4. The Bog & Barrel
A low, smoke-brown house of beams and stone that leans into the weather. It’s where Anshan counts the day and forgets it again.
Read-aloud (arrival)
Low and smoke-brown, the tavern leans into the wind like it’s bracing the whole thorp; warped signboard unreadable, eaves dripping into ruts of black water. A rattle-string clacks under the lintel, windows pearl with damp, and cabbage steam leaks from a crooked vent. Inside, heat and wet wool slap your face; beams lurk low and sooted, floorboards shine with old spills, and the hearth pot ticks while benches groan to make room for whoever the marsh blew in.
Entering the Bog and Barrel
Heat, cabbage, and smoke-browned beams. Benches creak as faces lift to measure you. A ruined noble at the hearth clutches a tin mug and a crumpled scrap, eyes red and hopeful. By the end of the bar, a tall, dark-skinned man—bare feet, plain clothes, bronze road-disc—pauses mid-bite beside an off-duty soldier with messy red hair, green eyes, and a bastard sword strapped across her back. By the window, an elf in fine town robes with a sling of small vials watches like a ledger being tallied. A half-elf woman with a broad grin, cloak over one arm and a brimming flagon in the other, lifts her brows and taps two fingers to the scar on her throat. Two locals mutter over bone dice. A Borderer pretends to nap, boots crossed.
“Coin first,” the barkeep says without smiling. “Smiles after. Questions last.”
“Coin first,” the barkeep says without smiling. “Smiles after. Questions last.”
Layout (quick map notes)
Bog & Barrel by 3orcs
- Door & Mud Mat: Always wet; a slop bucket lurks nearby (difficult terrain if spilled).
- Common Room: Six trestle tables, two benches each; low hearth, iron pot of cabbage & eel ends. A nailboard holds today’s Short Board (scribbled, mold-stained menu).
- Back Nook: A cramped booth—Ailred hears everything said here.
- Stairs Up: Narrow, bowing; handrail polished by worried palms.
- Rooms (4): Creaking boards, damp bedding, cracked shutters. Rumor says “one bed never dries.” (True. It’s Room 3.)
- Kitchen: Cabbage crates, eel racks, a dented kettle, and a hanging string of dried sweetflag.
- Cellar: Rat-gnawed sacks, a boarded stone culvert to the stream (knee-deep crawl), and a sour reek that comes and goes with the marsh tide.
Ailred (proprietor)
- Look/voice: Narrow as a fence slat; voice like a dry hinge.
- Manner: Polite to your face, suspicious to your back; counts coin by weight and sound.
- Lines to use:
- “Coin on the board first. Talk after.”
- “If you want the good room, lie better than the last man who asked.”
- Secrets: Keeps a lockbox under the bar with IOUs and a small tally-stick marked with the Borderers’ stamp (he extends credit only when they’re in town). Knows the culvert schedule “from the old days.”
Services & prices (poor frontier rates)
- Lodging (straw pallet in common room): 2 cp
- Lodging (private room, if any free): 8 cp (Room 1 or 2). Room 3 is 5 cp (never dries; risk of cough/fatigue if slept in).
- Hot bowl (cabbage pottage with eel ends) + heel of bread: 4 cp
- The Short Board (food & drink):
- Marsh Pottage — 4 cp
- Smoked Eel End & Heel — 6 cp
- Frog-Leg Skillet — 5 cp
- Cattail Cakes & Drippings — 4 cp
- Small Beer — 3 cp • Marsh Bitter — 4 cp • Thin Cider — 4 cp
- Stable a mount under lean-to (fodder extra): 3 cp (space is tight; two animals max)
Encounters (use sparingly)
- Tavern Brawl (nonlethal): Wint calls a PC a “fancy oar.” A shove, a spill, a table flip; Athletics/Acrobatics checks, then it blows over if Ailred slams his cudgel on the counter (which he will).
- Whisper Sign: If the room falls quiet for a full round (no clatter, no talk), breath fogs and the hearth’s smoke flows inward for a heartbeat. Ailred pretends not to notice and slaps a ladle into the pot to clang.
- Culvert Intruder: A rat—or something cleverer—tugs at the cellar boards. If investigated, you’ll find the culvert passage and fresh scuff marks.
