Standard information

Name of the Inn:The Fox and Duck

Location of the Inn:Castle Street near Fore St

Settlement:Hamedar, Shorkyne

Propieter's name:Sarand of Hirawyn

Size:8

Quality:***

Price:High

Number of floors:2

Construction material:Timber frame with brick in fill

Roof material:Clay tile

On this page: Introduction | Description of building | History | Business | Rate of charges | Bar tariff | Menu | Staff | Sarand (owner) | Starisa (cook) | Atilah (barman) | Layout of the Inn | Ground Floor | First Floor | Loft | Fardan a regular (NPC)

Introduction

Hamedar is a keep on the river Es in Shorkyne. It is the center of a very small area of farmed land which has carved out of the surrounding forest. The keep and surrounding hamlet is principally a way point for river and cart traffic from Eshaple heading up river to the Castle of Meshare.

The inn caters mainly for the more wealthy travellers through Hamedar. The Fox and Duck inn stands at the bottom of the hill which leads up to the Keep of Hamedar on a corner plot with Fore street which is the main street through Hamedar. The inn is quiet place to spend the night and every effort is made by Sirand to ensure his guests want to stop by on their return journey.

Description of Building

The building is low and squat, the upper story has been painted a apricot colour, whilst the roof and the lower floor bricks are in the bright red of the local clay. The building is built round a wooden frame, the beams of which are exposed and greyed with age. The Inn has lots of small windows which have small triangular pains of leaded glass. The main entrance is through double doors which face out on to Fore Street. In the evening there is a light showing at most windows, and the sound of people talking and singing filters out into the street.

History

The Hirawyn clan have held the franchise on this inn for three generations now, during which time very little has been done to the building, apart from an occasional coat of paint to the upper story. The building it self is over a century old, but no one knows quite how old, but it is the oldest building on Fore street. Some say that it used to be the manor house of Hamedar, before the keep was built, but that would make the building very old.

Business

Sarand likes to deal with the more important people to pass through Hamedar, the river boat captains, the cart chief teamsters and of course their passengers. He believed that the 'riff-raff' like the carters and sailors will be staying at the other inns in town, and that they will be looking after the transport, hence he does not have any arrangements with an ostler for his guests horses.

However he does provide rooms for the night, or even longer if desired, and he produces very good hot food. Due to the low number of patrons, he normally only has one dish available per night. Guests can order meals to be cooked especially for them, which is often the case with guests staying for several nights. On the first of each month he closes down his main common room for a night for use as a dance hall and bar. His resident guests either join in or use the smaller common room only, which is reserved for them. Sarand brews his own ale, but also sales wine which he imports by the barrel from Eshaple.

Sarand takes a very dim view of people soliciting in his inn, but he will let a guest bring a 'friend' to stay the night as long as both people are paid for a full rate.

Sarand has a total of seven staff working for him, two journeymen and five apprentices. The journeymen are Starisa who he employed as a cook, but subsequently married and Atilah the barman who has newly joined the inn, four months ago. Of the apprentices, one works in the kitchen as a scullery maid, one looks after the guests and their bedrooms, two work as bar-staff carrying drinks to the tables and clearing up afterwards. The last apprentice has been working for Sarand for five years now and is quite close to gaining journeyman status, she does no particular job in the inn, but covers for other staff and deputises for Sarand in his absence.

Rate of Charges

Bar Tariff

Menu

Wild nettle soup	1f
Cream of buck-eyed bean soup	2f
Ewe's cheese and bread roll	3f
Ragend of Goat and Onion stew	1d
Mutton and pearl barley stew	1d 2f
Lamb liver ragout	1d 3f
Mixed offel grill	2d 2f
Grilled trout with watercress	3d
Roast mutton with pot herbs	4d 2f
Roast port with apple, cider and onion sauce	6d
Roast venison with rabbit sauce	8d

Staff

Sarand has a total of seven staff working for him, two journeymen and five apprentices.

Name	Guild rank	Job
Sarand	Master	Owner and Brewer
Starisa	Journeyman	Cook and wife
Atilah	Journeyman	Barman
Dyrina	Apprentice	Deputy to Sarand
Terina	Apprentice	Scullary Maid
Carmeda	Apprentice	Chamber Maid
Teran	Apprentice	Bar boy
Zorkinai	Apprentice	Bar maid

Staff: Sarand

Sex: Male

Age: 46

Job: Owner and Brewmaster

Guild Status: Master

Appearance: Sarand is of average height, but is rather much over weight, like many innkeepers he rather too fond of his own ale and his wives good cooking. He is rather slow moving, walking with a bit of a limp on his left leg, and tends to sweat a lot. He has short dark brown hair, swept back exposing his receding hair line. His face is rather pale, which makes his dark bye eyes seem even more intense.

Clothing: He wears a practical buckram doublets in pale colours, with normally brown or dark blue breeches. Over which he wears a white apron, and he is shod in ankle boots and beige stockings.

Personality: Sarand is very out going and likes to have a chat with all his guests. He is not naturally generous, but he has learnt that the best way to keep customs is to appear to be. He is always summoned to greet his guests and to settle their bills, otherwise he tends to keep himself to himself, and is frequently to be found in his brewhouse.

