Sevenecho is a small town, and exists only as a market for the well-dispersed farmers in the area and, because of the ponds and wells nearby, as a watering hold for caravan mounts. It is a small hamlet named for the family that runs the local inn, the Worried Wyvern, one of the finest inns in the Vast.

The Worried Wyvern was founded in 1338 DR, and has grown to be a sprawling manse lying atop a wide knoll, with dormers, wings, side chambers, and other curiosities springing out at random. The Wyvern has its own deep well, and produces fine smoked meats, passable beer, and a sharp local cheese. The family patriarch and current proprietor of the inn is Belior Sevenecho (LN hm F5).

The Sevenechoes are the most prominent of several local families that include the Scantchars, who are viewed with mild suspicion. Much of this stems from the fact that the family matriarch, an elderly and kind woman named Riliyyr, is an accomplished wizard (CG hf W7).

Two local legends surround Sevenecho. The first is that a ghost appears regularly on one of the nearby ponds. The Drowned Lady is said to have been a traveler, who was slain by the local boy she flirted with and then spurned. The family of the local boy belonged to varies according to who is telling the tale.

Of a more profitable note for adventurers, a local legend says that in the last days of Tuir the Deep King, nine dwarves, each dwarf bearing a chest of gems, were overtaken by orcs. They buried the gems and then assaulted the orcish hordes, fighting to the death. Given the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the dwarven kingdom in the area, this legend may be true.

The Realms never fail to entrance me, with little hidden corners and unexpected beauties. Unfortunately, with unexpected beauty oft comes unexpected danger.

Elminster of Shadowdale, said to an apprentice Year of The Thorch

Our ongoing tour of the Realms has brought us to my study, where I had a few readers' queries about the Realms for the Old Mage to answer. One was for information about "Sevone." This puzzled Elminster, who muttered: "Sevone? No such place...."

When I showed him the map from FR9/The Bloodstone Lands, he muttered something dark about creative cartographers, and said: "That's not "Sevone," it's "Sevenecho," ye fool!"

Elminster was angry enough to lecture me (for as long as it took him to empty a few tankards) on the history and present lay of the land in Sevenecho. So here's the background lore for another little corner of the Realms.

Geography and Residents

Sevenecho is a hamlet of about 70 people located where the road from Procampur (The North Road) meets the trail (Stormcrest Trail) from Tsurlagol. It continues north through the Vast, ultimately to Mulmaster. The population includes outlying farmers; only about 35 or so folk live in Sevenecho itself. The place is named for its most prominent family.

Sevenecho is very small: the inn rises on the western side of the road junction. It faces a small cluster of farmhouses. There is one rooming house, run by Alaith Sharmtar (NG hf F4, retired), and the other residences house the local families of Hurtrin (noted as suppliers of fine radishes, parsnips, and pigs), Obaleth (the cheese makers), and Scantshar (who have a local reputation as "fey," thanks to the current matriarch, Riliyyn Scantshar, a CG hf W7). The various sons, cousins, and uncles of Beliost Sevenecho round out the population. The Sevenecho clan is about 40 strong.

Sevenecho serves as a market for local farmers. Each day during the summer and fall, at least one farmer sells produce from a wagon or stall (a temporary pole-and-awning affair) at the wide place where the roads meet. Twice each tenday, 4d4 farmers show up, selling eggs, cheese, smoked sausages, and all sorts of vegetables. Livestock is also brought along, but slaughtered only upon purchase. One retired farmer, Gaizar Esklabra, makes rope - simple, rough, strong hempen cord, available in 50-foot-long coils (1 sp/coil) and shorter lengths. Another, Shaeld Crowawinter, crafts barrels and kegs that are sturdy and leak proof (1 sp to 8 gp, depending on size).

The roads meet at Sevenecho because of its ponds and deep wells, which allow travelers to water their beasts. A settlement persists here largely because of The Worried Wyvern inn, a fine establishment, and as good an inn as can be found any where in Faerun - although most folk in the Vast judge The Wizard's Hand in Maskyr's Eye to be a shade better.

Founded 19 winters ago by Beliost Sevenecho (LN hm F5), the Wyvern is a large, many-dormered place that rambles up and down a small knoll, sprouting many wings, side-chambers, jutting stone chimneys, and small towers. Built of wood atop cellars and a half-high ground floor of fieldstone, the Wyvern has a cedar-shingled roof. Its cellars house its own deep well, and the Wyvern offers more than 120 beds. There are only some 50 private rooms, however, and some of these are icy in winter because whole wings of the inn aren't heated or lit unless the rest of the place is full.

