Hissing Stones

This low stone bathhouse in the Seatower neighborhood is one of the oldest buildings in the area. Built in the Chessentan style, it features heated pools, echoing halls, and gorgeous tile mosaics.
The Hissing Stones hold a special niche in Baldurian politics due to its status as a neutral, safe, and private meeting place. Its longtime proprietor, a neutral female moon elf spy named Merilyn Allaryr, ensures that clients enter the baths bearing nothing but the thin robes she provides, leaving all weapons and other possessions with her. Merilyn's reputation, and that of her highly capable attendants, is formidable enough that even rival crews or businesses engaged in the tensest of negotiations never violate the house's rule against violence.
This establishment's commitment to discretion also makes the bathhouse the prime venue for paid companionship in the Lower City. Many of the most sought-after courtesans meet their patrons in the Hissing Stones' steamy private rooms, trusting to Merilyn's silence and the house's reputation for business meetings to deflect the suspicion of jealous spouses or gossipy wags. Unlike Merilyn, the Reveler's Union—the city-spanning crew of night-workers—isn't averse to selling secrets teased from the bathhouse's clients, and those looking to purchase such information need only whisper in the right ear here. Though this dichotomy keeps Merilyn herself from officially joining the Union, the crew uses the location as its de facto headquarters, regularly renting out and conducting meetings in its vast central pool. (Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, 2019)

Purpose / Function

In Seatower squats a low, stone structure built in the classic style. When the High House of Wonders and the Hall of Wonders were erected, an enterprising Baldurian decided to capitalize on the popularity of all things Chessentan and built a bath house, complete with hypocaust floors, mosaic tiling, and artfully painted walls. The bathhouse was hugely popular for a time. After changing fortunes and hands over the years, it’s now enjoying a renaissance due to Duke Abdel Adrian’s practice of visiting the location.
The Hissing Stones Bathhouse is built around a central cloister that encloses its cold baths, which are beautifully decorated. An impressive mosaic in the center of the cold baths dominates the scene. It shows an arresting image of a wizard grappling with a dragon as the two fall through the clouds. The dragon is wrapped around the wizard’s body, and the wizard’s free arm is pointing a wand into the dragon’s roaring mouth. Refracted light and rippling water seem to animate the figures, as though wind were ruffling the wizard’s robe and the dragon’s wings were moving.
The Hissing Stones offers a number of amenities in addition to its cold baths. Steam rooms are available in its western gallery and hot baths in its eastern gallery. A day at the baths costs 5 sp. For 1 gp, a customer can pur chase time with a sinew soother, who relieves knotted muscles. For 2 gp, a patron can soak in a curative salt bath, which is said to help ward off or remove illnesses. 
The Hissing Stones has a special niche in city politics as a neutral and safe meeting place. Its proprietor, a moon elf named Merilyn Allaryr, doesn’t allow patrons to bring anything inside the baths other than the cotton and silk bathrobes she provides, which lack pockets and folds. All patrons must entrust Allaryr with all the belongings they bring with them, including garments, jewelry, arms, armor, potions, tools, magic items, and anything else they happen to be toting around.
Allaryr won’t be bribed, and she makes absolutely no exceptions to this policy. She arranges a lot of important business meetings and knows that the success ofthe Hissing Stones depends on its reputation as a safe place. Allaryr also pays her stewards and aides well enough that they are unlikely to accept less than a mound of gold to break the rules. Even if one were persuaded to do so, the attendant still wouldn’t allow inside anything that might be used violently, since each acts as the sole custodian over his or her desig nated chambers and would be instantly implicated in any incident (Murder in Baldur's Gate, 2013)

Type

Bathhouse

Parent Location

Seatower