The Formanthyr Hotel

The Town of Wellington Cross

Wellington Cross is a drearily ordinary town on a crossroads between Atur and Vedykar (Central Karrnath; North of the Nightwood and south of the Ashen Spires). In reality, it can be moved anywhere in Eberron with minimal changes.

The Homesteads

Wellington cross has around 10 family houses sprinkled about the edges of town. Each house is a modest one story affair, and have dirt floors and huge hearths. The families who live in them are generally the cheerless norm of Karrnath, ever strong in the face of the recent plagues and war.

DM's Note: No family will allow the PCs inside willingly. They are a proud people, so make your PCs roll the intimidate checks if they want to barge their way in. Otherwise, the answer is a non-confrontational but polite "No."

The MacDegral General Store

A normal general store. It is supplied with all manner of sundries. Jerald MacDegral is your average storekeeper. In my games, the people of Karrnath reflect a Western Russian way of life, so Jerald is a big man with brown hair and blue eyes. His voice is deep and comforting, but he bargains as if he spent his life in Sharn.

DM's Note: Keep track of what the PCs buy here. It'll be important later.

The Formanthyr Hotel

Exterior

The Formanthyr Hotel was once a prosperous inn. It has begun to slip into ruin as people have stopped using one of the roads through the area (Ostensibly because a few towns to the north were wiped out by plague and famine during the war). It is a two story building, painted a seafoam green that is fading into a stately gray. Attached is a small stable that is currently empty.

Interior

The common room is 40' by 40', with a large fireplace smudged black with ash and a bar along the opposite wall from the front door. Behind the bar are shelves (currently mostly empty) of liquor, and a door into the kitchen. The bar (and the inn) is manned by Kevil Mirdlana, an older man with wispy white hair on his head, and a patchy white beard. He is gruff but friendly, and does not overcharge PCs for a stay, (2g per room, DC 20 Diplomacy brings him down to 1g 50c per room). There are four rooms(each 10' by 20') upstairs. The common room floor is scattered about with tables and chairs. The tables have tattered and soiled green and white checkerboard tablecloths on them, and all of the chairs are rickety and creak when sat in.

Sweet Dreams at the Formanthyr Hotel

Arrival

It's a typical fall day in Karrnath. Rain falls fitfully from a gloomy sky. The wind whips through the sparse trees and over the soggy ground. In the afternoon, the PCs notice (Spot DC 10) a small hamlet up ahead. Smoke rises from the chimneys of several houses and from a larger, faded green building in the center of town. As the PCs get closer to the town, the clouds thicken as the sky darkens, and fat, cold raindrops start to fall.

The Common Room of the Hotel

Eventually the PCs will wander into the Hotel. Let them wander about town if they want. Try to drive home the sense of an ordinary small town that has seen better days. However, while they're wandering around, mention that the wind is dying down, and the raindrops keep falling faster and harder. When the PCs enter the hotel, their senses are assaulted: the flickering fire sends deep shadows and orange lights spinning across the room, meshing eerily with the torches on the walls; the smell of spiced potatoes and roast beef are laced with a musty smell of old beer and old wood; they hear a murmuring from the few patrons scattered amongst the common room. The people here are all locals, gruff and introverted. They'll grudgingly talk to PCs, but they're suspicious of strangers. A PC that buys a round for the house can get them to talk a little more, but they have little to say beyond the condition of their fields and how things aren't like the good old days.