Guests can sleep and get good, filling meals (the soups and stews are justly famous) and baths with scented water. One can also buy fine smoked meats, adequate home-brewed beer, and strong-flavored local cheese.

Beliost runs the inn and prepares his own meats with the aid of a small smokehouse, which is dug into the hill behind the inn. Other family members make the beer and the cheese. Travelers are warned not to try to out-drink (or out-eat, for that matter) the large and rotund Sevenecho brothers and cousins; some of them have been known to empty in one sitting as large a keg as a strong man can carry.

Beliost is jovial, but quick in a fight. He wields two silver-plated daggers +3 that can paralyze opponents. If Beliost wills it, any foe struck must save vs. spell or be held for 3d4 rounds.

Beliost is well informed about current events and politics in the Vast. He's a good listener and an easy-going man who makes friends effortlessly; just about every traveling merchant in the Vast counts Beliost as a true friend.

The Wyvern is known to have certain hidden cellars where Beliost keeps items, the public display of which would be embarrassing for this or that patron of the inn. Beliost even had a spare icehouse-cavern dug into the hill beside the stables. (The main icehouse is a cellar under the inn, to keep pilferage to a minimum.) Bodies have been known to lie in the spare icehouse for a day or two until quiet burials could be arranged.

Beliost has two pet hates: slavers and those who use magic to lord it over others, "throwing the weight of their spells around" as he puts it. All other folk find him pleasant and interested in their troubles and plans. A tenday rarely passes without some veteran adventurer or other stopping by to tell Beliost of his dreams and doings, just as he once did as a gawky, green youth.

Beliost is famous for once felling a fleeing orc in the night by hurling an axe out a window almost 200 yards. He has a natural aptitude for hurling axes, long swords, and smaller weapons of all sorts: allow him a THACO of 10 when throwing weapons up to 100' distant, a THACO of 12 from 100' to 160' distant, and a THACO of 14 from 161' to about 240' distant. (He can't hurl any farther than that with damaging force.)

Beliost is always armed with five daggers: his magical pair at his belt, one hidden on a forearm sheath inside the voluminous sleeves of his shirt (the pleats, yoke, and open front of which give him a piratical look), and one in each boot. He has larger weapons behind the bar and concealed behind panels throughout the inn.

In a pinch, Beliost can call in favors from his neighbor Riliyyn Scantshar to obtain magical aid, and his staff gives him enthusiastic and eager, if untrained, support. This miniature battalion includes 14 chambermaids, seven hostlers, and two water-boys (all F1s). Another 3d10 Sevenecho lads (F1s to F3s) are typically only a shout away, working and sleeping in their nearby shops and houses.

Orc bands dwelling in the hills nearby know better than to raid Sevenecho: they can be facing 20 sharp blades only minutes after any alarm is raised.

Beliost has 11 sons and more than a dozen cousins. His second wife died a dozen summers ago, but he's declined to marry again since then. He has been known to keep company with no less than four of his chambermaids. These four senior chambermaids are Nionel Tlestlin, Lauryn Shavvyrstar, Mreeiel Klintar, and Chyndrie Stormwind (all F1s with 18 DEX scores). They get along easily with each other, and are fond of referring to Beliost as the chief adventurer in the band.

The other well-known native of Sevenecho is the current head of the Scantshar family. Riliyyn Scantshar is old, clings to the bony remnants of once-spectacular beauty, and has a sharp tongue and a ready ear for news and jokes. She wears old, faded embroidered silk gowns from Thay, has a pet pseudo-dragon, and freely passes on news of possible treasures and adventures to any who ask. She directs most folk north into the mountains, where she believes orc raiding bands have found a respectable amount of dwarven gold, and seized more than their share of booty from travelers.

She's right; there are at least two orc bands, each more than a dozen strong, but she doesn't much care if she's wrong. She'd like the orcs killed off, and she believes adventurers should be kept busy - elsewhere - if local peace is to be maintained.

