The Inn of the Five Roads

This inn, founded after the time of Chosen, rebuilt many times, and renamed just as many is a three story affair made of stout wood from the local forests. Originally meant to house the King's Men before they had a permanent station in Midway, the inn has become large enough to house many roving bands of merchants at one time. The downstairs is spacious, though the current owner, Broc, stuffs as many tables as he can to get the maximum amount of business. The kitchen runs twenty four hours a day and thus he has three cooks in his employ. The second floor has rooms with one or two beds and a common room with bunk beds (though it's not large since most people who move through Midway are merchants). The third floor is filled with suites with three bedrooms and a common room, all of which have fire places of their own. The fire places have magicks placed on them so they don't cause fire to the building after the last inn was burned to the ground just for that reason.

The current owner, Broc, recently lost his wife to the winter sickness. (Time line wise this about 9 years before the High King's Sword.) The longer he mourns the darker he becomes. He has eight children, three of which are of age and help in the inn, one of whom is a cook. The rest of his children are under the care of one of his servers named Jamilia, a runaway from Ariella and dark skinned beauty. She has a child of seven, named Kenna, who plays with Broc's children who Broc seems disinterested in now. His oldest, Grady, always seem to have a gambling debt, which cuts into Broc's profits. (Which are quite good.)

There isn't a permanent bard, but some nights Jamilia with dance the exotic dances of Ariella or her young daughter will sing ballads her father, Flynn Whiteswan, teaches her when he sometimes stops in from his travels. They don't bring in a lot, but Broc takes half of what ever they make and Jamilia saves the other half to get Kenna trained to read and write.

The fair here is good, though the dinner hour always has the best food since Broc uses his best cook then. Broc keeps stew on hand all the time, along with bread. Other food costs a lot more but can be made to order. Mead and ale are always available, but the type varies on what he is able to get in.

The price for a room is usually 3 silver eagles, with dinner an additional silver eagle. Stabling is 3 copper pennies per animal. Grain feed is 5 copper pennies.

This inn is the starting point of my romantic entanglement of my main character in the High King's Sword. Kenna, my server's daughter, is 16 when she leaves the inn under not so pleasant circumstances then heads for Bloodhelm where she meets the other characters in my book. This place is revisited many times and I love to add new things every time I come across it in my novels (which of course means more back writing for me...) This would be a good place to start adventuring, since inns are always a good place to begin with a new party. With all the merchants in here and King's Men there is likely to be all sorts of mischief to be had.

Monday: The Bazaar of Bloodhelm