasten's relatives dares to assume control less the unpredictable animus-prince should return and show displeasure at another assuming his place.

The second reason for shunning these villages is that they have come, by virtue of their lack of rulership, to attract evil and vicious exiles from many Aerdi lands. Thus, the village herbalist may well turn out to be a disguised priest of Incabulos who will sell the innocent purchaser poison with a toothless grin. The butcher will have fresh meat as well as maggoty hunks for the poor, but one should not enquire too closely which type of creature the meat came from.

The architecture of the villages, with crowded slum cottages and narrow, dark alleyways, adds to the crime and violence of the people. Throats are cut not just for a few copper coins here, but in a fit of rage that an ambushed victim has nothing of value to yield up to his assailant. These are places to awhich is an invita tion to the DM to force PCs to seek someone hiding in one or the other village).