Sewerbrooke

The small farming village of Sewerbrooke is positioned about 45 miles south of the metropolitan city of Riverguard, along the eastern bank of the Deepwater River. The town takes its name from its perfect positioning to intercept all of the foul and polluted water passing out of the big city, and their fledgling efforts to build any sort of purification system. The village mostly uses its well at access clean water from an underground stream, which is part of the large cave system that permeates the area.

A clan of kobolds, in the process of mining the caves under the town, also uses the underground stream for drinking and cooking. They are territorial when it comes to their village and mining operation, but have otherwise always had decent relations with the town as far as sharing the water source and surrounding grasslands. Some of them have even traded with the villagers, purchasing weapons and equipment from the local smithy.

Just recently, the well seems to have run dry. The roped buckets the villagers send down come up empty, with just the smallest bit of moisture darkening the outside bottom. The villagers are scared they will die of thirst, or die of disease from having to drink the sludgy river water. Some folk blame the kobolds, and want to either take up arms against them, or journey to the big city to see if they can get help.

The Well
The town well that serves as Sewerbrooke’s primary water source. It is a circle of grey bricked stone about 3 feet tall and 4 feet in diameter. There is a wooden shingled roof built over top of it, with a thick wooden crossbar that the people use to pulley their buckets. The opening is close to 3 feet in diameter, and leads down into complete darkness.

Little Billy: Little Billy is a chubby human boy who is obsessed with the well. You might find him on his tip toes trying to peer down into it. Any conversation quickly reveals he’s not very bright. Billy believes that there’s a treasure of some sort in the well.

Bard’s Haven Inn & Tavern
This dumpy-looking inn is probably the only building in this whole town with two floors. The saloon-style doors open up to a large central room with a long bar against the western wall and a small stage against the eastern wall. There is a large unlit hearth in the seating area that is slightly crumbling. The Bard’s Haven is one of the only places in town to get anything to drink, now that there’s no water from the well. The magistrate has issued a conservation referendum prohibiting the tavern from selling any beverage in sizes larger than a few ounces (about half a glass), and enacting a tax that increases the prices of any drink sold by 1gp.

Jacen Newton: The human owner and barkeep of the Bard’s Haven, Jacen founded the Inn with the hopes of creating a hotspot for music and culture; unfortunately, Sewerbrooke doesn’t really attract many travelers, let alone bards of any talent. Jacen ends up playing most of the music the place sees himself, and despite his passion, he’s not really very good. Jacen is a bitter man, even more so lately thanks to the magistrate’s new rule forcing him to overcharge the townsfolk for any kind of beverage.

The Hetch Boys (and girl): The sons of Jiam and Sari Hetchfield, the three Hetchfield children are all almost as drunk as their father, and much less personably. They are the quintessential spoiled brats; throwing their parents gold around at the bar as if it were nothing. The Hetchfield children are planning their own business venture: heading north to bring back water and wine and charge twice what Jacen charges, because everyone will be desperate at that point. Despite the silver spoons in their mouths, they have worked on their family farm, and are not even close to weak looking. They will not stand for attempts at intimidation.

=== '''Pipes & Pommels Smithy''' === A small, slanting, shack of a house, with a crumbling stone forge out front; the entire operation looks pretty shoddy. The depression of the place is only exacerbated by the “going out of business” sign hanging sadly on the door. A large amount of pipes line the side of the building; this smithy must get commissioned to makes pipes quite often.

Burt Clifton: A Burly half-orc, Burt has been stressed lately about the loss of his business. A few days before the water shortage began, he sold a lot of equipment to some kobold traders, including a sword. Now, he’s being accused by the magistrate of being a traitor to his village, and he received an official letter requiring him to liquidate his wares and close his shop. He is in the process of packing, and as soon as he’s finished, he intends to move to another village; possibly even Riverguard itself. He still has a few things so sell, mostly horseshoes and digging equipment, but also bolts, arrows, and a few simple weapons.

Temple of Neptune
With all of the water-related problems Sewerbrooke has, the people decided it would be a good idea to dedicate what was originally their town hall as a temple to the water deity, Neptune. Already the largest building in town, the conversion mostly consisted of paining the place a bright blue, and commissioning a stone statue and altar for the pulpit. So far, the townsfolks prayers haven’t been answered. Most of the people have no real interest in having Neptune as their patron god, and think he’s kind of lame.

