White Beach

City on the north coast, mentioned as a shipping trade destination from Far Haven.

The last known location of Bez Drock according to Ronshadow

The city takes its name from the long white sandy beach along which it stretches, once a favourite summer haven for the Nomads of the North. The city is based around a small river which provides sufficient arable land to enable self sufficiency, particularly when supplemented by fishing. There used to be active trade and strong ties with Sallahan to the North, but since dark times fell upon that town White Beach has cut all ties.

It is believed that White Beach was originally an Elven Settlement, but when the Elves departed an Ariel Clan settled here and put down roots, they were joined by Human migrants from Far Haven and the city became the most Northern enclave of the Universal religion.

## Major Personages

### Baron Mosgrove

(Male Ariel): Bronze-winged Ariel of White Beach, he has an affinity with young drakes. He will often send patrols to the Drake Cliffs to the West, in the hope of catching the poachers known to operate there.

### Father Larsop

(Male Human): Bishop of Universal, head of the Universal Church in White Beach (known as the Sands of God), has recently been agitating for the City to investigate what has happened in Sallahan.

### Wasstron

(Female Ariel): Run the ‘Dunes’ the largest and most lavish inn at **White Beach**. Has become the de-facto head of the Innkeepers Guild.

### Valtair

(Male Human): Run the only city marketplace, ‘The White Beach Pierside’, and is the unofficial city chancellor.

### Cheron Axehead

(Male Giant): Relatively newly appointed Priest of Shanah (3 years ago), holds congregation at the ‘Sands of War’ temple. Supports Larsop in his efforts to move against Sallahan.

Party met him around Day 97  when he appeared to have just become Clearsighted, but was smart enough to start putting things together. He didn't know that Bez Drock was in town but now knows that Bez Drock is now First Sword, and that Beldame is therefore dead. He has been in communication with Saratak, and had some instructions to follow – many of which seemed ludicrous/arbitrary at the time, some of which still do. (That's Saratak for you!). He had been told to inform Saratak when the house was attacked – which he has done – though Saratak had expected the house to have been defended by 10-13 people (presumably us!).

### Wyldwood party 'met' at Onwen's Villa

See: Days 87-94 (10-17 May) and Quercuis' private conversation

#### Uil Treesoar

A rather portly Ariel. Despite being obviously unfit, [he] seems remarkably comfortable at being left in the company of the party, he has a Wyldwood symbol hanging from his neck and as he faces the party Querius and Twoo are convinced they see a brief flickering image of a large Bear looming over him.

He introduced himself as: "a humble servant of Wyldwood, as you are obviously aware things have gone somewhat pear shaped around here and I volunteered to tidy up some of the loose ends.”

He carried out thet funeral rites on the [Onwen's] dead body. From the little that Quercius knows, the ceremony being carried out – in a somewhat condensed form – is normally reserved for the highest echelons of the church. At the end of the ceremony, the small group leaves the small cellar, Uil turns round and casts a spell and the small cellar is filled with flame.

The party takes Uil's 'explanations' with a large pinch of salt: As Francis put it:

`Church leadership? Would you trust the fate of the world to a bunch of comedians like this?`

`*" **Ever since the Wild left, the church has been planning for its return**, except the idiotic Elves decided to blend in a spell of forgetfulness when they opted to leave…. **So nearly all of our preparations went on hold or were lost**.*`

`"Uil: “Also, **what we hadn’t appreciated up till now** was that Soratan, when he led the Wild through the void had **obviously planned for a return at some point**. This dwarf you called Vinmira would seem to be a representative of **a small and very secretive cult** that was **obviously established** to support Soratans return. How that all worked given the Elven blending in of the forgetfulness effect we have just started trying to determine.”`

`Port fuddled foresight, or just a liar unaccustomed to having his lies challenged?`

`A small and secretive cult, or a large and obvious one. **The church was not looking.**`

He tried to persuade Quercuis that the White Tree was not at Far Haven, , Q's view being that this was "*bollocks*".

#### Bloodtooth

A large armoured Maratasen, bearing a longsword. He has no tongue.

### Other people met here

#### Feathertouch

Female Ariel: Head of security at the Pierside. Dealth with us to remove the traps from the underfloor compartment in Onwen's villa.

#### Jiriff

A Dwarven priest of Shanah who examined the magical traps for us at Onwen's villa.

#### Phinon

The bard from the Halls of Song who dealt with Quercuis and Joshua - speaking to the tree at Onwens villa and performing a Legend Lore on the remains of the mithril symbol.

Brutally tortured and murdered sometime after the party met him on Day 103.

