The Hanging Lantern
Matchmaker & Festhall
The Lantern, an escort service known for the stunning beauty of its workers, and for the skill of its matchmakers, is famous up and down the Sword Coast.
There are many tales of clients who found a long-lost sweetheart at the Lantern or met the girl or boy of their dreams there. Mer-chants and the lovelorn come from up and down the Sword Coast to visit the Lantern, which is tucked into a square of shops and warehouses bounded by Shrimp Street, Pressbow Lane, Oar Alley and Ship Street.
The Place
The Lantern is a large, window¬less building that rises a full six floors above the street. Thanks to flooding and old sewer tunnels, it has no cellars. It's dim inside, and hushed —except for the constant, gentle flute and harp music. Both the music and the sound-eating, I'm told, are due to magic.The Prospect
Folk come to the Lantern for just one purpose, slipping in any of its seven doors into small, inti¬mate rooms. In each room, a matchmaker waits. There clients are interviewed, pay and are ushered into one of many narrow dark passages and stairs that leads to the room of their chosen. I'm told that not a few stabbings and stranglings occur in these dark passages when one patron lies in wait for another. Selected escorts can also meet clients by appointment. Yes, they make house calls. The matchmakers seem expert at knowing exactly what clients want—even those who refuse to say. A wizard I met leaving the Lantern, in exchange for my promise not to name her, tells me they're not expert matchmakers, but really dopplegangers! They mind read to learn what folk like, and use their shapechanging to supply it, when their hired girls and boys can't. The Watchful Order of Magists & Protectors knows their secret, but preserves it, along with their lives and continued operation, in exchange for their solemn promise not to slay any guests. There are rumors of occasional evil outlander wizards disap¬pearing at the Lantern, though.The People
No one, not even the Lanterns hired escorts, is sure how many matchmakers work at the Lan¬tern. I'm told there are actually six dopplegangers, but they shift their shapes often enough to baffle any exact accounting. The spokeswoman for the Lantern is a dignified elderly lady of rich dress and cultured manners, but its not known if this is a real person, or a shape taken by more than one 'ganger.The Prices
Escorts can be had for as little as 10 gp for on-the-arm service only. If acting is involved, such as playing a false part in a conversa¬tion meant to be overheard or pretending to wealth or identity in business dealings, the mini¬mum fee is 25 gp. If more is desired, fees rise from there to a high of around 75 gp. The match¬makers have an uncanny ability to know how much a client can pay. Discretion is assured. If a client just wants to hire bodies — a group of folk to accom-pany her on a stroll or tavern crawl through Dock Ward, say as a bodyguard party, or to fool someone into thinking the client is part of a group or has lots of friends—they can be had for as little as 7 to 9 gp/head per eve¬ning. The Lantern has a call list of those down on their luck, and charges 3 gp for the trouble of sending a runner boy for them and providing suitable garb.TraveLers' Lore
The business the Lantern do forces it to deal in a little-known sideline. Its the closest thing to a costume rental service Water- deep has, providing fooling clothing for many occasions. Costumes are sometimes rented out, typically for 1 gp per night. Renters must pay for replace¬ment of any damaged garments. There are many many tales of finding long-lost heartmates here (thanks to the shapeshifting of the 'gangers), but there are also ru¬mors that drugged captives are kept here to await a slavers' ship or recovery by kidnap gangs. I saw no evidence of that—but I did see carried out the body of an unfor¬tunate merchant who'd met a creditor on the stairs and been a bit too slow with his dagger.Если вы хотите что то добавить или присоединится к команде редакторов - пишите комментарии
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