Raccoon's Den

“Raccoon’s Den is the place where to go if you wish to hear good music, dance, or taste the best stew in the town. It’s not the most open-minded place, but if you are wealthy and generous enough, they eagerly look past the behaviour they would otherwise deem inappropriate.”

History

Hector's Town is one of the oldest towns still standing, thus there lies an ancient well-maintained temple for each of the six gods. Not everybody however likes to go to those grand buildings or venture to the wilderness to get close to the gods. Therefore, there are also smaller wooden chapels build here and there in the town. The building that is now known as Raccoon’s Den was once one of those.


It was no way special among the small chapels, but one day a fire broke out in the chapel. The fire was soon put out and larger devastation was avoided. People however took that as a sign that the chapel had fallen out of the grace of Goddess of Fire, Ulyn, and most of them no longer wanted to visit there. For some years the building stood basically abandoned.


The new life of the building began when Hilbert “Bert” Kervel got an epiphany that to honour Goddess of Fire the building should be turned to a tavern as Goddess of Fire is known to love partying. Without asking from his wife, Rebecca “Becca” Kervel, Bert bought the building and petitioned the license to turn it into tavern. Least to say that Becca was not happy that her husband had wasted almost all their money to a project that she deemed as a certain failure.


To Bert’s surprise and Becca’s unsurprise the tavern called Ulyn’s Pride, was not an instant success. Kervels had done their best to make the tavern the finest place they could afford. They had refined the menu to include finest foods and made sure that the tavern had only finest cutlery and stylish décor. The people however feared of angering Goddess of Fire and most of them still evaded the place like a plague. Only the few people who were visiting the chapel after the fire visited the tavern and the tavern was soon at the brink of bankruptcy.


To worsen things a wave of thievery hit the tavern as the most expensive spirits of the tavern started to disappear one by one. The people of Ruler’s Land are very law abiding and that sort of criminal activity was a huge shock in the upper part of Hector’s Town. Such a thing could be expected to happen in the lower part of the town where the rules are less strictly followed, and the foreigners roam everywhere, but not in the upper part of the town where the proper people lived.


The guards took the task of catching this wretched thief very seriously. The most obvious suspect was some of the foreigners, who had no rules in their country. For some time, any poor foreigner who wandered to the upper town went under very intensive and threatening investigation by the guards and soon no foreigners came to the upper town. That however did not stop the thievery, so the thief had to be someone else.


The guards had several times tried to trap the thief, but somehow the thief always evaded their traps. It was the eighteenth time they tried to trap the thief, when they finally saw it. One of the guards on the watch saw the large fat raccoon sneaking in the tavern and then grabbing a bottle and running away. Raccoons are not thought to be dangerous animals, so the job of catching the thief, who was a raccoon, no longer belonged to the guards.


Kervels had no idea how the raccoon entered the building, and they could not afford the thieving to continue, so they hired a small group of hunters to catch the raccoon. The raccoon turned out to be lot more cunning creature than any of them had assumed and it evaded the hunters time after time. The story of cunning raccoon thief that nobody could get rid of spread through the town and most of the people found it very amusing. People started to visit the tavern in hope of getting a glimpse of the raccoon.


Becca who has a real business sense realized that this was a good chance to rebrand the tavern to get rid of the stigma that the place had. So, to Bert’s disappointment the name of the tavern was changed to Raccoon’s Den and slowly Becca’s efforts made the place to thrive, and the tavern became the busy place known for its excellent music, food, and drinks.

The Tavern

Raccoon’s Den is one of the fancy taverns in upper part of Hector’s Town. It is located next to the main street, but the entrance to the tavern is from a smaller street. It is built from large logs like most of the houses in Hector’s Town, and from outside it mostly does not appear any different to any other house in the town. To invite customers in a wooden sign with a painting of raccoon and text “Raccoon’s Den” is hanging over the front door.

by Nanzku

When stepping inside the tavern one enters to the large, two-storey high room. The huge stained-glass window on the back wall is immediately drawing the attention of the comer. The window is a reminiscence from the time when the building was still a chapel. At the window there are depicted the six gods of the world.

Right half of the large downstairs is left empty for dancing and at the other side there are set collection of round tables for dining and drinking. Most often both the tables and the dancing floor are packed with people and one of the best musician groups of the town is performing on the stage next to back wall. The bar counter and the door to the kitchens are under the balcony.

Left from the front door there is narrow wooden stairway leading to the balcony. From the balcony there are few doors leading to the small rooms, where the guests can go to rest or stay their night, if they are too tired or drunk to go home.

The questionable methods of success

Becca truly knows how to make money and she is not afraid of using questionable but lawful methods. The rules dictating the minimal working conditions and wages do not apply to the family members working in the enterprise or farm. Knowing this Becca made sure that their adult children and their families agreed to work in the tavern and so the whole personnel of Raccoon’s Den are Kervels.

Kervels however are not particularly musical people and an important part of any tavern’s success in Hector’s Town is the music. Hiring a whole band is very expensive. Luckily Becca is an excellent salesperson and also very persuasive. As the fame of the tavern grew, she managed to convince the most famous musician groups of Hector’s Town that Raccoon’s Den is the best place for them to perform. She also convinced them that instead of being hired to perform in the tavern, the most prolific way for the musicians to perform was to rent the stage from the tavern and then collect tips from the customers. This way Becca ensured that the tavern would have steady income from the performance and the risk of bad business days and poor pays partly fell to the musicians.

