Three Old Kegs

The Three Old Kegs is a well-known inn in the city of Baldur's Gate. It is widely regarded as one of the best inns in all of Faerun, and is known for its comfortable furnishings and its generally somnific atmosphere. The establishment is located along the east wall of the Ducal Palace. Its signboard consists of three old kegs hanging via chains from a roofpole above the door.

Patronage
The Kegs' clientele tends to be considerably tamer than that of most inns in Baldur's Gate. It caters towards relaxed, easygoing individuals who prefer to spend their days engaged in reading, napping, and low-stakes gambling.

Architecture and Decor
While not huge, the Kegs is a large building, with four floors above ground and two levels of cellars below. The basements and the two lower floors are built of fieldstone, while the upper two floors are timber, all topped with a heavy slate roof. The ground floor is given over to the foyer and communal areas. The upper three floors consist almost entirely of bedrooms. The uppermost cellar contains the gaming rooms. All floors are connected in one corner via a dumbwaiter shaft sufficiently large to accomodate two persons pressed together. This system is mostly used by the staff for rapid transportation and by patrons for pranks and quick exits.

The inn is furnished with old, comfortable, and slightly shabby furniture culled from a dozen keeps and many homes of rich and poor. The walls are crowded with trophy heads of creatures from deer to Illithid, old fading paintings of fanciful and imaginative scenes, and thick tapestries from several score of cultures. These decorations compete with large bookcases and shelves crowded with old diaries, travel logs, collections of ballads and legends, and colorful history books of dubious accuracy. The floors are covered in thick rugs made from a wide variety of beasts. All the fabric draping the walls and floors makes the Kegs a very quiet place.

Provender
The Kegs is neither a tavern nor a restaraunt, and its miniscule menu reflects this fact. There is an expansive wine cellar. Ice water and a selection of hot broths are also available. The only food to be had is a dark, nutty malt bread. Most patrons go elsewhere for actual meals.

Management and Staff
The Three Old Kegs is kept by Nantrin Bellowglyn, a retired nobleman's guard from Tethyr. The staff consists of Bellowglyn's four daughters, a bag-boy, a hostler, and three serving wenches. The latter are former huntresses from Tethyr and one of them, Ithyl Calantryn, is a sorceress adept in the fields of levitation and shielding spells. She has been known to eject would-be thieves and unruly patrons singlehandedly--sometimes via an upper-story window.

While quietly polite and uniformly thoughtful, the Kegs' staff (especially Bellowglyn) do not tolerate rowdiness or violence. Those who drink too much of an evening often awaken in the hay pile by the kitchen door. Patrons are expected to leave their weapons in their rooms; this rule is firmly enforced. To the majority of patrons who behave, the service is unfailingly excellent. The staff is even known to take the time to chat or play games with bored or lonely patrons, although they will never gamble for money.

Like most establishments in Baldur's Gate, the Kegs has a less reputable side. The building is known to contain at least one secret passage, which connects to a dockside warehouse and to a sewer shaft near the city's Black Dragon Gate. Someplace along this passage is a lime pit, where bodies may be disposed of for a fee paid to Bellowglyn.

Prices

 * Rooms are 5sp/person/night. Rooms range from single occupancy to quad, but there is no discount for sharing a room. Price includes stabling, a plate of bread, bottomless ice water, cold baths, and laundry service.
 * Additional bread is 1cp/plate.
 * Broth is 6cp/(large) mug.
 * All wines are 6cp/tallglass.
 * A hot bath is 3cp/person.
 * Corpse disposal is 100gp/body.