The Red Inn

A solid roof, A warm meal, A cool drink, A fresh room.   2 Silver a night, 10 Silver a week. Discounts for entertainers. Community job boards available in the dining area. Breakfast buffet available from 5-9 Bells.   d'Ghallanda Matea Redbrush had a Dream one night, a dream of exhaustion and despair, hunger and fright. Chased by some unknown dread that sapped warmth and joy from her bones and sent her fleeing into a starless, freezing night, wind and unseen demons howling for her insides to be outsides so she could join them in the burning cold of Oblivion.   Her desperate flight left her breathless, shaken, cold and desperate, and the only thing keeping her moving was the faint red glow just over a hidden rise. The only light in her dream, she hurled herself after it until she at last crested the hill and saw before her a brightly lit courtyard and large, solid looking building. Its rich red roof was shining like a beacon. The howling of the horde behind her screamed in her ear and just as she felt the touch of some clawed horror scraping the back of her leg, the valley below her blazed like a forest in the fireplains, roofs of Inn after Inn lighting up and spreading their warmth and welcome all over the lands, sending golden beams to harmlessly evaporate any possible terror that would dare pursue even a potential guest. A warm voice that reminded Matea of her grandmother whispered into her ear even as the warmth and light was waking her up with a gentle hug of a summer sunrise, "You've been here."   She opened the first Red Inn 3 months later.  The second opened a month afterward.  They're always located near major road junctions or Lightning rail stations; there are a dozen in Khorvaire and even one in Stormreach. They all offer the same promise: simple comforts done well. Their meals are filling and inexpensive, their chairs and beds are comfortable and unadorned, and their rooms are quiet. Where their cousins running the Gold Dragon chain specialize in qualty and comfort, Matea focused on affordability and safety, real luxury to those living on the road.   To cement their place as the traveler's home away from home, every Red Inn also contains a small general store, where weary adventurers may stock up on rations, small charged items, as well as rope, bags, locks, lamps and oil, and other common adventuring equipment. Matea encourages her hoteliers to partner with local vendors to provide such goods whenever possible, which has in turn given the Red Inn a healthy secondary income stream. Where this isn't possible, Inn owners are encouraged to form supply networks to ensure everyone who stays at a Red Inn can survive to return.   Outside of House Ghallanda, and indeed anywhere beyond the Talentas, most see the Red Inn and the Gold Dragon Inn as complementary parts of the same "House Ghallanda" experience; the Gold Dragons are comfortable, the Red Inns affordable. The Gold Dragons provide a more consistent experience; the Red Inn tries to be part of its local community. The Gold Dragon Inn could be anywhere; Red Inns are everywhere. Behind closed doors, however, the two groups sit at virtual war. Matea's success isn't yet threatening d'Ghallanda Chervina's profit margins yet, but her steady expansion has the House taking a hard look at the patriarch's daughter's expenses.