Built before the American Revolution, Fort Aston was a smaller British fort that guarded Easthaven's bay until the Patriots overran it and wiped out the garrison. The bastion fort, shaped like a star, has been well maintained through the centuries and is an active tourist spot, but it is also known to have a grim past and grimmer stories connected to it. On some nights, one might imagine one can hear the old battle songs of both the British and American troops, the whole area unsettling and dark.

Declining industrial area. Empty warehouses or big box stores. People go to the Forum looking for the miscellaneous things you can't find in the city's small stores, and they don't want to brave the crowds of Kingslane.

On a clear day, Easthaven Lighthouse can be seen across the bay, a silent watchman that's been there since before Easthaven was a city. Sitting on the point of a barrier peninsula, it has a long history of safely guiding ships through storms and the pitch-black darkness, but it hasn't always been a boon. There are stories of the lighthouse going dark, the keeper having disappeared. The bodies of a few keepers were found floating in the harbour, but some vanished without a trace. Even today, with the light retrofitted to be powered by electricity, there are days where it simply won't work, even when everything's in working order. It's the rats in the walls, obviously. There's a commonly observed visual trick on foggy days where some imagine they see the shapes of tall ships passing by the barrier peninsula's point.

UMass Easthaven, part of the University of Massachusetts university system, can be found on the peninsula outside of town. The subway line has its last stop here, and to go any further along the peninsula, you need to take the bus or walk. The university itself is a collection of buildings and looks like a typical public university. The university library, Billingham Library, is connected to the inter-library loan system and provides students with everything they need. Of course, anything wanting something exotic might have to go to Aston Public Library. There is also on-campus housing for students.

The McCoy Apple Orchards are a loved establishment in the Easthaven area. A pillar of the community among the farmers is known for encouraging local business and luring willing customers to the countryside with clever marketing. Each autumn, they open up for visitors to come to pick apples and enjoy some hot cider, making a whole event of it. They also host the yearly harvest festival.

Close to the apple orchard is the gravel parking lot that's the home of the farmer's market each Sunday. On every other day, it's simply a bare patch of gravel, primarily used as guest parking for the apple orchard. On Sundays, it's teeming with activity, trucks and vans arranged in an organised fashion with tables weighted down with their selection of produce. They have tents to keep the sun or rain off on hot days and rainy days.

A thriving neighbourhood in Old Town, Balmoral Street is where Easthaven's Asian expatriate and immigrant community have called home over the centuries. Established early on in Easthaven's status as a city, the Asian immigrants who settled along Balmoral went to shape a community to protect their own and keep their culture thriving even away from the homeland. The Balmoral of modern-day Easthaven is a world tour of Asian culture and cuisine, with its unique Easthaven twist.

A legacy of Massachusetts' early lunatic asylums, Mottershead has been closed since the 1950s. It's been left alone in a lightly populated part of the Upper Fens, and any attempt at getting the place demolished has gone nowhere and likely won't happen. Mottershead has the typical sordid history of insane asylums facilitating forced institutionalisation, abuse of patients, and brutal treatment methods wrongly thought to be effective for anyone who digs deep enough. With its boarded-up windows, it's tricky to get inside, but anyone brave and insistent enough can find their way inside to see the smouldering legacy of psychiatric medicine.

The museum in Newton is a relatively new arrival to the town. It blends modern and old architecture to create an eye-catching and appealing building that houses exhibits on natural history, local history, national history, and world history, often relying on travelling exhibits to bring in new clientele. There's always something new and interesting to see, especially if you dare to have a night at the museum.

Often considered the high street of Newton, Braxton Street has a selection of boutiques and designer shops that cater to those interested in fashion. It's not the most expensive street in the city, but it isn't the cheapest. There are some bakeries and juice bars to be found along the way, plenty of opportunity for snacking.

A newer building, even by the standards of Newton, the Ashford Hotel is a luxury hotel of the highest quality. They run the gamut of prices, not too outlandish if you get a sensible room, but the fancier rooms carry quite a hefty price. The decor is elegant and modern, with a bit of archaic flair as a nod to the city it's placed in. The receptionists look down their noses at anyone not well-dressed enough to match the decor, watchful for anyone who cannot afford a room and is simply loitering.

