Hillsbrier

## Hillsbrier: Everybody's Stop on the Grand Ride

Hillsbrier is a village in the southern Dragon Coast, and usual day's-ride waypoint between Reddansyr to the west and Westgate (ironically, to the east). A service-oriented town on that "**Grand Ride****,**" the official name of the trade highway anchored by coastal Westgate, Hillsbrier is a literal bedroom community that specializes in overnight stays, including protected wagon parking for the steady stream of merchants passing through.

Flirting with small-town status, there's enough regular traffic that Hillsbrier feeds on a daily basis that they've developed an extensive agricultural and support community that has since led to the area become a self-sustaining community.

### Security and defense

In the shadow of Westgate, the village traditionally maintained a small militia with a few professional soldiers as the core marshals for the area. While the Hillsbrier Marshals are still the first to keep the peace against minor criminal or monstrous disturbances, Cormyr has annexed the city and now maintains an extensive garrison in the city. Petty crime, which was low, has since disappeared.

### The Cormyrean Occupation

Having the Purple Dragons nearby isn't terrible – they're a well-disciplined army – but the annexation itself was unwelcome, as are the additional taxes levied by the Cormyr crown. Balancing that out, to some extent, is that Cormyr's Purple Dragon garrison locally sources as much of their as they possibly can, giving a steady stream of fair-paying work to local craftsmen and farmers.

The annexation has been exciting in a "bad" way. As of 1489, most of the Grand Ride itself serves as the dividing line for territory claimed by Cormyr (to the north) and Sembia (to the south). That makes it a skirmish line and there are regular skirmishes along that line as the kingdoms compete to control the lucrative trade routes through the area.

Sembia considers Hillsbrier a local prize, but they're not willing to burn it down to capture it. That's small consolation as sometimes travelers have been caught between two armies staring each other down. That does terrible things to business.

## Demographics

 **Races**
 Demonym
 **Local Services**
 **Religions**

## Travel Logistics

Hillsbrier made their regional mark as a travel town, and as those go, it's well appointed. With extensive local services, it is a welcome bit of civilization.

* Eastbound: **Westgate** is about 60 miles overland, about 50 miles as the dragon flies. That might be a day's ride for couriers or light cavalry, but that averages 2 day's ride for most travelers, especially the merchant crowd hauling cargo.
	+ The usual merchant rest stop on the way to Westgate is **Thunn's Garden**, about 30 miles' ride, and the limit for more modest mounts. Thunn's Garden is a loyal suzerain of Westgate and is a military outpost that keeps both Cormyr and Sembia honest around its borders.
* Westbound: **Reddansyr** is about 55 miles overland and one of the regional towns large enough to make most maps. It's about two days for most merchants though lighter travelers can make it in a day over the mostly flagstone-paved and well-maintained road.
	+ The usual merchant rest stop on the way to Reddansyr is **Morningmyst**. At 25 miles, that's well within the comfort of even heavily-burdened traffic. The real burden, as of 1489, is that the stretch passes between possession of Cormyr and Sembia several times, and the town of Morningmyst itself has changed hands several times. Both sides usually take care to let merchant traffic pass unscathed, but in a war zone, accidents happen...