H.O.T.I.E.
Three Creeks Inn
HISTORY
Kenenth and his little son Mordimus were trinket vendors operating from a street cart in Rel Mord about 75 years ago. An honest and hardworking businessman, Kenenth harbored great dreams of one day owning his own inn, and saved scrupulously in order to purchase some property.
Fortune came Kenenth’s way in a strange fashion. He had opened as usual that day in spite of warnings. The Thieves’ Guild had apparently splintered into several warring factions, and gangs of ruffians had been terrorizing small merchants like himself, free from Guild retribution. He had fought several fights in the past week to defend his cart and his son, and should have laid low until the fighting blew over. Unfortunately, the usurer he had deposited his savings with had temporarily closed his shop due to the troubles, and so Kenenth could not access his precious nest-egg. It was either risk work or risk starvation, and Kenenth was too proud a man to beg.
That afternoon, Kenenth hid a man beneath his cart. The man, Shaen of Borneven, was a member of an adventuring party called the Arbiters. Shaen had come into town for supplies, and had run afoul of some ruffians, forced to flee for his life. Kenenth hid Shaen beneath his cart and convinced the pursuing thugs that their quarry had fled further down the street. In return for his kindness, the Arbiters shared with Kenenth the reward they eventually earned for bringing down one of the thief cartels.
His share of the reward, plus his savings, was enough to allow Kenenth to purchase and renovate a moderately sized warehouse building. He was assisted in this by a young elf (just under a century old) named Matheio Sejanus, who had ridden with the Arbiters, but had stayed in Rel Mord when the group moved on. Matheio had just left his ancestral home in the Gamboge Forest, and had never been in a large human city. His eagerness to live in Rel Mord, and his skills at woodwork learned in his early youth, made him a fine business partner for Kenenth. Matheio helped with the renovation and addition work, and used much of his cut from the Arbiters’ bounty to help Kenenth get the place off the ground. Once the Inn was complete, Matheio stayed on for about a year, helping with maintenance in return for a free place to stay.
Kenenth named the place the Three Creeks Inn. It was a rarity for its day in that it offered baths on the second floor, using the kitchen chimneys to heat water. Kenenth invested in three great oaken tubs, each carved with the name of one of the three creeks that ran near the village where he was born.
The Three Creeks has been open almost continuously since that time, passing from Kenenth to Mordimus. The elf Matheio visited whenever he was in Rel Mord. As Mordimus aged, Matheio took to calling him “Great Uncle Mordimus,” a joke they shared for years.
Mordimus lived a surprisingly long life for a human. He died in CY 591 at the age of 80, and his last years were not good ones for the inn. Possessed of his father’s stubbornness, Mordimus would not allow anyone to manage his affairs but himself. As his health and his mental faculties declined, the inn fell into disrepair and tax trouble. The Royal Exchequer was on the verge of foreclosing on the place when Mordimus died, and the inn came into the full ownership of Matheio Sejanus.
Matheio fixed the place up once again, paid the back taxes, and re-opened the doors. He made a decent living adventuring, and therefore chose not to gouge his customers in a quest for profit. Instead, much of the inn’s income was used to expand the menu, both of foodstuffs and exotic liquors. Services were also improved, and the Three Creeks’ amenities soon included a raised stage, a private conference and dining room for special patrons, a small sauna off the bath room, a large two-bedroom suite on the second floor set up specifically for visiting adventuring companies, and a massive brass bell on the bar, struck to signal that someone had bought a round for the house. To this day, the bell rings at least once a night. The Three Creeks Inn was once again established as the flagship of its neighborhood, well-liked by regulars and visitors alike.
Not long ago several old companions of Matheio’s blew into the Three Creeks, and never left. The Warrior-Priests Barok Sarun-Zaghal, and Enan had big dreams of opening an Inn that would cater to their rather unique interests. They wanted it to be a gathering place and a resource for the growing body of adventurers in Nyrond. The pair discussed their idea with Matheio (over copious amounts of the latter’s best private reserve), and the trio decided to use the Three Creeks to that end. The system they devised allows adventurers of certain standing to become shareholders in the Inn itself, using it as a base of operations in Rel Mord, and as a de facto adventuring guildhouse.
The Three Creeks’ private dining room was taken over. It has become a semi-private lounge off the main taproom, labeled with a wrought iron sign and dubbed “The Deep Water”. Additionally, a fisticuffs ring was built in the Inn’s basement for those of the martial persuasion (Matheio wishes he’d thought of this before, as it would have saved him money on furniture replacement). Certain rooms of the Inn were sectioned off and are reserved solely for use by the Deepwater Adventurers. On any given night a large number of adventurers can be found frequenting the Three Creeks Inn, many of whom will be found in the Deep Water.
Although the addition of so many adventurers has made the Three Creeks a bit rough and rowdy, it’s still a very safe place. The seasoned adventurers the Inn attracts don’t mind the occasional injury due to accidents or brawls, but tend to come down hard on anyone intentionally harming people. The Deep Water regulars drinking in the back also form an interesting counterpoint to the growing number of town watchmen who like to drink in the main taproom. The presence of both groups together tends to scare off anyone looking for more than information or a good time.
Questions or comments? Send word to the groundskeeper@hotie.org.