Red Larch has been an important stop on the Long Road for two centuries now. Named for a distinctive stand of red larch trees that were cut down when the hamlet was founded, Red Larch became a settlement in the first place thanks to a drinkable spring that fed a sizable pond ideal for watering horses, oxen, and pack mules.
An east-west trail meets the Long Road at the pond, running west to the logging community of Kheldell and east to Bargewright Inn and eventually Secomber. Another trail leads to quarries in the Sumber Hills and to ruins of stone keeps long ago left to monsters and outlaws (the Haunted Keeps).
In recent years, new quarries have been opened on the northwestern edge of town. So far these have yielded up great slabs of marble much prized in Waterdeep for facing large new buildings and repairing older edifices. Red Larch is also a center for stonecutters quarrying slate on the fringes of the Sumber Hills.
While Red Larch remains prosperous, dark omens are appearing. The heart of the Sumber Hills has become far more dangerous, with monsters lurking seemingly everywhere (no one goes into the hills berry-picking or hare-hunting these days, though Red Larcher children traditionally did so daily in summer and fall). Banditry is on the rise, and the weather seems to be getting more severe and more unpredictable. Several Red Larcher shepherds have seen strange figures watching them from distant hillsides in the wild fields east of town where they have traditionally grazed their flocks. Quarry workers used to cut by torchlight when orders were backing up but do so no longer, shunning the pits by night. They are spooked by rumors of dark-robed figures in stone masks lurking in the darkness beyond the torchlight. The townsfolk fear that dangerous times are at hand, but no one seems to know what to do about it.
CRUMBLECAKE
To the average citizen of Waterdeep, Red Larch is known only for crumblecake, a local specialty. This much-maligned but hearty food is useful on the trail: baked loaves of turkey and wildfowl scraps, nuts, and chopped roots and greens, mixed in a chickpea mash. It is bland at the best of times, but badly made crumblecake tastes terrible.
Red Larch is full of rumors about the missing delegation from Mirabar. It was a large, well-armed party, and the fact that it seems to have come to grief is quite newsworthy. When the characters sift through idle speculation and gossip to find credible leads, they turn up the following possibilities: Brother Eardon, a priest of Lathander staying in the Swinging Sword (area 2), says the Mirabarans passed through Beliard. A caravan guard in the Helm at Highsun (area 3) says the Mirabarans passed through Beliard. Endrith Vallivoe (area 22) recently came by a beautiful book in Dwarvish and has been showing it off. It looks old and important. Larmon Greenboot, a shepherd, says he found strange new graves out in the Sumber Hills. He hangs around Gaelkur’s store (area 17). When the characters return to Red Larch after leaving to investigate one of the other leads, they hear that Thorsk Thelorn, the wagonmaker (area 5), has had some strange new customers lately. To find out how these NPCs know what they know, the adventurers must question the key characters. These conversations should suggest several ways to begin the search for the delegation from Mirabar. Continue with the “Early Investigations” encounters in chapter 3 when the adventurers decide which lead to follow.