A fortress city that defined itself by the crossing it controls. That crossing is now failing.
Crownvale (border with Frostmarch & Sablecoast)
Stonebridge sits at the eastern edge of Crownvale where the Kings Road meets the Pax River. The bridge over the Pax is on the city's eastern border — the only reliable crossing point between Crownvale and the realms to the east. The city grew up around that fact and has never forgotten it. The terrain is flat river country on the Crownvale side, rising into harder ground toward Frostmarch on the far bank.
The Garrison — the military heart of the city. The commander's keep sits at the highest point of the walls, overlooking both the bridge and the road. The garrison controls access to the crossing and sets the terms for anyone passing through.
The Bridge Quarter — the eastern district built around the toll gate and the bridge approach. Warehouses, inns for merchants, money-changers. Usually the loudest part of the city. Quieter now.
The Refuge Warrens — not a planned district. The western wards that have been taken over by refugees from Frostmarch and Sablecoast as the roads brought more people than the city could absorb. Crowded, improvised, and increasingly tense with the garrison's patience.
The bridge is freezing from the bottom up — the ice forms overnight on the underside of the stone and spreads upward into the road surface by morning. Crossing is still possible but the garrison has lost three soldiers to collapses in the past month. Trade has slowed to a trickle; merchants will not risk their carts on uncertain footing.
At the same time, refugees from Frostmarch and Sablecoast have been arriving for months. The Refuge Warrens are beyond capacity. The garrison is feeding people it has no mandate to feed and housing people it has no room for, while trying to keep a crossing open that is slowly being taken from it by the cold.
The garrison commander has sent requests to High Alden for engineers and supplies. No reply has come.