Farming the Stoutswale
Mist hangs over Stoutswale’s fields as cattle graze behind low stone walls and grain carts rumble towards Sarnath. This wet, fertile country feeds the city and much of the valley, with army patrols keeping its main roads safer than most in Tidefall. The war at Globurn is drawing soldiers and supplies south, while muddy tracks beyond the guarded farms lead to old lakeside settlements, a chapel claimed by Storm worshippers, and tar fields where bodies surface through the pitch.
Haywark Lees
Tall hop poles, great stone barns and golden wheat fields mark the three old holdings of Haywark Lees, still named for their founding families. These fields now supply Sarnath’s grain and the Southern Provinces’ only cultivated hops, with Haywark’s great windmill rising above the wheat and drawing frequent lightning strikes.
With so much of Sarnath’s food coming from these fields, the Black Keep closely watches its share of the land. Soldiers inspect wagon loads and question strangers as they pass through the holdings, while grain is stored under guard at Corendor Tower, whose beacon can be seen across the valley.
Attenhal Farm
South of Eftwade, herds of red Stoutspatch oxen graze across the Attenhal pastures, raised for the family’s famous butchers in Sarnath. Thick stone walls divide the sprawling holding, where farmhands and tenant farmers work under Bonel Ratfern, a steward who expects every beast counted and every worker in their place.
His own son used to slip away from those duties to meet someone from Eftwade, but neither has been seen for some time. Saying he fears for the boy, Bonel asks travellers to find out what happened and bring any news back to him.
Tarwan Field
Towards the Stoutspire foothills, pasture gives way to black tar, its hardened crust breaking beneath unwary feet. Bodies slowly surface through the bubbling pitch, leaving bones scattered among broken weapons, buckles and snapped chains.
Scavengers work the edges, stripping jewellery from swollen fingers and breaking teeth for gold. People from the surrounding farms and Sarnath itself have died here, though letters and possessions among their remains still offer glimpses of their lives. Recovering those traces means venturing across unstable ground to pick through whatever the scavengers have left behind.
Moorcross Fork
Farm carts, drovers and military wagons converge at Moorcross, where the roads from Eftwade and Gloomwode meet the route to Globurn. The old Breadknife coaching inn has become an army turnpike, crowded with stacked supplies, tethered animals and soldiers shouting traffic through the mud.
As the deadlock at Globurn drags on, troops inspect carts, commandeer supplies and check travellers for outstanding bounties. Everyone passing through must also pay a toll, and those unable to pay can lose their goods or be arrested. Farmers and traders depend on these guarded roads to reach their markets, but the army makes that journey costly.
Eftwade and Its Lake
Older than Sarnath, Eftwade stands among reeds and fishing boats, its timber houses raised above the lake mud. Its people have kept their old beliefs through generations of rulers, including the story of two abandoned children raised by Ol’ Eftie, the great creature beneath the water. When the village was starving, the twins rode ashore on its back, drawing shoals of fish onto the docks.
The fisherfolk still honour their strange protector, though they know how dangerous the lake can be. Huge eels and other creatures rise from its depths to attack swimmers and boats, and washed-up carcasses are taken as warnings. With catches now being poisoned and people disappearing along the shore, Storm worshippers threaten the waters Eftwade depends on to survive.
The Wiser Eel
A gigantic eel’s blackened skeleton lies in the brazier at the centre of Eftwade’s inn, said to have survived from an age when the lake burned with fire. Fisherfolk and passing travellers gather around those bones to drink, trade news and argue over the village’s troubles.
The cult has already taken and sacrificed the son of innkeepers Frynnon and Gloma Greymere, leaving Frynnon bitter and furious. Determined to have their leader killed, he watches the worshippers’ movements and gathers what he can about the people responsible. Anyone willing to act will find him ready to share what he knows and pay for revenge.
Fulgury Chapel
Just outside Eftwade, Storm worshippers have taken over an old shrine of Mercy, hanging blue prayer cloths above its bloodstained altar. The stolen Siron Bell, once part of the village’s lake traditions, now hangs inside. Drifters camp against the walls, and soldiers from the siege join the gatherings out of fear, boredom and curiosity.
Their leader, Orla, believes the Storm calls to her and dreams of becoming the bride of Kiamat. Determined to break Eftwade’s old faith and turn its people towards the Storm, she demands human offerings for her rituals and will kill even fellow worshippers who challenge her.
Harfine Attefir escaped an attempt to sacrifice her after being taken while swimming, relying on combat skills taught by Sadel Eftwader, a former Sarnath soldier. Having seen what the cult does to its captives, she and her teacher want the worshippers driven out before more villagers are taken.
Toadview
At Toadview, Finchen Carpbreeches fishes, teaches visitors and keeps a golden scale from the Wethel Serpent among his treasures. His journal recalls battles with lisks in Fellmarch, riddling encounters with ghosts in the Screaming Wastes, and dives into the sunken temples of the Bay of Velor.
Though nobody knows how much of it happened, the old fisherman is respected in Eftwade and still receives visitors who interest him, teaching them to fish from his lakeside home.