Crick’s Bend is a farming and fishing town in the Silver Vale, north-north-east of Argentum and about ten hours’ walk by the Old Road and the country road that branches off it.1 Temerity grew up here.1
Description
The road into town from the south passes an open public stable before the buildings close together.1 At the center the street runs in a circle around a big old tree with a well beside it. The general store, kept by Rebecca Brice, stands on the west of that circle and the church on the north-east, with the Miller's House further north, near the mill.1 The store is a converted barn, with tools, nails and horseshoes on its shelves and fresh bread at the back.2 There is a one-story tavern that sells drink and food but keeps no rooms.1 Lanterns hang all over the town, on posts and in the branches of trees, so the streets stay lit after dark; the fields between the houses do not.1
Farms surround the town, with the Kemble farm the largest of them.1 Nine Kembles live on it, two parents and seven children.3 The river runs north of the town, with denser trees beyond it and no bridge across.1 The land east of town towards the river is too rocky to farm.1
The Church
A plain wooden building, handmade and old, with a mote of fire carved into the front to mark it as holy ground, and a bell with a hammer beside it for calling worship.1 Inside are two rows of pews and a raised dais with a desk and bookshelves. Wellby Emberthumb keeps it, and the house behind it.1
The Kemble Farm
The largest farm around the town. A lantern burns on the front porch after dark. The front door opens into a small entry with a coat rack and a place for boots, with a sitting room to one side, stairs to the upper floor, and a hall curving back to the kitchen and a large dining room. The carved dining table runs the length of the room and seats twelve, since the family is large and likes to have guests.4 Nine Kembles live there: Henry and Maurine, and their children Darrel, David, Duke, Trever, Troy, Juniper and Eliza.4
History
Founding
The ground was surveyed sixty-nine years ago, before anything was built, by a company out of Argentum that the Ashford family largely paid for. Wellby Emberthumb copied the survey nine years later, added the first buildings, and planned where the church would go himself.4 The road predates the town by a long time.4
Session 5
The party arrived around four in the afternoon on 26 Coldrise, 1714 PSF, escorting Anthusa Toguri.1 Hazel found the store sold out of pastries, Temerity visited the Kemble farm, and the party met Sister Ashryn twice, once on the road past the church and again at the Miller's House.1 Scouting the edges of town in the shape of a wolf, Hazel found a tinge of the Sorrow on the air, weaker than what she was used to near Silverthorn.1
Session 6
The party left in the morning on 27 Coldrise, 1714 PSF, after coffee at the church.3 Hazel bought the general store’s entire first batch of the day on the way out.3
Session 8
The party walked into Crick’s Bend from the south around seven in the evening on 28 Coldrise, 1714 PSF, and ate with the Kembles.4 Wellby Emberthumb showed Luma the surveyor’s map of the bend before anything was built there, and his own copy with the first buildings added, which showed her that the town was built on ground nobody had used before.4 The party slept at the church.4
Session 9
The party left Crick’s Bend for Argentum on the morning of 29 Coldrise, 1714 PSF, after Rhysaene bought breakfast at the general store.2