The Cellar Culvert (smugglers’ hole)
- Construction: Stone throat (2½ ft tall), timber boards nailed across.
- Access: DC 13 to pry a board without obvious damage; DC 10 to wriggle through (medium creatures squeeze).
- Leads to: Stream bank behind the tavern; good for moving untaxed eel-oil, herbs, or messages when the bridge is watched.
- Complications: Tide of marsh air brings a sour reek; Con save DC 11 on extended work or gain lightheaded disadvantage on Perception for 1 hour.
- Who uses it now: No one openly…though Bera the Netter has a habit of “being around back” when Ailred bangs two mugs (the old signal).
Secrets & tells
- Room 3—“The Wet Bed”: A hairline crack in the wall wicks stream damp; at night it pulses with tiny condensation halos when the Whispers are active.
- Ailred’s Lockbox: 12 sp, 38 cp, two IOUs with Borderer stamp, and a tally-stick that matches Roanik’s ledger (proof he supplies patrols).
- Harl’s Letter: Not a deed—just a quit-claim that names him “free of obligation” should a “new steward” be appointed. Leverage, not law.
Using the Bog & Barrel in play
- Social hub: Best place to hire hands, find escorts for plank runs, or collect Borderer notices when the tower’s thinly manned.
- Safe short rest: Only if you keep the room noisy (hum, rattle-string on a chair, spoons in mugs).
- Lead to Mirewatch: Harl’s brag + locals’ fear funnel the party to clearing or claiming the manor.
Quick combat features (if steel comes out)
- Table Flip: Creates 10 ft line of difficult terrain + half cover (Str DC 10 to flip).
- Slop Bucket: Thrown as improvised ranged; on hit, target must pass Dex save DC 11 or fall prone.
- Hearth Pot: 1d4 fire if upended onto a square; the room fills with light smoke (Perception (sight) checks at disadvantage for 1 round downwind).
Discussion at the bar with Here cleric of Fharlanghn and Marget off-duty soldier
"Of course Marget, but that is the point is it not? This all but forgotten village being eaten by the swamp is precisely why I traveled here. Fharlanghn blesses the traveling that sets out of the way destinations. I feel blessed for seeing Anshan with my own eyes. The stories I can share!"
"Share what? Rot and rats? I still think you are batshit crazy for wanting to come here. Im leaving as soon as I have the coin and chance! Leave and never ever look back. The gods cursed swamp can have this swine pit."
"I must admit, this village leaves much to be desired. But I admire your decision. Fharlanghn suggests that people need to move about and see new things. Be open to travel, as the world may change overnight and you may be in need of a new home or perspective. Look to the horizon for inspiration—the far end of the world has new peoples, new cultures, new magic, and new roads to walk."
"Best food in the village. as voted the Council of cockroaches. Even gets worse after a few. Some ales grow on you. Some grow in you. To your health! He drank the ale down."
Bog & Barrel Rooms
The floorboards creak underfoot though you’ve barely shifted your weight. A long, narrow hall extends before you, flanked by doors to rooms on either side. The only light comes up from the stairs and a guttering candle that stands in a tin holder nailed to the wall at the end of the hall.
A surprisingly large bed takes up most of the floor space in this small room. The rustic frame uses a wicker net to hold a thin straw-filled mattress off the floor. It doesn’t look comfortable, but it seems clean enough. A shallow clay bowl under the bed serves as your pot to piss in.
A perceptive PC notices a floorboard beneath the bed is loose. It conceals a dusty, but sadly empty, storage niche
A traveller’s pouch lies discarded under the bed. Left here months ago, it is dusty but still contains flint and steel, some char cloth and a length of twine wrapped around two small carved wooden pegs.
A short traveller’s cloak sized for a halfling, or a human child hangs from the back of the bedchamber’s door. The cloak is worn, but good quality. It has several inside pockets at the waist. Inside one is a scrap of paper with the message, “Help me. They are taking me to Nulb, Jarko.”
The pungent odour of urine and sweat fills this bedchamber. Leaving the door and window open dissipates the smell, but— bizarrely—it returns later. (Investigations—or an unpleasant nighttime discovery—reveal the bed’s mattress is suspiciously sodden.
