Chandlerhame
by OneEyedZealThis stronghold of the leprechauns has the unusual quality of being located entirely within the town walls of Castellan, in southern Soderfjord. Though the region has an unusually high number of leprechauns who normally coexist quite well with their human neighbors, the hazard of widescale raids by kobolds or gnolls, strife caused by famine, lawlessness or other hard times, or other perils among the ‘Big Folk’ are simply too great to ignore. Chandlerhame exists as a refuge for all leprechauns when needed.
Chandlerhame’s main defensive bastion is obscurity and misdirection, to a frankly supernatural degree. Its physical location is within one of Castellan’s shabbier neighborhoods, but nobody unaware of its existence will ever find it by accident, even should they walk every street and alley in the town. Even for those seeking it out, access isn’t straightforward. The correct path changes with each moonrise, and involves not just walking the right streets but also properly interacting with the human residents one encounters on the way. Gaining entrance to Chandlerhame might require one to give a particular beggar a coin, or to compliment a night watchman’s uniform, or to help a goodwife hang her laundry, or to buy a mulled drink from a certain street vendor, or any of dozens of other possible exchanges. Only the leprechauns of Chandlerhame are sure to know what’s required on any given day.
Chandlerhame itself is a maze of workshops, dormitories, storerooms and cozy tavern-rooms and smoking-halls, everything necessary for an entire nation of leprechauns to stay satisfied and productive. Most of the time, Chandlerhame is quiet and mostly empty, which is just how its caretakers like it–a bustling and busy Chandlerhame implies that the outside world is perilous and uncertain, after all. In good times, the staff of Chandlerhame stock up on raw goods and tools that visiting leprechauns can use to craft, and maintain a refuge for any of their cousins that have a need to avoid scrutiny from the ‘Big Folk’ for whatever reason.
Knokkerabout is an odd sort of leprechaun, undeniably skilled and experienced in many kinds of craftsmanship, but also eccentric and often irascible. Knokkerabout has decided that every leprechaun he meets must have a unique flair or style in a chosen field, and pesters visitors to Chandlerhame to demonstrate their skills so he can judge their talents. Those whose creations are too mundane and forgettable, or too similar to the style of someone else Knokkerabout’s met, then get pestered incessantly to develop a flair that is, in Knokkerabout’s judgment, truly unique. The annoying thing is that those who submit to Knokkerabout’s blandishments usually find themselves actually improving in their craft, to some meaningful degree.
Slimshimweft works with the glamers that protect Chandlerhame, making sure that they refresh when expected and attune properly to the ‘Big Folk’ of Castellan. Recently, she’s developed a suspicion–unprovable, but too solid to simply ignore–that various trade goods brought in from Ylaruam and points further south have been surreptitiously magically marked, in a way that might serve for a clever artificer to breach Chandlerhame’s defenses if the goods were kept inside the stronghold for a sufficient period of time. She’s not sure how to deal with the threat, if there even is a threat, and would likely welcome outside assistance and advice.
Coffernladen has a problem. They recently came to Chandlerhame to serve for a quiet decade in what they expected to be an unexciting job, caretaker and janitor of some of the stronghold’s brassworks, foundries and storehouses, only to discover that workspaces they’d expected to be empty and unused were veritably cluttered with surplus (and well-made) tacks, handles, hinges, pipework, cutlery and all other manner of brass crafts. Coffernladen doesn’t want to simply ignore the strange surplus they’ve inherited, but is also hugely reluctant to reveal the situation to any of their fellows, and there’s enough stuff tucked away to fill a dozen trade caravans at least. They’re stumped about what to do, and would be hugely grateful for any scheme that seems likely to resolve their problem.