The Foldfast Steading

A fortified hill-steading abandoned when the silver failed — its hall caved, its sheepfolds gone to nettle, and a Broken Lances squad quietly camped here to watch the castle road.

When the silver thinned, the family that held Foldfast paid their tithe late twice and then simply walked away, taking the livestock and leaving the furniture. The hall roof fell in the second winter. Now the guard-dogs are feral, ash-hounds have denned in the cellar, and the Broken Lances use the standing walls as a windbreak and a hide from which they watch the fork in the road below. It is a good first delve for someone coming up from the Vale: the dangers are animal and human, not wight, and the Lances are careful not to kill what might be useful — which is exactly the problem.