The last song of High Queen Mseríá (Azalahn's Inn) Description

Overview
The building is located close to the marketplace in the city of Bardavos. It is an old 3 storey building mostly of brick and stone and it bears the mark time passing. The parts of the building that are made of wood are new constructions. In the yard there is a large green area with weapon racks filled with wooden replicas and other instruments belonging on a military training ground. Azalahn and his old mercenary buds often spend their free time here.

Location
Southern Sarvonia, Brendolan, Bardavos (Map).

Description

Outdoors

Over the gate in the fence there is a sign reading
The last song of High Queen Mseríá.

The building and yard is surrounded by a wooden fence. The yard is covered in gravel and there is a well and a barn with stables behind the building where guests can park their horses and wains. The yard has been paved for visitors coming in from the street, the pavement is approximately 1 ped wide. All the windows can be covered with shutters.

Building Materials
The outer walls on the first floor are very thick granite walls. On the second and third floor the outher walls are made of bricks. There is also a thick granite wall separating the large dining room and storage room 2 from the rest of the building. There are also 3 solid brick walls running trough the rest of the building, One runs from the toilets along the barracks, and trough the dining rooms. Another one forms the tavern's northern wall, and the third separates the tavern's table areas from the rest. Big arcs have been carved into the walls, leaving only a supporting foundation. Most of the wood work is made of various kinds of hardwood.

Indoors

Rooms
Basement:
For some reason the dwarf and darkelf have chosen to reside down here as well, so when coming down to the basement there are two rooms on the right hand side of the stairs.

Storage 0
This is where the liqueur, dried food and spices are stored. The only entrance is through a trap door in the kitchen. Besides that then it is a big empty room. Among the liqueur there will be various sorts of Ár’ó'bejón wines, corps Berry wine and more...

Thorgrim's room
There is a bed in one corner. The furniture is heavy, a sofa with 3 chairs and a table, all made out of solid oak and the table of stone. There is a wooden statue roughly Thorgrim's size up against one wall. The statue is clad in his old plate platemail. Up against one wall there is a closet and some shelves.

Elliane's room
There is a bed in one corner, a desk and a chair. The floor is covered in moss. On the desk there are a few jars and herbs, used to mix Azalahn's goon night drink when he starts babbling in Styrash. There is also a small locked box in the desk, Azalahn thinks it contains some more dangerous poisons, but has never asked her. On the shelf there is also a small and very elegantly carved box, it contains her jewelry. There is a single book in the room. It is about human architecture and has drawings of many buildings in and around New Santhala. The book was a gift from her human "father" There are also a few sheets of paper with notes about the various poisons she used to mix up north. The walls are covered with draperies. There is a single shelf and a box up against one wall. One interesting feature in this room is that one wall is made up by only 5 enormous stones. Apparently some walls or perhaps the whole foundation used to be part of a bigger structure in ancient times.

First floor

Staircase
Staircase leading from the kitchen up to the livingroom on the third floor.

BathRoom
On the north western corner in the kitchen there is a door leading into a small room with a bathtub, there is nothing else than the bathtub in there.

Kitchen
The kitchen is big. It has two fireplaces. There is a very thick masonry around the main fireplace. The masonry is constructed as air channels, leading all the hot air up to the floor in Azalahn's room. The kitchen is probably the most busy place in the building, with Elliane and Thorgrim cooking, waiters running in and out. There are a lot of shelves in here, with pots, plates, pans and other stuff. There are also shelves with fresh bread and cakes bought from a fancy baker in the upper class part of town. Thorgrim's battleaxe is also almost always in the kitchen right behind the bar. Roughly in the center there is a big table.

Tavern: Along the walls there are tables, chairs and couches. In the center along 1 of the walls there is a bar. In one end of the tavern there is a small area separated from the rest by a thin wall. In the center there is a large open area where people can dance or, in the case of a full house, some extra tables and chairs can be put up. During the winter a fire can be lit in a fireplace built into the wall against the kitchen.