'The bard is extremely good company, obviously knowledgeable about a broad range of subjects. The discussion is wide ranging and yet despite that, when it is time to leave, Joshua realises he hasn’t actually learnt anything of value. Also, trying to ‘read’ Phinon is extremely difficult, he is extremely expressive in his speech but seems to have no ‘tells’ that indicate if he is lying, exaggerating or evading.'

## City Areas/Locations

### The Citadel

A small manor house, plus the city courts and administration buildings. The Citadel also has a small pierside where the small city navy is berthed.

### ‘The White Beach Pierside’

The west side of the river has the civilian port and customs offices. The right side has the only real city market – ‘The White Beach Pierside’.

### The Dunes

This region is named after the huge Inn of the same name, the area has wide open avenues and low squat housing, much of which is for rent. Visiting nomads will often stay in this area, and the Dunes Inn is known to give Nomads a discount.

The “Dunes” pricing runs from 4sp ppn for a shared basic room up to 1gp ppn for a deluxe suite.

### Fishers Quarter

As its name suggests, many of the residents in this area operate the cities fishing fleet. Most of the small boats are anchored just off the beach, or even simply pulled up onto the sands. The quarter is tightly packed with housing, and has a slightly rough reputation.

Seaview Tavern’ in the Fishers quarter near the Hall of Songs, a reputable place and reasonably priced, expect to pay 2sp ppn for a shared room, excluding food.

### The Barrens

The one area of the city that does not have even one well, as a result only the very poor live in this area.

### Halls Of Song

Renowned bardic college, specialising in the entertainment aspects of Bardic skills as opposed to bardic lore. Quite a few potential speakers from the Clans pass through this college so as to learn basic skills of the trade.

*"The “Halls” is actually in the singular, a large central hall, with multiple balconied tiers looking down onto a large performance stage, currently vacant. Within the grounds there are multiple small building, each obviously acting as a classroom and from which can be heard singing, narration, instrument playing etc. One building, near the entrance to the performance hall is signposted Enquiries and Administration, and so Joshua heads there."*

### Diamond Square

Up to a few years ago there used to be a small diamond mine just outside the city, and all of the trade in the mined stones passed through this area. When the mine became worked out, the small market here closed, leaving a large square surrounded by palatial properties.

#### Diamond Fort

The villa rented by formerly Onwen and Bez Drock, and latterly occupied by the party. Contains a near sentient oak tree ("Oak") that will become the centre of a new shrine to Wyldwood. Expected by Phinon to replace an existing Wyldwood shrine that will fall.

"Not so much a house as a very large villa, square layout, with each side being around 400’ in length. Checking out the area first, the party notes that there are two smaller entrances on to the alleys behind the villa, plus a large set of double doors that open on to the main street. There are no exterior windows. The main doors appear to have no locks or keyholes but do have a pentagonal inlay that matches the ‘key’ that you were given.

Near the villa are a number of similarly grand properties, mostly designed along the same lines. The street is quiet, although there is an ornate carriage parked outside a villa entrance a few hundred yards down the street."

The villa is built as an open square, with a large central garden, dominated by an Oak tree that seems somewhat out of place this far North, there is a covered path around the perimeter of the garden and each of the villas rooms have doors onto this path. The large entranceway has a small stabling area on the left, and the human takes the parties horses into that area.

The party searched the villa in Zoom 2021-03-25 21:00. The oak tree in the grounds appears to be a Druid's folly – an oak tree where there shouldn't be one.

### The Green

A large area of what are effectively allotments, that along with the farms outside the city provide a wide variety of foodstuffs for the city.

### Southside

Largely occupied by farmers who maintain smallholdings outside the city, during summer when there is no wind, the stink of animals here can get extremely oppressive.

### Sands of God

A large church of Universal, that welcomes any and all to worship. Compared to many Universal temples, this one has a more militant feel than normal.

### Sands of War

A small church of Shanah, Cherson Axehead the recent High Priest appointment has been very successful in growing the congregation.

### Trade Quarter

This area holds all of the artisans and city craftsmen.

"Travellers Rest” in the trade quarter near the main gate, most often used by the merchant caravans and escort guards, again reputable, expect to pay 2sp 10cp ppn for a shared room, excluding food.

## Drake Cliffs

Mentioned as being to the West of White Beach, abd being patrolled to prevent/catch poachers.

Also referenced in Legend 35 - The Cynod Bird.

1. ↑ Day 65 - Far Haven - Tripwires
2. ↑ Zoom 2021-03-25 21:00
3. ↑ Email 20201-02-06 14:54
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Day 101 - Investigations & Explorations
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Day 103 - Open the box or take the money
6. ↑ Email2021-05-18 10:58
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Day 66 – Far Haven – Planning A Beach Holiday
8. ↑ Days 87-94 (10-17 May)