First contact was made with The Roadhouse when the first Voidships scouted a route to The Road from Welmet station. A Shard of the Shadowfell, it contained a settlement of friendly Shadar-Kai who’s community revolved around a common building they called The Roadhouse. The Shadar-Kai were enamored with the bright colors and fantastical flavors of the Welmet traders and trade with The Roadhouse grew alongside the trade with The Road.
Word of another stable Shard, already inhabited long-term by Shadar-Kai, spread quickly, and scouts and way-finders from Welmet and the Voyagers arrived to learn more about the Shard. Preliminary interviews of the natives and scouting of the immediate area around their settlement quickly revealed a much larger settlement than expected and a large complex of some kind. Most of the structures appear very old—probably built before The Sundering began—and in disrepair. Continued study indicated the large complex was some kind of military installation that in addition to training soldiers, was also involved in the research of Arcane and Divine magics for military application. Curiosity about the past, and the possibility of recovering knowledge lost to the Sundering that could improve everyone’s chance of survival, caused The Roadhouse’s population to quickly become more varied races as researchers, scouts, way finders, and adventurers flocked to there for answers. The military installation and its associated building complex is so large that despite months of scouting, mapping, exploring, and excavating, the military facility is still not entirely mapped and explored and the surrounding wilderness of The Roadhouse is almost entirely unexplored.
With a growing population and continuous traffic of voidships stopping on their trade route between The Road and Welmet, The Roadhouse is becoming an important shard for trade and tourism and their supporting businesses and services are growing.