Refuge

The town of Refuge is a small, rustic town reminiscent of the Old West, or at least the kind of Old West you

see in movies, encased entirely in a supposedly impregnable bubble made up (possibly) of pure time. You know, like in the movies.

The buildings are “rustic chic,” made largely of wood with some metal panels here and there. It is a little bit “shambley,” but not in disrepair. More like people worked very hard and did a lot of intricate work to make it as livable as possible with few resources at their disposal. It’s charmingly (adorably?) cobbled together. The paint scheme is brown.

Civic Institutions Refuge has a couple of law-beings: Roswell, the deputy, and Sheriff Isaac. They’ve been able to keep the peace really well up until the Adventure Zone boys show up to town.

Notable locations
Here’s a map: Here's a link to view it larger.

Gate:
At the entrance of town stands a large gate. The inscription “By Their Sacrifice, Our Home is Made Safe” is burned into the wood atop the gate.

Well:
There is a large water well right inside the gate.

Helpingtons
General store with not a lot of things for sale. It’s a closed system!


 * Episode 42: Roswell is helping clean up in Helpingtons.

The Davey Lamp
Across the street from Helpingtons is a saloon with saloon doors. The name of the establishment is ornately carved into a sign hanging above the door.


 * Episode 42: The Davey Lamp is the first site of infractions with purple kerchiefed ruffians. Magnus sees a man in a purple handkerchief is lying in the street. Another man in purple goes flying into the street out the saloon doors. Roswell moves to chase the two men, but they run away. Roswell tells the boys that it was just a bar fight, nothing more.

Bank
The bank is more solidly built than the other buildings, featuring bars over the windows.


 * Ep. 42. At 11:40 the bank explodes. Most occupants of the bank die, except one dwarf woman who is alive but injured. Three purple kerchief ruffians survive the blast to fight Roswell. The vault was charred but still closed — if their plan was robbery it did not work.

The Clock Tower
There is a Clock Tower, which marks time in Refuge. We’ll get to that bit later.
 * Ep. 42: The fire in the bank spreads to the clock tower, which strikes twelve and then cracks in half.

Jail/Sheriff’s office
To the right of the clock tower is the sheriff’s office with attached jail. The town is small enough that it only needs a small jail with a couple of cells. The jail is made of clay and stone. The cells are unoccupied, save for the one on the end. In that one sits Cassidy, a big, burley woman.

The Sheriff’s office contains a couple smaller chairs Roswell has broken, and Sheriff Isaac’s big desk with a big, big, sturdy chair behind it. The desk has a locked, alarmed drawer, containing a set of keys.
 * Ep. 42: The adventure boys are temporarily detained in the jail. Taako breaks into the desk drawer, setting off the alarm. Cassidy is also in a jail cell. When the jail is damaged in the explosion, Cassidy waltzes right out and Taako casts Knock to just leave.

Manor
At the end of the road is a big, two story manor. Cassidy tells us that Sheriff Isaac, who is also Mayor and Town Elder, lives there.
 * Ep. 42: In the noon earthquake, the clock tower cracks in half and falls on the Manor house.

Statue
Directly in front of the manor is an 8-foot tall statue cast from some kind of brown metal. The statue depicts three figures: a small human girl, about seven years old, wearing a knee-length dress with her hair done up in a bob. She is holding hands with a large, broad, bearded human man wearing a miner’s helmet with a torch on it, and a big flannel shirt and big bulky pants. He’s clearly dressed as a miner. They are both smiling, and the statue looks pretty well-made: they can make out the facial features of this statue. Standing behind them, with a hand on each of their shoulders, is a figure cloaked in a red robe. He is smaller than the man, but has pretty broad shoulders as well: he’s tall and muscular, which can be seen even under the figure’s robe. The figure’s robe is obscuring their face.

Roswell indicates that the statue depicts a very important event in the town’s history: “the time that the visitor came and brought the father and daughter to our town. And by their sacrifice our town was made safe!”

Other geographical features:

Forest:
Behind the manor lies a thick forest of pine trees.

Plateau:
To the west of town, there’s a plateau overlooking the street and spiraling off of the buildings.

Tall wooden fence
It runs along the eastern perimeter of the town

Bubble:
Encircling the entire town with a fluctuating power of pure time (probably).

The actual Eleventh Hour
Certain things happen during the 11:00 hour in the town of Refuge that seem anomalous. The most obvious, of course, is the arrival of the Adventure Zone team at (presumably) the top of the hour.
 * 11:00: The team arrives
 * early-hour: The Davey Lamp is the first site of infractions w/ purple kerchiefs
 * mid-hour: Minor earthquake
 * 11:45: Explosion at the bank
 * 12:00: Timequake?