The Stew

The stew of Raccoon’s Den is thought to be the best in Hector’s Town. This is not coincident. The stew on the menu was not part of Bert’s vision of fine tavern just like so many other things. However, the preparation of all the fine meals on the menu results lot of food leftovers that is not used for cooking, and Becca would not agree on such a waste. Making stew out of the leftovers was the most practical thing to do. The problem with that was that why would anyone order a stew in fancy place if there are many finer options on the menu. That was why the stew they make has to be one of the best stews in the town.

It took a while for Becca to refine the recipe of the stew, so that people would happily eat all the scraps they have and let’s just say that if people knew what many of the secret ingredients in the stew are, no-one would eat it. None of the ingredients of the stew are actually illegal, but among them there are things that are considered addictive and/or narcotic, but not yet common enough in Ruler’s Land to be illegal. Thus, in Becca’s mind they are good way to make sure that the people enjoy their stew.

Notable regulars

Lady Esther “Essie” Priseous

The most remarkable of the guests of Raccoon’s Den is Lady Esther “Essie” Priseous. She is the most formidable noble living in Hector’s Town, and unlike most of the nobles she only lets her friends to call her to Essie. Others must call her properly to Lady Esther or preferably to Lady Esther Priseous. Often Lady Esther comes to the tavern to dance with one of her many admirers.

Lord Seamus “Sean” Crestus and Gregory “Greg” Umian

Both Lord Seamus “Sean” Crestus and Gregory “Greg” Umian have a crush for Gillian “Jill” Kervel. They often go to the tavern to try to get Jill’s attention. This is often very profitable to the tavern and Jill’s mother Becca has told Jill to encourage the rivalry between Sean and Greg, and Jill has no objections to that.

Tessa and Hetta

This old couple is the tavern’s most long-term regulars. The chapel had been their place to connect with the gods since they were children. The fire did not stop them of going there and neither did the place turning into tavern. Tessa and Hetta are not the type of customers that Kervels would like to have in their tavern, and they are not even wealthy to compensate that. However, turning away elders from honouring the gods there would be a stupid thing to do. If it would not anger the gods, then at least it would anger the other citizens.

The Hunters

The hunters that were hired to catch the raccoon took liking of the tavern and now hang there regularly. They claim that they are there only in case the raccoon appears. However, whenever the raccoon appears the hunters are often so drunk that they can do nothing to the raccoon.

Veterans of the Shadow stepper Invasion

The shadow stepper Invasion to Ruler's Land never reached Hector's Town but many of the citizens of the town were sent to the war and only few of them returned. The tavern's farthest table is the hangout place of a small group of those veterans. They never talk anything to each other or anyone else. They just sit there silently drinking all night.

Wine-Tasting Club of Fine Ladies

Because of its fine collection of drinks Raccoon’s Den is the hangout of Wine-Tasting Club of Fine Ladies. The club really is only an excuse for its members to drink lot of wine while pretending that they are better than the other people in Hector's Town.

Check the "map" below if you wish to find out more of the people and items in the cover image:

Raccoon's Den picture

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Menu

• Cauliflower and broccoli crumble, roasted baby carrots and buttered quail
• Cabbage rolls filled with mincemeat and truffles
• Cheese plate with warm fresh bread
• Creamy shrimp soup with crackers
• Leek and veal risotto
• Rabbit roasted with stout ale, butter rice and asparagus
• Roasted snapper and sweet potato smash with butter gravy
• Squids with rice and roasted eggplant
• Turnip purée, green peas, and duck breast in red wine gravy
• THE STEW

Notable items

The portrait of Empress Malika

by Nanzku

Empress Malika was one of the rulers of Ruler’s Land. This is the controversial portrait of her wearing nothing but her crown and rod. When Empress Malika’s son Melchor got the throne, he ordered the indecent portraits of Empress Malika to be destroyed. This piece however survived the destruction as it was exported from the country. Later it was returned to Ruler’s Land. After many twists it was gifted to Gillian “Jill” Kervel by her long-time admirer Lord Seamus “Sean” Crestus and now it is hanging on the wall of Raccoon’s Den.

The portrait of King Basile

by Nanzku

On the wall of Raccoon’s Den there is one of the portraits of King Basile with his feroc panther cub. King Basile was the previous ruler of Ruler’s Land. His reign was not long however, and his daughter Reina was only a teenager when she got the throne.

The Ruler and most of the nobles of Ruler’s Land are protected by the gods. Even animals fear the curse of the gods and do not attack the protected people except in huge distress. The trust for the protection of the gods made King Basile arrogant and stupid, and he decided to take a cub of feroc panther, one of the most ferocious and dangerous animals, as a pet.

King Basile was very proud of his new pet and had many portraits of him and the cub to be painted. No portraits of him and the adult feroc panther was ever painted however, since like King Basile learned no matter who you are, treating an adult feroc panther like common household cat will get you eaten.

Trophies

After their miserable failure the hunters whom Kervels hired to get rid of the raccoon became the laughingstock of whole town. In hope of increasing their reputation, the hunters donated three trophies to Kervels to hang to their tavern. The plan was somewhat successful, but the hunters’ habit to dress the trophies somewhat undermines it.

by Nanzku

Wolves are not common around Hector's Town, so having a trophy of wolf is lot more prominent thing in Hector’s Town than one could think of.

by Nanzku

Golden deer is not a dangerous animal, but they are extremely rare, so having a trophy of one is a remarkable even if controversial accomplishment.

by Nanzku

The most magnificent of the trophies in Raccoon’s Den is the trophy of striped bear. Striped bears are not scavengers like most of the bears, but very dangerous predators and among all the beasts that roam in the wilderness of Ruler’s Land they are the most feared.