The Incorporated City of Delve (Hope's End)

Hope's End is one of the three major cities on Folly's Refuge.

Although it is officially known as the Incorporated City of Delve, most people refer to the city as Hope’s End in memory of a heroic paladin who saved the mines several generations ago. Once a booming center for mining and refining metals, Hope’s End has had a run of bad luck that has driven away much of the population and impoverished the rest. Pollution runoff from mining has contaminated much of the city’s water supply with toxins, sickening the people and livestock and killing off crops. Shortly afterwards, the main shaft petered out and the city was forced to turn its efforts to veins of low-grade ores and less valuable metals. Rapid inflation and reduced wages have driven away those with the means to leave while, for those who remain, the lines between poverty, indentured servitude, and slavery have become increasingly blurred.

**A Tale of Hope**

Several generations ago (two or three depending on the age of the person you’re talking to) the main shaft of the mine ran into a massive underwater lake. Something in the dark didn’t approve. Most of the minors never made it back to the surface. The few who did had been driven mad with fear. Several attempts were made to investigate but none of the parties ever returned.

One day a nameless paladin came to the city, drawn by tales of the mystery of the mine and a desire to help. When she returned to the surface two days later, she told a tale of a dark creature dwelling in the black waters that lashed her body with tentacles while it sliced into her mind. She had defeated the creature, but her wounds were mortal. Before she died, she told her name to the clerics attending her. It was Hope.

Once the mines were found to be safe, the city council erected a gilded steel statue to Hope in the town square. Today, only the rusty and pitted core remains.

**The Water Crisis and the Death of the Mine**

Even before the crisis in the mines, it was discovered that run off from the mines had begun to contaminate the water supply. While the council debated what to do, mine crews reached the effective end of the main shaft. In an attempt to maintain production and the prosperity of the city, the council authorized new mines out in the surrounding countryside. This slowed the city’s decline and preserved the remaining water supply but at the cost of poisoning the water sources the city relied on for agriculture. In an attempt to manage the disaster, the city created a department of water management under the authority of the mayor.

**The City Today**

Hope’s End is a place of poverty and desperation. Food is scarce and expensive, and water is heavily rationed. Agricultural imports, water rationing, and mining operations are all tightly controlled by Mayor Everett. Those convicted of crimes are sentenced to work in the mines as slaves while debtors are forced to work off what the owe as indentured servants. Those who remain free live mostly in various states of poverty and desperation.

**The Death of Hope's End**

Shortly after the arrival of the Leviathan crew, there was a riot among the mayor's lackeys over a quantity of gold. In the ensuing chaos, most of the guards killed each other and the hold eventually fell into the hands of the local citizens. Planning to use the gold to buy citizenship, the last remnants of Hope's End abandoned the city and began the dangerous journey to Zander's Run, led by Vandrith and aided by the crew of the Leviathan.

**Hunger and Thirst**

**Close Call at the Canyon**

**Safe at Last**