The Town of Stallanford
by atzanteotl/katana_oneStallanford is a small but busy town on the Duke’s Road, just 20 miles north of the city of Penhaligon. The town is often a stopping point for travelers and caravans moving along the Duke’s Road, which runs north to Selenica in the Republic of Darokin.
Stallanford is located at a little-used ford in the River Shuttergal. In years past, the ford was a convenient crossing of the river for miners who worked in the hills to the west of the river looking for silver, or travelers who wished to cut cross-country to Threshold, Verge and other communities. Growing populations of humanoids in the hills to the west eventually drove off the miners and other traffic from the ford, but by then the Duke’s Road had been firmly established as a major trade route between the Duchy and nearby Darokin, and the survival of the town was assured.
Several farms can be found nearby, but the town’s existence is mostly based on providing weary travelers with meals and bedding, and the town has two inns, as well as a tavern catering to all manner of clientele to be found on the long journey from Penhaligon to Selenica. A cleric of the Church of Traladara tends to the spiritual needs of the community from a small but cozy church near the center of town.
The population is mostly Traladaran humans, but a small family of Halflings can be found running the Hungry Halfling Inn. Other races encountered are usually just passing through. The town’s permanent population is only around 300 or so, and that’s including the neighboring farms. The town has no standing army, relying instead on patrols from Duke’s Road Keep to the north and Penhaligon to the south for protection. In an emergency the town could assemble a militia of about 20 men armed with simple weapons and no armor - mostly farm hands and stable boys with no real training.