Handout - What Kleone Knows About Karnstown

The city sits on the north shore of a huge freshwater lake. When the first Humans arrived, they started calling it "Lake Karn" after the founder of the city, but the Elves in the region still refer to it simply as the Lake of the Southern Feywood. (It sounds prettier in the Elven tongue.) In Spudbarrow, it's just called "the Big Lake".

To the west of the city is a river. You'll be traveling along that river on the last stretch of road before the city. Humans renamed it Karn's River, but the Elves still call it by its old name: the Everclear. Sadly, because of all the crud the Humans have been dumping into it just before it empties into the lake, some Elves now call it the Neverclear - and so do the Halflings of Spudbarrow (as long as they're not talking to one of the Karn family).

The city is nominally run by a Mayor who handles the administration, and a Magistrate, who oversees the courts. But everybody knows the real power in the city is the Karn Family itself. The descendents of Jasric Karn who founded the city a couple hundred years ago have their fingers in just about everything of importance in the town. They either own outright... or have interests in... practically every business of any concern. All of the Halfling business owners - and you'd guess anyone else not part of the Karn family - have to pay what they call "rent" to keep their businesses going. But this is really "protection money" to keep "bad things" from happening to the business.

Despite the graft, Karnstown isn't a bad place if you like crowded city life. It is one of the safest places in the Frontier to live if you keep up your payments. There is practically no street crime, and hooliganism isn't tolerated. Quite a few Halflings have migrated there since there's not a lot of opportunity or excitement here in Spudbarrow.

It costs money to enter the city. You'll even get charged for the horses! The gate guards will expect an entry duty of 1 silver piece per person and 1 copper piece per living animal in order to pass through the gates. Citizens of the city are exempt, but must present an identity document to prove they are residents of the city.

Most of the residents of the city are Human, but there are a lot of Halflings - enough to almost feel like home. A fair number of Half-Elves and even a few Half-Orcs and Orcs, Dwarves and Gnomes, and even Goblins are also present and run various businesses.Your uncle even mentioned a Lizardfolk family or two living down near the water's edge making a living as fisherfolk. You don't recall any mention of Birdfolk or Ratfolk, but who knows. As long as there's no nasty Kobolds...

There are four places for visitors to stay in Karnstown. The Karnstown Hotel off the city square is by far the most opulent, and most expensive. Along the river near the North Gate is popular among visting merchants, there's the Riverside Inn; the Prospector's Retreat near the West Gate is a bit cheaper, but caters to a lower class of clientele: the miners visiting from Stannilode and Ferrilode. The Traveller's Hearth near the East Gate is also a bit more "commonfolk" -- this is the place most of the folk from Spudbarrow stay in when they're doing business in town -- and it's a nice enough place. They even have amenities catering to Halflings as much of their clientele is visiting from Spudbarrow.

There are a few sizable taverns, and generally, the closer to the waterfront you go, the seedier they get. There are numerous smaller taverns that come and go over the years as well, again mostly near the waterfront. But the one you absolutely must check out is called "Almost Home". It's run by Arabella Whitfoot - she's related to the Spudbarrow Whitfoots - and it caters mainly to us "smallfolk". The tallfolk are welcome, of course, but they need to watch their heads on the low-slung beams. It'll be fun to watch Dhraangg smacking his head and crouching into the Halfling sized benches and chairs! Just him getting through the doorway should be fun to watch.

There are three large casinos in the city. One is an uppercrust, members and invites only affair. The other two are open to the public. Your uncle (another uncle) says that they cheat in the one called Jasric's Chance... your uncle always said that Jasric's Chance was No Chance At All!

The East Market District and its open-air bazaar is the place to go for food. Farmers from Spudbarrow sell their preserves and in-season produce. Anything with real Spudbarrow Strawberries is a treat, of course, so you maybe pick up a jar or two for a taste of home to take on the road. The street food is excellent -- but stay away from the cheese shop run by the goblin; their stuff'll kill you!

There are a couple of other market centers in town where you can get things other than food. You suppose that in a "city", you should be able to find almost anything. (Affording it is another issue.) There's a Human named Myrna Carter who deals in herbal remedies from her little house outside the city walls beneath the cliffs.