Toilets and baths
On the frontside of the building (outside) there are some small wooden rooms with a toilet. There are also two rooms with a bathtub. Two of the toilet rooms are inside though.

Gisaeng Room
This is a small room connected to the tavern and only separated by a thin wall. Guests that want some privacy can rent this room, but it has to be booked and it is not cheap. The walls are decorated with paintings and tapestries. The table is of marble and the chairs are big and comfortable, and a small fireplace is up against the wall.

Barrack 1
A bed can be rented here by people who only need a place to crash. The most usual function of this room is that customers that are too drunk to go home will crash in here when the tavern closes. There are 6 bunks in 2 layers placed along the walls here, with room for a total of 12 people. In the middle there is a large rectangular table with some benches and 2 chairs.

Barrack 2
A traveling merchant can rent this room for his servants, the room is very spartan, but clean. There are 10 frames with 3 bunks in each. Each bunk is 2 ped 5 palmspan long and 1 ped wide. There are 6 along the walls and 4 in the middle of the room. There is a door on the eastern wall leading directly outside, so people don't have to go through the tavern.

Storage 1
Well it is a big empty room unless something is stored there. Some things that can be found here would be: Smoked Salmon, fermented Herring, pickled cabage, various fresh vegtables, sacks of photos, rice and other stuff.

Storage 2/Azalahn's training room
The old warehouse he bought was a big building so there was some space left that Azalahn didn't exactly know how to make money with so he decided to spend some money and space on himself. The room is, if that is possible, even more hellish than the room he is living in. Strange plants that he has imported from Nybelmar are lined up against all the walls, and the air is strange. Some people say the quality of the air in here is low, just like he finds it low outside, William even got sick after spending too much time in here. But this is the closest approximation to the climate of his homeland he can get, short of very powerfull and even more expensive magic. In here he can breath, his sneezing although not entirely gone is not nearly as bad as usual, and his skin stops itching. Well his problems are not entirely gone and they don't go away as soon as he enters, but after spending an hour or so in here they will be reduced to the nuisance level. When doing extensive training with the purpose of actually getting a good workout done then he will train in here, since this is the only place in the whole of Santharia he knows about where he has both space to swing his weapons, can breath and is allowed to be.

Dining Room 1
There are 3 tables, and plenty of space in this room. This is a richly decorated room with plenty of space. Just like with the gisaeng room, tables in here are not cheap.

Dining room 2
There are plenty of tables in here, but lack of space in here. There are 4 windows to the backyard. The room is plain, but clean.

Staff's dining room
This room is between the kitchen and the storage room. There is 1 table and enough space here.

2nd floor Almost all the walls are made of cheap softwood like pine.

Common rooms
On the 2nd floor there are rooms for renting. A line of small cheap rooms runs down the center of the building. There are 2 corridors separating them from the standard rooms. There are two staircases leading up to the second floor. 1 from the bar and one from outside.

Furniture
A bed for 2, 4 chairs, a small round table, a desk and a closet. These rooms are all on the second floor.

3rd floor.
All the woodwork is made of various kinds of hardwood, Oak, Mahogany and Rosewood. Azalahn likes the smell of the Rosewood.

Luxury rooms
There are 3 room for rent here and all of them are clearly for the upper class. The staircase on the eastern side leads from the second to the third floor. Most of the space though is used by Azalahn and his staff.

These rooms have everything the standard rooms have: A bed for 2, 4 chairs, a small round table, a desk and a closet. On top of this they have a sofa, some shelves, an extra closet, their own toilet, bathtub and fireplace. They also have a balcony with a table and some chairs. All the furniture is of much higher quality than in the standard rooms.

Private Rooms
The private rooms are separated from the others by a stone wall, and they are not connected to the second floor.

