The Amber Tavern

The amber tavern is one of the best known inns of western Tal'Lyra. While its range of food and beverages isn't as wide as for example the The Lion's Pride in Eastport, the amber tavern offers affordable food and accommodation to weary travelers.

The location

The inn is was built in the entrance of an old amber mine in The Amber Plains and most of it's rooms are still inside the hills. Even now some amber can be seen in the walls of most of the chambers. Being nearly perfectly one riding day away from Eastport, it's the perfect location to rest for travelers and merchants on the road from Eastport to Tam or Rashor. While there is a big stable outside of the old mine, a new taproom was only built recently on the entrance of the tunnels.
Since there is no town or village nearby, it is relatively free of the laws restricting other establishments. This allows the tavern to sell their services cheaply, considering they don't need to pay taxes. While they have their own hired security, usually shady business is not disturbed here, as long as the guests are not harmed.

The amber caves

Most of the taverns rooms are built into the hills of the amber plains. The old mine system was expanded near the entrance, to hold rooms to both sides of the old mining cart. The mine cart is now used to transport guests to their rooms and supplies to storage. Over fourty rooms were built like this, offering a place to sleep to up to ninety guests. The storage rooms of the tavern were built in the deeper, colder parts of the cave, guaranteeing durability to food and drinks. But naturally, most of the old cave system is shut off with wooden walls, so drunken guests don't wander into the deep and get lost.

Shady business

Being located so far away from bigger settlements, the amber tavern became a meeting point for all kinds of outlaws and shady people. Many otherwise forbidden and other rare goods can be bought here, if one knows who to approach. Bandits and arms for hire spend their hard earned money here, always looking for new jobs. Dubious characters meet here to discuss business or to strike new deals. Even some fugitives found their place here, working for the tavern as security.
While theoretically the inn is still in the land of the high priest of Eastport, the leadership of the town allows the amber tavern to exist and to flourish, so the shady business is kept out of the city walls. And since all violence is strictly forbidden by the own rules of the tavern, none of the travelers are harmed.

The myth

Since the mines were shot down long before the tavern was established, many stories are told what lies beyond the inn in the caves deep below the surface. Some say, that before the mines were closed off, guests sometimes would go missing in the depths. Now, if a traveler wants to hear it, even the employees tell tales of a monster living down in the mines, waiting for it's moment to feast on the guests. But no one living ever saw a beast or something else wandering the caves. So most believe, that the stories are just told to increase the fame of the tavern and to keep curious guests from exploring the mines.