Description of Lindendale (CBGH)

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Lindendale is a small community, a town of halflings that could exist in almost any campaign world. It is presented here for two reasons: (1) it provides a look at a typical halfling village, with examples of households and the various trades and skills represented there, and (2) it can be used as a home base for launching an all-halfling campaign, as it can easily be dropped into any ongoing campaign.
The village is mapped on page 123. It lies in a sheltered valley on the south side of a long, forested ridge. About a mile to the south of the map, a major road runs from east to west. A small dirt track leads from this highway to the village.
A placid stream, the Lindenbrook, winds along the base of the ridge. While no more than three or four feet deep, the creek's silty bottom makes fording difficult.
==1. Inn of the Brass Tankard==
This homey place is the first building a visiter sees upon approaching Lindendale. It is a two-story structure of whitewashed wood with brown shutters and a round, oversized door. The common room is large enough for humans but still cozy to halflings. The guest rooms come in two sizes, for Big Folk (upper level) or small folk (lower level), with appropriately-sized furniture in each.
The innkeeper, Gwiston Shortwick, lives here with his wife Lucretia, their four daughters, and Lucretia's elderly mother; the family quarters are in a burrow at the south end of the inn. Several other halflings work here as stablehands and waitresses, but they live in the village with their families.
==2. Mill and Bakery==
Dottery Dale is a bawdy halfling wench who runs the village mill and also bakes fabulous bread and cakes. She has two brothers and a sister who live here as well, each of them married with several children—but the unmarried Dottery is unquestioned head of the household.
The Millbridge is attached to the great wooden building and is the only dry means of crossing the Lindenbrook for more than a mile in either direction.
==3. Cheese Factory==
Hofflik Kaese is the master cheesemaker here. He takes all the milk that the local dairies can provide and turns it into a sharp, white cheese (called "Lindenbrook") that is highly prized within the local area and beyond. It is the village's major export.
Hofflik, a bachelor, lives in a small set of rooms beside his factory. Two small compartments within the shop itself provide quarters for the one to four full-time apprentices (both male and female) he's likely to have working with him at any one time.
==4. Dairies==
These three prosperous concerns each own a dozen or more cows and graze them in these distinct pastures. The animals are sheltered in neat, low-ceilinged barns. Each herd includes a half-dozen calves; a great bull occupies his own pen on the Kalliwart farm north of the stream.
The clans that run these dairies are friendly rivals, striving to outdo each other in milk production—most of which is bartered or sold to the cheese factory.
4a. Kalliwart Farm, the largest of the three, is managed by Glenvius and Blythi Kalliwart, who recently celebrated a complete century of marriage. Ten children and their spouses, twenty-two grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren make up the rest of the household. The family is known for its slightly rambunctious youngsters—they are charismatic and popular, but prone to be troublemakers. The farm boasts twenty-two milk cows and the village's only bull.
4b. Bandawax Farm, with its fifteen cows, is tended by a smaller clan with a reputation for thrift, even tightfistedness. Gammer Bandawax is a venerable matriarch who keeps tight control over the family purse strings. Her five daughters and their husbands, together with fourteen grandchildren, live in a sprawling, multi-roomed burrow.
4c. Lily Hectare, the third farm, is where the Jallisall family tends a herd of twelve cows. A trio of brothers, all widowers, head the family, sharing the house with a dozen descendants. The farm is most noted for the gorgeous flowerbeds that surround not only the house but the barn and pasture as well.
==5. Trading Stump==
The arched bridge descends from the mill into a small grove of towering oaks. Among them is centered the hut of Filbert the Trader. Before his ramshackle dwelling is a flat stump, more than four feet in girth, where a tree struck by lightning was cut down. Here, in the shade of the arching branches, the wily halfling merchant sits and barters with his many customers.
Filbert Oldfur is a well-traveled halfling, a former adventurer and a famous character in the village. His home sprawls through several underground tunnels around his shop, and he shares his burrow with seven nieces and nephews, and a vivacious "housekeeper" named Milliciny. This attractive halfling lass returned to the village with Filbert following one of his travels and has been the source of considerable gossip and raised eyebrows among the good citizens of Lindendale.
