Addersfield

Addersfield
Overview

Location: Washington state in the United States of America, in a large forest on the north east side of a peak in the Mount Olympus mountain range.

Description: Addersfield is a quiet town that resembles on off a well traveled rural two lane highway. The town is not marked on most maps and is within a section of Olympus National Park that doesn’t get many visitors. With the area discouraged to tourists for landslides and other natural dangers they are casually deterred by signs and the odd park ranger that advises them to head to a different area of the park with helpful directions.

The town is a fairly decent size with the original district having brick roads and older buildings and the rest of the updates town expanding out from this area to include more modern businesses and a few factories. Just because they are out in the middle of nowhere doesn’t mean the place is under developed, the town has everything you could want from bars to bookstores and all in between. There is even a well stocked super market with a section for organic products. So fancy! Off the two lane highway that runs through the town multiple roads split off, turning into more splits until you get to the small residential areas or a the train yard. The highway continues on up the mountain a way to the military base and Journey Lake.

Addersfield doesn’t get many visitors and when they do the people often feel they are being watched. Disregarding that feeling the townspeople are nice and welcoming, unphased by the odd happenings here, and more or less normal people. People even leave the town every now and then. When they do they have to sell their property and to do so you have to go to the local government. All of this is The Foundation in the background. Visitors are watched closely for any signs that they may know more than they let on. If anything odd happens around them they are taken in and questioned or amnesticized. People leaving the town are free to do so but not without being amnesticized. People of Addersfield have come to know that their town is weird and they are fine with that in their day to day lives, having adjusted.
Places In Town:

Addersfield Marketplace: The largest store in town that is not a specialized store. Think off brand super store like Wal-Mart but more classy. The store is in a fairly large building with only one level. The inside is split into a few areas for all their customers to wander.

The first area right when you walk in is the grocery area. Long aisles of various food stuffs and supplies. They even have a small aisle where they sell foreign foods and snacks. No butcher shop in here as they try not to disturb local business.

The second area is the home and goods section where they display day to day clothing and home goods like your plumbing and paint supplies. Obviously they have a well stocked sport and hobby area where you can buy anything to help you harness the nearby outdoors. Almost anything, no guns, kind of goes against the whole part about the town being In a nature preserve.

The last area is the marketplace. Here they have their alcohol and liquor store and a few small in house vendors that serve specialty foods fresh that the town doesn’t already have going. One such shop is a brisket and fried chicken stall. Best damn brisket you have ever tasted. Another one is a build it yourself stir fry place. Outside of the doors leading to the place is a small courtyard for people to eat and enjoy the weather. There is also in indoor eating area too for the people who don’t like the rain and snow as a side dish.

Wet Dog Saloon: Addersfield’s number one bar. Not that that is saying too much, the town only has a few, maybe five at the most and most are dive bars outside of a sports bar. This saloon has a little bit of everything for your tastes buds and interests. A small stage for a live band or even karaoke on Tuesdays. Upstairs is a few pool tables and a small game arcade with a few miscellaneous games, air hockey, pinball machines, and a very popular VR flight simulator. The ground floor has an area with booths and tables for food eating or drinking, and a square central bar that takes up the middle or the room with plenty of televisions around the building. They serve most alcohols that are common tap beer to bourbon. All the house drinks have names themed after dogs.

The owner only tells the trusted and regular customers how the place got its name.

The Perch: The perch is the premier cafe in Addersfield and since it is popular it is totally hipster free! You can even order using terms like ‘large’ instead of that Starbucks crap. Yeah, there is a Starbucks but The Perch is reported to have the best coffee around town. Off of main street, the coffee shop has a rustic log cabin feel crammed into a brick building. Various kinds of taxidermied birds are set on high shelves and the rafters is what gave the shop it’s name. Don’t worry, all of the birds were found freshly dead, none of them were killed for their current place. The allure of this place is that while they do serve your usual American style coffee they also serve it in the other ways from around the world to cater to the people in town who seem to be an extreme range of nationalities. They also serve snacks as well, the grilled bison panini being the most famous.

Merit Bank: Addersfield main bank that sits in Old Addersfield area right off the main road. The bank and library both were named after their founder Anthony Merit when the town was still hovering around the population of 2,000. The bank has never had problems before and is almost suspiciously well off when it comes to funds and ability to approve loans. It is well known that without it the town would have died in the past years. The building is stone construction and elaborate with columns and very fancy additions like marble floors and other items that have been renovated over time. Curiously, there are three vaults beneath the bank, each one becoming more secure than the last. One vault belongs to the everyday person and their money. The second is full of safety deposits boxes and the like. The final one has not been opened for a long time and it is unknown exactly what it is for but only the Merit family possesses the key and knowledge to access it.

