Alehos: A Place for Preparation and Recovery

Alehos is a small but strategic town on the Aranthaes Highway, set between Frey and Lantear at the southern edge of the Lantear Plains. Though modest in size, its importance lies in its road leading south to the Draktun Pass, and onwards to the infamous port of Draktun. Travelers know Alehos as a place to prepare for security, to hide illicit goods, and a point of gathering before the road diverges into more dangerous country.
 

Setting & First Impressions

Alehos crowns a low rise above the plains, its red-tiled houses clustered around a tall watchtower that surveys the wide fields and distant passes. To the southwest, the jagged teeth of the Draktun range loom, and the highway dips down into the steep Draktun Gorge. Groves of olives and chestnuts line the approaches, and the smell of pressed oil mingles with smoke from the town’s forges. From a distance, Alehos seems quiet, but the comings and goings of caravans give it a restless edge.
 

The Roads & Their Trade

The Aranthaes Highway remains Alehos’ lifeline, but the town also thrives on its side routes. The Draktun Pass sees gold and export goods heading south, passing often illicit items bound for Aranthaes and other towns from the docks in Draktun – that is if they survive the frequent bandit attacks the Draktun Pass is best known for. Alehos serves as a natural relay point: inns for merchants, smithies for wagon repairs, and stables for fresh teams of horses. Markets here are smaller than those of Frey, but more diverse, fed by both plains farmers, smugglers and mountain folk.
 

Life on the Edge

Though fertile farmland surrounds the town, Alehos is more frontier than heartland. Its people are used to preparing for the road: grain baked into hardcakes for caravans, salted meat carried in clay jars, cloaks and boots sold for the colder passes ahead. Locals joke that Alehos is where “a flatlander learns to climb or a mountaineer learns to haggle.” The town has a reputation for being shrewd but fair, its folk neither soft like plains merchants nor hard like mountain clans.
 

Notable Places

The Watchtower of Alehos: a tall stone tower built by Lantear’s masons to oversee the highway and signal south, east and west.
Draktun Gate: the southern gatehouse, where caravans are tallied before attempting the pass.
The Olive Market: a sunlit square lined with presses, vendors, and stalls selling oil, nuts, and preserved fruits.
The Split Road Inn: the largest inn in Alehos, where caravans heading for Draktun pause to rest.
 

Rhythms & Customs

At dusk, the watchtower bell rings twice: once for the closing of the Draktun Gate, and once for the lighting of lanterns along the highway. Each spring, Alehos holds the Festival of Wagons, when spinning dancers weave in and out of painted posts symbolizing wheels on the roads, a celebration of the choices and journeys that define the town.
 

For the Storyteller

Alehos offers a blend of calm and tension: a crossroads town where adventurers overhear whispers of mountain bandits and mercenary contracts. Its watchtower guards more than trade – it records who passes, and when. In a place where chance encounters may shape journeys far beyond the plains.
 

Encounters

When traveling through or around Alehos, roll d10 for possible encounters…

  1. A patrol of 1d4 town guards questioning travelers about smugglers moving through the Draktun Pass.
    Guards: AC 15, HP 16, spear (1d6+2), chainmail.
  2. A weary caravan from Lantear, wagons splintered from the bad roads, seeking repairs.
    Drivers: AC 11, HP 9, clubs (1d4), no armor.
  3. A green-cloaked pilgrim bound for Bim, passing through Alehos to avoid Lantear, muttering warnings about “shadows in the Pass.”
    Pilgrim: AC 10, HP 6, staff (1d4), no armor.
  4. 1d4 shepherds arguing with a merchant over grazing rights near the crossroads.
    Shepherds: AC 11, HP 7, sling (1d4), staff (1d6).
  5. A traveling smith offering to shoe ponies and reinforce wagon wheels before the Pass.
    Smith: AC 12, HP 10, hammer (1d6), leather apron.
  6. A group of 1d4+1 Red Cloak scouts seen slipping into town, asking quiet questions about caravans headed toward Draktun.
    Red Cloaks: AC 14, HP 18, short sword (1d6+2), leather armor.
  7. A peddler selling maps of the Draktun Pass — some real, some fakes that lead to dead ends.
    Peddler: AC 11, HP 7, dagger (1d4), no armor.
  8. A sudden dust storm sweeping off the plains, reducing visibility to 10 ft and driving people to seek shelter in Alehos’ inns.
    During the storm, 1d4 thieves may attempt pickpocketing.
  9. An abandoned cart stands by the roadside, one wheel broken, no owner in sight. Inside are barrels marked with a Draktun seal. Smugglers may return at any moment.
  10. A cloaked wanderer offering carved tokens said to grant safe passage through the Draktun Pass.
    Token bears faint magical energy — protective or cursed at DM’s discretion.
On   /   Island Locations