Hello, I’m Branwyn Two-Moon of Clan Lightridge, and these are the Ersatz Echoes of Eastfjord Harbor for the week of Summer Blazing, 2019.

We’ve arrived at midsummer, which always feels misnamed as the next month and a half are the warmest of the year, and welcomed it with a festival focused around heat.

Marie’s Pies won the professional challenges for both sweet and savory pies, as they’ve done for several years. However, newcomers to the valley scored second and third place and I personally feel that both were close contenders for first. Are they that good, is the valley tired of Marie’s recipes? Guess we’ll find out when the next contest comes around.

New residents to the valley shone in individual and team contests as well, frequently taking any two of the top three spots.  Some people who’ve won for years aren’t taking this well, but the best of them are taking tips from their competitors – at least, those close enough to trade tips with easily. While social sendings are possible, they’re not exactly cheap.

If you’re looking for things that aren’t cheap but are worth the investment, now is the time to talk to tailors, weavers, shoemakers, and similar about winter wardrobes.  While the weavers in particular have been oddly busy for the past few weeks, the weavers’ guild reports they have wrapped up a major project and are ready to work with you.

With thunderstorms predicted across the valley next week, and hail likely in the foothills, hopefully the tailors and tinkerers have rain gear ready to go.

Sylph-casters from the Black Mountain clan of Feralix also say to expect a heavy snow at high elevations next week, something they acknowledge as unusual.

Messengers working within the valley continue to be quite busy, but I personally note that we’ve not seen a messenger, royal or otherwise, coming from outside the valley here in Eastfjord Harbor all week.  Normally, this wouldn’t be newsworthy, but we’ve seen so many of them recently, I feel it’s worth noting.

The rarely heard from guild Deep Delve emerged from the northern tunnel at the east of the valley for their regular check in with the guard outpost there. They report that the houndlings living in and beneath the castle have not only established what can only be described as moss, mold, and mushroom gardens, but also cisterns with which to keep them watered.  They also report that much like our own farms, they are well-guarded. It was the unexpected presence of guards that lead them to discover these subterranean gardens to begin with.

Meanwhile, our surface farms continue to report a lack of hostile contact with the houndlings. That wording is deliberate, as there’s a report of a farmer falling into a pit and being pulled out by houndlings.  Granted, the farmer is the only witness to this, but sources in the region consider the vomba in question highly reliable and trustworthy.

Before we get into our sponsors this week, a note.  I am fully aware that they’re more or less competitors to each other by nature of business. That said, I’ve never actually found Red Wombat Tea for purchase anywhere, in any form.  They’ve paid for their sponsorship well in advance and included in their contract a clause that says advertising for tea shops, tea houses, and similar is acceptable to run alongside their tea.  So…

The Ersatz Echoes of Eastfjord Harbor are brought to you by Red Wombat Tea Company, purveyors of fine and otherworldly tea. Red Wombat: We Dig Tea.

Also brought to you by Gneech’s House of Tea, now open just outside the southeastern gate of Eastfjord Harbor. Try our vanilla rooibos, the house speciality!

These have been the Ersatz Echoes of Eastfjord Harbor for the week of Summer Blazing, 2019. Take care, stay dry, and stay cool.