Whitehill is a sleepy mining village - barely a copse of houses surrounded by a palisade - that rests in the peaceful valley beneath the White Downs. The village sits at the crossroads between the road to Endon’s Pass and the north and south mines, which have both been abandoned. Without a source of income, as the mines were shut one after another, the village is shrinking, and may soon disappear forever.

Nonetheless, the village is as picturesque as ever: surrounded by a thick wooden palisade and lined with square brick towers, the locals gather their water from the dam on the south edge of the town. Travellers are welcome to stay in one of the nearby farmsteads, or in the barn in the centre of the village.

The Village Beneath the Downs

The villagers have lived their whole lives within the confines of that mossy palisade, and consider a day trip even to the town of Lodban to be the talk of the month. Theirs is an open and natural way of life, with few of the stoneworked structures that dominate the larger towns.

Nonetheless, all village life needs some structure, and travellers are welcomed.

The Earldorman's House. The oldest building in the village is hardly as grand as the name would suggest. In any town, it would look exactly the same as all of the other houses. Here in Whitehill, however, it certainly stands out.

The Barn. As in most tiny villages, the large building in town is used as the gathering-place for village fairs, markets, or meetings. In the case of Whitehill, it is the barn, the painted wooden monument. In defense of the people of Whitehill, this barn is enormous: three stories tall, with impressive pulley systems to access the storage on the upper levels. This is also where the characters will sleep.

The South Watch. The old brick tower sits on the other side of the river, accessible across the lip of the dam. Ivy grows about its walls, and it is manned by Barley, the oldest man in the village.

The Old Mines

Whitehill is mostly a self-sufficient village. Their meals provided by hunting, foraging, and some vegetables grown on the fields outside the palisade, their clothing from the sheeps' wool they shear, and what coin they have is from the trade of those simple goods.

Once, however, they were known for their mines: one to the north, and one to the south. Both pulled coal and metals from the earth of the downs, but they have suffered accidents in decades gone by, and few now remember a time when their village was growing.

The problems that the mines suffered can be solved by enterprising adventurers who wish to help nurture the growth of the village.

North Whitehill Mine. The northern mine is the much larger, more modern mine that was abandoned in 961 AS when a giant was angered by the miners. They attempted to take refuge within, but were starved out by the giant. The mines are abandoned to this day, and Whitehill is dwindling as a result of its lack of industry.

South Whitehill Mine. The southern mine is smaller and older, and has been haunted for decades at the very least. Any who venture there are in danger on two counts: firstly from the poisonous gas that seeps out of the coal seams in the shafts, and secondly from the ghosts - gnomish phantasms killed by a massive explosion during a wedding years ago.