The High Flagon was a gambling hall and inn just north of Waterdeep in northwest Faerûn.[note 1] As of the Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR, it was owned by the Harbright family, with Drengar Harbright as proprietor and some of the Harbright women on the kitchen staff.[1]
Location[]
The original High Flagon stood about two miles (just over three kilometers) up the Long Road from the North Gate of Waterdeep, on the right (east) side of the road.[1] The second location was at the corner of Immar Street and the High Road just north of Lhestyn's Court and one block south of the Upper Towers.[2] The location just outside Waterdeep became a popular meeting place for merchants, laborers, and adventurers joining a caravan for safer travels.[1]
View of the myriad gables, turrets, and roofs added over the years. Many rain barrels store water in case of fire.
Structure[]
Patrons approach the front door. Cascading rain barrels are evident.
The High Flagon on the Long Road was a country estate that suffered from having a series of owners that each expanded the structure in a different style and direction than the previous owner. As a result, the place looked like a tortured old house bristling with wings, gables, turrets, oddly sloped roofs, and bay windows. The entire front and part of one side had an attached veranda complete with its own roofs of various designs and a picket-fence railing. In the back were large stables for patrons' horses and carriages. A fence surrounded the Flagon and stables to form a yard that was often muddy in wet weather. Multi-tiered rain barrels were found all around the structure wherever gutters sluiced water off the roofs. These were kept full in case of a fire.[1][note 2]
A portion of the veranda that wrapped around the front and one side. More water barrels are present.
Interior[]
The outer doors gave access to the lobby, which had another set of double doors, copper-clad and polished to a gleaming shine, that opened into a dimly lit gaming room with about a dozen gaming tables. In the back were the kitchens and the stairs to the upper floors. The stairs to the cellar were in the kitchen area. The rooms for rent on the second and third floors were simple spaces that could be locked with door bars on the inside. A typical room contained a bed, a blanket, a chamber pot, and a bureau with a bowl and a pitcher of water for washing. The rain-barrel motif continued throughout the interior hallways, game room, and kitchens as fire was the greatest danger to the old wooden structure.[1]
Cutaway view of the copper-clad doors between the lobby and main room, with guards and a water barrel.
The main room was decorated in an imitation of luxury with crude tapestries on the walls. The pieces of furniture matched in that all were painted black, the chairs had all been modified to have the same high-arched back, and the tables had all been topped with round or oval surfaces of about the same size, but the legs were from various different styles.[1] Most of the sturdy door frames in the game room were hollow and equipped with a pull-out door that formed a funnel to a "pour chute" that was used to deposit coins from the house's winnings. These chutes led to the cellar where the coins accumulated in cavities in the walls accessible by hidden and locked doors. Keys to the wall vaults were kept in a safe in Drengar's private chambers.[3]
A pour chute leading to the cellar for securing the house winnings.
There was a crawl space above the game room with peepholes above every gaming table. The observation ports were extremely hard to spot from the gaming floor and were only used to catch someone that was suspected of cheating repeatedly. Likewise, most of the rooms on the second and third floors had spy holes accessible through secret passages or the closets used for storing linens, cleaning supplies, and weapons.[3] The closets and passages were only accessible by the staff and it was Drengar's policy not to allow them to be used for eavesdropping because whatever he could earn by selling access was not worth the potential loss of business if word got out that the Flagon did not respect privacy.[1]
A guard uses the crawlspace to observe a suspected card cheat.
The cellar was filled with casks and kegs of drink, foodstuffs, and a counting table where the house's winnings were recorded and bagged.[note 2]
Atmosphere[]
The High Flagon had a rustic feel but presented a respectable facade for a place known for harboring gambling, drinking, brawling, prostitution, and drug sales.[1][4] There were armed guards on every floor and around the grounds; stunningly beautiful hostesses in evening gowns; handsome and beautiful tablemasters that ran the games and provided dice, cards, markers, and banking services; a platoon of stable-hands; an equal number of cooks; and a deep menu of beverages to choose from.[1]
During the day shift, from dawn to dusk, the place operated at half staff as only a few indefatigable gamblers and drinkers were present. Rooms were quite inexpensive during the day and were often used for private business meetings. All tenants had to be out by dusk or pay the nighttime room rate to hold the room. At night, from dusk until dawn, the Flagon was fully staffed and awash in the noisy pursuit of pleasure and entertainment.[1]
The rules of the house were fairly simple and strict. Patrons that repeatedly taunted, cheated, or started fights were ejected from the premises. Drawing a weapon or contributing to a death was also grounds for expulsion. Anyone caught starting a fire or acting in a manner that could start a fire (breaking a lamp, throwing a lantern, etc.) was given a beating and then ejected. Magic was prohibited and anyone caught using magic to cheat was ejected and forbidden to ever return. Using magic in a dangerous, attacking, or violent manner was grounds for a beating and confiscation of all belongings on their person, or death if the offense was judged to be exceptionally serious.[1][5]
What the guard sees.
