Baseta (J4)

Remote Baseta is held by Constable Eres Tereneth for Earl Caldeth of Minarsas. The keep was built before the Migration Wars. Baseta is a river port on the edge of Taelda lands. The settlement has a large urban population, mostly refugees from the Jarin Rebellion in Orbaal (701–03). The hunting is excellent and Sir Eres goes to great lengths to stay on good terms with his Barbarian neighbors. He encourages the trade of civilized goods, excluding weapons, in exchange for furs and the herbs and medicines for which the Taelda are renowned. Sir Eres Tereneth is a robust and jolly widower of middle years, said to keep one of the finer tables and cellars in Meselyne. He hosts frequent hunting parties that are always well attended by the local nobility. His current mistress, Wilia of Margant, is the daughter of a vassal lord and young enough to be his own daughter. She is an outrageous flirt but loyal to Sir Eres. The merry atmosphere of the constable’s court has been disturbed by his son. Once a fine jouster and a popular ladies’ champion, Sir Miren recently returned from the Solori Crusades on the Melderyni frontier a changed man. He avoids his father’s festivities, preferring long solitary rides through the countryside. Sir Eres neither understands nor approves of the change in his son. Recently, a series of horrific murders has jolted the constable into action. Every month for the past year, at least one individual has disappeared from a nearby village. Bodies are found with the liver, lungs, and heart absent. Rumors of a maneating wolf or even a lycanthrope have terrified the community and strained relations with the Taelda. There is hushed gossip in the local inns of an even fouler, more ancient entity. Sir Eres has asked the Bailiff of Allence Hundred at Dabell to investigate and resolve the problem.