Azalahns room
There is a bed in the north western corner, a big rectangular table with two sofas and a chair in the center of the room. There is a closet in the south eastern corner. The floor is covered in animal hides. A shield is hanging on 1 wall displaying the coat of arms he used when serving in the military back home. In the south western corner there is a thick oak door in a metal frame. His old armour and swords are locked in behind it.

There is a window to the north side and a door leading to the balcony in the north eastern corner. There are various shelves hanging on the walls. On one of the shelves there are a lot of books, all of them in Styrash. The western side of the room is separated from the rest by a heavy curtain. Right beside the bed there is a desk, with a chair. There is also a nail where he hangs his bow and quiver. The spear normally hangs on the wall.

The climate in this room is absolutely horrid, the humidity and heat are insane, how anyone can live here is a mystery, but apparently he likes it this way and there are a bunch of plants in the room that keep the climate this way. This room has a special heating system. The hot air from the fire in the kitchen is channeled through the floor and from there through one of the walls and out the chimney. He can switch the hot airflow back through the regular chimney at any time. It is done with a mechanism designed by Thorgrim. (Pushing a plug into the air channels, preventing new hot air from entering)

Living room
There is a dining table, 2 sofas with some chairs around a rather large rectangular table. From the living room there is a small corridor leading down to Aria and Elyssia's rooms. There is also a staircase leading from the living room and down to the kitchen. There is a shelf with various stuff and a small balcony with a table and some chairs on the frontside. There is also a fireplace.

Aria's room
The room has a bed, a desk, a sofa with a table and some chairs. There are are two closets and on the walls there are some shelves. There are two windows on the north wall as well as a door leading out to the balcony. There is a fireplace on the north wall as well.

Elyssia's room
The room has a bed, a desk, a sofa with a table and some chairs. There are are two closets and on the walls there are some shelves. There are two windows on the north wall as well as a door leading out to the balcony. There is a fireplace on the north wall as well.

Toilet
It is located at the eastern end of the corridor, right next to Elyssia's room.

Balcony
On the back side of the building there is a huge balcony. Azalahn calls it "The chick platform" It is the most recent addition to the building and it got it's nickname because Aria and Elyssia wanted it. There is a ladder leading down to the backyard.

Special Items

Ondul, (Heated floor) the floor under Azalahn's room.

Cursed wall in the basement. The castle was demolished more than 3 thousand years ago so perhaps it is gone now, perhaps not...

The nature of the curse was: Every human not a descendant of this elven sorceress taking up residence in the fortress would watch his lineage die and suffer a terrible death himself. (Aria is living there with permission from the owner who is not a human, The nobleman who built the estate was one of her descedants, and she didn't think about the possibility that 3-4 thousand years in the future an elf would live there)

NPCs

Permanent residents who also happent to be Azalahn's old mercenary buds:
Aria the human bouncer and guard, former knight
Thorgrim the Dwarven Bartender and assistant cook, former infanterist. He knows an almost infinite number of old warstories and makes a great stew.
Elliane the Dark Elf cook, connected with Azalahn trough his mercenary past, but nobody seems willing to talk about the exact details.
Elyssia the elf waiter, former mage scout. She likes to flirt with the customers.

Semi permanent resident:
William the errand boy.
He usually sleeps on a couch down in the tavern. William is spending the days on the streets gathering gossip about the competition, merchants coming to town and anything else worth knowing, he also runs errands for the inn. He is a pretty bright kid and very fast on his legs, but he is weak and the years of malnutrition have left their mark on his health. Azalahn and his staff were the first people who showed him any kindness, and they have become the family he never had.

