Who Rules: King Cristof Greentongue (LN, Human Male, F6) spends his days drinking, sitting on the throne dispensing justice and wisdom as he see fits. He usually spends his nights passed out somewhere in the castle or in some tavern.

Who Really Rules: Sir Stephen Silverstar (LG, Human Male, F12) is the king's steward. He stands at a lectern at the foot of the dais beneath the king's throne with a pad of parchment, and inkwell, and a quill. There he logs the judgments or decrees of the king and then later passes them on to the appropriate government department. Sir Silverstar, though, doesn't always write down what the king says. Instead, he makes sure that things are as they should be. The entire court is aware of this but they understand and let it go because Sir Silverstar is loyal to the throne, with no feelings of furthering his own goals. The king, thankfully, almost never remembers any of the rulings that he passes judgment on.

Population: 15,000 (82% human, 8% elf, 4% dwarf, 4% halfling, 2% other).

Major Products: Black pearls, wool, cattle, smoked meat, leather products, cheese, glassware, wagons, and Black Nacre Ale.

Armed Forces: 1,200 (700 cavalry mixed types, 200 archers, 150 artillerists/engineers, and 150 marines in assault boats).

Notable Mages: Oriara (NG, Elf Female, W15) specializes in alteration spells. She spends most of her time sitting next to a fountain in the heart of town reading books and casting cantrips and spells on the fountain's water to entertain children.

Dor Fland (CN, Human Male, W12) spends most of his time experimenting with and modifying fireballs. He has recently managed to create a version of fireball that is appropriately named firestar.

Todd Ers (LE, Human Male,T13/ I14) is a trickster who steals scrolls and replaces them with scrolls that create illusions of what the original spell cast. These illusions appear only to the caster. To everyone else, nothing happens. Todd is very careful about doing this only to visitors or in other cities.

Notable Churches: Umberlee, Istisha, Selune, and Tymora.

Notable Rogues' and Thieves' Guilds: The Creeping Claw, led by Rayton Klawe (LE, ½-drow male, T13), maintains a very low-key presence in Schiffton. They use their operation in the city as a cover for their pearl-theft business, from which they earn most of their money. They maintain a secret base a few miles outside of town where they use trained dolphins to help in their theft. The dolphins provide a fast means of transportation, and are quite useful at keeping predators and guards out of their way when they remove the pearls from where they are grown. They are very careful to remove only a small amount so as not to attract undue attention. Not surprisingly there are more than a few sea-elves in the guild.

Equipment Shops: Half.

Adventurers' Quarters: Adventurers are welcome throughout town, but the Cliffside Castle is by far the most popular. It is a very clean inn with great food and drinks, all at a reasonable price. The inn is built at the edge of town, right up against the cliff overlooking the sea, and goes down 6 stories. All the rooms have windows overlooking the sea, and the better ones also have a balcony. Nefarious adventurers like it because they can leave in a hurry if they have to and if they don't mind a good climb.

Important Characters: Toren Luckstar (NG, Human Male, F1) makes sturdy, yet very soft leather boots. The initial break-in period is short, but quite uncomfortable. However, after about a week, the wearer feels how truly comfortable the boots are. Some people claim that they can walk farther than normal with Toren's boots (+5% to movement rate).

Kovuro Quickknife (CN, Dwarf Male, F3) retired from the military and decided to follow his first love, carving. He will carve almost anything for the right cost. He once carved a 200' tall barber pole for a barber with a huge ego.

Rilene Birchknee (LE, Halflling Female, P10/F9) is known primarily as a priestess of Silvanus who administers first aid and meals to the needy. In reality, she is an assassin who worships Bhaal. Somehow a rumor got started that she was a priestess of Silvanus and being that she is an exceptional assassin she played up this rumor as it provided her with an excellent cover.

Important Features in Town: Schiffton is built atop a 300' tall cliff, and as such it has no harbor. Instead, there are several stairways that descend to the beach below. Some of the stairways are built into the cliff, and some are exposed. All are guarded. What ships do come to Schiffton drop anchor about a mile out, beyond the reef, and use small boats to ferry goods back and forth. Within the confines of the reef are located the pearl farms that provide most of the income for the city. The pearl farmers hire the best guards around to provide protection

The city itself is completely walled around and laid out in a square pattern. The residents of the city are very fond of high towers, of which there are a lot. Current law forbids new towers from being taller than 50', but there are existing towers that are well over this. The reason for all the towers is that the view overlooking the Sea of Fallen Stars is quite phenomenal, and the wealthy citizens in the city were constantly trying to build a bigger and better tower to get a better view of the sea. Because of this, the taller towers tend to be on the southern side of town, further away from the sea. The tallest tower is a massive construct that is 40' in diameter and rises to an impressive height of 350'. It is built right against the southern wall, next to the main gate, and is the result of a great deal of magic and dwarven ingenuity. It is owned by a merchant who was once the richest in town. He is now the 13th richest person in the city, but he has the best tower, and view, in the entire city. It was because of him that the current height legislation was put into effect.

Local Lore: Schiffton is a very quiet town with not much going on. The only real threat that the town faces are pirate raids on the pearl farms. Because of this the town has built several chutes that can drop soldiers down to sea level in seconds. The chutes are angled and flatten out at the base where they extend out for 100', half the width of the beach. The chutes are built into some of the barracks and are not accessible by ordinary folks, and the bottom ends are heavily guarded. Docks connect to the many pearl farms out in the sea.

Recently crabmen have started to migrate into area and are currently just a nuisance. Adventurers have sought out their lairs and eliminated a few tribes of them. However, more crabmen keep coming and they could soon turn into a major threat.