Moonwyvern Inn

The Moonwyvern Inn was a favorite stopover on the Everlund Pass, especially for those doing business that would not be tolerated in most cities around Luruar. Clarshee Taraghe was the proprietress, circa the Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR.

Location
The Moonwyvern Inn was located on the Everlund Pass south of Silverymoon, not quite half-way to Everlund. It was an easy one-day trip from Silverymoon on mounts, or about a three-day walk. It was nestled in the forest and did not have any close neighbors.

Structure
The building was three full floors plus inhabited attic space under a peaked roof with dormer windows, gabled extensions, haphazard rectangular cupolas, and many chimneys. The first floor was taller than the others and built of fitted stones and mortar. The upper floors were made of wood planks and shingles. The windows were of no one style: some were flush with the wall, some were cut into awnings, some were bay windows, some were turret-like. All windows had sturdy shutters with double-bar locks to keep out vermin and larger animals. Downspouts at the corners of the building collected rainwater in barrels. Outside the door to the kitchen was a small garden.

Across the dirt road that went by the Moonwyvern Inn was a barn and stables complex where guests could lodge their horses. There was also an attached pig pen and a separate chicken coop.

Interior
Just through the double doors near the middle of the long front was a common room with a large fireplace, tables and chairs, and a front desk that also served as the bar (or vice versa). In the back-left corner was a stairway to the upper floors. Behind the bar was a door to a kitchen that had food shelves, a cutting table, and a cooking pot in a fireplace. Opposite the entrance to the kitchen was a door that let out to the garden and a path to the wood pile and further into the woods to a swimming hole for bathing. There was at least one other door on the back side of the inn.

The next two floors were all guest rooms situated on either side of central halls that ran the length of the building. The top floor was a hodgepodge of rooms with slanted walls or ceilings with skylights. Some had eyebrow dormer windows and others had gabled extensions that emerged from the crest of the roof.

The floor plan of the Moonwyvern Inn changed every so often as decay made some rooms uninhabitable until they were repaired or replaced. The frame was made of sturdy pillars and massive crossbeams, but many ill-advised architectural features had been tacked on over the years. In 1372 DR, the inn was about sixty years old.

The cellars directly beneath the inn were ostensibly the same size as the building above, but a large barrel keg on the wall below the main kitchen was false and concealed a short passage into a hidden room with a bed where favored (or paying) guests could lay low for a while. There were three tunnels leading off this room. Two of them led into the forest on that side of the inn. The third tunnel went deep under the road and came up in the stables. Another tunnel branched off of this one and came out in the forest on the far side of the inn.

Atmosphere
The feel of the place was much like the furnishings: shabby, worn, and comfortable. Other than fireplaces, the only sources of light at night were candles that hung in glass-enclosed lanterns and sconces throughout the inn. These candles were handmade by Clarshee and gave off a sweet blackberry scent, giving the inn a cozy, homey atmosphere. However, the reception could turn icy or heated if a visitor showed improper interest in other guests' business.

To the uninitiated, Clarshee Taraghe was an irascible old woman that mumbled complaints about everything, punctuated occasionally by colorful oaths, but she had an extended family of regular patrons ranging from righteous folk to ruthless cutthroats that treated her like a beloved mother. First impressions of her staff were also usually wrong. The sight of two huge athachs with long fur, three horns, and three arms sometimes caused a moment of trepidation before the fact they were cooking a hearty meal or tending the animals became apparent.