Riliyyn has no magic items except her spell books (one set buried, another in her study, and a third hidden behind a loose stone in her cellar wall), 14 potions of extra healing (which she'll sell to those who ask for aid, for 50 gp each), and a special magic ring devised for her long ago that allows her to use the following spells, at 12th level, once a day: blade barrier (20'-radius sphere centered on her - she is immune to all effects, and the blades move with her or remain behind as she desires, duration one turn or less if she wills them to fade away); dispel magic; hold undead; invisibility (herself or another being she touches); levitate; telekinesis; and wall of force. The ring's magic replenishes these spells without memorization. To maintain it, Riliyyn must cast a spell - any spell - into it at least once every 10 days; if this is not done, one spell power is forever lost, followed by another power every five days thereafter. If the last power goes, the ring crumbles to dust.

Riliyyn lives with no less than 16 of her nieces and granddaughters (seven of whom are apprentices: NG and CG hf W3s or less. Each usually has magic missile and unseen servant spells memorized. Riliyyn doesn't go adventuring and rarely provides training to strangers, though she might allow someone to copy a first or second level spell (for at least 500 gp).

Though she may appear frail, Riliyyn has the means to protect herself; she has a number of spell triggers (special pre-cast magical effects of her own devising). These spells lie dormant until she causes them to take effect later - years later if need be - by silent effort of will. They can do the following:

• Teleport: She is instantly transported to her study, where three battle horrors (animated suits of armor with magical abilities) wait to defend her. A fourth battle horror appears wherever she was before teleporting. For statistics, see the Helmed Horror MC entry in the module FA1/Halls of the High King, or in the revised boxed FORGOTTEN REALMS® Campaign Setting. DMs lacking these sources can replace them with baneguards, guardian skeletons, or similar monsters.
• Fireball: A 7d6 missile bursts 21 feet in front of her. Riliyyn has five of these, and a sixth that can be triggered to burst in the center of the wide gravel area where the two roads meet.
• Heal: Riliyyn or another being she's touching regains lost hit points. She has two of these spells.
• Neutralize poison: This works on herself or on a creature she's touching.

As far as interesting folks in Sevenecho go, there's not much beyond Beliost and Riliyyn, but someone in Sevenecho - probably one of the inn staff - is an agent for the Red Wizards of Thay. Elminster doesn't know who this agent is (yet), but the spy is responsible for watching and reporting who and what passes on the roads. This unknown spy is not a field agent, and never lifts blade or hand to betray his or her allegiance by murder, robbery, or other active deed.

No one in Sevenecho is a competent road guide for the Vast; most residents have never been more than seven miles from home. Bluth Hurtrin and Nym Obaleth can both repair wagons; they typically charge 15 gp for repairing a broken frame, and 25 gp per wheel they must replace.

Alaith Sharmtar is the only source of clothing. Her wares are used, but in good shape; prices are 1d4 cp for most garments, one sp for a gown, cloak, or pair of boots. Alaith repairs clothing for one cp a garment. She charges four sp a night for a bed, or one gp a night for a room, which includes hot buttered bread, a sausage and fruit, and a carafe of weak wine or hand-keg (about three tankards) of home brew. This beverage is a thick, dark, cinnamon-spiced barley beer.

Idle Talk

Sevenecho has few local legends about monsters or magic, beyond everpresent news of death and destruction befalling travelers in the dangerous mountains to the north (and a general mistrust of the Scantshar family). Locals often see "the ghost of the drowned lady" by Ghost Pond, a large, shallow pool by the road side just north of Sevenecho (she's actually a phantom, detailed in Volume 11 of the Monstrous Compendium, and can lead to whatever adventure a DM^TM desires).

There's also a tale of the last days of dwarven rule in the Vast:

Nine dwarves each buried a chest of gems somewhere very near the meeting of the roads in Sevenecho, before the orcs that were pursuing them caught up and slaughtered them all. Elminster tells me this tale is true, and as far as he knows, a certain dark naga (q.v., FR13/Anauroch, MC11, or in the revised boxed Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting) found the treasure and probably keeps it in a lair near Sevenecho.

When I asked Elminster for more details on Sevenecho, he merely shrugged and said, "It has damp weather - lots of morning mists, as I recall. Naught else of note that I remember. Oh, if ye stop in the Wyvern, ye might give my greetings to Nionel, a chambermaid there. She's the one with the long, long hair, an' - hmmph; never mind. She'll remember me."

