Village
Cosy
Modest prices
Gnarled Oak & Tankard
the village hall beneath a great bole
Inside, the common room is warm and full of low laughter. Massive timber beams—so thick a two-person ladder is nailed along one—form ribs above a floor worn smooth by enormous boots and small hobnails alike. Candles sit in iron sconces shaped like curled horns, and tapestries woven with tiny devils playing at village scenes give the place a tongue-in-cheek, devilish air. The smell of roasted root vegetables and a yeasty, well-kept ale hangs in the air; a crackling hearth takes up half a wall and a second, larger hearth pit is ringed with heavy benches sized for giants. Patrons of every height and species mingle: farmers counting coin beside a three-armed trader, a quiet tabaxi knitting near the hearth while a hill-giant sips slowly from a specially balanced mug. Despite the infernal motifs, the mood is bright and welcoming—servers joke with patrons, the house cat (and house imps, if you squint) nap in a sunny patch, and the barkeep moves with a proprietor's amusement, always a step ahead of trouble.
A heavy wrought-iron ring shaped like a stylised oak knot and a tankard hangs over the door; the iron is blackened, the ring has small claw scratches around its edge, and a tiny, cheerful brass devil's face is bolted to the centre.
Bramm
Pit fiend (appears as lawful-looking human-sized innkeeper)
Manner
Quirk
Stats
Bramm's Ember-Ale
5 spA warming spiced ale finished with a faint ember-glow on the tongue; drinking it once gives the imbiber advantage on persuasion checks for 10 minutes when speaking about honest intentions (flavour-tinge of brimstone).
Modest (5e lifestyle: about 1 gp a day)
Maggir · barmaid
A quick-footed half-elf who balances five mugs at once and remembers everyone's first drink.
Tork · bouncer
A retired giantkin wrestler who gently directs over-sized patrons to the giant bench and breaks up misunderstandings with a story instead of a fist.
Henri · cook
A rotund human who runs the kitchen like a captain—famed for braised root stew good enough to silence a grumbly giant.
Urdok
A middle-aged hill-giant who comes each market full moon to trade crockery for ale and quietly pay Bramm in odd copper tokens.
Tilda Mesh
The village miller who uses the tavern as her office and is hunting for the Ember Sigil she believes will heat the mill through winter.
Scrit the Map-seller
A gnome with a roll of maps and a soft spot for gossip; he trades snippets of exploration for a pint and a warm corner.
1
Tilda Mesh claims the Ember Sigil—an engraved copper disk meant to warm her mill—was sold by a caravan who stopped at the Gnarled Oak last month and that someone took it from the cellar.
2
Urdok the hill-giant keeps muttering that a 'brass anchor' beneath the tavern grinds in the earth on windy nights; he says it wakes weird things in the hedgerows.
3
Scrit the Map-seller swears a caravan guard named Jerek is hiding a ledger that names clients who bought infernal relics in the village and that Jerek plans to flee to the western ford tonight.
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