Matthew's Tavern: Don’t be fooled by the name here, this place is your higher grade eating establishment and not an actual tavern. They have nice table cloths and cheap chandeliers for you to admire as you order from a massive menu of foods from around the world. The place is quite large and even has a viewing window into the kitchen area so you can see your food being prepped or the head chef start banging his head against a wall when someone royally screws up a dish. Nah, they are fairly competent in their cooking even with the large menu. The floor is wide open with columns spaced out evenly around the edges and a few upstairs balcony areas for parties or private guests. Bathroom have mouthwash and stuff like hairspray in case you are bombing completely and need a confidence boost. Get the steak or the ravioli, they are amazing.

Addersfield Nature Museum: In a forest preserve, what else did you expect? The site is pretty hard to point out as a museum since it used to be the town hall back in the day until it was expanded on and made into a place celebrating the park the town rests in. All sorts of displays about the animals and land with history to go along with it. Really this is more or less a small tourist area for the very sparse traffic that comes through and since most of the town knows it well enough it is largely ignored for things around town that are much less boring. The main use it gets is the restoration room by a company the sends in items to be cleaned and restored by the museum staff.

Old Addersfield Post Office: This one is pretty mundane, it is a post office. The mail comes in and the mail goes out. Two trucks arrive in town on a regular schedule, one to the post office and another to the military base up the mountain.

Adder Park: A could hundred yard long and wide park at the edge of the town. There is playground equipment, a small pond for fishing, benches, a small field for impromptu sports, and a spacious mix of trees throughout for shade. The population of pigeons and crows tends to argue for attention of food givers with the crows always outsmarting the pigeons. A good deal of families come here later in the day to relax and some public events are held here like the yearly Addersfield Olympics.

Journey Lake: A large mountain lake with a small island in it close to the north side. The water is fresh and clean for the most part thanks to conservation efforts by the park staff and the businesses around town. Boating and fishing is allowed as long as it is for food or catch and release, even then there is a strict limit of only fish over a certain size and five fish maximum. Rumors have been circulating for years about a serpent in the waters but it has never been proven.

Addersfield Police/Ranger Department: It is a simply built police station with an extension built onto it. The main building holds to town’s small police force and their arrests. They have minimal amount of cells and a larger cell the works as their drunk tank. For such a small force they are armed well with newer handguns and even full SWAT load-outs that are maintained and rarely used.

The extension of the building is where the park rangers have set up their office. Mostly for show, they have an office here to work with the police and handle their own brand of justice with making sure the surrounding regulations on the park are followed while also assisting in search and rescue. You won’t actually find a ranger in the office most of the time since they are always out and scouting the woods but their secretary, Jim, will be happy to radio them if you have a concern.

Merit Library: A building shrouded in rumor by the locals just like the bank. THe library is owned and was founded by the same family as the bank. The building is a simple corner lot two level building with a clock tower. It is well stocked with a massive amount of books and while unimpressive on the outside it is much different on the inside. Polished wood floor and dark wood furniture. Bookshelves everywhere on both levels, some tall enough to warrant rolling ladders. A few tiny reading areas are throughout with tables, chairs, and reading lights. The walls are smooth stone, the fixtures all steel, and nothing creaks.

The basement is much older and has not been renovated as the upper floors have. Everything creaks or groans. Cobwebs tend to pile up because the cleaning staff dislikes going down there. Things move when you are not looking and most of the doors are locked for some reason and the ones that are not will close behind you. There is also a mysterious vault down there where they keep the rare and restricted books like occult books and very old texts that the family has collected over the years.

Underlyfe: The place is better than the name, I promise you. Underlyfe is a night specifically put there for you adult and teens of the town. Upon arriving your keys are taken like a coat check and you get them back if you pass a breathalyzer test. It is made out of the basement of an old brewery in an off section of town away from the residential areas. It has a dance floor, a well stocked bar, a few platforms for contests or brave dancers wanting attention, seating areas, and large bathrooms. The music is loud, the lights are flashy and colored, lasers everywhere. Sometimes there are live bands but most the time it is a DJ playing stuff off a laptop.

Originally when the youth of the town wanted to relieve their boredom they would go to Journey lake and drink or get into trouble…or both. In most cases the trouble was them daring each other to sneak onto the military base and see how long they could go without being caught. The military base apparently helped fund this place and even suggested its creation to lessen the hassle of dealing with the kids on their property. For the most part it has worked well.

Everybody hates the name but they have refused to change it.

Warehouse/Manufacturing District: One of the two life bloods of the town, the warehouse district is small but produces a lot of revenue and jobs. Here you have a few companies that meet the recycling and clean factory regulations enough to grant them access to the town. There are only four buildings but they are busy and well run. Most of them are non profit organizations. That is all above level of course. In truth these factories are fronts for The Foundation and produce and ship good to fund the nearby sites. The government was convinced to allow them in and ignore the regulations even though the factories are green friendly. The warehouses ship out to the nearby train yard.

Train Yard: The second life blood of Addersfield. Trains bring in factory supplies and products for businesses around town. The line is almost exclusively cargo but a very rare passenger train will arrive, drop a few people off or pick some up and leave. All of those people are from the military base of course. It is a small train yard kept tidy and unclogged. Not many switch tracks because the traffic is so light.