Balenpost

Balenpost is a small outpost and research facility controlled by the Cerberus Assembly on the island of Foren in Eiselcross.

Description
The Cerberus Assembly refers to Balenpost as being the Dwendalian Empire's central outpost in Eiselcross, but it is entirely run and controlled by the Assembly and their appointees, although the crown has been able to infiltrate.

Balenpost consists of a ramshackle wooden fort located on the southwestern shore of Foren. There is a portcullis of iron bars guarding the seaside gate leading to the interior of the fort, through the 10-foot-high wall of frozen logs running around its perimeter.

Inside the walls, the courtyard is lined with numerous tents and small structures, and small wooden watchtowers poke over the edges manned by guards with longbows and crossbows. There is one large central fortification on the western edge, the central barracks and main defensive position within Balenpost, a small three-story, boxy stone and wood castle-like fortification, functional but built with the limited materials available so far north. It is the largest bulwark in the town.

The outpost has no formal inn or tavern, but there are card and dice games nightly in the fortress, and a lot of drunken fighting.

Horswell's Lab
The location of arcane experimentation in Balenpost. Korberta Horswell uses this space to study and attempt to replicate the Aeorian relics retrieved from the wastes.

Society
Many of the people in Balenpost seem to have come from Shadycreek Run or are working off a prison debt. Balenpost's reason for existence is to launch expeditions to recover Aeorian items, and so most of the people there are either adventurers, guides, mages, or those who support the expeditions with supplies. The society is brutally cutthroat, as the Cerberus Assembly will not pay those who come back from expeditions empty-handed.

Demographics
Balenpost is a small outpost, numbering only 205 residents in 835 PD, consisting of Cerberus Assembly mages and adventurers seeking treasure in the icy wastes. Most residents are human (69%), but there are also a number of halflings (11%), gnomes (7%), and dragonborn (7%).

History
Balenpost was constructed by the Cerberus Assembly to scour Eiselcross for Aeorian artifacts. Expedition crews who return with such relics are rewarded, and those who come back for a resupply without having discovered any items do not receive pay until they successfully retrieve magical items from the ruins.

While the Cerberus Assembly is in charge of Balenpost, the Dwendalian Empire Crown wants to make sure its interests are protected. King Bertrand Dwendal knows that the Assembly isn't keeping him entirely informed, and has placed a number of spies within the outpost to keep an eye on the operations to ensure the assembly does not intend to use the relics against him.