A surprisingly large bed takes up most of the floor space in this small room. The rustic frame uses a wicker net to hold a thin straw-filled mattress off the floor. It doesn’t look comfortable, but it seems clean enough. A shallow clay bowl under the bed serves as your pot to piss in.
A perceptive PC notices a floorboard beneath the bed is loose. It conceals a dusty, but sadly empty, storage niche
A traveller’s pouch lies discarded under the bed. Left here months ago, it is dusty but still contains flint and steel, some char cloth and a length of twine wrapped around two small carved wooden pegs.
A short traveller’s cloak sized for a halfling, or a human child hangs from the back of the bedchamber’s door. The cloak is worn, but good quality. It has several inside pockets at the waist. Inside one is a scrap of paper with the message, “Help me. They are taking me to Nulb, Jarko.”
The pungent odour of urine and sweat fills this bedchamber. Leaving the door and window open dissipates the smell, but— bizarrely—it returns later. (Investigations—or an unpleasant nighttime discovery—reveal the bed’s mattress is suspiciously sodden.
Bog_Barrel_Inn by 3orcs
“Pay. Eat. Keep talking.” —Ailred’s three rules
One-glance summary
- Type: Tavern, poor lodgings, gossip hub
- Proprietor: Ailred (string-thin, vinegar rag, counting eye)
- Notables: Harl Ashford (last Ashford; drinks, boasts, waves a crumpled “land letter”)
- Why it matters: Only warm public room in town; jobs, rumors, and trouble flow through here. The cellar culvert is a half-forgotten smugglers’ hole to the stream.
Ailred by 3orcs
Ailred (proprietor)
- Look/voice: Narrow as a fence slat; voice like a dry hinge.
- Manner: Polite to your face, suspicious to your back; counts coin by weight and sound.
- Lines to use:
- “Coin on the board first. Talk after.”
- “If you want the good room, lie better than the last man who asked.”
Harl Ashford
- Look/voice: Puffed eyes, noble bones under the ruin.
- Manner: Grand when full, haunted when empty.
- Lines:
- “I’ll sell you Mirewatch for the price of your next round. Deed? Pah. I’ve got a letter…”
- Hook: Will “sell” a quit-claim (worthless legally) for ale; the paper is a lead, not a title.
Bog & Barrel Tavern by 3orcs
Regulars at the Oak & Barrel
- Here (human, Aerdi–Flan mix): Tall, dark-skinned; matted brown hair, brown eyes; plain clothes, bronze horizon-disc of Fharlanghn; bare feet. Quiet road-blessings, sharper eyes than he lets on.
- Waldere Elvery: Curate of St Cuthbert the town drunk. Prayer for a mug of ale.
- Marget (human, off-duty soldier): Messy red hair, green eyes, prominent ears; studded leather slung over chair; bastard sword and dagger. Visiting family, seeking atonement.
- Ellizara Amberly: Halfling merchant & spy in the Fens posing as a middle aged human merchant.
- Anthir Faelithion (elf scholar): Blond hair, narrow blue eyes, large ears; fine town robes (impractical here bandolier of vials & potions. Hunting the cultists who murdered his family.
- Lyyli Kotarikko (half-elf): Broad grin, thick cloak over one arm, full flagon in the other; throat marked by heavy scar tissue—speaks with gestures and a bright presence.
- Toma & Wint (swine men): complain in tandem; gamble at bones.
- Bera the Netter: eelwoman with hands like rope; trades rumors for spare hooks.
- Off-duty Borderer (when present): boots up, eyes working; will trade news for a hot bowl and a quiet corner.
Curate Waldere Elvery by 3orcs
Type
Inn
Parent Location
Characters in Location
Bog & Barrel Menu by 3orcs
Rumors & jobs (d6 at the bar)
- “Kettles at the church went still last night. If the bellline’s quiet, keep your voice loud.”
- “Bridge boards spongy as cake. Alston’s got planks, needs backs.”
- “Lights on the north bank after midnight—not lanterns. Lanterns don’t float that steady.”
- “A dog went missing. Came back quiet. Too quiet.”
- “Old Aggy says the reeds remember footprints this week. Whatever that means.”
- “Borderer captain’s put coin on ‘anything with webbed toes and a spear.’ Bring a witness, not just a story.”
Help me by 3orcs
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