Stoddard Stables is a large but old stable with modern attitudes; the buildings are well maintained and range from modern architecture to the 19th century. The oldest buildings are the stables, while the riding hall and other facilities are updated and modern. It serves both private customers and hosts a riding school, offering classes and horse rentals for people who want to hike in Northrop National Park. The stable itself covers a large area, separated into two campuses. One serves privately stabled horses of both professional riders and hobbyists, while the other is dedicated to the horses owned by the riding school and their facilities, although both are within walking distance of each other. Around the stables they have inside and outside arenas that can be equipped for most equestrian disciplines.

Between the city and the national park are the Northrop Botanical Gardens, a large compound dedicated to the area's flora and fauna and more exotic collections. The greenhouses, shade houses, and herb gardens are supplemented with educational displays and art exhibitions. The butterfly dome is a sight to behold as well. The entire area is artfully laid out and carefully maintained.

Northrop National Park, named after the famous transcendentalist author who used to live in the area home, is a sprawling expanse of woodlands with a few small lakes and little waterfalls. A river cuts through the area, making it a beautiful hiking area. There are hiking trails suitable for beginners and more experienced hikers, clearly marked if you follow the paths. Some are interspersed with information boards about the area, the transcendentalist movement and the local author William Northrop, who mostly enjoys local fame centuries after his death.

The local racetrack, Easthaven Downs, has a long history of making and ruining lives. The draw is often the gambling, with a few special events that can pull in a modest crowd during the year. They do flat races and steeplechase. It's a hot spot for racing enthusiasts and gamblers, but it's a common spot for protests for animal welfare activists.

An abandoned warehouse of a short-lived shipping company stands on the Lower Fens' outskirts. It's been crumbling for quite a few decades, but it's become a staple for Lower Fens denigrates and rebellious teens. At night it can be dangerous, and in the daylight, it's a crumbling eyesore that is often the victim of sour-faced teenagers looking to expand their artistic repertoire.

Early in the morning, Knead the Bread smells of freshly baked bread and pastries, but the pleasant aroma persists through the day as well. It's a popular establishment, offering baked goods and cups of black coffee to its customers. They don't have much seating space, but a few tables inside and more outside, there's enough that they're often full up once lunchtime hits.

Easthaven's main street. The old road bisects the newer part of the city, lined with modern buildings with their straight, brutal lines, with the occasional Georgian or Victorian building that survived modernisation. There's a massive IMAX theatre that fronts a shopping mall. In an attempt to make up for the sins of the '60s, the flat unappealing walls of office buildings and the shopping mall get used by the local art college. Murals add a splash of riotous colour to the concrete.

City hall is a newer building in the city, built by way of an architectural contest in the '80s. An architect with a love of brutalist architecture won and forever marred the Easthaven skyline. It's universally vilified among the locals and was titled "The Brick" as soon as the building got built. Being inside the Brick can be as unsettling as looking at it, and there's a higher than the regular occurrence of strange events there than in other places. That or bureaucracy is just depressing.

St. Erasmus is the largest hospital in the city, although not the only one. As a university hospital, many experimental surgeries and other medical breakthroughs force them to stay current, constantly testing and working with the newest technology available. There's rumours that healing magic is in use in the hospital, but not near any of the brand new tech. Whatever sort of treatment you get, it's some of the best treatment you can get in the area, but it also means herds of medical students passing through patient rooms and surgery theatres.

The Central Business District, or simply the CBD if you're a local, is where you find the besuited and exhausted men trapped in the constant rat race of business life. The office buildings are the usual bland architectural fare—all shiny surfaces and seemingly miles and miles of windows—but it manages to have some charm in the businesses that make the ground floors of these architectural behemoths actually attract some foot traffic. It's an eclectic mix, from chain coffee shops to army surplus, and the odd shop advertising themselves as purveyors of the magical and ethereal. Whatever you're looking for, you might find it here.

