> [!infobox] > # The Merchant's Crossroads > ![[Kara's Vale 2.jpg]]<span style="display:block;text-align:center;">[[Kara's Vale 2.jpg|Show to Players]]</span> > ###### Information > | | | > |---|---| > |**Region**| [[Zalfaria]] | > |**Mayor**| [[Elric Thornbrook]] | ### Overview Nestled in the rolling green lowlands, where well-trodden trade roads converge, Kara’s Vale is a lively and welcoming town that serves as a vital hub for merchants, travelers, and artisans. Positioned between the capital and two major cities, it thrives on commerce and the movement of goods, offering a haven of rest and trade for all who pass through. With its charming market squares, cobbled streets, and warm hospitality, Kara’s Vale is known as “The Merchant’s Crossroads”, a place where cultures blend, stories are exchanged, and deals are struck over hearty meals and fine drink. Unlike the darker and more mysterious version of its past, this Kara’s Vale is a beacon of prosperity, honest work, and community. - **Mornings**: Merchants unload goods, bakers prepare fresh bread, and the market slowly comes to life. - **Midday**: The town square is bustling, and guildhalls handle trade negotiations while travelers rest. - **Evenings**: Taverns glow warmly, filled with laughter, music, and clinking mugs as locals and travelers share the day’s stories. ### Geography & Layout - **The Valewood** – A vast, shadowy forest encircling Kara’s Vale. Legends speak of lost travelers who wander into its depths, never to return. - **The Echoing Hills** – Rolling highlands that create natural acoustics, making whispers carry for miles—sometimes voices that aren’t there. - **The Old Watchtower** – A crumbling tower standing at the valley’s edge. No one remembers who built it, but locals swear that figures are seen within its broken windows at night. - **The Hollow Fields** – Once the site of a great battle, now overgrown farmland. Plows still uncover rusted weapons and old bones. - **The Vale’s End Cemetery** – A graveyard at the town’s outskirts, where gravestones sometimes **shift** overnight. ### Industry & Economy Kara’s Vale thrives on agriculture, hunting, and forestry, with a handful of skilled craftsmen producing fine leather, furs, and carved wooden goods. - **Farming & Livestock** – The valley’s soil is unusually fertile, allowing for bountiful wheat, barley, and root vegetable harvests. - **Hunting & Tanning** – The Valewood is home to elk, boars, and rare blackwood deer, highly valued for their dark, glossy hides. - **Woodworking & Carving** – The local lumber industry crafts sturdy furniture, bows, and intricate woodcarvings, some depicting unsettling unknown symbols. - **Herbalism & Alchemy** – The valley is rich in rare herbs used for both medicine and more esoteric purposes. ### Culture & Traditions - **The Merchant’s Fair**: A week-long festival where exotic traders arrive, selling rare goods, magical wares, and fine cuisine. - **The Safe Journey Feast**: Held twice a year, honoring safe travels and thanking the gods for prosperous trade. - **Lantern Night**: On the longest night of the year, locals light lanterns and set them afloat on the Vale River, symbolizing guidance for travelers lost in the wilds. ### Government & Leadership - **[[Elric Thornbrook]]** – The town’s oldest resident and de facto leader, his family has lived in the Vale for generations. Some say he’s older than he should be. - **Sister Elira** – Keeper of the Shrine to Sylphara, she tends to the town’s spiritual needs but seems particularly uneasy about something lurking nearby. - Home of the town's peacekeepers, a group of well-trained guards who keep the roads and market safe. - Led by: Captain Hilda Brandson, a tough human woman with a history in the capital’s military, who runs a tight ship. > [!scratch] > Secret: The captain occasionally takes bribes from certain merchant groups to look the other way on "unofficial" dealings. ### Notable Locations - **[[The Restful Hoof Inn]]** - A quaint and popular Inn/Tavern that is a favorite among travelers. - **The Hollowbrook Mill** – A centuries-old grain mill that still runs perfectly despite no visible repairs in decades. - **The Vale Shrine** – A modest temple to Sylphara, Goddess of Nature and Life, though offerings to Nixzotl, the Dreamer have begun appearing. - **The Forgotten Ruins** – A buried stone structure in the Valewood, only partially unearthed. Scholars have tried to translate its markings, but the letters shift when observed too long.