4. Boatman’s Brothel

A Den Above the Mire

Perched above the reeking smoke and clamor of the Boatman’s Tavern lies a place where shadows breathe and perfume masks decay. Known by whisper and curse as Elvanna’s Loft, the brothel occupies the second floor of the tavern’s pier-facing structure—a crooked gallery of rot and velvet. Here, in rooms cloaked with incense and stained velvet, pleasure is a commodity, secrets are currency, and the Temple of Elemental Evil recruits its next acolytes.

The brothel’s ceilings sag with damp mildew, its walls hum faintly with enchantments gone stale, and the creak of each board underfoot feels like a warning. Though it offers carnal delights and intoxicated respite, Elvanna’s Loft is anything but comforting—it is a trapdoor into corruption, a velvet sheath for the Temple’s blade.

“The madame’s perfume is sweeter than blood—but not by much.”

— Naika, to a nervous client fumbling a coin purse

The Brothel’s Structure

A narrow stairwell near the tavern stage winds upward to the second floor, depositing visitors into a low-ceilinged, smoky lounge. At the top, beneath a warped beam and a moth-eaten banner, sits a massive man with arms like tree trunks and an iron cudgel across his lap.

The lounge itself is dimly lit by hanging lanterns with cracked glass. A battered wooden table surrounded by mismatched chairs stands near the center of the room. A filthy, threadbare rug sprawls beneath it, its original pattern long obscured by boot scuffs and spilled drink. Several smaller side tables, greasy with age, line the walls for serving drinks. In one corner, a faded lounge couch—its fabric worn and its springs groaning—offers a semi-private space for hushed dealings and negotiations.

Several locked wooden doors line the lounge’s perimeter, each leading deeper into the brothel’s twisted warren of secrets and sin.

This is Mardun the Brute, a fixture as permanent as the scent of mold and musk. He watches all who enter with glowering suspicion. Behind him, the hall divides into a series of doors—each leading to chambers stained by whispered transactions and darker rites.

Elvanna’s Private Chamber

The largest and most richly furnished room in the loft, though “luxury” is relative. Velvet curtains droop from rusted hooks, incense smolders in cracked braziers, and a carved bedframe—reinforced with iron rings—rests beneath a faded painting of a drowned city. Hidden behind a tattered tapestry is a small shrine to the Elder Elemental Eye, with offerings of blood-waxed coins and black candles.

Beneath a loose floorboard is a concealed hatch, leading to a crawlspace that connects to the basement warehouses—a smuggler’s artery and Temple escape route alike.

The Prison Room

Accessible only through Elvanna’s chamber, this windowless cell stinks of fear and damp straw. A single cot sits against the wall, with chains bolted into stone. The door bears a heavy lock, and only Elvanna and Lorveth Thrask carry keys. It is here that new girls are broken—spiritually, emotionally, and sometimes physically. As of now, Serena of the Rhenn, freshly drugged and stolen, waits inside.

The Client Room

A cramped den with yellowed curtains, a narrow mattress, and a chipped mirror mounted crookedly on the wall. Burn marks line the wooden beams where rituals have been conducted. Beneath the bed lies a length of chain and a silver dagger etched with profane glyphs.

The Courtesans’ Quarters

Four beds, no privacy. A patchwork curtain provides the illusion of division. Makeup kits, soiled gowns, charms, and token jewelry are scattered across warped tables. Here, the working girls sleep in shifts and pray for easy clients—or brutal ones who can be blackmailed.

Notable Characters

Elvanna Thorne – The Spider in Silk

Madame of the Loft, Elvanna is as cold as she is elegant. She wears perfume to hide the scent of old blood, and smiles only when cornering prey. In public, she coos and flutters; in private, she conducts black rites and hands over victims to Temple agents.

Once a noblewoman’s handmaiden in Dyvers, Elvanna was drawn into the Temple’s coils through whispered promises of control. Now, she is a recruiter, manipulator, and priestess in velvet, answering not to lust—but to Hedrack’s doctrine of domination.

Mardun the Brute – Door and Doom

Once a gladiator in the Pits of Elredd, Mardun is now Elvanna’s enforcer. His face is a roadmap of scars; his silence a threat. Patrons who fail to pay disappear into the swamp, and those who insult a courtesan are dragged downstairs unconscious.

Lorveth “The Broker” Thrask

A grinning shark in fine boots, Lorveth is a slave merchant and Temple agent embedded in the Loft. His room—across from Elvanna’s—is stacked with contracts, ledgers, and maps. He arranges transactions with Captain Vesrek, Lodriss, Skole, and most importantly, Madame Selentis. When not brokering flesh, he is cataloguing debts.

Services and Tactics of the Loft

While the brothel offers the promise of companionship and indulgence, its true services run far deeper—and darker.

Elvanna Thorne, with all the grace of a noble hostess and the cunning of a viper, often escorts her girls down into the Boatman’s Tavern below. There, amid the ale-soaked laughter and gambling haze, they target drunk or wealthy patrons. Once their marks are pliable with drink and pride, the girls use charm, illusion, or flirtation to draw them upstairs.

Inside Elvanna’s Loft, those patrons are stripped of more than their coin. Secrets are coaxed, bluffs tested, and incriminating words whispered in exchange for flesh. Magical surveillance ensures every encounter is noted, and Temple scribes keep careful ledgers of compromising truths.

More than a simple transaction, the brothel is a stage for manipulation, entrapment, and slow spiritual erosion. No one leaves Elvanna’s embrace untouched—and many never leave at all.

Dark Operations and Hidden Ties

The brothel serves as far more than a den of vice:

• Temple Recruitment Ground: Select clients are identified for “initiation” and given symbolic gifts before being drawn into Belsornig’s or Hedrack’s circles.
• Blackmail and Leverage: Encounters are watched through magical scrying; names are recorded; weaknesses filed.
• Human Trafficking Node: Girls like Serena are taken, broken, and either sold to Vesrek or kept for Temple indoctrination.
• Hidden Access Routes: The crawlspace beneath Elvanna’s floor connects to the storage rooms under the tavern—ideal for movement of contraband or secret rites.

Plot Hooks for Adventurers

• "Serena’s Plea" – A desperate Rhenn family from a camp south of Nulb hires the party to find a missing daughter, taken by slavers. Serena’s trail leads to Nulb—and the Loft.
• "The Ledger of Thrask" – Lorveth’s black book contains names of nobles in Verbobonc and Dyvers. If stolen, it could ignite political fire—or attract deadly attention.
• "Elvanna’s Gamble" – Sensing an opportunity, Elvanna offers the party a job: eliminate a rival cultist in exchange for Serena’s freedom. But nothing she offers is ever free.
• "The Shattered Mirror" – A cursed item hidden in the Client Room reveals a horrific truth when gazed upon, showing the viewer their fate if they succumb to corruption.

Closing Theme: Decay in Velvet

Elvanna’s Loft is not a pleasure house—it is a pressure point. It lures the desperate and curious, the cruel and the weak. And once they step through its curtain-draped doors, few emerge unchanged. In the tapestry of Nulb’s villainy, this brothel is the stain that cannot be scrubbed away.

Boatman's Tavern 2nd floor by 3orcs