This hamlet of about seventy people stands where the North Road from Procampur meets the Stormcrest Trail from Tsurlagol. A rainy, damp place often shrouded in mists of mornings, it is named for its most prominent family. This tiny village centers, both figuratively and literally, around The Worried Wyvern Inn, which rises on the western side of the junction of the two roads. The roads meet at Sevenecho because of its ponds and deep wells (allowing travelers to water their beasts). A settlement persists here largely because of The Worried Wyvern, a fine establishment (as good an inn as can be found anywhere in Faerûn). Founded nineteen winters ago by Beliost Sevenecho (LN hm F5), the Wyvern is a large, many-dormered place that rambles up and down a small knoll, sprouting many wings, side-chambers, jutting stone chimneys, and small towers. Its cellars house its own deep well, and the inn offers over a hundred and twenty beds in some fifty guest rooms, some of which are icy in winter because whole wings of the inn aren't heated or lit unless the rest of the place is full. Guests here can sleep, get good filling meals (the soups and stews are justly famous), and take scentwater baths in huge copper tubs. One can also buy fine smoked meats, homebrewed beer, and the strong-flavored local Obaleth cheese.

Beliost runs the inn, and prepares his own meats with the aid of a small smokehouse behind the inn, dug into the hill next to the stables. The brewing of beer is something of a family obsession; each of his relatives makes his own brew, and each insists his is the best. All provide the inn with potables (the better to test their excellence on unsuspecting guests); travelers had best be circumspect when praising or criticizing their latest mug, as the innkeeper's large and quick-tempered sons and cousins might feel inclined to contest their opinions. Travelers are also warned nor to try to out-drink (or out-eat, for that matter) the rotund Sevenechos, some of whom have been known to empty as large a keg as a strong man can carry at one meal.

Beliost is jovial but capable in a fight, aided by two silver-plated daggers +3 (anyone struck by them who fails a saving throw vs. paralyzation is held for 3d4 rounds). He's a good listener and an easy-going man who makes friends easily; just about every traveling merchant in the Vast counts Beliost as a true friend. The innkeeper is thus very well informed about current events and politics in the Vast.

Beliost has eleven suns and more than a dozen cousins, but his second wife died a dozen summers ago. He's declined to marry again since then and is on intimate terms with no less than four of his chambermaids: Noelin Tlestlin, Lauryn Shavvyrstar, Mreeiel Klintar, and Chyndrie Stormwind (all F1s with Dexterities of 18 and Armor Classes to match). The women get along easily with each other and are fond of referring to Beliost as "the chief adventurer in our band." This title that has puzzled many a traveler, as the maids often refer to Beliost as "Chief Adventurer" rather than the more common formal terms "Hostler," "Innkeeper," or "the master of the house."

In a pinch, Beliost can call in favors from his neighbor, the elderly Riliyyn Scantshar (CG hf W7), to obtain magical aid and will be enthusiastically supported by the untrained but eager efforts of his fourteen chambermaids, seven lads, and two water-boys (all F1s). Another 3d6 locals (F1s to F3s) are typically only a shout away, in their nearby shops, houses, and farms. Orc bands dwelling in the hills nearby know better than to raid Sevenecho: the folk here can mobilize with frightening speed at need.

As far as interesting folks go, there's not much here beyond Beliost and Riliyyn. Someone in Sevenecho-probably one of the chambermaids-is an agent for the Red Wizards of Thay, responsible for watching who and what passes on the roads and then passing on this information and other messages to passing Thayan agents. Whoever this spy is, he or she aren't a field agent and never lifts blade or hand to betray the secret allegiance by murder, robbery, or other active deed.

Sevenecho has few local legends of monsters or magic, beyond everpresent news of death and destruction befalling travelers in the dangerous mountains to the north (and the aforementioned mistrust of the Scantshar family). Locals often see "the ghost of the drowned lady" (a beautiful phantom, said to be Beliost's great-grandmother) by Ghost Pond, a large shallow pool by the roadside just north of Sevenecho. There's also a tale from the last days of dwarven rule in the Vast: nine dwarves each buried a chest of gems somewhere near the meeting of the roads in Sevenecho before the orcs that were pursuing them caught up to them and slaughtered them all. Rumor has it that a certain dark naga found the treasure and now lairs with it, somewhere very near Sevenecho. Those who have never visited the hamlet whisper that the naga has gained control over the whole village, but those who have experienced the local hospitality dismiss the thought as absurd.