A 50's themed franchise fast-food restaurant serves burgers that are neither bad nor fantastic, but just the right amount of greasy. Their fries are better than Micky D's, which is an accomplishment, but the milkshakes are by far the best thing on the menu. They're open past midnight and take advantage of the night crowd as well as anyone else jonesing for a burger during the day.

As the Lower Fens' pride, the brewery offers free tours to tourists and locals. Their tours last around an hour and end with a beer tasting, giving guests the chance to experience the beer varieties the brewery offers in 5 oz glasses (that they get to keep!). The gift shop selling merchandise, growlers of more exotic beer varieties and glassware is how they make the most of these tours. If you take your ticket to the Witch and Broom and buy a pint, they'll give you a free Easthaven Brew pint glass.

An old classic in the neighbourhood, O'Reilly's used to be a dedicated boxing gym and still holds onto that by having everything an aspiring and professional boxer might need. They've expanded to cater to more casual gym-goers and other sports fighting forms. The staff are down to earth and enthusiastic, which matches the rough decor - exposed brick and rubber tiling. The middle of the ample space has a raised boxing ring, but in one corner of the extensive area are some padded mats for other fighting styles.

The Witch and Broom is the local pub for many Lower Fens residents, but it's popular with Easthaven locals and tourists who swing by the Easthaven Brewery. It panders to the pub-loving crowd with dark stained wood and bare red brick walls. The TVs behind the bar are usually tuned to some sports channel, and the restaurant pub combination establishment has some excellent local staples made by good chefs. Their deal with the brewery ensures they enjoy a steady influx of clientele, a little boozed up and ready for more and a big hearty meal.

The Brooklane Community center is an independent, self-funded, non-profit community center that caters to the Lower Fens community. They host big fundraisers or small intimate art events, be it pottery or sip-n-paint. The regular cooking classes they host for affordable and easy meal prep is a favoured staple, and many local chefs, professional and amateur, lead themed cooking classes.

Raging Pumpkins Tattoo is a well-loved establishment among anyone who knows anything about tattoos. With talented artists and a can-do attitude towards walk-ins and longer projects, they're the go-to of many tattoo enthusiasts. The shop is an unassuming red-brick townhouse flanked by a bodega advertising exotic spices and a Turkish kebab place, with bright lettering spelling out the tattoo shop's name. You won't miss it.

The local ice rink caters to the skating enthusiasts in the city, be it figure skating, speed skating, or hockey. The local teams from the Lower Fens are lucky enough to get ice time at a discounted price, but anyone coming from the outside has to pay a pretty penny. When the ice rink is open, individuals' entrance is a reasonable amount of dollars, and you can rent skates at an additional cost.

Not far from the CBD, you can find a hidden cranny where some of the old red-brick buildings still survive the fervour of modernisation. One of these buildings is a private investigators firm that seems to try its hardest to not be noticed. In truth, this office is a front for the local Exchange unit. They deal in the magical rather than the mundane, but no one but those in the know really realises they're there. To everyone else, EPI is just a regular business that couldn't afford rent in any of the buildings in the CBD.

A new age gym that caters to the yoga enthusiasts, Samadhi Gym has several instructors in Ashtanga yoga and even draw their name from one of the eight limbs of the classical yoga practice. Yoga isn't everything, though; they also have large enough facilities and machines to satisfy a proper gym bro that needs to get his gains. Their offered classes range from beginners to advanced, but generally, it serves as a basic gym and a yoga studio.

A bookstore and café combined, any caffeine or book lover will find a comfortable spot at the Inkpot. The decor is tasteful and light, with expansive windows letting in the sun and letting customers people-watch in comfort. The smell of coffee beans and old books is ever-present, and the prices aren't even that bad despite its location.

A relatively newly built baseball field, Fens Field caters to the professional baseball teams of Easthaven. The Minor League Team Easthaven Sea Wolves calls it home, but there are opportunities for smaller and up-and-coming sports teams to use the baseball field. If you come for a game, you're guaranteed to have excellent snacks and company as well as an entertaining match.