His father was murdered shortly after his birth. His poor mother couldn't afford to take care of the family after the father's death, she died from a combination of disease and malnutrition when William was 5. His uncle took him and his sister in. Life with the uncle was harsh, William and his sister were treated as slaves and got beaten with a stick every day. He had William pickpocket in the streets for him during the days. His sister died from the beatings two years later. The day after the sister's funeral William decided to run away, he took what money he could find, sneaked out the door and ran south. He ended up in the city of Bardavos, here he lived as a pickpocket til he met Azalahn. He still spends most of his time on the streets, hanging out with some other streetkids, but now he has a place to sleep and gets food every day. He dreams about becoming a great warrior like Azalahn when he grows up, but they always tell him to go to the farm and train with the bow they gave him. He is almost as good as Thorgrim with the bow (Thorgrim is very bad) so he must be almost a master now, and it is always Elyssia who instructs him with the bow, “Damn grown ups…”

Local workers:
Miriam d'Arc
Bartender once or twice a week. She is an elderly lady, she can also function as a bouncer when it comes to the locals, if she tells people to leave then they leave, once someone wanted to be a tough guy and gave her a rough push, before Azalahn grabbed the guy and literally threw him out the same window he had just smashed. The next day commander Erich d'Arc himself came and arrested the man, since that day, nobody had dared to cross Miriam, no matter how drunk they get.

She is the daughter in law of Tristam d'Arc, wife of the late Arthurius d'Arc and mother of Anthonius. She doesn't need the income from working in the bar in any way what so ever. However this is her family home, where she lived for many years, where she gave birth to her son and watched him grow up, so she feels some attachment to the place. Commander Erich d'Arc is her brother in law, the younger brother of her husband Arthurius.

Angelica, human waiter, and assistant cook 2.
Erian, elf waiter.
Chi Young, human waiter.
Angelina human cleaning lady
Gertrud, human cleaning lady
Rachel, human cleaning lady.
Henry the stable boy.
Sung Shin and Tae Jong, mason and carpenter who come over when something needs to be fixed.
Jean, the baker's errand boy, he comes with deliveries every day.

Animals
Athena and Gabriel the dogs. They will bark if strangers come into the private rooms, or basement. Would also be great hunting dogs if only the elf girls would stop feeding them all the time. Empress Soseono, the cat, it kills rats.

Links
Azalahn's CD and picture

Kaýrrhem Elves

City of Bardavos

Blueprints of the building and its surroundings:
Blueprints and Pictures

History of the building
Short version.

An estate is built by a high noble, one of his descendants gives it to a younger son. Later a woman who marries a northerner inherits it, her son only visits it once then it stands empty for a hundred years. The ruin is bought back by a retired army commander, his son turns it into a small warehouse for his business, his grandson expands it to it's current size but gets into criminal activity and looses the confrontation with a streetgang, the place is torched and Azalahn buys the again ruined building, he cleans up in the streets and rebuilds the place.

In ancient ancient times ...
If someone bothers to search a lot of history records, and I mean a LOT, then he can be lucky to stumble upon a tale written in an archaic language about a powerfull warlord and his sorceress who lived here in their heavily fortified home, with several warriors serving them. The tale talks about this ancient warlord who was a myth by the time the tale is written and it doesn't explain what happened to this warlord, but it mentions Thaehavos as a new and small village, it also places his home roughly around where the marketplace of Bardavos is today. This could explain the difference in how a part of the western wall in the basement is built.

The tale
A long time ago when our town Thaehavos was but a small village there were a warlord and a demon queen living among us. We had to carry this cross the gods had placed upon us, and so we did with what dignity we could. If you march along the river at an easy phase from where the current lord of the town resides for about one third of an hour and then roughly one sixth of an hour north then you will be where his black fortress stood.

The warlord and the sorceress queen ravaged the land. This sorceress was in truth a demon queen released from the burning hells and she had found a champion more than willing to serve her. Wherever they went they were followed by a trail of death and destruction. Many had tried to stop him but all had failed. He had conquered the lands, taken their belongings, violated their women and killed their children and he took pleassure in doing so. Every now and then he came back to his dark fortress. His armies approached and people trembled. The trumpets could be heard in the middle of the night signaling his approach. Everyone, including the small children and the elderly got up and lined up on the streets to greet him wellcome home because nobody dared to do otherwise. Young men would try to look weak and fragile fearing to be drafted into his army.

