Haunted Manse
Four miles east of Saltmarsh, just inland of the Old Coast Road, stands what locals thought to be a haunted house. Reports of fearsome hauntings, horrible shrieks, and eerie lights emanating from the dismal place kept even the bravest of the area's denizens from approaching the house, let alone entering it.
Until twenty years ago, it had been the residence of an aged alchemist of sinister reputation, one Bram Orin. Back then, Salts avoided the house because of its owner's mysterious activities. Now, two decades after Orin's unexplained disappearance, the house has taken on an even greater air of evil and mystery.
Dilapidated and long abandoned, the house presents an unwholesome appearance. Those hardy souls who have infrequently sought entry (pursuing rumors of a secret hoard of alchemical gold) all returned with naught save grim tales of decaying chambers presided over by monstrous perils.
Indeed, such is the reputation of the house that the fields around it, though prime agricultural land, remain untended and rank with weeds.
Purpose / Function
The secret of the haunted house was that it was not, in fact, haunted. It was the shore base for a band of smugglers led by a fledgling wizard named Sanbalet.
The eerie lights seen at night by onlookers were the smugglers' signals to a ship out at sea. The unearthly shrieks and other sounds were caused by magic mouth spells strategically placed in the building.
The smugglers, during their three years of successful operation, had frightened away all local attempts at investigating their hideout, until everything came crashing down.
556 CY