The Madhouse

Character

Members of the Bleak Cabal maintain this sprawling citadel deep in Pandesmos to serve as a waystation for travelers. Originally it was just a walled inn that the Bleakers didn't even bother to name. But some wiseacre visitor dubbed it "The Madhouse" after getting lost in one of the place's rambling wings. As the site grew from inn to citadel, the name caught on among adventurers. the Bleakers, in their typically careless and utilitarian way, let it stick. In fact, they've long been weathered signposts at the citadel's gates, making the name official.  

Ruler

Maris Warrow, matron of the Inn. Warrow has been Matron of the Inn (and therefore the Lady of the Citadel) for a half dozen decades now, ever since her first trip to see the "glorious madness" of Pandemonium. When she first came across the Madhouse, the place was in terrible disarray. the Inn's old Master had wandered off on a "temporary" trip nearby two years before, and hadn't come back. In his absence, the Stadd (town ministers) fell to bickering about how things should be done - and as a result, nothing was. Warrow showed up, saw a need, started giving orders like she owned the place, and people got back to work. by the time they realized that she hadn't been sent officially by the factol in Sigil, they'd already gotten used to obeying her. She's been Matron ever since. Some of the Staff like to joke about what'll happen "when the Master gets back," but Warrow doesn't find it at all amusing.    

Behind the Throne

A basher has to understand that because the Bleakers don't see any ultimate meaning in existence, they don't get into vicious power struggles within their own clan (though they'll compete with other factions). But that doesn't mean that they never have any differences of opinion.   For example, Jax Bleskril has been Pursuer at the Inn since before Maris Willow showed up, and he's been banging heads with her regularly ever since. given the Madhouse's dangerous location in the heart of a Lower Plane, Breskil devotes a good portion of the town's income to maintaining defenses, money that Warrow would often rather spend on more aesthetic projects. usually, Bleskril gets his way, simplpay because Warrow isn't willing to devote the energy to changing this stubborn cutter's mind.  

Description

the Madhouse started out as a single unnamed inn with a walled yard, in a tunnel roughly half a mile in diameter. The inn itself had stone walls, more to keep Pandemonium's noise outside than for phisical protection. The yard served for general storage: no dogs, pigs, or chickens here! The inn served as a meeting place for travelers through the plane's howling. Soon it began to draw petitioners with ore or gems to trade for outside goods.   Over the years, innumerable wings were added to the inn, until even it's servants sometimes got lost among them. Soon other buildings began to collect in the area, with no real rhyme or reason other than that they centered around the original inn and catered to its needs. the inn itself became increasingly a sort of city hall. As the number of buildings grew, the settlement became a target of raids from neighboring planes. the locals chipped in to build another wall around the entire complex. the first citadel was born, with the Inn offically established as the site of government. more years passed, more buildings collected haphazardly around the edges, another wall was added, and so on, until finally the emerging town stretched entirely around the circumfrence of the tunnel and met itself on the other side. Consequently a cutter can't walk the length of the tunnel without entering the town and walking its winding, windy maze of streets.   Those streets are full of people, since not all of the town's residents dwell indoors. Those that have the jink have themselves a kip, for certain. Able laborers work for room and board at one business or another. But there's a lot of sods, usually petitioners more mnad than most, who don't own a blamed thing and spend their time wandering the streets, looking for a handout. They can make a visitor feel downright uncomfortable, what with their twitching, and yowling, an dother mad behavior.  

Militia

The Madhouse is hardly a model of order. The only reasons it has a working "central government" is because 1) it's small enough for the Matron to keep track of, 2) she doens't give too many orders, and 3) none of the locals are terribly interested in challenging her rule.   It shouldn't come as any surprise, then, that the local secruity forces are far from "spit and polish." Basically, they consists of roughly a dozen bouncers (the number changes from time to time, according to the need) led by Head Bouncer Silas Malmanning. this group acts as police for the town. When a larger force is necessary, Malmanning can deputize anybody he wants - including visitors - just as long as he can justify things to Matron Warrow after the emergency is over.  

Services

There's always lots of stuff for sale in the Madhouse, just not always what a cutter wants. See, the Madhouse is sort of like one big caravanserai. Beings come from all around to trade here, but there aren't any natural resources to speak of, nor any craftsmen to make a thing to order. What's more, the market's constantly changing here. Merchant's come in,, decide they can't stand the noise and leave: buyers wander through with no rhyme or reason: and petitioners amble in with some unusual gem or item they found out in the tunnels, and suddenly prices go crazy as everyone clamors for the find. The result is that what's for sale and what's being sought is constantly changing, and prices vary wildly. So a cutter might come one day and find bargains galore on magical swords, but no travel rations at all, then come again next week later to find a sale on lanterns, but not a drop of oil for them   Finding a place to stay can be as chaotic. Businesses tend to change hands and change functions at a moment's notice, which means that the inn a cutter stayed at last trip might now be a warehouse. Worse yet, a basher might show up in town one time and find a surplus of inns and rooming houses, book a room for a week at a pittance, then come back two days later to learn that a sudden influx of visitors has them all packed to the rafters and some berk wants to duel her for the room she booked in advance. the rules change constantly, but regular visitors to the town know the most dependable places and can usually get preferential treatment, if they've been careful to cultivate a solid, local contract, or if they've a reputation for being particularly dangerous when disappointed (after all, this is a slightly evil-tinged plane). very well-known cutters might even get put up in one of the rambling wings of the Inn, as guests of the Matron.  

Local News

Rumor is that some berk's come to town from Cocytus with an artifact that supposedly can summon back that layer's lost gods. Normally that would seem extremely farfetched. And even if it were true, this far out on the Chaos side of things, no one worries too much on the universal repurcussions that could have - after all, life is change. But lately, asking about the rumor, like they're scared it might be true. And what with their increulity at the Madhouse's freedom of spirit (chaotic nature) and their constant preaching of order, tensions are rising. Likely as not, there'll be a rail party for these berks before much longer. Malmanning is hiring extra Bouncers to protect the Inn should things get out of hand.