The Haile has an active set of crafter's guilds, and hires a few apprentices and masters from all over. Much of their business is in restoring curiosities found in the ruins, magical artifacts trafficked by the Library, and supplying the scholars and adventurers who come through.
Dobry Agasson, Head Blacksmith: In Sunspeak/Eveninglow 1732, the adventuring party helped his daughter Edel, who suffered from aethersteel exposure.
Edel Agasson, Apprentice Blacksmith: Edel is Dobry Agasson's daughter, and an apprentice blacksmith at the Crafter's Guilds in The Haile.
In Sunspeak 1732, Edel was injured in an accident. The Blacksmiths Guild bought a load of metal ingots off of a trader, part of a wholesale deal with another merchant who just wanted to offload some goods before making the journey out of The Haile.
Everyone involved assumed it was a simple load of steel from the nearby Mettler Company mining camp, but it turns out to have been magically tempered aethersteel recovered from a recent expedition into Thyrelume. Proper precautions were not followed when Edel began melting the ingots, and her exposure left her in a weakened state.
At the request of Dobry and The Haile's chief healer, Galen Argent, the party searched Thyrelume for a cure and helped her recover.
If you had seen Edel before, it would have been obvious she was Dobry’s child, with her height, broad shoulders, and sandy hair. Today she is somewhat thinner, a bit pale, and curled up on a small sofa. As she speaks, you can tell that every now and then, she is straining. Her spirits are good--she’s alive, after all, and there are much deadlier mistakes you can make with molten metal. But there is a frustration with how difficult all of this is now.
The Crossroads Campsite can be found down the forest road just north of The Haile. (Travel along the forest road is treated as Level 1 Grasslands since it's so well-maintained.) The campsite is a jumping-off point for travel to The Keyhole or Síorghlas, and is built so that multiple traveling parties can have their own camps.
The journey to the Keyhole camp is fairly straightforward. Since the Keyhole is a popular destination, the trail is wide and well-maintained. You have a little difficulty with carts and pack animals due to rocks and roots, and the whole thing seems like it would be less than a day’s journey as the crow flies.
As evening approaches, you begin to see small side trails jut off from camp into small clearings.
You follow one and find the area mostly clear of debris and leaves, with a small ring of rocks laid out as a makeshift fire pit. Small winding trails through the woods connect to other campsites, as well as to a low spot between the hills where a small man-made pond and cistern provide water for campers.
To fuel the demand for the blacksmith (and other nearby towns), a mining camp is set up in the mountains.
The mining camp is located across one of the ridges that form The Haile’s cove, and it’s about three days’ journey (rocky terrain, woods, deep forest)
Operated by the Mettler Company, owned by a villager in town. It’s a decently large camp--a town in its own right--recruited from all over the region. But the work and the living are both tough, so there’s not a lot of travel to/from town and often villagers forget it’s there.
Mining operations have managed to dig tunnels to other areas on the other side of the mountain range, but this is a difficult journey. It’s mainly used to deliver to other locations. (It’s only big enough for the steam-powered minecart train that runs to most of the main shafts.)
The inn in The Haile.
The Haile is famous for its library and its ruins, but visiting scholars and dignitaries come away talking about The Boar, Deer, and Butterfly. The staff understand that good cuisine is critical to the city’s reputation just as much as the library and the ruins.
The pub pays top dollar for exotic foods found in the woods, which is how they’re able to produce their famous pies and pastries featuring apple, cinnamon, and nutmeg. This gives the food a wild, sometimes unpredictable flavor that can’t be compared to ingredients from farms and orchards.
As the town doesn’t have access to much in the way of grain or vegetables, most of the drinks are fermented from these foods: ciders and wines made from muscadines or blackberries.
The streets near the pub always have the scent of warm butter, spices, and sugar.
In Eveninglow 1732, the adventuring party donated a crystal arm from a golem defeated in the ruins of Thyrelume. It hangs in the rafters over the common room as a trophy.
Abelard Prost, Head Chef: A driven and professional chef. He’s slim, in his 40’s, with thick black hair and a large mustache. He’s not from around here and apprenticed at a prestigious restaurant in a cultural center; he likes the challenge of keeping visiting scholars surprised and entertained with local fare and limited supplies.
Ingrid Brunn, Head Baker: An elf, about the same age as Roland. Her parents owned the inn before the library was founded, and gave it to her and Roland before they passed. She jumped at the chance to expand the pub’s fare and, like Roland, ably rose to the challenge of transforming the pub into a world-class establishment.
Roland Brunn, Innkeeper: A spirited middle-aged man, slightly on the heavier side. He’s a local; he worked for Ingrid’s parents and took over the pub as the library began drawing in more travelers, and transformed it from a small pub in a sleepy mountain village to a world-class establishment. He’s proud of what he’s been able to do, though he doesn’t forget the town’s modest roots and let it go to his head.
A round, four-floor tower. The first floor is a lobby with bookcases surrounding the edges and desks for working. In the center, a large spiral staircase leads up. On higher floors, book cases are arranged like large spokes.
Founded by Maria Linser. Currently run by Geneva Endress. The Library is not affiliated with any magic schools (though it makes arrangements), and its independence is a point of local pride.
Ireneus Holbein: A tall, lanky elf dressed in dark yellow mage robes. He’s a little older–his hairline’s beginning to recede (though there’s no trace of gray among its light brown) and you clearly see the lines in his face once you look at it long enough. He peers at you over a small pair of thick-lensed glasses. Ireneus is the adventuring party's contact at The Library in The Haile.
Delyth Edris, Library Cartographer: Delyth Edris is a cartographer at The Library in The Haile. In Sunspeak 1732, she helps the adventuring party find a possible location for the information they're searching for regarding a cure for Edel Agasson.