Raccoon's Den
“Raccoon’s Den is the place where to go if you wish to hear good music, dance, or taste the best stew in the town. It’s not the most open-minded place, but if you are wealthy and generous enough, they eagerly look past the behaviour they would otherwise deem inappropriate.”
History
Hector's Town is one of the oldest towns still standing, thus there lies an ancient well-maintained temple for each of the six gods. Not everybody however likes to go to those grand buildings or venture to the wilderness to get close to the gods. Therefore, there are also smaller wooden chapels build here and there in the town. The building that is now known as Raccoon’s Den was once one of those.
It was no way special among the small chapels, but one day a fire broke out in the chapel. The fire was soon put out and larger devastation was avoided. People however took that as a sign that the chapel had fallen out of the grace of Goddess of Fire, Ulyn, and most of them no longer wanted to visit there. For some years the building stood basically abandoned.
The new life of the building began when Hilbert “Bert” Kervel got an epiphany that to honour Goddess of Fire the building should be turned to a tavern as Goddess of Fire is known to love partying. Without asking from his wife, Rebecca “Becca” Kervel, Bert bought the building and petitioned the license to turn it into tavern. Least to say that Becca was not happy that her husband had wasted almost all their money to a project that she deemed as a certain failure.
To Bert’s surprise and Becca’s unsurprise the tavern called Ulyn’s Pride, was not an instant success. Kervels had done their best to make the tavern the finest place they could afford. They had refined the menu to include finest foods and made sure that the tavern had only finest cutlery and stylish décor. The people however feared of angering Goddess of Fire and most of them still evaded the place like a plague. Only the few people who were visiting the chapel after the fire visited the tavern and the tavern was soon at the brink of bankruptcy.
To worsen things a wave of thievery hit the tavern as the most expensive spirits of the tavern started to disappear one by one. The people of Ruler’s Land are very law abiding and that sort of criminal activity was a huge shock in the upper part of Hector’s Town. Such a thing could be expected to happen in the lower part of the town where the rules are less strictly followed, and the foreigners roam everywhere, but not in the upper part of the town where the proper people lived.
The guards took the task of catching this wretched thief very seriously. The most obvious suspect was some of the foreigners, who had no rules in their country. For some time, any poor foreigner who wandered to the upper town went under very intensive and threatening investigation by the guards and soon no foreigners came to the upper town. That however did not stop the thievery, so the thief had to be someone else.
The guards had several times tried to trap the thief, but somehow the thief always evaded their traps. It was the eighteenth time they tried to trap the thief, when they finally saw it. One of the guards on the watch saw the large fat raccoon sneaking in the tavern and then grabbing a bottle and running away. Raccoons are not thought to be dangerous animals, so the job of catching the thief, who was a raccoon, no longer belonged to the guards.
Kervels had no idea how the raccoon entered the building, and they could not afford the thieving to continue, so they hired a small group of hunters to catch the raccoon. The raccoon turned out to be lot more cunning creature than any of them had assumed and it evaded the hunters time after time. The story of cunning raccoon thief that nobody could get rid of spread through the town and most of the people found it very amusing. People started to visit the tavern in hope of getting a glimpse of the raccoon.
Becca who has a real business sense realized that this was a good chance to rebrand the tavern to get rid of the stigma that the place had. So, to Bert’s disappointment the name of the tavern was changed to Raccoon’s Den and slowly Becca’s efforts made the place to thrive, and the tavern became the busy place known for its excellent music, food, and drinks.
The Tavern
The questionable methods of success
Becca truly knows how to make money and she is not afraid of using questionable but lawful methods. The rules dictating the minimal working conditions and wages do not apply to the family members working in the enterprise or farm. Knowing this Becca made sure that their adult children and their families agreed to work in the tavern and so the whole personnel of Raccoon’s Den are Kervels.
The Stew
The stew of Raccoon’s Den is thought to be the best in Hector’s Town. This is not coincident. The stew on the menu was not part of Bert’s vision of fine tavern just like so many other things. However, the preparation of all the fine meals on the menu results lot of food leftovers that is not used for cooking, and Becca would not agree on such a waste. Making stew out of the leftovers was the most practical thing to do. The problem with that was that why would anyone order a stew in fancy place if there are many finer options on the menu. That was why the stew they make has to be one of the best stews in the town.It took a while for Becca to refine the recipe of the stew, so that people would happily eat all the scraps they have and let’s just say that if people knew what many of the secret ingredients in the stew are, no-one would eat it. None of the ingredients of the stew are actually illegal, but among them there are things that are considered addictive and/or narcotic, but not yet common enough in Ruler’s Land to be illegal. Thus, in Becca’s mind they are good way to make sure that the people enjoy their stew.
Notable regulars
Lady Esther “Essie” Priseous
Lord Seamus “Sean” Crestus and Gregory “Greg” Umian
Tessa and Hetta
This old couple is the tavern’s most long-term regulars. The chapel had been their place to connect with the gods since they were children. The fire did not stop them of going there and neither did the place turning into tavern. Tessa and Hetta are not the type of customers that Kervels would like to have in their tavern, and they are not even wealthy to compensate that. However, turning away elders from honouring the gods there would be a stupid thing to do. If it would not anger the gods, then at least it would anger the other citizens.The Hunters
The hunters that were hired to catch the raccoon took liking of the tavern and now hang there regularly. They claim that they are there only in case the raccoon appears. However, whenever the raccoon appears the hunters are often so drunk that they can do nothing to the raccoon.
Veterans of the Shadow stepper Invasion
The shadow stepper Invasion to Ruler's Land never reached Hector's Town but many of the citizens of the town were sent to the war and only few of them returned. The tavern's farthest table is the hangout place of a small group of those veterans. They never talk anything to each other or anyone else. They just sit there silently drinking all night.
Wine-Tasting Club of Fine Ladies
Because of its fine collection of drinks Raccoon’s Den is the hangout of Wine-Tasting Club of Fine Ladies. The club really is only an excuse for its members to drink lot of wine while pretending that they are better than the other people in Hector's Town.
Check the "map" below if you wish to find out more of the people and items in the cover image:
Menu
- Cauliflower and broccoli crumble, roasted baby carrots and buttered quail
- Cabbage rolls filled with mincemeat and truffles
- Cheese plate with warm fresh bread
- Creamy shrimp soup with crackers
- Leek and veal risotto
- Rabbit roasted with stout ale, butter rice and asparagus
- Roasted snapper and sweet potato smash with butter gravy
- Squids with rice and roasted eggplant
- Turnip purée, green peas, and duck breast in red wine gravy
- THE STEW
I like the art, and it is a good concept. With your language problems, you might want to find someone willing to beta-read or proofread for you. The article would be much improved with some changes of wording and grammar. I'm amused at the thought of a drunk raccoon, or a mildly addictive stew!
Thank you so much for your nice comment! I tried to fix the language. Having a beta-reader/proofreader would be an excellent thing but the problem with that is that the people I know are no better in English than I am.
You might try the WorldAnvil discord. There may be someone there who's willing to edit for you.