Lacklustre Lane, the Hive Ward
“Looking for a safe place to grab some bub, cutter? Then look no further. You have arrived at the Fiend’s Salute (we call it simply ‘the Salute’), tavern and lodging house to the great and good. Or something. Take a look around, see what you think. Everything’s on the drinks list, but they do clean it now and then.”
A blood wishing to be safe from fiendish attentions can never be entirely safe. However, she could do worse than the Salute, a friendly tavern on the edge of the Hive Ward, on the side nearest the Festhall. The sign’s instantly recognisable: the traditional wizard’s sign for seeing off the dogfaces — an human hand with upraised middle finger. It’s not much use, but it makes it clear how welcome the fiends are there. Why don’t they trash the joint? They can’t. A well-crafted warding circle on the inner side of every lintel sees them off most effectively. Who put it there, when and why isn’t known, but some tieflings complain of headaches inside the salute, and fiends steer clear. Mind you, this may be because Shemeshka the Marauder has opened a competing fiendish bar three doors down.
A body entering the Salute descends five steps – the windowsills in the taproom are at street level. The windows don’t open, which is just as well given what can hit them at that height. The low, blackened beams support three levels of guest rooms above. The two lower stories are built of grey stone, and the upper two are half-timbered.
The bar is usually crewed by a stoical, heavy-set and anonymous human man known simply as ‘the barman’ to most locals. The regulars include Clarion the Guardian, a leonal-blooded aasimar who uses the Salute as a base of operations for his Guardinal-sponsored spy network; Morla, a Fated tiefling with a fondness for jewelery and a personal philosophy as much Sensate as Taker – she works as a tout much of the time; Hilde Larsdottir, a Nidavellir drow who worships Wayland, the smith-god of the Norse; and three companions who adventure together. Two of that group are Xaoticians, and the other is a Sensate half-ogre priest of Thor.
There are no organised activities in the Salute per se, but Clarion has some unusual visitors, as he often contacts Milori Lillend and Lissandra the Gate-Seeker, and uses the tavern as a safe house for fugitives from fiendish justice. There is no predominant faction presence, but it is well known that Sinkers are not wanted, as they might disrupt the enchantments that defend the tavern from fiends. Surprisingly, celestials are rare, although Unity-of-Rings the deva drops in to help Clarion’s political exile friends.
Source: Alex Roberts
