Hlintar

Hlintar (pronounced "Heh-LIN-tar") was a town in the Vast, lying on the crossroads of the Hlintar Ride, between Calaunt and Bambryn, and the Cross Road, between Tantras and Thindilar. It was a located a good day's ride from Calaunt and from Tantras.

History
Around the mid–13th century DR, when Hlintar was but a village, Master Merchant Marakus Beindold sought to annex the hills east of the town, and thereby expand Hlintar's farmland and enrich himself. However, these lands were traditionally occupied by the local dwarves. Therefore, Beindold invited the leaders of the dwarven communities to the Hornmoot trading festival, welcomed them as guests, and put on a feast for them. But the wine was drugged, and Beindold's hired mercenaries had already forcibly occupied the village before the dwarves arrived. He had the dwarves brutally murdered in their beds as they slept. A few dwarves escaped, however, and a tenday later they returned, avoided Beindold's guards, and caught him in his own bedchamber to return his hospitality. With their hammers, they broke every single bone and joint in his body. Beindold survived the experience, but only just. Every dwarven native of Hlintar left the village and never returned, and no other dwarf visited there again by 1370 DR.

During the Time of Troubles, in the Year of Shadows, 1358 DR, an unnatural windstorm ripped through Hlintar and its graveyard, uncovering the graves. A few thousand skeletons rose from their graves and took over the town. Hlintar was abandoned and refugees fled to Calaunt, Ravens Bluff, and Tantras.

Hlintar was back in business by 1367 DR.

Description
Hlintar was a small crossroads town,  with a graveyard on a knoll outside town.

It had several good inns. The most popular was Beindold's Busted Bones. There was also one small temple dedicated to Chauntea, led by Gosmani Hagaris in 1370 DR, and another to Lliira, managed by Halira Chessman. There were also shrines to Selûne, Talos, and Waukeen, though this last was abandoned following the goddess's disappearance in the Time of Troubles, as well as shrines to several dwarven deities located nearby.

Dwarves hated Hlintar for Beindold's murder of their kin. Since that day, no dwarf who'd once lived in the town would return and no other dwarf of the Vast would set foot there by choice or if they were aware of the town and what had happened. They wouldn't even trade dwarven-made goods with a merchant who traded at Hlintar.

Government & Economy
The town was ruled by a council of eight local merchants, headed by a Master Merchant. Their governance was light, except in matters that affected the local economy.

Hlintar was known for its locally bred and well-trained horses. There were also several big, muddy pig farms, and their top-quality bacon made the town famous.

Merchants of Hlintar traded with all the surrounding settlements, from Calaunt to Ravens Bluff to as far as Dragon Falls and Kurth. They did good business in Dark Hollow, buying potions and selling spell components and pieces of broken magic items and artifacts to the hedge-wizards there. Thieves and bandits preyed on the trade, so guarding the "magic merchant" was also a steady job for adventurers.

Thus, despite the dwarven boycott on trade with Hlintar, merchants often passed through and the town was very wealthy with money aplenty, and as much intrigue. With all this money flowing and thieves following, the people of Hlintar ran out of places to stash their coin. In response, several enterprising merchants developed a "silent vault" service analogous to a banking system. Initially, this was managed by priests of Waukeen until her shrine was abandoned after the Time of Troubles, and was later reluctantly taken over by the temple of Chauntea. In secure vaults below the temple, folk could store valuables or delicate items, such as stolen property or the bodies of the deceased, for a fee of 1 gold piece per chest per month. These vaults were warded by spells and guarded by monsters, including battle horror shadowguards and at least one watchghost.

One particular habit of old Hlintar was to conceal one's wealth in the town graveyard, in family crypts for the rich or in cavities in headstones of loved ones for the less well-to-do. However, gangs of thugs took to lurking around the graveyard, day and night, and mugging visitors for any valuables they might have. Rival gangs soon fought each other, and folk hired bodyguards, leading to pitched battles around the graveyard. Ghouls also emerged from their graves to threaten folk. With all the danger, some folk were slain, and it was possible that their treasures remained in the graveyard.

Rumors & Legends
By 1370 DR, thieves claimed that Hlintar was still riddled with hidden caches of wealth, and advised each other to check everything in a building. According to legend, in the private homes the floors were paved with gold bricks coated in clay to resemble regular bricks.