Termalaine

Overview

Founded by Calishite settlers who appreciated beauty, Termalaine is widely regarded as the most picturesque town in Icewind Dale, spreading out from the shore of Maer Dualdon and bordered on the north and west by tall pines. Its buildings incorporate carvings of wizards, homunculi, tigers, and smiling djinn.
For most visitors, the enchantment of the town is dispelled as soon as they feel the icy claws and teeth of the cold wind sweeping down from the north, shearing through their layers of clothing. Termalaine was built in the path of this dreadful gale, which continues well past the town to harry fishers on the southern half of the lake.
In addition to fishers, shipbuilders, and scrimshanders, Termalaine is home to miners who harvest gemstones from a cavern complex set into a low hill north and east of the settlement. Their efforts are hampered by creatures from the Underdark that occasionally find their way up into the mine. Whenever such creatures are discovered, the mine is sealed off and the townsfolk wait until a band of sellswords or adventurers can be hired to clear it out.

Places of Interest

The Blue Clam

Dockside Tavern
The fishers of Termalaine typically finish their days here, seated on benches near one of the building’s long hearths to warm their feet while they fill their bellies with spiced chowder. Beautiful works of scrimshaw are hung on the walls.
Vernon Braig, a half-orc, the Blue Clam’s owner and chef, knows some of the hunters and trappers in Lonelywood, and occasionally a sled comes down the north trail with a sack of hares or a haunch of moose, courtesy of one of Vernon’s friends. On those nights, the Blue Clam’s hearths are full of roasting meat, and the patrons stay later and sing louder, enjoying the good times while they last.

The Eastside

Inn
The Eastside is where most visitors in town stay. What looks from the outside like separate houses turns out to be a single structure with rooms connected by underground passages, with cozy guest accommodations in the cellar.
The innkeeper is Marta Peskryk, a willowy teenager who spends much of her time tending to her bedridden father, Clyde, a retired fisherman and noncombatant. As she performs her daily chores, Marta sings the following song to herself:
Ahead of winter’s wind she came— The lovely woman with no name; Draped in a fur-lined cloak of red, To the icy lake she fled; The wind pursued her all the same— As sure as night she’s dead.
If asked about the song, Marta recounts the following tale. Fifty years ago, a mysterious woman in a fur-lined red cloak stopped at the Eastside on her way to Lonelywood. Because the woman was alone and frightened, the innkeepers—a pair of retired adventurers who happened to be Marta’s grandparents—tried to console her. The woman gave them a ring as payment for their hospitality. 
Not long afterward, a howling wind burst into the inn and tossed the woman about like a rag doll. The innkeepers intervened, giving the woman time to escape. The evil wind battered Marta’s grandparents unconscious before resuming its hunt. That was the last anyone saw of the woman.

Friendliness ❄❄❄ Services ❄❄ Comfort ❄❄❄
Population. 350. (Previously 600)
Leader. Oarus Masthew, a half-orc, was declared speaker after a close and contentious election. Oarus is bright, with a sharp sense of humor, but he has political enemies in town and lacks the full support of the town militia.
Militia. Termalaine can muster up to 35 soldiers.
Heraldry. The open-mouthed head of a fish at the bottom of a sky-blue field, its jaws parted as it swallows a large rose-pink oval. The oval is a tourmaline, symbolic of the town’s gem mining.
Rivals. Bremen, Lonelywood, Targos.

Type

Town