The Salty Dog Tavern

The Salty Dog Tavern was a ramshackle tavern in the town of Targos in Icewind Dale in the 14 century DR. "Though how we ended up here, I'll never know. This is the worst contract we've ever taken — the ale here is so watered down they might as well be serving it in rain barrels."

- Blanchard Pike

Location
The Salty Dog Tavern stood just a few steps away from the docks. It was close to the southern edge of the town, nestled underneath a bluff that encircled the southern part of the docks.

Interior
The tavern was a simple yet sturdy-looking rectangular single-floor building with its main entrance looking away from Maer Dualdon. In the 14 century DR, the interior was a single large and chaotically decorated taproom. A long bar stand was built near a small alcove on the western side of the room that held a sizable wheezing cast-iron stove. The kitchenette was decorated with a collection of wall pictures of various sizes. Behind the bar, one could find shelves full of bottles.

The taproom's walls were decorated with fishing nets, sporadic framed pictures, and windows imitating portholes. The northern wall had a huge mounted fish, longer than two stacked humans, proudly displayed, as well as a helm of a ship named Botany Bay. The Salty Dog's floors were covered with a mish-mash of old, discolored area rugs, while several tables and chairs were placed around the room.

Services
The Salty Dog Tavern offered a selection of alcohol to its guests and some unimpressive food items. The menu included Gohar's Galloping Grog, Hair of the Wolf, Dualdon's Wake Mead, Bremen's Runs, Old One Eye beer, Moonshae whiskey, Shaengarne's Tooth, and Bitter Black ale.

History
Sometime circa the, a mercenary named Gohar won the Salty Dog Tavern in a knife fight. He did not intend to run the business and wanted to sell the establishment to pay for drinks and tars in Luskan. However, he became enamored with the Salty Dog's previous owner's wife and they ended up running the business together for over a decade, until her death in the winter of the.

As of the, Gohar was the lone proprietor of the Salty Dog; by then he was large and wheezing, just like the tavern's stove. He kept the drinking hole open through the menace of the Legion of the Chimera and deadly goblin sieges. At the same time as a group of adventurers from Luskan arrived at Targos, the town became flooded by goblin attackers that somehow infiltrated the docks, avoiding the palisades and fortifications altogether. As the attack raged, Gohar and his customers, Guthewulfe Henghelm, Blanchard Pike, Black Geoffrey, and Kickshaw, consumed alcohol as if nothing out of the ordinary took place (accumulating a tab of thirty gold pieces). When confronted, Gohar refused to believe such preposterous claims that goblins were attacking the docks, as he'd not heard a signal horn from the palisades or the defenders' call to arms.

All things considered, the siege was good for Gohar's business as the town's defenders, adventurers, and mercenaries all spent their Targos salaries at the Salty Dog.

Appearances

 * Video Games
 * Icewind Dale II