Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #269

Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #269 

September 27th, 2023 

• Number: 269 

• Name:  Deep Dive on a Site of Interest: The Sinking Lands of the Narrows – Part 3 

• Location: Central Narrows southwest of the City-State of Carasta 

• Population (approx.): 107 (Eulid’s Rest and surrounds) 

• Brief: Despite their isolated location and inhospitable reactions to outsiders, individuals of the County of the Setting Sun, for various usually business-related reasons, continue to travel beyond the borders of their lands. For those travelling on foot, the most direct way to reach the most prosperous lands, being the City-State of Carasta, is to travel northeast through the center of the Narrows. But the slowing changing nature of the terrain, notably the subsidence of parts of the Sinking Land, causes the main trail to be frequently blocked or rerouted around a previously usable stretch of land. The road now zigzags like a line of stitches about the panels of a quilt between the small settlements like Eulid’s Rest that dot the path separated by a day or two of travel. The lure of the far coast brings all manner of groups attempting the crossing. 

• Grior Moonwind, 35, male Leonin (a tall humanoid with lionlike features) is a vocalist for the Spinal Chords, a troupe of singers traveling from inn to inn singing for supper. Grior is tall and wide and has a brown and golden mane. His brown eyes crinkle up when someone makes him laugh. He favors fancy clothing and the colors brown and yellow. Grior is a pacifist but knows unarmed strikes in case an inn patron gets rowdy.  

• Grior is very talented; the rest of the group isn't. He isn't sure what to do about that, as the group has been together for years, and they are all his friends. He started singing in the local Church of Light and then literally sang for his supper when he couldn't pay his bar tab. He was an instant hit and then hired his friends to accompany him. Grior wants to go to a bigger town or city, hence they are on the road to the City-State of Carasta after a successful gig at Tutra’s Manor (#268) with a recommendation in hand, to reach more people but doesn't want to leave his family. 

• Grior has a girlfriend, Corrette, 27, a female Human who he adores. He is not interested in marriage because he wants to be free to roam towns with the troupe. His family, who live in a house just outside of Sundown, a town in the County of the Setting Sun (#128), comprises his parents, Kegnor, 60, Leonin and Soce, 55, Leonin. He also has one brother, Zaros, 40, Leonin, who is a soldier. Zaros lives two blocks from his parents in a run-down home. 

• Geography: The trail across the Narrows begins at Tutra’s Manor (#268) and zigzags northeast paralleling the Taop Hills. After about 25 miles, as the bird flies, but perhaps over 30 on the ground, a traveler arrives at Eulid’s Rest (location 2 see below). This small settlement is built around a so far never-ending natural spring. The legend of Eulid’s Rest, as learned by Grior from the locals, is that Eulid was a large person (perhaps Giantish or Trollish) stomping his way across the Narrows. One great thud from his feet caused the ground to split asunder, water erupting from underground almost drowning poor Eulid. Soaked, he spread his huge and heavy clothes on the ground about the spring to dry. This took so long, as he was large, the fabric thick and the sun sparse, that the clothes left dark patches on the ground that became the foundations of the first buildings of Eulid’s Rest. 

• The Inn, currently owned and run by the Travellers Guild of Carasta, and other buildings, a shop, a tinker and six residences of the settlement form an irregular circle about the spring. A small temple to Vai sits next to the spring and visitors are encouraged to donate to the God to keep the water pure and flowing.