Long Bar Tavern
by Jesper AndersenThe Long Bar Tavern is located in the east end of the Foreign Quarter ("the dwarf sector"). It is a popular watering hole for dwarves visiting the city and wanting to spend some time among their own kin. The owner of the tavern, Thrumbar Shieldkroten, is a prominent tavernkeeper in Specularum, so his place sees much business. If you are a dwarf, the Long Bar can almost be a home away from home (although they offer no rooms). Thrumbar and his staff can advise on the best places to get your weapons and armour repaired (by quality dwarf craftsmen of course!) and shops to get new gear for ventures into the wilderness.
At night, the common room of the Long Bar resonates with melancholic dwarven folk songs about mighty battles, gold treasure, glory and honour. The menu is typically dwarven with lots of meat and beer and there is plenty on the plate.
Ambassador Bolto Nordenshield of Rockhome is a frequent guest here. He enjoys the company of other dwarves and eagerly listens to news of home (he also gets official reports of course).
Thrumbar Shieldkroten is the cousin of Dia, daughter of Fara and leader of the Syrklist Clan in Rockhome. Like his cousin, Thrumbar has never forgotten that Fara's father (Dia's grandfater) was Thruic Shieldkroten - one of the leaders of the dwarven gold-seeking expedition to Glantri in the fateful year 802 AC. Thruic experienced firsthand the hostility of the Glantrian wizards when the dwarves were blamed for the tragic plague, and later on the cruelty exhibited by the Glantrian wizards, when they discovered how the captured dwarves were highly resistant to magic and started to conduct horrible experiements on them.
Like Dia, Thrumbar hates all things Glantrian and spends much time at the bar badmouthing the nation and its vile inhabitants to anyone who is willing to listen. He does not have Dia's resources to fund direct action against the Glantrians in the city - such as the Glantrian ambassador Doņa Marianita and her staff. A group of sour dwarves frequenting the Long Bar Tavern will eagerly sign up to anything involving Glantrians, including beatings or vandalism.
So far, it has not come to blows and if ambassador Nordenshield gets wind of any such plans, he will be hard pressed between loyalty to his fellow dwarves and his obligation to keep good diplomatic relations with Duke Stefan and respecting the peace in the Duke's city. Nordenshield might hire outsiders to get between the dwarves and the Glantrians.
Ylari tribesmen from the nearby Ylari enclave in the Foreign Quarter also frequent the Long Bar Tavern. They like the dwarves, who are honest fighters and detest magic as much as the Ylari do. If at one point the Ylari ambassador ibn Hamid decides to carry out his crazy plan to kidnap Doņa Marianita back to his harem in Ylaruam, his chief henchman might attempt to hire dwarves at the Long Bar Tavern as additional muscle. This, in turn, could end tragically in kidnapping becoming assault or worse...