The inhabitants of Crossroad Mire (a couple of hundred on a good day) hail from the disreputable side of virtually every species. There is no order as such. Peace stems from fear of offending someone who would happily turn your vital organs into incendiary weapons or soup. Nobody gives 'fancy' magicians a second look unless they're asking for it, though their luggage is automatically in dire jeopardy.

Crossroad Mire comes across as a swamp village like any other. The area sees its share of fishing, hunting, and small-scale cultivation of local crops (mostly pungent fungi or plants that taste like dirt). Many occupants make a living by bartering their unique services with larger towns like Suckmud or Puce. A sluggish but steady flow of visitors come to learn magic of one kind or another, or to buy strange ingredients. At least one gang from The Shallows is known to send its thieves to learn certain tricks from Crossroad Mire's diverse teachers.

The docks and buildings of Crossroad Mire turned out gloomy, untidy, and generally of a piece with the swamp. Most of the skeletons sank into the mud as permanent sentries, though several remain visible as guards and servants. Premade wards and illusions can be used to flummox ambitious pirates and so forth. The village's primary defense is environmental, to wit, swamp: an army or ship would have little chance of getting close. So far the largest armed force to reach Crossroad Mire has been a longboat of pirates.

Harrier maintains a room and lab in the main roadhouse. Considering the type of company she cultivates at Crossroad Mire, and how often things go missing, she keeps nothing of special value there.

The roadhouse has plenty of bunks, cots, hammocks, workplaces, and reading nooks with varying degrees of privacy and cleanliness. Some visitors prefer to sleep in their boats or even build their own shacks.

The quartermaster of sorts is Hagglesnip, a hairy being of unknown race, perhaps a Nordenfiir crone. Hagglesnip can usually be found in the main roadhouse, stirring a large cauldron labeled 'catch of the day.' The contents are guaranteed to do something interesting, even if only to one's digestive tract. She is especially fond of stewed, half-living gristo eel. In an outbuilding, Hagglesnip also maintains a broad and bizarre collection of samples and curios for use, sale, and barter. Many are of dubious value, but a discerning alchemist will always walk away happy, unsettled, or both.

Although Crossroad Mire has an diverse library of potentially nefarious magic, the swamp is somewhat inimical to paper. A given book, unless protected by some spell or chemical, will generally have lifeforms growing on it or living inside it. There is no librarian other than a mute and nameless skeleton who shelves things whether they need shelving or not. Crossroad Mire's library rivals or exceeds the restricted section at the College of Elbion for breadth of hazard and audacity of concept. Noteworthy terrible people, such as the ancient necromancer Khalldryn, appear among the authors. There are, of course, no restrictions on who may read what. Stealing books is...discouraged.

The necromancer Harrier Wren, once a Maester of the College at Elbion, has often gathered fellow practitioners to the bayou on an informal basis. The bayou offered fascinating advantages: natural defenses, privacy, innovative local traditions, and unusual alchemical ingredients. She raised a crew of skeletal pirates as cheap labour and set them to work cannibalizing shipwrecks. Deep in the saltwater swamp, the resulting undead built her a roadhouse of sorts from the wreckage, along with several outbuildings and a dock. Undead likewise served as messengers to publicize Crossroad Mire's existence and services.

Crossroad Mire sprang up in the last couple of years. It's built a local reputation as a place of anomalies and oddities. The farthest it's a known name would be The Shadows, the 'bad part of town' in Alliria. Especially curious or well-connected travelers, merchants, explorers, and disreputable mages could easily hear about it and find it after a few weeks' work.

• Call of the Dark Arts - Harrier begins to draw likeminded practitioners to the Bayou
• Bones in the Bayou - Harrier lays claim to an undead labour force and shipwreck materials
• We Built This City on Muck and Souls - Travelers gather at Crossroad Mire
• The First Law and Other Sundries - letters from Crossroad Mire
• Within the Marsh - An Allirian Ranger comes to Crossroad Mire hunting pirates