Blade and Stars

This comfortable inn was named for its original sign, an enchanted wooden shield. Painted black, the circular shield displayed an image of a curved silver saber gripped by a pale, slender arm. An enchantment on the shield caused glimmering, starlike motes of light to sparkle along the saber's blade. The former innkeeper of the Blade and Stars, a chaotic neutral Half-Orc bandit named Aurayaun, used to insist that the illusory effect was the shield's only magic, and that it did exactly what she intended it to do: draw in business.
Still, it appears that there's more to the shield's story, for recently both Aurayaun and the shield disappeared. Since then, Aurayaun's worried wife Lupin, a chaotic good female human commoner, has been running the inn and loudly expressing her belief that the disappearance is the result of foul play. What kind of foul play, she has no idea.
While Aurayaun was quiet about her past, she had no enemies that Lupin knew about. Lupin furiously rejects The Flaming Fist's conclusion that her wife simply abandoned her. A local vagrant claims to have seen Aurayaun climb up and remove the sign-shield late on the night she went missing, then vanish into an alley with a cloaked figure. Since then, though, Lupin has received parcels containing pieces of the shattered shield, each bearing a tiny constellation upon it. Lupin is convinced it's a map, but to where, and whether that destination is terrestrial or the heavens she doesn't know. She's willing to pay to find out, though.

(10 years earlier)

This inn is named for its unusual signboard, an enchanted shield that was looted from a ruined village in Amn following an old trade war. A circular piece of wood painted black, its front displays a curved silver saber and a female’s pale, slender arm whose long fingers grip the hilt of the blade. The enchantment on the shield, still strong after decades of hanging out in all weather, causes glimmering motes of light to wink on and off as they travel across the saber. Many local legends have sprung up about the shield’s power and the saber depicted on it, but the inn’s proprietor insists that the illusion of “stars” is the shield’s only magic. Meanwhile, the shield still does what the inn’s founder intended it to do when she brought it back and hung it above the door: It draws business.
The interior of the Blade and Stars is an unremarkable yet comfortable inn. Lacking a tavern and a dining room, the long, tall building is filled with bed rooms and small apartments in which travelers can stay for fair prices and have food and drink sent up to them. Many of the rooms have private balconies over hanging the street, providing visitors with a great place to stay while watching the city in full swing.
Because eating requires renting a room, locals avoid the Blade and Stars unless they need space for a private gathering. The inn’s current proprietor, a Turmian female named Aurayaun, is happy to rent rooms for a few hours, provided that the renters also place a large order of food and drinks.

Tourism

The Place

The Blade is a long, tall building with attached stables and kitchens on one side and balconies opening out of upper rooms on the other. It rises four floors above the street, and its furnishings are clean and fairly new. There’s a small lounge off the front lobby for guests to meet citizens in, but it lacks a table.

The Prospect

Service in the Blade is curt but swift Vigilant stairwatchers on staff keep track of guests' comings and goings, discouraging street thieves and even Doppelgangers, who are a growing though unreported problem in cities all over Faerûn. Your stay is apt to be quiet and unremarkable, unless your demeanor makes it otherwise. Rowdy or reckless guests are firmly warned, once and if something else happens, firmly asked to leave.

The Provender

Meals are served in guests' rooms rather than in a dining room, so the fare is never better than lukewarm but as it's simple ale, bread, and fish, this is little loss. Bread can be ordered spread with herbed cheese or melted eggs (both surprisingly good). On cold nights, the proprietor, Aundegul Shawn, serves ruby cordial on request a sweet, syrupy concoction of cherries dissolved in sugared red wine. It's nice, once you're used to the rawness it leaves in the throat.

The Prices

Rooms, including bath, stabling and meals, are 3 gp per night. A guest can order three servings of food a day, but it's always the same repast Cordial is 4 cp per goblet. Ale is 3 cp per tankard. One tankard of ale is free with each meal, and a guest can purchase two extra a day - those requesting more will be told to find a tavern.

Travelers' Lore

Local legend says a female Yuan-ti is walled up in the inn, frozen in midbattle by a desperate (and long-gone) wizards spell. When he dies, she'll be released.

Type

Inn

Parent Location

Eastway