The Four Taverns

 In the dual-city of Cothon-Gadeed, taverns are not merely public houses serving food and drink in common rooms, and offering room and board to foreigners and travelers; rather they are the public faces of the various confraternities and guilds which make up much of the warp and woof of society.

There are of course many taverns throughout the city; near the wharfs are those that cater to the longshoremen, while at both the Gate of the Dyers and the Gate of Hamdi fishermen gather after selling their catch; near the Arena is the Heroön, where victorious gladiators celebrate (and the honored dead are toasted), while the Hanging Verses is the house of the courtesans; and the brick-layers, the sail-makers, the coopers, the potters, all have their own tavern-houses in the city.

But the Four Taverns stand above all these others in reputation, especially for those seeking to make something of themselves above and/or outside the normal avenues of society. These taverns represent certain guilds requiring especial skill--alchemists, sages, botanists, etc.--and because of the breadth of the knowledge required for such skills, and their esoteric knowledge and their sometimes odd material components, they tend to gather to themselves those of adventuresome spirit.

The Four Taverns are:

• Cothon-Under-Star, a tavern overlooking the harbor from beneath the shell of an immense Mother Whelk (large enough to fit the large common room underneath!), this tavern is associated with the Guild of Alchemists and Bacta-Makers, and as such has a special relation with the Klackons that built up the Long Walls of the dual-city, whose biology are required for the making of healing bacta
• the Herm and Stones, recognizable by the great herm that stands outside its front gate; this tavern is run by the Guild of Miners and Prospectors, who have an especial interest in the various caves that run through the Tel al-Safina, and as prospecting already includes an adventurous bunch, certain Kzinti bands also regularly gather there; this guild jealously guards their prospecting maps, and controls the buying and selling of weirdstones
• the Confraternity of Issa the Baptist is a large cloister set off by lesser walls and is more religious in character than the others--though don't be fooled, the tavern-hall is just as beer- and wine-filled as ever! The Guild of Botanists and Beastmasters plies its trade within the walled off gardens and stables of the cloister, while flights of the Alkari bird-men are known to sometimes alight in the safety behind its walls, their business unknown to those outside the Guild; tsural flowers can be bought here, and the beastmasters are always interested in subdued animals
• Kantor Kabljauhof, though not properly of the city, nevertheless serves in the same capacity as the other taverns; it is the warehouse-complex of the Hanse, a foreign merchant league from the north of Dirac's Sea. The Hanse maintain a common drinking-room and a boarding house for other foreigners who wish to reside with them; their dealings across the sea means that they have contacts with the saurian Sakkra, among others, and they have an alchemical workshop that rivals Cothon-Under-Star by crafting other products, such as potions of sakkra blood (claimed to heal one better than bacta!)

Those who would adventure from Cothon-Gadeed into the underworld of the Tel (or even to venture through the hinterlands of the city, where other adventures certainly await) would do well to establish themselves as members of one of these taverns.

Membership costs 100 gold per level per month; by paying these dues, a character will have access to the particular goods and services provided by the tavern at a reduced cost (or even gratis).

For instance, someone associating with the Herm and Stone might be able to acquire weirdstones at a more reasonable price (and have more inkling as to what they do), as well as the opportunity to peruse or purchase prospecting maps (making underworld-adventure easier), to earn finders' fees for special discoveries, and perhaps to acquire something special from the Kzinti regulars. And of course, the sages of the tavern would help with the identification of any strange or magical items discovered below.

Each tavern thus offers its own opportunities ...