Services[]
The room rate during the day was 3 sp for a basic room with no frills. At night, the price was 2 gp for the same room, but renters wanting a quiet night were better off going elsewhere.[1] The wide variety of alcoholic beverages was one of the services that made the Flagon stand out. All drinks were served in the same-sized dented metal goblets that kept breakage to a minimum. Ales, beers from small to stout, cordials made from herbs, and beef broth were all 3 sp per goblet. Wines, zzar, and strong spirits were 1 gp per goblet. The finer and rarer beverages began at 7 gp and went up to whatever the clientele would pay.[5]
Cutaway view of the spartan rooms on the upper floors.
Food at the Flagon was styled so as not to interfere with gaming, i.e., it was all finger-food that could be eaten with one hand. Tarts, both sweet and savory, were served hot on a wooden plate. Sweetberry tarts were filled with one or more of blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, gooseberries, or raspberries and sold for 2 sp each. Savory tarts were filled with small game meat such as rabbit or quail and were 3 sp each. Higher up the price list were skewer-fowl: whole ducks, chickens, or other fowl of indeterminate age marinated in dregs from the wine bottles, roasted, and served on a wooden stake. The drippings from the skewer-fowl were used to fry thick slices of bread. Two of these slices were served on a wooden plate topped by four or five strips of beef, pork, and venison, also fried and heavily seasoned with pepper. This staple was known as a fryplate.[5][note 3]
With an oversized, walled stable compound, many stable hands, and 'round-the-clock guards, the High Flagon had a side business of coach storage and mount boarding for folks in the city that didn't have room or didn't want to keep these assets at their place of residence. Guests at the Flagon knew their mounts were in good hands.[1]
Activities[]
The High Flagon used to host dice games (possibly Traitor's Heads or Thabort, for example) and "live" games (like Toss the Dagger, for example) but these led to an excess of brawling and were banned from the High Flagon by Drengar in the early 1370s DR. After the ban, only card games were allowed, but these were quite in vogue at the time and business did not suffer from the ban. Typical card games played nightly were Archers, Smashcastle, Swords, and the extremely popular High Dragon.[5] Part of the reason for High Dragon's widespread appeal was that Drengar would occasionally raise the stakes and spur the excitement by adding some coins to the winner's pot.[1]
Defenses[]
Cutaway view of the cellar showing the counting table and a server retrieving a pitcher from one of the many casks of drinks.
The High Flagon employed forty-six guards. About a third of these worked the day shift and the rest worked the night shift. Guests were well aware of this security presence as there were two guards stationed at the front doors, two at the copper lobby door, and two more flanking the hostess' stand. All three of these posts had an alarm gong that was linked to one in the kitchen area to alert the proprietor and summon reinforcements if necessary. Patrols roamed over the whole compound, including the cellar, the upper floors, the stables, and the fenced-in yard.[1]
Spare weapons were kept in the broom- and linen-closets used by the staff. Small sandbags were also stored there to be used for fighting fires or to throw at fighting guests. One of the ground-floor closets had a special foot-operated lever that allowed a part of the floor to swing aside so that items (or a body) could be quickly dropped into the cellar for hiding.[3]
History[]
The building had many owners, as evidenced by the many mismatched styles of additions that it accumulated over the years. The Harbrights were successful in the textile business in Waterdeep but Drengar wanted to get his family out of the big city, so he took over the management of the High Flagon. It didn't take many seasons for the Flagon to become the more profitable family business.[1]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The location of the High Flagon was apparently retconned in City of Splendors: Waterdeep to be at the east edge of the Sea Ward near the North Gate (map key $76) and its full name was High Flagon Gambling House (see page 92). One possible explanation is that the business was so successful that the owners opened up a second establishment of the same name. Another possibility is that the owners moved the business inside the city walls for protection.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Some descriptions are based on the artist's rendering.
- ↑ The source does not give a price for skewer-fowl or fryplates.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Ed Greenwood (December 2002). “Elminster's Guide to the Realms: The High Flagon”. In Jesse Decker ed. Dragon #302 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), p. 76.
- ↑ Eric L. Boyd (June 2005). City of Splendors: Waterdeep. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 92, 97. ISBN 0-7869-3693-2.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ed Greenwood (December 2002). “Elminster's Guide to the Realms: The High Flagon”. In Jesse Decker ed. Dragon #302 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), p. 79.
- ↑ Eric L. Boyd (June 2005). City of Splendors: Waterdeep. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 18. ISBN 0-7869-3693-2.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Ed Greenwood (December 2002). “Elminster's Guide to the Realms: The High Flagon”. In Jesse Decker ed. Dragon #302 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), p. 77.