Redspring

Redspring was a small village in the Stonelands of northern Cormyr.

Description
In the late 1360s DR Redspring was a booming frontier town, consisting of newly-built and half-built structures inhabited by optimistic merchants and traders sponsored by the Crown. A good deal of these businesspeople came with retinues of bodyguards, expecting trouble on the venture. The roads were just dirt paths, and combined with the influx of traffic to transform into a muddy morass with no indication of improvement. In its new and unfinished state the village had no inns or taverns, and construction supplies were scarce, with people digging up their own building stone nearby.

Geography
Redspring was located in the Stonelands, south of the Storm Horns and north of Arabel. Slingdyke lay to the east, the Forgotten Keep to the west, and Barrenstone a shorter distance to the south.

Geographical Features
The soil around Redspring was rich in iron, staining the springs a rusty red and giving it the taste of old blood. The springs there never froze even in the coldest winters, and despite the taste were one of the most reliable places to find fresh, pure water in the area. The springs flowed into the Sunset Stream, which later joined the Starwater River close to the source.

Defenses
As of 1367 DR the village was defended by a Purple Dragons detachment in a tiny keep, guarding work crews who raised earthen ramparts in a wide ring around the town. Four War Wizards were also deployed to the site, housed in a newly-built mansion. Their presence was a great encouragement to the settlers, who arrived in ever-greater numbers thanks to the increased security. The village also received regular patrols of soldiers from Arabel

Despite the presence of Cormyr's defenders, Redspring was regularly spied upon by Zhentarim agents riding feywings. The village was considered to be in a risky state thanks to its remote location and dangerous surroundings, with the expectation of either great fortune or disaster.

History
The site had been a meeting place for shepherds in the region, though it went through long periods of abandonment when the wilderness of the Stonelands became too dangerous to bear. In the 1360s DR the site was chosen by the Crown for building as part of a wave of expansion on Cormyr's borders, and it became inundated with settlers and other opportunists taking advantage of the Crown's grant money.