Copeland Lane is a street dominated by expensive boutiques and antique shops, catering to fashionistas and the well-to-do. The selection includes famed local designers, exclusive global brands, and antique shops that look like they've been there for centuries. Much of the antiques on sale are from the neighbourhood or elsewhere in Massachusetts, purchased in various estate sales or lucky finds. The selection is eclectic, from curiosities and jewellery to old-style furniture.

Every upscale neighbourhood needs an art gallery, and Barton's is the one for the Upper Fens. It offers exhibition space to local artists and non-local, giving them an arena to sell their work to the wealthy clientele typical of the Upper Fens. Not everything is wildly expensive, and occasionally, they host art from a newer artist at prices even the plebeians can afford.

Part park, part cemetery, the Eden cemetery is a sprawling space filled with mausoleums, art exhibits, strange statues, and marble benches overlooking a peaceful lake. Built to hold the bodies of the rich and famous of Easthaven, it is an old, carefully maintained park-like area, encouraging people to respectfully wander the paths and explore the eccentric choices of the biggest names of Easthaven. Like any cemetery, it gets spooky after dark.

The Lethe Hostel is a well-kept secret among the supernaturals. It functions as a hostel, so you get the odd mundane person staying for a spell. It's a nice place, using a series of refurbished old townhouses to provide housing for their guests, with a large dining hall and kitchen offering them a spot to make meals, with the caretakers laying out a simple spread for breakfast. Often, the Exchange detectives put supernaturals in a tough place at the hostel, footing the bill and making sure they recover and get back on their feet.

Bruant Hall was built at the start of the 19th century by a French architect. It was the centre of trade for the growing city until business dried up. The city converted it into a marketplace hall and small museum reminding Easthavenites of their sea trading heritage. Around Bruant Hall, there are tour guide booths, and the pavement gets clogged up by tourists looking at the buskers, holding up foot traffic. Behind Bruant Hall, you can find Vauxhall Market, a modern building emulating the architecture of the older hall but filled with various street food vendors for anyone willing to risk the crush. They claim New England's best clam chowder calls Vauxhall Market home, but that's up for debate.

Anchored by the docks is the USS Seaglass, a replica of a sloop-of-war from the 1700s. The ship used to be a common sight in the harbour before sinking in a naval battle, but the reproduction brought it back to the local community. It's an exciting tourist spot not far off from Bruant Hall; its deck filled with curious tourists and those with a particular interest in warships and sailing. It also doubles as a pop-up restaurant and bar in the summer months, serving refreshments and good food whenever the weather permits.

An old familiar favourite in the city, Old Town Creamery has been there seemingly since forever. Still, it's changed hands several times, and the selection is constantly changing. It serves exciting ice cream flavours and gelato, offering various cones and even offering milkshakes for anyone who prefers to drink their ice cream. When business is slow during the winter months, they offer a warmer fare, delicious pies topped with their made from scratch ice cream.

The APL is said to have always been in Easthaven, even before it was a city, established by the city's founders when it was a mere colony and named after them. However, the building standing proud in Old Town's centre dates back to the mid-1800s. It's a big, stately building, built on higher ground than the rest of Old Town, making it a looming presence. The architecture is all columns and marble, with stone statues of lions flanking the grand front doors. Inside, the green and white marble floors made sure your footsteps echo as you make your way up the double staircase or down into the basement archives. Rumour says that the decorative mosaic in the atrium's centre marks where the Easthaven founders were buried. Still, the librarians know for sure that beneath the library, if you wander far enough beyond the beaten path, you can find the catacombs. At first, it looks mid-19th century as the rest of the building, but the deeper you go, the older and more dangerous the tunnels become.

The Easthaven Commons, normally just referred to as the Commons, is the patch of land the original colony used to graze their cattle and other livestock. Today, it's a well maintained park, with it's flat, mowed lawns, carefully maintained copses of trees, and a little duck pond in the middle that they freeze in the winter to serve as a small ice rink. Sculptures and benches are scattered all around, making it a good spot to relax if the weather allows.

