---
type: location
region: "Southern Aethrune"
kingdom: "[[Valdris]] and [[Kethra]] (border)"
population: ~2,000
---

# Eastmarch

## Overview

A frontier town at the border of [[Valdris]] and [[Kethra]], built around a crossroads of the Old Salt Road. Eastmarch is a waypoint for merchants, travelers, and soldiers — and, lately, cultists passing through unnoticed.

## Key Locations

### Marshal's Garrison
A stone fort at the town's center housing 50 garrison soldiers. [[Marshal Aldren Voss]] commands from here. Contains a small armory, jail cells, and a war room with regional maps.

### The Bent Anchor (Inn)
The only inn in Eastmarch. Run by **Hilda Stonekettle**, a dwarven widow who serves passable ale and excellent meat pies. The common room is the town's de facto social hub. Room: 5 sp/night.

### Mira's Apothecary
[[Mira Thorne]]'s shop and clinic. Stocks common healing potions (50 gp), herbal remedies, and alchemical supplies. She treats townsfolk for free and adventurers at modest rates.

### The Old Mill (The Sinking Chapel)
An abandoned grain mill on the river's edge, two miles outside town. The basement connects to a natural cavern that the [[The Hand of Ruin|Hand of Ruin]] has converted into a hidden ritual chamber — the [[The Sinking Chapel]]. Contains: cultists, guard drakes, a blood altar, and a direct tunnel to the [[Seal Anchor]] hilltop.

### The Hilltop (Seal Anchor)
A bald hill 3 miles northwest, struck repeatedly by unnatural lightning. The hilltop is a dormant [[Seal Anchor]] — a stone obelisk covered in First Sage runes, now cracked and bleeding elemental energy. Cultists have been performing rituals here nightly.

### Moongrove Shrine
[[Elder Ylara Moongrove]]'s druidic sanctuary in the eastern woods. A stone circle with a natural spring at its center. Ylara lives in a hollow oak nearby. The shrine is warded against fiends and undead.

## Rumors Table (d6)

| d6 | Rumor |
|----|-------|
| 1 | "The caravan wasn't attacked by bandits — people heard chanting from the hills that night." |
| 2 | "Old Ylara's been acting strange. Says the earth is 'weeping.' Crazy druid talk." |
| 3 | "There's a noble from Valhold staying at the Bent Anchor. Won't give his name." (Cult informant) |
| 4 | "The lightning hits the same spot every night. Has to be a sign from the gods." |
| 5 | "Mira's last patient died screaming about 'spirals in the dark.' What does that mean?" |
| 6 | "Marshal Voss sent a rider to Valhold last week. Rumor says he's asking for more soldiers." |

## Encounters

| Encounter | CR | Location |
|-----------|-----|----------|
| Bandit ambush (6 bandits + 1 bandit captain) | 3 | Old Salt Road |
| Cult patrol (3 cultists + 1 cult fanatic) | 2 | Old Mill outskirts |
| Lightning mephits (4) | 2 | Hilltop approach |
| Cult ritual (2 cult fanatics + 1 cult mage + 4 mephits) | 5 | Seal Anchor |
| Guard drakes (2) + cultists (3) | 4 | The Sinking Chapel |