Captain's Daughter
In the Shore district of Caras Celairnen tucked up against the main walls and away from the main streets is the Captain's Daughter. For where is stands this is an impressive in complete with a brewery and a good sized drinking room. The two-story structure is the home of Hrothgar and like his literary namesake, it serves the finest mead in the town.
"Then it came into his mind to raise a mead house, mightier far than ever was seen by the sons of earth, and within it, then, to old and young he would all allot that the Lord had sent him, save only the land and the lives of his men."
Well so lay the grandiose hopes of Hrothgar, a Northman who though trained in weapons never saw action. His wife Hilda and his son and daughter (Unferth and Hrethal) help in the running of the inn. The inn does well because the mead is good and Hrothgar has relations who are rivermen; from such contacts, Hrothgar also runs a quiet line in hard to come by artefacts.
Ground floor
Main inn
A weather-worn door with a small hatch opens into a spacious room, which is dominated by a large fireplace. To the left of the door, stairs lead up to the next floor. Around the low ceiling, the rafters are carved with figures from myths and legends. Each frieze is painted in bright colours muted by age and smoke. The floor is clean and covered with fresh straw. Comforting tables with benches and stools are spread throughout the room. The few with comfortable backs are already occupied by local drinkers, burly Rivermen. Behind a bar to the right stands Hrothgar, a king in his hall, he smiles a welcome and politely enquires to who you are and where you have come from.
Behind the bar is a small partition wall is punctuated by a door which leads to a small stock room, which then leads into the Mead House. Inside the stock room is a hatch that leads to the cellar space (see cellars and underdeep).
Stables
At the back of the Captain's daughter are generous wooden stables with room for more horses than would be expected for this out of the way inn. A tack room occupies the end closest to the Mead House, and at the opposite end is the storeroom for hay and feed. The space is the principle hangout for Hroðmund, who is responsible for dealing with customer horses. Thankfully, there are not many customers at the Captain's who need stabling.
Mead House
The small thirty-foot circular Mead House is Hrothgar's pride and joy. Assembled to resemble the circular travelling huts of his Riverman heritage it is filled with the equipment to produce mead. Inside there is a cabinet for storing honeycombs, a hand-cranked spinner for extracting the honey has been constructed out of an iron-bound barrel. By far the largest item in the room is the main fermenter tun, closely followed by several smaller fermenters, storage barrels and racks used to store the finished product. A small door that is bolted with three sets of heavy bolts leads to the outside and the well.
Dining room
The other door to be found at the front of the house leads to the family accommodation and enters into a room dominated by a dark varnish-stained table with six stools made of matching the wood. At the back of the room, a large fireplace stands and like the one in the main inn is lit from late autumn to early spring. To the left, a door leads to the kitchen where the clattering of pots and the general noise of kitchen work can be heard. At the back of the room a small set of wooden stairs leads up to the family sleeping quarters. To the right, another door leads to the luxury that is a lounge.
Lounge
Self-styled king of the hall that he is it pleases Hrothgar to believe that he has this space to receive and entertain visitors. It contains a small fireplace, a low round table and two upholstered chairs, (the dining stools can be brought in for guests). In one corner a bookcase with a few volumes reclaimed from the river lends a scholarly air, though in truth none has been read or indeed is legible because of water damage. Behind the door a locked dresser (-10) contains a few items relating to the running of the inn. In a disguised panel (-20 Per) a money chest (-30 pick lock) holds 1Gp, and 25 SP.
Kitchen
Preparation tables dominate this neat and clean space; two huge tables, one before the cooking fires and the other by the window. There are three doors in the room one to the outside to the well can be bolted, the one to the family dwelling can also be bolted in the dining room, the final door leads to the main inn. Hanging from the rafter large pans, pots and drying herbs along with strings of root vegetables create a labyrinth through which Hilda navigates with ease. The demands for food are never great, but as many of the local houses lack the means to prepare food there is a steady flow of customers who visit the inn for a main meal of the day. To meet this demand Hilda has a one pot (cauldron) meal always available on the main fire, to be eaten with bread supplied by the local baker.
Second Floor
Master bedroom
A well appointed double bed with canopy fills most of this room. A fireplace allows the occupants to stay warmer than most in the city and a dressing table rests by the window. The table has an assortment of grooming items used by both Hilda and Hrothgar. Behind the door, there is a large wardrobe, a set of expensive clothes for Hrothgar and another for Hilda share space with spare items of clothing and shoes. In the base of the wardrobe (-20 per) is a small, locked (-40) box which is bolted to the floor. It contains a gold torc (2GP), a gold hair comb (15SP), simple silver necklace (1GP) and three silver rings (3SP) along with the deeds to the inn.
Guest room
A simple room containing a bed and a chest for a visitor to store their belongings
Hroðmund's room
Rumpled sheets and unwashed clothing litter the floor. Nothing Hilda does seems to restore order to the room, even opening the window permanently seems to do little to remove the sweaty stable lad smell from the room. An unkempt bed and under-used wardrobe furnish this simple room. Under the bed, a small box containing some treasured childhood toys lies hidden from all but the most careful scrutiny.
Freawaru's room
In contrast to her brother's room, Freawaru keeps her room neat and tidy, careful not to garner too much attention from her mother. With the exception of a dressing table, her room is furnished much like her brother's. Outside her door, a floorboard has deliberately been warped to provide an early warning of approaching family members. Beneath the dressing table another floorboard can be removed (-40 Per for the scuff marks) beneath it Fraewaru stores her every changing hoard, generally worth around 10 GP. However, as most of the items are stolen, it is worth noting that they will need to be fenced outside the town to avoid the attention of the militia. Fraewaru keeps her additional coins in a metal box hidden in the wall of the well outside.
Accommodation for the Inn
Bunk room
"Quite frankly I've slept in worse," muttered Baldur as he surveyed the small room containing four double bunks. His adventuring kit slung at the end of the bunk, the big warrior vaulted clumsily into the top bunk, which creaked alarmingly. "At least I won't be on the menu tonight," he drawled as he closed his eyes for a power-nap with his hand resting lightly on his dagger.
Shared room
Offering a little more privacy this room has three single beds with trunks for items to be stored in a tidy manner. The beds are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.
Standard room
This room contains two well-appointed beds with room to store belongings in chests. A small wash-stand with a bowl and water jug stand in the corner. The water is refreshed from the well.
Luxury room
Hanging over one wall is a tapestry that depicts a river scene with boatman and cargo being unloaded. A double bed complete with clean sheets and heavy eiderdown coverlet fills most of the room. To one side of the bed is a large heavy, iron-bound chest, which can be locked using the key kept for guests. The key is a simple and heavy iron item weighing about a pound. The purpose is more to provide a way of protecting items from wandering fingers rather than preventing theft by a professional. Although the lock on the chest is rather heavy and standard lock pick kits must roll 50+ on d100 roll to prevent breakage.
Architecture
Built of wattle and daub in the style of most of the late additions to the city. Stone is a rare resource in the marsh and needs to be delivered to site. Only the earliest buildings are local stone.
History
Built to serve the community of lightermen who had built their homes by the first Shore Gate. Eventually, replaced and enlarged the Captain's daughter was enclosed within the second Shore wall in TA 845.
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