Elet

(EL-et)

The Estuary Road winds through the foothills of the Cretian Mountains just to the south, and there is a bite to the wind as it blows off the peaks. According to a milestone cracked by repeated freezing and thawing, travelers are arriving at the town of Elet. It looks like a tumble of stones from a distance, but as they get closer, they see that the ruined appearance is just an illusion caused by the town’s uneven, badly weathered wall, and the jumble of slate roofs visible within. Several wooden signs are posted at the battle-scarred city gates. The signs read:

• Welcome to Elet!
• Beggars get one day, three meals, and a polite farewell
• Best Prices for travelers at the Knave-on-a-Cask
• Stay at the Dancing Dairymaid, no fleas
• Lycanthropes will be burned at the stake, no exceptions.
• Druids and gaians welcomed.

Elet is a small, stone-walled town on the Estuary Road, roughly halfway between Aixe and Eastgate. It lies at the base of the Ghostwind Pass into the Yolbiac Vale, a dangerous crossing utterly impassable due to snow and terrifying winds during at least two months of the year. Trade with the strange valefolk on the far side of the mountain pass is sporadic at best, and most of Elet’s wealth (such as it is) comes from travelers on the Estuary Road.
The town has a number of citizens who are of a local druidic faith, and the Ghostwind Pass contains three notable druidic holy sites: Olir Orphais, Ambioc Tor, and Cenaur Yltair. These are seldom visited by ordinary folk, even on pilgrimages, but Elet sees traveling druids from time to time on their way to the Pass to pay respect to one or another of these sites. The town mayor is appointed by the Landsgraf, who lives in Castle Krevin, five miles from the town itself. The current Landsgraf is Karlat of Krevin (LN male human).

Demographics

1434 human, 106 smallfolk.

Infrastructure

Elet has three inns, and the decline in trade has pushed them into fierce competition with each other. The Knave-on-a-Cask, the Dancing Dairymaid, and the Pork Pie all have bargain prices for rooms and food unless a large caravan is in town.

History

The town is relatively insignificant other than for its strategic location at the base of the pass into the Yolbiac Vale; it is no larger than several other towns along the Estuary Road. It does have the unusual distinction of having been entirely legally female for a period of two months, five years in the past, as the result of an administrative dispute concerning magic. Mayor Alyn Elevard, a wizard of some note, magically transformed himself into a woman, ordering the alteration of all the town records to reflect her femininity and the new name of Alisce. When a small contingent of the town’s merchants expressed their displeasure at the situation, the mayor responded by administratively ordering a change in all birth and tax registries of the town’s entire male population into the female gender, throwing several wills and property deeds into ambiguity. Threatened by this legal siege, faced with the fact that most of the town’s ordinary inhabitants treated the whole thing as a diverting sort of festival, and eyeing several new gallows being installed near the town gates, the protestors soon declared their effusive support for the mayor, her policies, and the transformation, accompanied by the payment of 100 bushels of grain to the mayor’s personal accounts. Thus, after a brief two months of Elet’s entirely-female legal status, the administrative records were returned to their normal state, the gallows were taken down, and events continued as normal, with Alisce’s political power considerably strengthened by the brief confrontation. Everyone enjoys telling the story, but, after all, the town is close to the Yolbiac Vale. Stranger things have happened.

Type

Town

Population

1540

Inhabitant Demonym

Eletine

Location under

The Borderlands

Owner/Ruler

Alisce Elevard

Owning Organization

Aachen Province

Max Clerical Spell Level

Good -, Neutral 4, Evil-

Notable NPCs

Mayor Alisce Elevard (LN female human) ; Montorioc Yeoman of Telophus (LN male human) ; Faliara Wanderer of Pan (N female human) ; Father Longbeard (grove outside of town) (N male human) ; Jorimander (N male human wizard)

Purchase Maximum/Month

4,000gp