Swamp Rat

The Swamp Rat was a tavern outside the town of Ghars, Cormyr, in the mid–14 century DR. It was owned by Hesketh Pratt.

Location
It stood south of town, near the Vast Swamp, and around from Benelaius's cottage. The swampland began only about away.

Structure
It had two stories. On the ground, facing the town, the front entrance led to the common room and the rear entrance to the kitchen, facing the swamp. Upstairs were six rooms for guests in front and a hall in the rear. The building had few windows, only one per room. Patrons tied their horses up out front.

Description
True to its name, the Swamp Rat was rough-looking place, with a floor covered in sawdust and crushed oyster shells to soak up spills and worse. A smoky mirror hung on the wall behind the bar.

Atmosphere
The Swamp Rat catered to the local farmers, saving them the need to travel into town for a drink and a chat, but merchants of the town sometimes also went to visit. Their conversation was about as dry and work-related as one could expect. It was typically empty during the day.

Services
With a limited selection, it offered ale, beer, cider, and a certain table wine. However, Shortshanks said the ale was flat, the beer worse than what horses make, the cider sour, and the wine watered, though he was obviously biased, while Jasper believed the wine better suited to cleaning paint brushes. But it was cheap, which was the other main point in the Swamp Rat's favor, and it was watered down. The most costly drink was Shadowdark ale.

It also had jars of pickled eggs on the bar, turned an unappetizing shade of green.

The upstairs rooms could be rented by those who wished to stay the night.

History
The Swamp Rat opened in the. It immediately stole customers and business from the Bold Bard, previously the only tavern in town, which angered its owner Shortshanks.

However, sightings of the ghost of the bandit chieftain Fastred, some by patrons leaving late at night, caused the Swamp Rat's business to drop off sharply as customers went back to the Bold Bard. The first was on Mirtul 27, when Dovo claimed the ghost attacked him after riding home from the Swamp Rat. On Kythorn 27, Diccon Picard and Barthelm Meadowbrock went to see what the Swamp Rat was like (Diccon misremembered it as Swamp Fox), weren't impressed, and sighted the ghost after leaving. Since Barthelm didn't want to lose business with Shortshanks, Diccon would let on that he had been alone. Bryn Goldtooth saw it after leaving the tavern on Eleasias 28.

Shortshanks thought this was all great for the Bold Bard. When Dovo turned up dead and exposed as the ghost on the morning of Eleint 17, Shortshanks feared people would go back to the Swamp Rat, but was optimistic that they'd fear the murderer more. Either way, Hesketh was pleased to get any paying customers.

Grodoveth, the envoy of King Azoun IV, stayed at the Swamp Rat on the night of Eleint 17. However, he was found slain in the Vast Swamp the next day. In addition, rather than a ghost, a rogue hydra prowled the land around the Swamp Rat on those nights and chased people leaving the Swamp Rat like Jasper, until it was slain by Kendra. Ultimately, Benelaius's investigation into the murders revealed that Grodoveth, Dovo, and Mayor Tobald had been using the Swamp Rat as the base of operations for their Iron Throne spying ring, though Hesketh wasn't in on it.