Papagálos Tavern
The Papagálos Tavern is found in the city of Chelone, the town on the back of the great turtle Tortuka. It is is the subject of a long-term Invasive Narrative, that has transformed it into a place of constant and strange amusement.
Visitors to the Papagálos will first notice the unusual construction and decor. It is surrounded by mundane buildings and stands out as the largest and best constructed building in the entire district. What signs of weathering or age it shows look superficial, as if the builiding was decorated to look older than it is. The sign is of a giant bird with bright green feathers and a human-like visage that is simultaneously cheerful and disturbing. From inside, the sound of music can be heard at all hours of the day and night.
Entering into the Papagálos is to step into the invasive narrative itself, and very few can avoid being caught up in it immediately. The staff and patrons of the tavern are in constant celebration. They sing and dance, drink and laugh. A feeling of addictive good cheer is pervasive, and people who surrender to the atmosphere find themselves enjoying it immensely.
Unlike most Invasive Narratives, the Papagálos releases people from its story on a regular schedule. It seems to be built on a continous loop of story that repeats, allowing people to indulge in music and light debauchery for an evening before they find themselves wandering out into the street with a smile on their face. Those who study Invasive Narratives speculate that the tavern's infestation must have come from someplace truly alien to have such an infinite and unending structure, but it is undeniably fun, and surprisingly safe. The narrative flirts at the edges of violent and sexual themes, but never approaches them to closely. They are used as suggestions to add flavor, but no real substance that can harm.
The invasion began several years ago while the great Tortuka was swimming through the dangerous Musahae region. An abandoned building was taken over by a few of the pirates who lived in Chelone and began to clean and repair it. They adopted strange costumes and accents, and brightly colored papagálos birds flocked to the tavern, leading to its name. The first songs were sung as the pirates worked, and incorporated words from no known language. Over time, new songs from around the Great Ring were added to the constant refrain of "Yo, ho, yo, ho", bringing some much needed variety.
When The Talespinners became aware of the Papagálos Tavern, they visited to inspect and determine if it were dangerous. When they returned to Liria, they reported to the king that it was actually tempering the violence that the Tortuka pirates had been known for, and was serving as the center of a larger incursion that seemed to be redefining the entire idea of pirates toward a more heroic mode. Their advice was to leave the invasion alone and monitor it, in the hopes that it would succeed in rehabilitating the entire idea of pirates into one that was essentially harmless.
Since then, the word of the Papagálos has spread, and attracted a surprising number of visitors. Those who seek to visit the tavern find clues to Tortuka's location in surprising places, and seem to have almost divine luck protecting them on their journey to and from the pirate den. A few people have tried to use this to reach Chelone with other ends in mind, only to discover that their serendipitous protection vanishes as soon as they deviate from the path, and even turns against them if their goals conflict with whatever strange narrative is using the Tavern. Those people are rarely heard from again.
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