Bournemoth

This plain building is a simple station that allows passengers on and off the intercontinental Umbrail system.

An inn and tavern that holds regular performances by traveling troupes as well as some of Dragonhold’s finest students. The performances here are known for being a little more vetted out and serious than other establishments in the area. The upstairs rooms here are small, but well-kept.

Karissa Halvorstorm can be found behind the bar, her silver-blonde hair in a tight braid that swings between broad shoulders. The laugh lines in her face appear to be carved there, but she has an eagle eye for talent and can spot a troupe scout or fradulent bard within minutes. She serves dark honey-ale, juniper-smoked trout, rye bread with cultured butter, warm goat stew.

Torvald Fjellhammer, the dwarven proprietor of this establishment, can be found manning an anvil- his thick beard braided with iron rings and his arms are like tree trunks, always dusted with soot. Corin Thale is his apprentice and can be found managing the bellows and delivering finished goods to customers and students.

Serving the students of Dragonhold and the village at-large, Elin Windthistle, an elven man with ash-blonde curls, runs this small instrument shop. He has a patient and quietly exacting demeaner with little tolerance for musicians who blame “poor craftsmanship” for missed notes.

A general goods store catering to performers and merchants. They sell everything from traveling cloaks and costume pieces to stage makeup and collapsible backdrops.

The smaller and, usually, rowdier tavern in town that tends to let anyone get up on stage to perform. Just be weary as the patrons will certainly let you know if you aren’t up-to-snuff. Anya Stormrune, a a dwarven woman with weathered skin, cropped iron-grey hair, and muscular arms, can be found tending bar. She is the town’s largest proponent of the arts and tries to find beauty in every performance.

Book repair, music transcription, parchment and ink supply.

Bram Alderhart, the gentle and deliberate giant behind many of the woodcarvings adorning the walls in this shop is a soft-spoken man, wearing a blonde beard, often decorated with bits of wood shaving. His broad hands and slow smile have endeared him to the students of Dragonhold as he creates new parts and repairs their wooden instruments. He is also quite fond of making stage mechanisms and trapdoors.

With one eye enlarged from a jeweler’s loupe that is almost constantly raised to her face, the elderly half-elven woman behind the counter is the namesake of this small jewelry shop, Mirella Thorne. She loves homemade and customized jewelry and, if you stick around too long, will likely go misty eyed with nostalgia as she reminisces about pieces created years ago.

This long stable building is timber-framed with a steep sod roof and wide doors that can admit even the most elaborate painted troupe wagons. Carved along the beams are galloping horses interwoven with swirling knotwork patterns. Iron lanterns hang from heavy posts, their glass tinted amber to cut the wind’s bite. Tall and broad with wind-reddened skin, pale blue eyes, and a thick sandy-blonde beard braided into matching forks, Kjell Stormhoof moves with deliberate strength, his knuckles scarred and permanently grease-stained.

Set just off Bournemoth’s main square, the Liaison Hall stands between the village and Dragonhold- literally and symbolically. Built of heavy pine beams and pale stone hauled down from the hills, it has a steep turf roof and broad windows framed in carved dragon wings. A polished brass placard by the door reads: “Dragonhold Visitor & Student Services”, although locals refer to it simply as “The Front Office”.

Inside, the space is warm and orderly. Long wooden counters divide the public floor from shelves of meticulously labeled ledgers. Wax seals hang from ribbons in tidy rows, a large tiled stove radiates heat through the room, and there is always a kettle gently steaming atop it. A corkboard, hung near the door, shows flyers for performances, audition sign up sheets, housing waitlists, and other student notices. A half-orcan woman who is cresting middle-age runs this building- Maribel Kotag. Broad and sturdy with moss-green skin warmed by rosy cheeks, Maribel stands at her post behind the counter. She wears silver threaded through thick dark hair worn in a long braid over one shoulder. Small, neat tusks peek from her smile. She wears wire-rimmed spectacles low on her nose and favors embroidered cardigans in Dragonhold’s colors. She practically oozes school spirit and will call anyone dear, honey, or sweetheart- but she is a staunch protector of rules and order.

Pinewatch Hold is a squat, stone-and-timber building near the edge of the square, positioned close enough to the taverns to be practical and far enough from the Liaison Hall to preserve dignity. Its walls are thick fieldstone, mortared tight against winter winds, with heavy pine beams framing a steep shingled roof.

Inside is a small front desk, on which sits a well-used ledger, two holding cells with iron bar doors, a bench for “cooling off”, a bucket of water, a stack of coarse blankets, a kettle on a small stove, etc. The cells are clean and draft-free- it’s use is more for cooling off poor decisions, not for storing long-term prisoners.