Filbert maintains a regular stock of the village's major products, including Lindenbrook cheese, Amsterbock ale, and Daleside red wine. He also offers samples of Dwilcath Batel's woodcarvings, including well-turned cups and bowls.
The trader also keeps a number of goods of human, dwarven, and elven make in stock, including metal pots, pans, utensils, tools, arrowheads, and knives; salt, spices, tobacco; wines, ales, and cheeses from surrounding villages; and an extensive collection of fabrics, including wool, cotton, and even bolts of bright silk.
==6. Mayor's Mansion==
This large burrow belongs to Fairweather Montajay, Lindendale's esteemed mayor. An adventurer in her youth, she lived for ten years in a large city not too far away. A first-class Burglar, she eventually rose to become head of the local Thieves' Guild before retiring and returning to her home town. Her clan is numerous, including her husband Ashworthy (whom she met in the city and brought back to Lindendale), five children and their spouses, and fifteen grandchildren.
==7. Sheriff Greenspan's Burrow==
The primary force for law and order in Lindendale is this stocky warrior with graying hair and grizzled sideburns. He and his wife live in this comfortable burrow, together with their six children, two daughters-in-law, and their first grandchild (who is perhaps a trifle spoiled).
The sheriff is a calm fellow who enjoys the comforts of life, slow to respond in an emergency but level-headed and dependable in a crisis. His chief secret in keeping the peace is to always allow everybody to have his or her say before passing judgment. Just downhill from the family home he and his sons have constructed a small, partially buried shed. He uses this for storage, but it can be securely barred on the outside if it's necessary to lock someone up.
==8. Carissa Candlemaker==
The elderly Carissa is a widow famed for her stubborn determination and unwillingness to compromise. She is kind-hearted but cranky, unusually crotchety for a halfling. She lives her with two sisters (also widowed) and a dozen children and grandchildren. The burrow is surrounded by clover, as the family maintains a row of beehives from which they harvest honey and wax. They barter with the honey and use the wax to make fine candles which are prized throughout the village.
==9. Benden Sire, Locksmith==
This halfling is something of a hermit. He is also the wealthiest halfling in Lindendale, having made a fortune designing the locks to protect an emperor's hoard that foiled the attempts by heads of three thieves' guilds to pick them. His burrow is extensive and mostly underground, with stout shutters over the windows and an iron-barred door of heavy planks. Benden lives here alone, never having married and being totally absorbed in the pursuit of his art; he spends almost all his time working on his dream of creating a lock that cannot be picked. To test his creations, he has amassed the finest collection of lockpicks for many miles around.
==10. Amster's Brewery==
This hardworking family of seven brews the dark ale called Amsterbock here. The business was started by a famous ancestor, Alberti Amster; today, his granddaughter Jess carries on the family tradition, added by several cousins. This beverage is one of Lindendale's most popular products, allowing Jess and her cousins to live quite comfortably, although rumor has it that she has succumbed to the adventuring bug and may soon head out into the world to seek her fortune.
==11. Woodcarver's shop==
Dwilcath Batel is the premier woodcarver of Lindendale, living in this burrow near the fringe of forest above the town. He is a benign patriarch, still skilled with his knife, though much of the heavier work (woodcutting and carpentry) is now done by his four sons. They are all married, and three grandchildren live here, with the fourth on the way.
==12. Vintners==
Pally and Dorith Quettory are a cheerfully robust couple, middle-aged and childless, who have devoted their energies to the sweeping vineyards which cover the hillside below their front door. Their primary vintage is called Daleside Red, though they make a rarer Pale version that is also highly prized.
==13. The Fletchery==
This new burrow is inhabited by Wally and Sass Talbot, a young couple who only recently married and got a home of their own; they are now expecting their first child. Comfortable if not ostentatious, it is crowded with arrows finished and unfinished (Wally's handiwork) and Sass's latest bow. Sass only makes bows to order, carefully crafting each one for the person who commissioned it; so well made is her handiwork that the original owner receives a +1 bonus to his or her chance to hit when using it.
==14. Farms==
These nine burrows range from modest to capacious and are the home to the families of farmers who tend the fields surrounding Lindendale: the Baldorfs, Byttnis, Dudleys, Heathertoes, Newters, Ostgoods, Trills, Tucks, and Weatherbees.