The Smugglers
Ebstone’s mines have closed and its trade is failing, but cargo still washes onto the coast. There is money in getting it inland through routes and contacts the village rarely discusses openly.
The Smugglers’ Circle
Quiet introductions and favours keep the Smugglers’ Circle moving wreck cargo, stolen goods and illegal applejack brandy through a network reaching far beyond Ebstone. Some villagers turn a blind eye; others depend on the trade to survive. Having lost much of their protection in Sarnath, the Circle’s members are careful about whom they trust and willing to pay for help they can rely on.
The Vaultire Bandits
Campfires burn at Vaultire’s entrance, and stolen cargo fills its abandoned workings. Garron the Ox rules the gang by fear, sending followers to raid coastal roads where they know the smugglers’ routes and what they carry. Traders want their missing goods recovered, but Garron’s bandits intend to keep both the mine and the stockpile growing inside it.
Smugglers Hold
Merchant and guild marks cover the crates still crowding this long stone gallery, once used to store cargo and move it unseen. They show how far the trade reached before tunnel spiders took over the storehouse. Thick webs now stretch between the supports, making the old routes difficult to use and leaving goods stranded where the smugglers left them.
The Caves & Underways
Beneath the black cliffs near Stormpoint, waves batter the collapsed seaward wall of an old smugglers’ shelter. Coloured lightning shines through its openings onto bottles, scavenged belongings and frantic writing scratched into the stone.
Deeper beneath the peninsula, underground rivers once carried cargo unseen through blackstone channels lined with old mooring rings and cut steps. Nobody agrees who first worked them: some credit the Dothloden, others the Sond Elves. The smugglers used only part of the network, and warm vapour, claw marks and shed scales show that other inhabitants still move through its deeper passages.