The Salt & Iron Mercantile
This cramped, low-ceilinged shop smells intensely of dried herbs, vinegar, and cold metal. Every windowsill is packed with thick lines of coarse salt, and iron chimes clink softly above the doorway. The shop specializes in everyday necessities that double as protective wards for the deeply superstitious townspeople.
The Shopkeeper: Martha Gable
Martha is a stern, sharp-eyed human woman in her late fifties with silver hair tied tightly back. She has a habit of checking the hands of anyone who enters, ensuring they aren’t wearing fey jewelry. She treats young adventurers with a mix of pity and exasperation, often muttering warnings about “the things that lurk where the peaks touch the sky.”
For Sale:
- Cold Iron Dagger – 5 gpStandard statistics, but forged from pure cold iron, making it highly effective at bypassing the defenses of certain fey creatures.
- Warding Salt Pouch (3 uses) – 1 gpCan be poured across a threshold or around a tent. Creatures with the Fey or Fiend type must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw to cross the line willingly.
- Iron Pot & Cooking Utensils – 2 gp
- Hemlock & Sage Smudge Stick – 5 spBurnt to cleanse a room of minor curses or spiritual residue.
- Crowbar – 2 gp
The Bleating Hearth Tavern & Provisions
The largest timber building in Yawn, this cozy establishment serves as the village social hub by day and a locked fortress by night. Thick wooden shutters are bolted tightly at sunset. It offers a warm fire, simple meals, and travel rations for those heading into the mountains.
The Shopkeeper: Barnaby “Barney” Stout
Barney is a stout, jovial halfling with a booming voice that belies the town’s usual hushed tones. However, his cheerfulness vanishes the moment the sun goes down, at which point he strictly enforces the tavern’s “no looking at the peaks” rule. He loves trading gossip with Camp Half-Blood graduates for news of the divine realm.
For Sale:
- Hard Tack & Dried Mutton Rations (1 day) – 5 sp
- Goat’s Milk Cheese Wheel (Small) – 1 gp
- Skin of Mountain Berry Mead – 2 gp
- Heaver’s Stew & Ale (In-tavern meal) – 3 sp
- Wooden Flask (Empty) – 1 sp
The Mountain Scribe & Cartography
Tucked away in a quiet alley, this shop is filled with the scent of parchment, ink, and dried wax. The walls are lined with maps, though many have large, blank patches labeled with warnings like “Here Dwell the Slumbering Ones” or “Fey Mists—Do Not Enter.”
The Shopkeeper: Thaddeus Gray
Thaddeus is an elderly, eccentric tiefling who wears heavy reading spectacles and a patched velvet robe. Unlike the rest of the villagers, his superstition manifests as an obsessive need to document every omen, omen-born creature, and shifting border. He is eager to buy accounts of geography from anyone who survives crossing into Sithean.
For Sale:
- Map of the Slumbering Foothills – 10 gpGrant advantage on Survival checks made to navigate the immediate valleys surrounding Yawn.
- Ink (1 ounce bottle) & 3 Quills – 10 gp
- Parchment (5 sheets) – 1 gp
- Sealing Wax & Signet Stamp (Blank) – 5 gp
- Journal (Blank, leather-bound) – 5 gp
The Shearer’s Forge & Outfitter
Part smithy and part leatherworker’s workshop, this building features a large stone chimney that coughs soot into the mountain air. The exterior walls are lined with old horseshoes nailed tips-up to bring good fortune and keep the building grounded against divine storms.
The Shopkeeper: Orla Stonecutter
Orla is a muscular dwarf woman with soot-stained apron and braided brown hair. She is practical to a fault, viewing the town’s superstitions not as terrifying mysteries, but as a set of rules to be engineered around. If a horseshoe keeps a spirit away, she will simply forge the best horseshoe in the valley.
For Sale:
- Heavy Wool Traveling Cloak – 2 gpEssential for surviving the drop in temperature as one ascends the Slumbering Mountains.
- Hempens Rope (50 feet) – 1 gp
- Grappling Hook – 2 gp
- Leather Armor – 10 gp
- Block and Tackle – 1 gp
- Set of 10 Iron Pitons – 1 gp