Current

Village at the Confluence of Wood Lake and the Anwar River

This little village ends up being somewhat xenophobix and un-welcoming to those who visit, unless the villagelrs have a known reason to respect them. Current is a rather run-down fishing village on the south end of Wood Lake, towards the northern reach of the Darven Forest.
Those that live permanently in Current eke out a living on fishing and hunting, and rarely (in the case of Old Tratty, trading this and that as a tinker would). More money is to be made in the two taverns, where innkeeps and staff are usually very busy.They are a ragtag lot, and there are only thirty or so that actually reside there at one time.
The rest of the population are those (who aren’t scared of the place) headed north to or south from Buckland to the Darven Forest. The number of visitors can almost reach the number of residents sometimes, especially during the spring and summer months, when orcs are most active.
Once or twice a year, Orcs of barbarian lands call a “Gathering” in Current, and Orcs of the south and north come together to drink, gamble, and terrorize the locals. They stop short of total destruction, they say out of respect for the Blood Drinkers, a semi-secret society that makes Current its base. The Orces say that anyone making too much trouble in the town is subject to retribution by “the Drinkers” at one point or another.
Humans and half-orcs also pass through, but only the tough or the stupid spend time in the taverns. The locals defer to outlanders sycophantically, and this amuses the visitors, especially the orcs. Usually the rude creatures just bully and terrorize the locals, but when angered they have been known to rampage through the city, vanquished only by the heroic efforts of the villagers. "Do not push an orc over the line..."
Elves are not safe in Current, when they are recognized. Any weak- or wealthy-looking people are likewise attracting trouble. It is likely that they will be verbally intimidated or assaulted, or even physically attacked by a hastily gathered mob, especially if they try to talk back.
The layout of Current is somewhat Hodge Podge (MAP), with newer-built shanties sprinkled among ruined wooden houses often infested with vivid green moss and rats. The town is sparse and run-down and maybe a bit depressing. On cloudy or misty days, it’s positively dreary, like a ghost town but for the residents.
There are a series of outhouses and a refuse pit north of the settlement, and the pit is deep enough to hold a Frogyugh that processes much of the town's waste. It’s like a built-in composting system. Rarely, if a visitor makes too much trouble or grievously offends the locals, they can be thrown into the pit to a truly awful end. In these extreme cases, they say that "The Drinkers are watching," and that they take pleasure in watching the event.
Current is not a pleasant place, but west and south of town, and across the Anwar flowing north, is a quiet moor where more introverted travelers can make camp. The Darvenmoor is a deceptively peaceful place--cool, dark, and still--but frequented by Dire Toads (of any size)--the creature that strays most often into town--and the unsuspecting can be eaten if unawares. There are gorgeous emerald droopers growing in quiet groves here--a unique species.
The Moor is a creepy place to Current's people, and anyone who goes there (for whatever reason--to gather plants? to hunt beasts? what else?) is considered freaky or witchy: someone to stay away from. The Taverns of current sometimes feature "Moor Tales," and it is well known that the parents in the village tell their children cautionary tales that feature the moor.
There are some residents of Current--just a few--that gather plants (Darvenmoor Plant Life) in the moor: herbs, poisons, medicines, etc.? (Who knows what they're up to?). They are looked on by the populace as strange and witchy, but who knows what unseen powers they have? They usually live just out of town, and they are feared, and all but shunned.

GEOGRAPHY of CURRENT
Current lies just on a rise, east of the Anwar River and just north of Wood Lake, and there are river captains who will take travelers to Buckland for a price. A small docking area lies south of the hill on which the town sits. There are also very rarely guides who can take travelers north by land to reach Buckland. Also, this far north there are still some remnants of the Darvenmoor, especially west of town in lower land (as described above).
GOVERNMENT There is no government in Current. A group of eight residents has banded together to form a kind of rudimentary police force, but they are no match for a band of orcs passing through.


There are some Creatures of Current not as commonly found often in the Forest itself. Other than these, there are other creatures of the Darven Forest that sometimes lurk into the village bounds.

HISTORY of CURRENT

Unknown to nearly anyone, Current was once an outpost for travelling orcs, long before any humans came to the continent. It was abandoned hundreds of years ago, for reasons lost to memory. Somehow humans found the area on their migration north, and it seemed like a good halfway point between the lake and the barbarian plains (and Bucklund) to the north. It was once thriving more than now, but obviously it is still visited, and there is money to be made, and so it persists in its own twisted way. At the base of its hill to the east and north, there are old orc hideouts mostly buried in rockfall and rubble, untouched and uninhabited for two hundred years or more.

Taverns

There isn’t much to do in Current except drink and carouse (after a day of fishing). “The Two Taverns” as they’re called, are similar, although one looks as though it might have been built before Current became the hole that it is now. A sturdy, formerly-very-attractive building (called The Relic) nevertheless holds noise, booze, and aggressive banter.
The other tavern (Darren’s Dump) is built on rickety foundations, mostly of faded, mossy, sun-bleached wood, and it stinks to high heaven, and the hooch is near-deadly. They are both tight spaces that get easily crowded.
Bards rarely visit the town, but when they do they would be beat-up not to give the crowd endless songs and stories.

Type

Village

Trade

There is some trade in Current. One building, Otyugh Trade and Sale, does mostly barter but loves coin and will seek to trade for it if it’s shown. The Trade and Sale has a large hodge-podge of items, and they can come cheap. Of course, much of it is junk. Orc-trade is often in fake talismans--sometimes actually real--and old weaponry, possibly a suit of icky armor or a shield, or (these quite valuable actually, if you can stomach them) a pair of sturdy boots. There is little of value, unless you get lucky. The Otyugh will not trade for coin, but will accept coin for trade.

• “THE DRINKERS": Drinkers, The
  
• No one knows for sure who the Drinnkers are, and what their role is in the society and region of the northern Darven Forest and the Darvenmoor.  Evidence of their activity, such as strange sacraficial scenes, crude and bizarre altars built on the moor, or sightings of weird robed figures moving ethereally through the mists on an autumn evening. They are even believed to consort with the Friddks, and some say they even intermarry and reproduce: a truly horrid thought.