It was said that every living man in his army was a bloodthirsty animal, little better than the worst of orcs, these men made up roughly two thirds of his army, the other third was made up of undead shells. These undead were drafted young men that had failed their lord in appreciating the blood and carnage on the battlefield, when he showed his displeasure the sorceress queen would take the lifeforce away, leaving an empty shell that was both utterly obedient and totally immune to fear and pain. After every battle she would hack the limbs from the strongest of the fallen and put them on the undead warriors. When turning men into undead slaves she consumed the lifeforce she took away and thus she was immortal, some said she was over a hundred years old and yet she looked like a young girl barely out of her teens.

The castle was dark as night and hot as the worst summer day in the burning heat of the desert. This was a place of torment. The servants were made of the defeated leaders of his opponents. Their bodies warped and transfigured. Their eyes dead and empty. Once proud warriors themselves. Now they were forced into eternal service. Even death was not an escape, many had tried, but the sorceress always brought them back to life, not life as we call it, but their soul was brought back and imprisoned in a body that was reanimated and bound to the will of this vile sorceress . Her will was always the same, the body would serve their enemy.

After his death his fortress stood empty for many generations, nobody would move into this evil place. The souls of some of his victims still roamed the halls and corridors, seeking release from their imprisonment. Eventually the sorceress was banished back to the burning hells and the magic sustaining this abyssal place weakened. As time passed and the magic completely vanished, the structure was no longer able to stand and collapsed.

(In reality this warlord was just a local nobleman who everyone was scared of, he also lived much later than what the tale says, actually Thaehavos was a decent sized town when he lived, but it was much earlier than 758 b. s. when the kingdom of Stratania was formed. He was a general of the army and spent most of his time with his troops, but when at home he proved himself as a tyrant of the worst kind. This was only tolerated by the supreme lord of the city because this generals efficiency on the battlefield was impossible to replace. He was also infamous for his brutality among enemies. He died on the battlefield leaving no heir to the fortress. The sorceress had a son though, but he was not recognised as a legitimate heir. This was a purely political decision. She was an unbelievable powerfull sorceress and put a dark curse on the fortress. The 3 succeeding noblemen all died terrible deaths leaving no heirs and no mage proved able to lift the curse although many tried but they all suffered terrible deaths themself shortly after. In the end the fortress was demolished and the place stood empty for a thousand years or more, but eventually the memory of this curse was forgoten. About the sorceress and her immortality, she was just an elf)

More recently.
An estate was built by a Brendolan high noble and a bit of farming land was also bough outside the city. He and the coming generations spent much time at the estate in the city of bards that also happened to be close to the beautiful scenery of Occen's lake. The seventh owner of the estate loved and cherished one of his younger sons above all else. When reaching advanced age he gave the estate to this younger son, not enough to influence the power of the heir and coming generations so he could get away with it. since that day it has been out of noble hands. The farming land gave a decent amount of income and business dominated the estate since that day. After being out of nobility for a few generations the owner died leaving only daughters and the eldest daughter took up long distance trading. In the end she married a man from the cold north. She split the land in two and gave it to her sisters Elizabeth and Ellinor on her deathbed and her oldest son respected his mothers dying wish. The estate itself was in the hands of the northern family though. Her son visited it once but loathed the heat. The building became an abandoned ghosthouse and stood empty for a hundred years.

The last few years and Tristam d'Arc
Tristam d'Arc was an experienced veteran, he had even served as a commander of the duke's personal guard. He had acquired the deed for an old abandoned estate close to the marketplace, he was a descendant of Ellinor and would like the once glorious estate to be returned to it's former glory, many considered this to be absurd but he was a well respected man and should be allowed to have his occasional quirks like his obsession with family history. The building was in poor condition. But the stonework was solid. This was perfect for his plans.

