Elfsong Tavern
One of the most well-known establishments in Baldur’s Gate is located a few blocks from the Basilisk Gate in Eastway. The name of this tavern comes from its unearthly tenant—a disembodied elven voice whose song occasionally fills the tavern. The singing isn’t loud enough to disrupt conversation, but it is clear, beautiful, and lamenting. The ballad’s lyrics make clear that the ghostly lady is lamenting a lover lost at sea, but no one is sure how she came to haunt the tavern.
The song often moves folk to tears, even when they can’t understand the archaic dialect. Many customers frequent the tavern just to hear the melancholy ballad. During the song’s infrequent occurrences, a customary hush overtakes the crowd, and any noisy patrons find dangerous looks leveled at themselves. Customers are expected to be armed, and the known custom is that all patrons need to watch their backs except when the sad lady’s singing.
Elves hearing her song for the first time often appear stunned. By tradition, the bartender silently serves a first-time elf customer a free tallglass of elverquisst. First-time customers of any race who weep upon hearing the song usually find regular patrons putting comforting arms around them. By tradition, music of any sort is not sung or played in the tavern. The ghostly lady has the audience to herself.
The Elfsong Tavern’s ground floor is a taproom that serves hearty, salty meals and saltier snacks—to encourage drinking, of course. Blue-glassed lanterns with blue flames (a Felogyr’s Fireworks product) light the dark interior. Several cramped, twisting stairways lead from the taproom to upstairs meeting rooms that can be rented by the hour. Staffers politely warn occupants when time is running short.
Alan Alyth, the tavern’s handsome, graying proprietor, has run the establishment for decades. His half-elf mother’s elven blood has kept him living longer and looking better than full-blooded humans his age. Alyth continues his mother’s tradition of offering patrons an informal, secret banking service. He provides an extension of sorts on bar tabs, enabling customers to deposit money or take out loans, if Alyth trusts them enough.
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