Purple Lady

The Purple Lady was a festhall famed for its "elegant sensuality," owned by Ilira Nathalan circa 1480 DR.

Location
The Purple Lady was found in the southwest section of the city at the end of South Ssemm Spur.

Structure
The Purple Lady was a wooden four-story building painted with whitewash and topped with a steeped shingled roof. Its two top floors cantilever out, looming above the lower floors, the fourth floor looming over the third. They ended in ornate balconies decorated with planters of aromatic flowering plants and the workers' drying undergarments. The building was extended via two cellar levels mostly used for storage and a makeshift "dungeon" for disorderly customers and those who preferred pain in their intimate services.

Interior
The Purple Lady's main entrance was a large ornate double door with a brass-barrel handle. The door was painted with magic glowing paints depicting a woman, cloaked and cowled in purple and facing to the right. The second entrance opened into an alleyway and could only be opened from the inside.

Purple banners shrouded the interior, and the staff wore see-through purple robes. The main hall was covered in thick carpets and hanging tapestries that hid four armed guards each. The entirety of the main room of the festhall was treated with firequench spells that stopped anything from igniting or burning in its bounds, and the room was illuminated via round glass ceiling portholes that let the light from lamps of the upper floors in. The main floor was connected to floors above by winding stairwells punctuated by signal gongs. Past the main hall stood a dimly lit dining hall called The Lady's Pleasure, and past it, the establishment's large kitchen and many pantries.

Facing the main hall, entering through the main doors, guests could part a tapestry to the left and walks the stairs up to enter The Rest. Hosts waited for the guests' requests, and those interested in companionship could request the company of one of the twelve employees. Some guests just needed a room for themselves – to rest or conduct business behind magically protected and soundproof doors.

The Purple Lady's top floor was reserved for the staff. The roofs over the living quarters held only rainwater cisterns. The third floor's rooms were a collection of rental bedchambers. It also included three "pleasure chambers" decorated with fanciful furniture and equipped for any nighttime proclivity. Ten more "pleasure chambers" could be found on the second floor, but they lacked the posh luster of the floor above. The second floor also had two large private meeting rooms with their own kitchen antechamber and a dumbwaiter descending to the first floor's main kitchen area. A big bathing chamber was located on the second floor as well as the management's office.

The Lady's Pleasure
The eatery on the first floor, The Lady's Pleasure, was a large carpeted room with tile floors turned into a labyrinth of tables, booths, vine-covered zig-zagging folding screens, and potted trees that served as privacy boundaries. All furniture was just as dark as the dining room – all thick and solid wood. Another notable decoration of the dining hall was a collection of copper chutes and vessels that hung from copper dangle-chimes with water constantly trickling through them, pumped by hired pedalers, paid three cp a night, and a large watermill-like well that moved water from the basement up. The trickling water served as another way of providing guests privacy, drowning out surrounding chatter.

The eatery catered to wealthy couples and those who sought privacy. Trysts were allowed as long as it was done in privacy and discretion. The dining hall had a sophistication about it, and dishes of copper and wood were accompanied by brass cutlery, tankards made of silver, and crystal tallglasses. The Lady's tables were covered in fineweave linens of deep crimson.

Cuisine
Folk of Westgate considered the establishment's food to be fine in quality and sophisticated. The eatery's menu consisted mostly of generous servings of fowl, smoked fish, and boar or beef roasts. Meats were diced and served in rich fatty cream sauces. Side dishes included long beans and diced mix of apples and potatoes, all fried in flavored oils.

Dinners were accompanied by a cornucopia of wines poured by wandering servers. The meal-end treat often was a fresh fruit salad topped with various melted chocolate sauces, served in silver goblets.

Inhabitants
Apart from live-in hosts and companions, the kitchen staff consisted of three cooks and five "runners and dicers." The kitchen staff worked in two shifts – from dusk to midnight and midnight until dawn.

History
The original owner of the Purple Lady was Anhala Dreith, who saved enough coin by cleaning wealthy houses and saving every copper. She was a smart woman who knew that the way to make money in Westgate was through selling alcohol and a midnight company. With time, Anhala became known as a hard-working proprietor who treated her girl well and paid them fairly. Anhala died about a decade before the late 14 century DR, but not before making her festhall a local staple and landmark. Anhala's first two hired cooks were Onstable Tarth and Ilimar Jathakh, who retired scam artists into cooking. Both were dead of old age, like their boss, by the late 14 century DR. Onstable and Ilimar were responsible for the festhall's name and the purple robe gimmick that proved to be iconic.

The Purple Lady was co-owned by the eatery's chief cook Undral "Boar" Lauram, who was a well-liked owner and a friend to the staff, and fearless Ambra Indreth, the senior "Lady of the House." Ambra once made a living by being a chambermaid to a member of the Cormaeril family, and she transitioned to the festhall work and, later, to a co-owner role. But the Ciodaru Arexis of the infamous Night Masks controlled the Purple Lady and used it as the guild's meeting space with the blessing of the new owner, the vampire bartender Sorenth "Happy" Gorender, the Count of Coins.

During the late 14 century DR, Boar's kitchen staff included women named Reldra and Immra, and men – Orlarrin and Jelst. Wait staff consisted of stoic ex-bodyguards, including "Red," Lorgel, Juth and Morryk. Hostesses were: Jemlarra from Nimbral and Dautha of Westgate. The festhall's senior doorlar was Jharak, and the junior doorlar was young and handsome Vreldur of Sembia. The sixteen "Ladies of the House" were all human with only one half-elf. They were a varied bunch of people of all colors, shapes, and sizes. Some notable Ladies included Nathelle – the most popular and beautiful of the group, Lalurra, a woman of piercings, muscles, and tattoos, Narauntha and her sharp tongue, and Sharmra who appeared as a lady of high class and sophistication. Lastly, Maleira and Harbrenla, known as the Twins.

By the late 15 century DR, the ownership was in the hands of Ilira Nathalan.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * House of Cards