Remarks: Sarand is not very interested in religion, but he does attend the Peoni masses. It is said that he was once a fighter of Agrik, before he was shown the error of his ways (when he gained his leg injury) but if so, he has changed quite dramatically now. The Inn has stayed within the clan for three generations, he inherited the franchise from his uncle. Since he has no children the inn will likely pass to his cousin, though he has been toying with the idea of giving Dyrina the franchise, which his cousin is not too happy about.

Staff: Starisa

Sex: Female

Age: 41

Job: Cook and Wife

Appearance: Starisa is surprisingly slim considering the reputation cooks have for sampling their own food. She is taller than average, the same height as Sarand. Unlike Sarand her hair is reddish and her eyes are green. however she has the same plain face as he.

Clothing: Starisa wears full length dresses which accentuates her narrow waist and wide hips, her particular favourite is red and blue tartan dress, with lace cuffs. When in the kitchen she wears a bleached buckram apron.

Personality: Like her husband Starisa is very talkative, particularly to those who like her food. She often invites staying guest in to the kitchen to sample what she is preparing.

Remarks: Starisa has proved barren, a matter of sadness for her, which she has compensated for by mothering all the children in Hamedar. She is a confident of all the apprentices who work here, and she uses her influence with Sarand to ensure they are not abused.

Staff: Atilah

Sex: Male

Age: 32

Job: Barman

Appearance:Atilah is tall and thin with a hawk-like face; a large nose, narrow draw face with prominent bone structure, brown piercing eyes and thin mouth. He speaks with a noticeable foreign accent, though its origin is difficult to pin point.

Clothing:Atilah wears the clothing typical of the townsfolk of Hamedar. His clothing is all new and identical in design: yellow-green tunic, over blue brigga (baggy trousers) and soft ankle boots. He draws the tunic in at the waist using a wide leather belt from which hand a collection of pouches and a dagger.

Personality:He likes to keep himself to himself, not being keen on socialising with the inn's customers, though he is prompt and accurate with the orders,

Remarks:Atilah has been with the inn for only a short period of time. He arrived one morning saw Sarand and had a long chat in private, when he was immediately hired. No-one else knows where he came from, nor anything of his background. It is obvious that Sarand does not particularly trust him.

Description of Layout

The plan of this site is based on Plan 4: Double winged Inn

The Inn does not have a cellar due to the hard bed-rock it sits on. It has two main floors, the first occupied by the common room (which takes up on wing, on both floors), private common room and kitchen plus a few stores, the second housing the staff and guest accommodation. In addition the loft is used as the apprentice's shared bedroom. Room numbers are referred to by being in square brackets ('[]').

Ground Floor

The public common [1] dominates this floor, it can be entered from within the inn or through double doors from Fore street, it is overlooked by a gallery above [10]. The common room has six tables, seating just over thirty and is warmed by two large fire places. It has a bar in the far corner of the room, behind which is the Inn's small brew room, and ale and wine store [2]. The main entrance to the inn, as opposed to the public common room, enters in to the corridor [4] which connects the public and private common rooms. One of Sarand's apprentices, Dyrina, sleeps in a room of this corridor [3] so that someone is always at hand when guests arrive. This room also contains the inns office. The private common room [7] is used by staying guests of the inn and is mainly used for serving meals, being conveniently close to the kitchen [6]. Stair from here also lead up to the guest bedrooms above [14, 16-19]. The staff quarters are accessed by a second stair which is located near the kitchen, with a corridor [5] connecting to the public areas. A small store of this corridor is used as a pantry for non-perishable food stuffs.

First Floor

This floor is effectively in two halves, the guest and the staff accommodation.

The stairs from the public common room [7] lead in to a short spur corridor off the guest's lounge [16]. A large cupboard opposite [15] the stairs is used by Carmeda to store the inn's linen's (which are washed once a ten-day in the kitchen [6]). There are two private guest rooms [17 & 18] each of which is equipped with a double bed, chests and linen press, these rooms are heated by braziers when it gets cold. The dormitory [14] has three double bunk beds which are used by those sharing a room. Additional guests can sleep in the private common room [7] but this is exceedingly rare.

The staff accommodation consists of Sarand's and Starisa's room [11] which is equipped with a double bed, chest of drawers and a small linen press. Sarand's private office [12] leads from his bed room, it contains his desk and shelf of curios. His cash reserve is also hidden here, though the majority of his profit have gone in purchasing freehold tenements that he lets on. The journeymen have to share a twin bedded room [13], since currently only Atilah is in residence this is no problem. The last staff area is the gallery [10] which over looks the public common room. This is used on the first of each month to house a local band for his dance night. The tables in the common room are pushed back against the walls and the floor is used for 'barn-dancing'.

Loft

The loft area is used by Sarand's remaining apprentice's Carmeda, Teran, and Zorkinia (who each have a single bed) and Terina (who has the lower bunk bed). The furnishing are sparse, each has a chest for their belongings, they share a chest of drawers for their work clothes, supplied by Sarand, and their is a single desk and chair. The loft is unheated and the only illumination is through two windows at either end of the room and the single candle that Sarand allows them. The loft is entered through the a trap door in the floor which leads, via a ladder, to the staff corridor (room 8).

Fardan