![]() The Old Borderlands is supposedly part of the Realm of the Great Kingdom, and the Realm of the Great Kingdom is currently at war with the High Khaganate over the disposition of some southern border provinces who sought the Khagan’s protection in exchange for Khaganate suzerainty during the Wars of Realmish Succession. The ragamuffin children who catch fish in the Leechfens have been telling tall tales about “The Beast of the Fens.” Maybe one of them was telling the truth.At least one half-dead adventurer made it back to the Manor ranting about a minotaur in the berzerker hills - something about a bull-head-man? Poison vapours? The details were pretty sketchy.Goblin hunters have reported seeing a giant boar the size of a hut in the northern Blackbriar, but a lot of goblin hunters are kind of tiny so how large could it be, really?.There is a hefty bounty is on his head, but the last party to seek him out never returned from the Blackbriar. Mad Chernyvulk, the self-proclaimed Goblin Emperor of the West Marches, has personally led a number of raids against caravans and outlying settlements that ended with massacres so grotesque that some believe he is a chaos-cultist, or a demon himself.Soul-chilling howls are the only warning of its approach and strange, giant footprints the only trace of its passing. The Wanderer of the Grey Hills is usually heard, rather than seen.That no goblin-champion or orcish war-party from further north has slain it and opened up the region to resettlement means the dragon is either is too monstrous for mere mortals to deal with, or its presence serves someone’s interests. The Dragon of Foul Peak terrorizes the hills and mountains east of the Blackbriar Wood.They just do them very slowly when Fasolimov isn’t staying there. Fasolimov keeps funding the thing, though, so the landlord Audoin and his staff do their jobs. ![]() ![]() If it weren’t the best place to gamble in the Borderlands, no one would go there at all. It’s supposed to resemble a kind of faux-villa for wealthy travellers to lounge around a reflecting pool and trade witty repartee, but the kind of visitors who come to the Old Borderlands aren’t in the market for Fasolimov’s expensive wine, expensive food, and cut-rate attempt at south-coast secular architecture. The Garden and Vine, the largest tavern and inn in Leechford, is built to the specifications of its owner, Lord Fasolimov, and is almost fatally cold in the winter. She is rumoured to be involved with peasant revolutionaries, or banditry, or sorcery, or chaos worship, or something sinister, but that may also just be suspicious cast by the talkative on the reserved. The owner, Sobeshka, is a night owl, and is known to answer a knock at the inn’s door late into the night. Its stables are small, but it has cozy private rooms aplenty, and is popular with the more furtive travellers passing through the Fort. The Humble Vagabond is outside the stockade, but is built out of the stout stone walls of an old outbuilding and has its own defensive enclosure. The hobgoblin Hilderica, former barmaid, has become the de facto manager and primary barkeep of the Mule, though she is not the namesake as many patrons assume. It’s partially owned by the Constable, with former (mostly unsuccessful) adventurers putting up the rest of the cash to get it started. It has stabling for horses and livestock, but all the accommodations are common rooms. The Weary Mule is the largest inn at the Manor, and is built outside the old manor walls but inside the outer stockade. Because the Bear cycles through regulars in the Constable’s command, it has a clannish feel, and newly arrived adventurers are required to perform the ritual of ‘swearing on the skull’ before being allowed to drink in peace. A few private rooms upstairs are available, but most travellers sleep in the common room downstairs. It’s barkeep and owner, Boyan, is rumoured to be an ex-adventurer, and most of Constable Ferro’s garrison drinks there when off-duty. The bear’s skull is now the tavern’s sign. The Rimy Bear was named after the frozen bear corpse found in the building before it was rebuilt into a tavern.
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