THE THINGS WE DON’T TALK ABOUT

A Player’s Guide to Jericho Valley

Welcome to Hyatt County, tucked against the North Carolina–Tennessee line where the mountains get steep, the roads get narrow, and cell service becomes more of a suggestion.

At the heart of it sits Jericho Valley, a small Appalachian community where families have known each other for generations and newcomers remain newcomers for considerably longer than they’d probably like.

Jericho is beautiful. Thick forests, cold creeks, old mountains, summer thunderstorms, fog caught between the ridges.

It is also old.

Older than the town. Older than the mines. Older than anyone who currently lives there.

The people of Jericho have learned not to ask too many questions about that.

🌲 Jericho

Jericho proper is barely more than a Main Street.

Gibson General Store & Lunch Counter

Groceries, hardware, aspirin, coffee, lunch, and whatever pie Mrs. Gibson brought in that morning. It closes at seven. Plan accordingly.

Burkett Garage & Gas

Fuel, repairs, towing, and the consequences of believing your check-engine light was merely offering constructive criticism.

Hyatt County Sheriff’s Office

A tiny police station staffed by the sheriff and two deputies.

Jericho Valley Baptist Church

Universally called the Big Baptist Church. It is the largest church in town and one of the centers of community life.

Outside town are the elementary school, the combined junior/senior high school, scattered farms and homes, and the Little Baptist Church down a dirt road.

Chapman’s Bar

Or Chap’s.

Cold beer, cheap vodka, one whiskey, plywood walls, sawdust floors, and absolutely no mixers.

There is one toilet. It is for the ladies.

Gentlemen, God provided trees.

The Graham Compound

Farther into the valley, about eleven miles from town, lies the Graham family compound.

You probably shouldn’t show up uninvited.

👥 People You’ll Hear About

Lorebook triggers are FirstName+LastName

Pastor Josiah Harman

Pastor of the Big Baptist Church and patriarch of one of Jericho’s most respected families. Friendly, dependable, influential, and very invested in seeing Jericho cared for properly.

Betty Harman

Josiah’s wife. Warm, practical, and much harder to fool than her gentle manner might suggest.

Andrew Harman

The eldest Harman son. Handsome, outgoing, involved with the church, and approximately what would happen if Jericho itself ordered a son from a catalog.

Daniel Harman

Andrew’s younger brother. Quiet, private, observant, and usually found sitting with his mother during church rather than participating in the Harman family pageant.

Granny Liz Harman

Josiah’s widowed mother and surviving Harman matriarch. Loves her family. Has opinions. Age has not made those opinions quieter.

Malcolm Graham

Head of the Graham family. Reserved, capable, and treated with considerable respect by people who know him.

Rhett Graham

Malcolm’s son. Charming, handsome, frequently at Chap’s, and has made enough questionable romantic decisions to qualify as a local cautionary tale.

Ruth Watie

Elder of another old Jericho family. People seek Ruth out for remedies, advice, and occasionally problems they don’t want to explain to anyone else.

Do not call her a witch.

Seriously.

Mara Watie

Ruth’s granddaughter. Practical, sharp, and considerably easier to approach than Ruth, although that is not an especially high bar.

🐺 About the Wolves

People tell stories about wolves in Jericho.

That isn’t particularly strange. North Carolina has wolves.

What is strange is how quickly some locals lose interest in the conversation when you mention seeing one.

Especially if you saw it close to town.

Especially if it seemed to be watching you.

Especially if you could swear you’d seen those eyes somewhere before.

Probably best to leave it alone.

👁️ Things That Go Bump

Jericho has its stories.

Haints. Strange lights. Voices in the woods. Three knocks coming from inside stone. A black dog that appears farther down the road no matter how many times you pass it. An old woman glimpsed high on the mountain. Somebody familiar knocking on your door who is just slightly... wrong.

Most locals will happily tell you it’s superstition.

Those same locals paint their porch ceilings blue.

Make of that what you will.

The Three Rules

If you see something strange in the woods, no you didn’t.

If you hear someone call your name, do not answer or look.

Do not whistle or sing in the woods at night.

You don’t have to believe them.

Nobody is going to stop you.

🌑 The Mountains Remember

Jericho has been inhabited for a long time.

People have been born here. Loved here. Worked here. Prayed here. Killed here. Died here.

Families carry stories they don’t share outside the family. Old houses have rooms nobody uses. Roads have places people refuse to stop after dark. There are abandoned mine entrances adults warn children away from for reasons that don't always involve unstable rock.

Ask enough questions and eventually someone will tell you:

Some things are better left alone.

Maybe that’s superstition.

Maybe that’s fear.

Maybe there are things in Jericho Valley that have been here much longer than the people giving you the warning.

The mountains aren’t going to explain themselves.

And neither are the locals.