Dark Corner

The Dark Corner, or Abanth as it was known in the local vernacular, was an establishment that provided a private meeting place for all who could pay the fee. It was located in Khôltar, south Faerûn, circa the Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR.

Location
The Dark Corner was located somewhere in the neighborhood to the west and northwest of Taurgaur's Tarjteir and Phlambror's, north of Orntathtar Way. This section of the Iron City consisted of older fists (modest towers built as residences) that were once owned by humans but had been sold or sublet to dwarves, gnomes, and a few halflings. Some families owned one or more rooms, others rented from "little owners"&mdash;dwarves or humans that bought up groups of rooms or the lion's share of a floor.

Structure
Abanth occupied the top three floors of a nondescript fist in a cluster of nondescript fists. It was not directly connected to the lower floors of its structure&mdash;hidden staircases and elevators inside the thick walls bypassed the bottom floors and met secret tunnels and passages to various outlying buildings, including the cellars of the Tarjteir and Phlambror's.

Interior
The stone walls between rooms were actually double walls with an air gap between them. Heavy rugs, wall hangings, and tapestries covered floors, walls, and ceilings to further reduce the chance of sound escaping. Candles, lamps, and torches were prohibited to prevent fires; illumination was provided by bioluminescent borer-worms, glowmoss, and phosphorescent pigments applied to items. Light sources that required sustenance were kept in spherical glass terrariums.

Services
Abanth was owned and operated by dwarves, but accepted anyone who could pay the entry fee of 5 gp per person per room per day and didn't cause the other guests any trouble. Food could be ordered and delivered to the room. It was quite expensive but was guaranteed to be free of any drug, poison, disease, curse, or magical taint. The owners had a profit-sharing arrangement with several powerful sorcerers that kept the peace and tested the food. One of the nearby buildings had a caustic lime pit in the basement that could be reached by tunnel from the Dark Corner. Corpses could be quietly disposed there for a fee in the 150 gp range.

Activities
The Corner was a favorite place to conduct business of the shady sort: deals involving drugs, poisons, contraband, or slaves; holding kidnap victims for ransom; confidence operatives planing a sting; officials, corrupt or otherwise, meeting with criminals; high-end thieves fencing stolen goods; and meetings between people that don't want their association known, such as lovers from rival clans, or collaborating Onsruur members. Disputes between guests, including lethal ones, were a private matter, but casting spells on non-associated guests or causing general mayhem was usually met with immediate eviction, probable fines, and possibly deadly force.