Old age was beginning to put it's mark on the once proud warrior. He was still an officer in the army and could best most of the young upcoming so-called expert swordmen. But his sword was heavier than it used to be and the powerfull blows from the youngsters hammering into his shield became more and more powerfull each year just as his sword became heavier and slower with each year. He had sworn an oath to defend serve and obey his grace for the rest of his life and he intended to do so. In the end his wife had convinced him that it was time to find a younger man to pass the sword to.

His second in command who would have been the natural choice declined, claiming that like Tristan he was starting to loose the battle against old age. Thus a young man of great talent with weapons and leadership as well as an unquestionable morale was chosen. The new leader reluctantly accepted, and had one condition. The old vice commander was to stay, and guide him for a few more years, not as a soldier if he did not wish to, but at least as an adviser.

Tristam rebuilt parts of the estate and lived a happy peacefull life with his family. He had 3 children. His oldest son became a merchant, his daughter married a nobleman in New Santhala and his youngest son became a soldier. Tristam died of old age, leaving his estate to his oldest son.

Arthurious d'Arc was a skilled trader. He expanded the building with a warehouse, but his health was weak after an accident he had on a roadside, leaving him under the wagon with several crushed ribs and a punctured lounge. He died as a man who should still be in his prime and leaving the business to his wife and only son. Just like his father Anthonius was a great trader as well, but the council of his uncle often fell on deaf ears. To have an uncle that was an officer in the duke's personal army would be many merchant's dream. "Good deal or not, I don't care, those goods are soaked in blood". But Anthonius didn't listen. He grew in power and wealth, and the warehouse was expanded to what it was when Azalahn bought it. But the shadow over his reputation also grew. In the end his uncle gave up on him, although he tried but with no real hope of getting the boy to listen.

Anthonius had bought many costly items very cheap and sold them for almost full price. One day a foreign noble came to the shop asking for an oddly shaped magical sword, and ready to pay a fortune for it, in fact far more than it was worth. It was a priceless heirloom that had been in the family for over 30 generations. This could have turned into something really ugly, but when the weapon was found it was in the hands of an honorable man, and he parted with the weapon for the price he had bought it for. After this, his mother moved out. This was the beginning of the end.

Anthonius d'Arc and his fall
His uncle would no longer protect Anthonius. within a year or two everyone knew the break between Anthonius and his uncle. The street gangs moved into the neighborhood, after some internal fighting one emerged victorious and controlled everything. Anthonius soon became more and more isolated and his business started to slow down. His rich and powerfull clients didn't fear a few thugs so he continued to run business as usual, although he started to loose the smaller clients. All his neighboors succumbed one after another. They all had to pay or face accidents that would be absolutely fatal to their business.

The gang built it's strength and one day a member showed up in the little bar that Anthonius wife was running in one end of the warehouse. He left her a little box. In it was very detailed information about various people who had dealings with Anthonius and his family, and a little letter. saying: "Do you think you can buy the loyalty of all your servants to such a degree that they will chose you above their family" Anthonius didn't really care, or didn't believe the treat to be serious. One by one his servants quit, and he started to get problems keeping his deliveries.

Anthonius was furious he ordered all the gang members killed, his guards killed a few, but soon there was retaliation against their families. After that his guards became more cautious and kept within the limits of the law. Anthonius went to his uncle, but his uncle was stone set that formal charges had to be brought against the gang and after that the city guards would clean up in no time. But formal charge would mean so much dirt about himself coming up as well.

Anthonius pondered other options. There was this elf living on a farm up north. A dethroned dark elf prince, a blinded Injerin general, "blessed" servant of coór, prophet of Seyella and many other rumors about him existed, some even said he was a magically enslaved lover of the witch but that was outright silly. He persuaded his uncle to at least help him look into who and what this elf really was. The answere came within the week.