Art Curry: Probably the only devout worshipper of Neptune in the village, Art is the one who convinced the folk to convert their town hall into a temple. He is very passionate about Neptune, and truly believes that the well has dried up as punishment for the polluted river.

'''Magistrate Urik Larson: '''A sniveling, weasely elf, Uric is the magistrate who administers the politics of the town. The many letters he sends serve as Sewerbrooke’s chief method of contact between Riverguard and all of the other surrounding villages. He is furious at the kobolds because he believes they somehow dried up the well. He is currently working on a letter to request military assistance in exterminating the kobolds.

Sheriff’s Station
The bars on the windows and shield painted on the door signify this ramshackle building in the center of town as the Sheriff’s station. It has a small reception area in the front, and caged lock-up rooms in the back. There’s also a back room for files, evidence, and the Sheriff’s armory. Because there’s not usually much crime in Sewerbrooke, this room is mostly empty except for a few swords, spears, and light crossbows.

'''Sheriff Hamm Kirklett:''' The official lawman of Sewerbrooke, Kirklett has a relatively slender build, even for a half-elf. He’s normally pretty laid back, and usually devotes far more of his time to protecting the towns citizens from outsiders than he does policing internal problems. Lately, he’s been under a lot of pressure from the magistrate to eliminate the kobolds.

'''Deputy Jimbob Bobbyjohn:''' Hamm’s only deputy, Jimbob is an idiot. He’s currently on Hamm’s shit list for losing an expensive town-issued hand-crossbow a few days ago. Only understands things if they are presented to him incredibly simply.

Squeakers: A young kobold caught walking through the surrounding grasslands close to the village; “Squeakers” is the nickname Jimbob gave him. Locked up on the hope that he would confess that his clan are responsible for well situation, no one in town speaks draconic, and Squeakers doesn’t speak common, so interrogations have been going very slowly.

=== '''Water Purification Committee Home Office''' === The small office building site on the town-side edge of what is essentially a junkyard of failed water purification attempts. Pipes and gears and boilers litter the ground all the way back to the Deepwater. Inside, schematics, some of which have notes and scribbles added to them, cover the walls. Between two small couches, there is a low coffee table with a huge number of crumpled-up papers piled on top of it. There is lab counter against one wall with some dirty-looking alchemical equipment on it. It’s clear that a ton of time and energy has been invested into this project, and none of it has paid off.

Figgle & Griltch: Gnomes and goblins are well-known as the best tinkerers around, but master engineers Figgle (female gnome) and Griltch (male goblin) have made absolutely no progress on their efforts to purify Riverguard’s pollution. They have been working on the problem for years. They had a much bigger team and better funding when they started. Now, with only two of them left, and not much gold to work with, they have pretty much lost hope of someday completing their device. Figgle & Griltch are experts in water flow, and can explain in detail about the cave system and how the stream that supplies the well was mostly likely dammed (they haven’t detects any seismic activity that would signify a cave-in). Figgle & Grltch may have enough junk lying around to construct an explosive…

Hetchfield Ranch
A huge amount of the land surrounding Sewerbrooke is taken up by the Hetchfield family ranch. The place specializes in cattle, but also has goats and chickens. The ranch doubles as the town stables, offering lodging for traveler’s horses, and a place to rent pack mules from (the ranch has two mules available, as well a few trained steers). Deep onto the property, far from the actual ranch house, they have a family small of domesticated dire goats hidden away. The goats are still too young to sell or breed, but any domesticated dire animal is valuable.

Jiam Hetchfield: Jimmy is a drunken mess of a dwarf all of the time. They only discernable thing he ever says is “yeah.” He’s quite large for a dwarf, and isn’t someone you would want to be in a bar fight with. Fortunately, he’s pretty well-tempered when he’s drunk. He seems to still be getting drunk despite the town’s current issues; he must have a stash somewhere.

Sari Hetchfield: Sara does all of the bookkeeping, manages the stables, and handles the family’s finances. She is frantic about the water situation, as she is afraid of losing her entire herd to thirst. She will readily offer the Hetchfield family battle axe to anyone who agrees to slay the kobold king.