Legend to the Red Larch Map
1. Allfaiths Shrine
[ +- ] Allfaiths Shrine
On the west side of the Long Road, just south of the inn’s stable yard, stands what looks like a grand stone mansion. Two wide wooden doors painted with the symbols of many gods stand open day and night. Inside is a plain chapel with a stone altar.
The Allfaiths Shrine is a wayside shrine used by many faiths and owned by none. Priests shuttle out from Waterdeep in pairs for month-long stays. Each pairing includes priests of two different faiths arranged by Waterdhavian temples. The most frequent combinations are Sune and Selune, Tymora and Lathander, and Tempus and Oghma. The visiting priests dwell in two simple stone rooms at the back of the temple. They bring their own vestments and holy items and take them away again when their duties end.
Right now, Imdarr Relvaunder (male Damaran human), a follower of Tempus, and Lymmura Auldarhk (female Tethyrian human), a devotee of Sune, are serving at the shrine. Imdarr is a stern man who is keenly interested in news and rumors and visitors. He’s also an ally of the Order of the Gauntlet, occasionally passing messages and sending reports on local events to the order.
Lymmura is a sympathetic ear and guide to all. She has been coming to the shrine for decades, has officiated at the marriages of many couples, and is widely loved and trusted in Red Larch.
2. The Swinging Sword
[ +- ] The Swinging Sword
Swinging Sword. The inn is a three-story stone structure, crowned by a steep slate roof that bristles with many chimneys. A signboard juts out over the door, hanging from chains. It’s a ten-foot-long carved wooden scimitar emblazoned with the inn’s name in red paint on both sides. An inn yard with stables and outbuildings lies behind the building.The Swinging Sword is welcoming and luxurious by the area’s rustic standards. Each room boasts a hearth, warm draperies and tapestries, and running water (provided by rooftop cisterns). Now run by the Irkell family from Waterdeep, the inn has become a popular stopover for wayfarers in the Dessarin Valley. The topmost guest floor is given over to dormitories where travelers can "sleep cheap" in rooms shared with up to six guests, but the lower floors are divided into pleasant suites of guest rooms, each with its own garderobe. There’s also a dining room on the ground floor. The Sword has one recurring problem: kitchen fires. The one-story kitchen annex at the back of the inn, currently out of commission, was initially built with poorly drawing chimneys. Right now, cooking is rudimentary and done out in the yard, on grills flanking the bread ovens. The dining room is mainly used for drinking, with "the Helm" (the tavern across the road) currently providing the best meals in town travelers can easily buy. While the Helm at Highsun is the place to hear Red Larchers unwind, the Swinging Sword is the polite social hub and neutral meeting ground of Red Larch.
The proprietor of the Swinging Sword is Kaylessa Irkell (female Illuskan human). She is the fortyish matriarch of her family and a pleasant, sturdy woman. She is increasingly worried about "what’s gathering in the dark" in Red Larch and brings up her concerns with any likely adventurer looking types who stop by. Kaylessa’s staff are uniformly attentive and good at their work, including: Ghileeda (female Tethyrian human), a maid, and the one-eyed stablemaster Iraun Thelder (male Tethyrian human), a onetime mercenary warrior.
3. The Helm at Highsun
4. Mother Yalantha's
[ +- ] Mother Yalantha's
This three-story, dilapidated boarding house has many balconies and outside staircases. Inside, the place is a warren of narrow, creaky-floored passages that snake around small rooms made of flimsy partition walls. However, the atmosphere is cheerful, if generally noisy.
The boarding house is the home of its owner and proprietor, the rail-thin, pipe-smoking "Mother" Yalantha Dreen (female Tethyrian human). Mother Yalantha lives in a cramped ground-floor room at the very back, and most of the other twenty rooms are occupied by transient laborers.
However, there seem to be four or five rooms currently available.
5. Thelorn's Safe Journeys
6. Chansyrl Fine Harness
7. Helvur Tarnlar Clothier
8. Lorren's Bakery
[ +- ] Lorren's Bakery
This aromatic, tidy building’s ovens and mixing bowls are in use day and night. The bakery has a hanging sign consisting of a carved and painted wooden round loaf the size of a small cart.
The bakery always has fresh round loaves and buns for sale. Its specialty is cheese-topped buns with melted mushroom cheese from outlying local farms.
The thin, energetic proprietor, Mangobarl Lorren (male Chondathan human), thrives on gossip and can spin many wild tales.
9. Tantur Smithy
10. Drouth Fine Pultry
11. Jalessa Ornra Butcher
12. Dornen Finestone
13. Ironhead Arms
14. Mhandyyver's Poultry
[ +- ] Mhandyvver's Poultry
This wooden building grew haphazardly for many years, shooting out single-story wings and annexes untidily in all directions. The interior looks like a barn or attic, with exposed beams and posts. Pens with live chickens fill most of the odd corners and halls of the building, leaving only a narrow aisle down to the back, where the Mhandyvvers live. Their rooms are separated from the chicken pens by a workroom with cutting benches and a central hearth.
Mhandyvver’s is the less impressive of the two local poulterers, but is a favorite with Red Larchers. Kindly old Minthra "Minny" Mhandyvver (female Tethyrian human) and her three grown children sell chickens live or roasted and preserved in oil, pickled chicken livers, and eggs both fresh and pickled.
15. Haeleeya's
16. Waelvur's Wagonworks
17. Gaelkur's
18. Mellikho Stoneworks
19. Luruth's Tannery
20. Bethendur's Storage
21. The Market
22. Vallivoe's Sundries
[ +- ] Vallivoe's Sundries
Aside from the bewildering profusion of doors, barrels, rotting old furniture, and tools leaning against its outside walls, this building looks like a private home.
A small, faded sign on the front door reads "Vallivoe’s Sundries." Rooms are crammed to the rafters with new wares and used items of all sorts.
Endrith Vallivoe (male Tethyrian human) is a retired caravan merchant who sells new and used goods: furniture, lamps, carpets, mirrors, weapons, shields, helms, and a little bit of everything else. Almost anything might be available to buy here, buried under heaps of other stuff, and Vallivoe carries a good running inventory in his head. He’s the only vendor in town selling blank books and parchment.
