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By Alec Austin
By Jim Zubkavich

No self-respecting adventurer would pass up the chance to sleep under a roof without a good reason. Trekking through the wilderness is exhausting, and there’s nothing like a hot meal and a soft, clean bed at the end of the day. As hospitality can be a rare thing in the wilds, a safe place to stay is a treasure indeed.

Brand’s Tavern

Far from civilization, a solitary stone building stands inside a whitewashed wall. This is Brand’s Tavern, run by a dark-eyed and taciturn man with a seven-pointed star seared into the palm of his left hand. Brand (LN male tiefling fighter 4/rogue 10) holds himself aloof from what happens beyond his walls, but he requires that his guests display tolerance and restraint within its bounds.

This policy is important, as Brand’s Tavern caters to monsters as well as humanoids. Ogre magi, sphinxes, and lamias mix with elves and humans in the common room, and Brand treats them all with a courtesy and respect that he expects to be reciprocated. Those who attempt to take advantage of his hospitality suffer the wrath of Brand’s bouncer, Hazalak (LE male barbed devil), the serving staff (Jerria, Meluseine, and Lorris: all N female elf rogue 6), and the tavern’s other patrons.

For those who respect its rules, however, Brand’s Tavern can provide a welcome respite from the perils of travel, as well as an opportunity to become acquainted with some of those perils over dinner.

Brand charges ten times the prices listed in the Player’s Handbook for meals and lodging, but the accommodations at Brand’s Tavern are of the finest quality.

The Emerald Caravanserai

A jewel of green amidst a trackless waste, the Emerald Caravanserai is a single sprawling building built of unfired clay bricks. While from a distance it seems an oasis, a closer look reveals that all the plants are growing on or within the building, apparently kept alive by the contents of a single well.

The caravanserai’s proprietor is Turwas Jabel (NE male human druid 7), whose power sustains his gardens and provides his guests with enough water and food to continue their journey across the wasteland. Turwas acts unctuous and servile in public, but if characters display their wealth too freely or anger him by maligning the caravanserai’s accommodations, he alerts his allies among the local tribesmen to the characters’ travel plans.

If the PCs have attracted Turwas’s ire and are the caravanserai’s only guests, he calls on the tribe of grimlocks that dwells beneath the caravanserai to attack the PCs in their beds. Turwas’s servants know to lock themselves into their rooms during such attacks, and if the PCs have been kind, one of them may try to warn them of their master’s treachery.

The Inn of the Black Hart

The Inn of the Black Hart has seen better days. Its tables are gouged and scarred by knives, its common room is dim and smoky, and its bedrooms are cramped and drafty. Still, the venison it serves is second to none, and its meager accommodations are still better than sleeping on the ground.

Susanna Jaeger, a widow whose husband was killed by an immense dire boar (known locally as “the Beast”) while he was hunting for truffles, runs the Inn of the Black Hart. Since the tragedy, her anger over her husband’s death has led her to neglect her two daughters, Anya and Theodora, who do most of the cooking and other work.

If anyone hunts down the Beast and kills it, Susanna mounts its head over the fireplace and offers the PCs free lodging for life. Likewise, if the party contains a ranger, druid, or other character skilled in the wild, Theodora (NG female human ranger 2) begs them to take her with them so she can seek her fortune.

Gunnar Bjornson’s Hall (EL 11+)

High in the mountains, an immense longhall overlooks a snowy pass, built to giant-sized dimensions. Gunnar Bjornson (LE male frost giant fighter 1) and his wife Helga (NE female frost giant) live here with their three children, and if Gunnar encounters characters wandering in the snow, he hails them in the spirit of peace and offers them the shelter of his hall for the night.

Characters who accept Gunnar’s offer are seated in places of honor and served the choicest cuts of meat. After dinner, Gunnar gets to business. He and Harald, the frost giant who claims the far side of the mountains as his territory, have had a falling out, and he hopes to convince the PCs to help him kill Harald. He attempts to exploit the characters’ sense of obligation and honor, if any, as well as offering them their pick of Harald’s treasure.

If the characters assist Gunnar in killing Harald and his two brothers, Gunnar declares eternal friendship with them and allows them to stay overnight whenever they wish. If they refuse, he becomes quite disgruntled, and he and Helga may try to kill them in their sleep.

Rengel’s Farmstead

The interior of Connor Rengel’s home has become a familiar sight for travelers over the years. Though his family is not well-off, Connor holds to the old tradition of hospitality, and any traveler who asks him for a place to stay for the evening is treated to Ma Rengel’s cooking and is pumped for tales of adventure and far-off lands by the Rengels’ seven children.

Though the Rengel home is expansive and filled with bedrooms, the PCs are unlikely to be the only guests taking advantage of Connor Rengel’s hospitality on a given evening, so having to sleep in the barn is a real possibility. While Connor refuses direct payment for putting up characters, he gladly accepts gifts. As a result, his house was hallowed several months ago and minor magical knickknacks adorn his mantelpiece and his children’s toy chests.

Though the Rengels live far from the nearest city, their home lies along a minor trade route, and their network of friends and acquaintances spans the kingdom. As a result, the family’s opinions and recommendations can carry surprising weight.