Between the harbour's industrial area and the tourist traps lies Barbarous. By day, the exterior is an unassuming brick building that looks like at one point it was an old warehouse, refurbished and well-maintained. By night, it's a party hub; neon sign lit up with flames and thudding music that sends your entire body shaking. It's the 'it' place to be if you're into the party scene, but it's not all fun and games. There's a thriving drug market, so be careful with your drinks.

Baxendale, like most of Old Town, boasts some impressive history. It's an old university with an outstanding record, and it marks itself as exclusive to those intelligent enough to get in. With the motto Disce aut Discede, 'Learn or leave,' that sentiment is made clear. Of course, if your wallet is deep enough, you've got a good chance. It's not all the kids of wealthy alumni though, Baxendale has a nationally renowned scholarship programme that ensures that the student body isn't quite as insufferable as it could be. The university itself is four main buildings, Fallow Hall, Baxendale Hall, Ayers Hall, and Carlyle Hall. The whole area is walled off with fanciful wrought iron fencing, protecting the lush garden that surrounds the university. Different faculties call the halls home, ranging from STEM to the humanities, but they say Fallow Hall has seen plenty of dark rituals in the basement if you believe that sort of thing.

Next to Mottershead Asylum is Mottershead Park. In contrast to the asylum, the park is well-cared for and quite beautiful to walk through. Here is where you can glimpse the remnants of the marshland, the last bit of wildness in the Upper Fens, but domesticated despite everything. There are a few ponds and jogging paths, but generally, the signs tell visitors to stay off the grass and not feed the ducks.

Pebbleway Cove is a rocky beach north along Easthaven's coast. It's an idyllic little strip of coastline that takes a tremendous battering during local storms. Because of this, it's usually strewn with debris from the sea, both ancient and modern. The occasional whale beaches itself, with one having died and been left to rot quite a few years ago. The remnants of its skeleton can still be seen on the far end of Pebbelway Cove.

The best kept secret of Northrop National Park are the hot springs located higher up the mountains. It's a protected area, important for the local ecology, and incredibly dangerous if someone steps into the superheated pools found around the centre of the source of the water. There are plenty of warnings posted around, clearly informing wayward hikers to watch their step or be boiled alive. However, the pools furthest from the hottest spots provide comfortably heated water, with steam billowing upwards and making it a good spot for a dip both in the summer and winter.

Arcana is a shop that caters to all things supernatural, especially objects from Asian cultures. Inside is a treasure trove of rare and unique items: strange books and tomes, various cursed and possessed items. If something in particular is sought after, a simple request can likely procure it. Just remember; when a sign says do not touch, the owner is not liable for the outcome if you ignore the warning, whatever may happen. However, you are responsible for the price.

Owned by: Sunako Mochizuki

The Honey & Ivy Noodle Bar is a stylish two-story establishment that straddles the line between hole-in-the-w, near the bridge into Old Town proper. It's not well-known, but it's a favourite among regulars for its clean atmosphere, a dining area open to the breeze off the harbour, and a wide variety of Asian dishes, from pho to dumplings. While the food is good, the restaurant is actually the HQ for the Abaca Chain, an underground information brokering ring. The second floor of the restaurant is the VIP lounge, available only by password or invitation. Touted as neutral ground for both the mundane and the supernatural, this is where the restaurant really makes its money..

Owned by: Lin Nari

The Diflu private airfield is an old mainstay north of Easthaven, found nestled between the trees of the Diflu Woods west of the expansive farmlands closer to the coast. For safety reasons, they cleared away the trees around the airfield, but the surroundings still have dense woods. The runway and taxiway dominate the space, sized for small passenger airplanes and light craft, with the apron sizable enough to allow multiple small planes to be parked to wait for take-off. Arctic Airways has its flight school and chartering business next to the airfield, with three medium-sized hangars off the apron and a business office near the parking lot. The airfield is a non-towered airport, following standard operating procedures for Essex county.

Owned by: Algy Trevelyan