The Water Snake

Location

The Water Snake is situated within The Fordden Gorge in the southern part of Farden. The gorge is one of the most outstanding beauty spots of Alven. It is 20 miles long and cut a deep wedge into the Braes. The Water Snake inn is the only building in the gorge. The weary traveler can find it right after the magnificent Waterfall of Corra Drinks roughly half-way through the gorge.

Description

The inn is very ancient and has been built on a most striking promontory inside the narrow gorge, halfway up the mountainside and the stone walls towering above the gorge. To reach the small inn, one has to climb a very steep incline that snakes up to the main building.

It soon becomes obvious why the inn was built at the edge of this precipice: because of its elevated position, the building will see the sun for most of the afternoon, unlike the rest of the gorge that will be kept mostly in the shade.

The exterior of the inn is rather simple: solid walls made from the local grey stones. Some of the cornerstones seem to have been recovered from a much ancient building and sports lovely carvings of snakes and other ouroboros somewhat in a naive style. The roof is slate and a few dormer windows in the old round style give light to the proprietors' room stuck under the roof.

The inn itself boasts 5 guest rooms as well as a well-appointed - if not huge - common room where a small bar can be seen to the left of the fireplace at the other end of the room. The decor is very much in the old style - all carved wood that softly glimmers in the lights of the fire and candles. The craftmanship on the carvings is above average and shows off the old patterns in intricate details.

Owners

The owners of The Water Snake are clansmen of Deerwolf and the inn has been their family business for five generations now. Gladbou Shieldan  and his wife, Cleerval Shieldan (Val for short)  are the present proud owner of this establishment. Their son, Ottersand Shieldan, is soon to take over from his parents in a few years' time and at the moment, helps out with the general running of the place.

Amenities

The range of guest rooms available is modest. However, one of the suites is rarely let to anyone during the year: it is called the Chieftain's Room. This room is specifically reserved for the chieftain of Clan Deerwolf and his or her family when they come to visit.

The waterfall of Corra Drinks is a well known sacred religious site for Clan Deerwolf. Every year or so, members of the family make their way to the inn and the goddess Corra's shrine to commune with their departed. The name of the inn refers without a doubt to the shapeshifter goddess herself. The old stones one can see in the building of the inn might have belonged to an earlier building or temple now long destroyed.

Gladbou is an excellent cook, and he is famous around these parts for his rabbit and boar pies. Some say that many a traveler expressly make the long journey to the inn just to taste his pies.

Type

Inn