Sevenecho (hamlet)

Sevenecho, also called Sevone, was a small hamlet in the Vast, situated at the point where the Stormcrest Trail from Tsurlagol met the North Road between Maerstar and Glorming Pass. It lay south of the Brynwood and the Adhe Wood.

It was home to The Worried Wyvern, thought to be one of the finest inns in the Vast and all Faerûn.

History
The hamlet of Sevenecho was named for the most prominent of its local families, the Sevenechoes.

The Wandering Wyvern, as it was then known, was built by the Sevenecho family in the Year of the Wandering Wyvern, 1338 DR. It was later re-founded by Beliot Sevenecho in the Year of the Crown, 1351 DR, becoming The Worried Wyvern.

In the Year of the Banner, 1368 DR, The Lady's Favor temple of Tymora was built in Sevenecho. His Most Blessed of Fate Randolph dul Umast was appointed its first high priest.

On the 1st Eleint in the Year of the Gauntlet, 1369 DR, one of the hamlet's wells was poisoned by Calispar Delgorth, killing a few villagers and sickening twenty two more. The priests of Tymora found that their magic could do nothing to identify or cure the poison, so they sought adventurers to seek the poison ingredients or a cure. Meanwhile, the threat of poison scared off many visiting travelers and merchants, such as Aklar Delkash, and even saw a few residents abandon their homes. The local constabulary guarded the wells and attempted to allay fears, while aid was sought from neighboring Maerstar, without success, and Procampur.

Population
Sevenecho was a small hamlet of some seventy people circa 1370 DR.

Government
Leadership and government of Sevenecho were in the hands of a loose council of elders. These came from the hamlet's local nobility, i.e., its most prominent families, including the Dermonts, the Evenhands, the Jespers, the Scantshars, and the Sevenecho family themselves.

Defense
In an emergency, Sevenecho was defended by a militia led by Beliot Sevenecho and aided by the arcane powers of Riliyyn Scantshar. A number of local people had some fighting ability, and the untrained staff of the inn would also pitch in. Help was usually only a shout away, and the people could mobilize in defense with surprising speed. Orcs in the hills soon learned not to raid the hamlet.

Economy
Lying at the crossroads of the North Road and Stormcrest Trail, Sevenecho was a useful stopover for merchant caravans and travellers, who could resupply and water their animals at the many watering holes. Sevenecho also served as a market for the farmers scattered about the surrounding lands. But the settlement persisted here largely due to the draw of the Worried Wyvern inn, which lay at the heart of community affairs.

Description
The hamlet comprised a number of widely spaced buildings, most of them one or two stories high, connected by unpaved streets. Sprinkled amongst them were five big, old manor houses belonging to the local nobility. On the east side of the hamlet was the The Lady's Favor, a temple of Tymora and the hamlet's only real temple. On the west was a large clearing set aside for merchant caravans to park their wagons and horses and pitch their tents.

Sevenecho had a reputation as a damp and rainy place, with mists often veiling the hamlet in the mornings. Many ponds and deep wells could be found throughout the town. Just about every important area had at least one well, with no less than five in the field set aside for caravans.

The hamlet was based around The Worried Wyvern inn, which lay sprawling across a small, wide knoll on the western side of where the two roads met.

Ghost Pond was a large but shallow pool situated beside the North Road, just north of the hamlet.

Local legends and rumors
The hamlet had few local personalities of note bar Beliot Sevenecho, the innkeeper, and Riliyyn Scantshar, the wizard. The whole Scantshar family was distrusted and treated with slight suspicion by other village folk, largely due to Riliyyn's skills as a wizard.

Though it was said to have few rumors or legends about monsters or magic in the area, Sevenecho in fact had several of note. The first was that of the Drowned Lady, a ghost that appeared regularly over Ghost Pond. She was said to be either a traveler or Beliot Sevenecho's great-grandmother, who flirted with a local lad but then spurned him, for which he killed her. The killer's identity and family varied according to the tale-teller.

Another local legend claimed that during the fall of the dwarven kingdom of Roldilar in the Year of the Bloody Crown, 649 DR, nine dwarves each bearing a chest of gems were pursued by an orcish horde. As the orcs caught up and overtook them, the dwarves buried their hoard near where the roads met, where Sevenecho later lay. They then assaulted the orcs and fought to the death. This tale was quite likely true, given the events of the time.

However, according to one rumor, a dark naga discovered the treasure and made its hiding place its lair, some place close to Sevenecho. Some even warned that the naga controlled everyone in Sevenecho, thought people who'd actually visited the community and experienced their hospitality though the idea ridiculous.

On a similar note, although folk in Tsurlagol told of a spider-infested temple to a snake god in Adhe Wood to the north, the people of Sevenecho maintained that they'd never heard anything about it. They wisely never went near Adhe Wood anyway. Instead, they were quick to warn travelers about danger and death in the Earthfast Mountains, especially in the area of the Glorming Pass on the North Road out of the hamlet, a problem that Riliyyn Scantshar had theorized about.

One person in Sevenecho was an agent of the Red Wizards of Thay, likely one of the chambermaids at the Worried Wyvern. This person watched people and goods moving along the roads and passed information and messages to Thayan agents that came through the hamlet. However, they were not an active field agent, and never engaged in violence, murder, or robbery, nor did anything else to expose themself.