Farview
The fortified coastal village of Farview sits on the western edge of the Isle of Moray. Settled by Northlanders sworn to Jarl Rault, it’s primarily a shipbuilding village, supplied with lumber from the nearby Shannyth Forest. The darkening of the nearby moonwell has increased the influence of the Shadowfell on the land, and the village suffers nightly assault by shadows.
Population
Normally around 500, but currently less than 200. The population are Northlander humans with a few dwarves. The villagers have sunk into despair as the influence of Shadow has overwhelmed their once hearty spirits.
Important Features
Many of the buildings that once stood in Farview have collapsed or crumbled into unusable ruin, leaving a small nucleus of habitation at the core of the village. Only the strongest and best-fortified buildings have survived the malaise.
The murky, ice-cold waters of the bay have grown dark and polluted, yielding little in the way of fish. Folk disappear into the waters from time to time, never to return.
Government
Thane Vasta rules Farview in Jarl Rault’s name. She has near total authority over the village, constrained only by Northlander tradition and the support of her huskarls.
Defenses
Farview squats inside a palisade atop an earthen embankment. The timbers aren’t well-maintained, and they’re marked by scrabbling claws and wild sword cuts and smeared with old bloodstains. Two gates pierce the defenses: one facing the fields to the east, the other along the treacherous shifting rocks of the coast along the southwest.
The village once maintained a strong military force to fend off the Black Blood Tribe, but many have died fighting the shadow creatures. Bodies lay where they have fallen, sometimes days old.
Temples
Farview doesn’t have any temples. It does have a shrine to Tempus in Bloody Hand Hall and a shrine to Valkur by the docks. Half-a-day’s travel west, among the cliffs, stands an ancient shrine to the Earthmother, though the only one in town who knows about it is Seren the Mad.
Inns and Taverns
None. Any visitors to the village stay with family or at Bloody Hand Hall.
Notable Landmarks
Bloody Hand Hall. Named for the war god Tempus, Bloody Hand Hall is the primary residence of most of the surviving folk in Farview. It’s a long, single-story mead hall with a vaulted ceiling that seems to sag lower each day. It’s dark and oppressive inside the hall at all times, regardless of how many candles are lit. Scores of folk huddle by the central fire trench, watching newcomers with vacant, listless eyes.
Brud’s Smithy. Named for its proprietor, who can be heard hammering out iron goods at all hours of the day and night, though no one seems to go in or out of the smithy.
Farview Docks. The docks of Farview once served half-a-dozen longships, but they’re a dismal, weathered place now, filled with laconic folk who sit around fishing in the obviously polluted water and never catch anything. One longship lies half sunk at the docks, while another one sits moldering in drydock, with a single worker obsessively scraping it clean of barnacles that seem to regrow every morn.
Tal’s Drop. On the north side of the village stands a crooked building called Tal’s Drop, so named for the goddess Talona, mistress of poisons and disease. The apothecary, Old Hemlock, lives here, boarded up and determined to wait out the rising tide of shadow.
Village Green. A large village square stands just to the east of Bloody Hand Hall: an ideal space in better times for a market and for duels of honor. Seren the Mad lurks here, begging for scraps, while suffering terrible delusions.