Azalahn
This Azalahn was probably a Nybelmarian noble of some kind. A few elves that knew him said he was from Nybelmar. His combat skills and armor cold only be the result of being trained from early childhood by an instructor only nobles could afford, but then again elven ways were a bit strange and perhaps they were even stranger in Nybelmar. One thing was for sure though. The man had money, perhaps not in cash, but in jewelry and and equipment, and he was absolutely not blind.

This Azalahn had been in the small bar a few times. He was a heavy drinker and Anthonius' daughter liked him. Anthonius got his people to work on Azalahn to get him interested in owning or perhaps co-ownership in the place and business. Alas Azalahn was content living on that farm. The people in the neighborhood were disappointed. A nybelmarian lord, Injerin general, even a darkelf prince who was now living with the old witch, it didn't really matter. He was rather cold and sometimes even arrogant, but also that didn't matter.

There were only two things that mattered. 1: He was always polite and well behaved. He obviously wasn't too powerhungry and he treated everyone with respect, well except the streetgang who had made a grave mistake when trying to mug him, so he could only be a better overlord than the current one. The second thing that mattered was that he was likely to have powerfull although foreign backing of some sort so he would be able to clean out this mess.

Azalahn buys the ruins
The old witch died and Azalahn was looking for a place in the city to buy. The streetgang torched the place, and rumors said that Anthonius had to pay or they would just torch it again if it was rebuilt. The building was severely damaged, and Azalahn decided to buy it for a fair price. A mostly ruined building in a neighborhood like this wasn't worth much in terms of a fair price though. Perhaps this was a lucky thing for Anthonius. He got reconciled with his uncle who took him in.

The first few months while the streetgang was around
Blueprint of the small Bar.
Azalahn knew that the streetgang would not allow him to run the place in peace without handing over most, if not all the profit, they would probably allow him to invest all he had into building a glorious place and then they had something they could torch if he didn't do as he was told.

Well the stone walls couldn't be torched, so that was a place to start. He would start with rebuilding the small bar. He could live in the kitchen, and if the place was small enough and only made of stone then he would be able to protect it at all times with the help of a good staff. But a good staff? From the information he got from the streetkid then these guys were not mere ruffians. A decent warrior, a smart guy and an assassin of some skill. Those were the 3 men he would have to get rid of for good, and he wold also need to make sure nobody else came to take their place.

2 people came to his mind. Aria and Elyssia. Aria could cover his back and Elyssia had brains. What was the name of that gruffy old dwarf? Thorgrim. Yes he was a great cook. Well he probably had his own tavern by now, but it was worth a try at least to see if he could find Aria and Elyssia. Something else came to his mind, he could also wait a few years, pay and let them burn down the roof once or twice then he could go to the authorities with enough evidence, but he would have to get rid of the smart guy no matter what. He got lucky with his fear of arson. The roof above the first and second floor were made of stone and this opus something So if he didn't have too much flamable inside then arson wouldn't be a problem.

Arson would be considered a very serious offence and death allone would be considered a mild punishment in many places, that much he knew about humans and their ways. If the gang could get away with arson then they most likely had a powerful protector or that little guy was indeed really smart. It turned out that it was the little guy who was really smart and that a competitor of Anthonius was giving them some protection.

Azalahn left in search of his former mercenary buds. When he came back, it was with the knight, the mage scout, the grumpy old grandpa dwarf and a dark elf. Having the dark elf around proved to be a blessing just as much as a problem. The eyes of the authorities were constantly over him, privacy was non existent, but that also meant that the gang couldn't operate as freely as it used to. The small bar opened and one of the first guests to come in was an elderly woman and a military officer. "Damn not even opened yet and he is allready putting someone to watch over me."

The officer was lieutenant Wolfgang d'Arc from the army of his grace duke d'Artagnan of Occen, this was a personal visit. He introduced the elderly woman as Miriam d'Arc his father's sister in law. Yes Azalahn was right the authorities intended to keep an eye on him and that Coór child he kept with him. But Miriam had a request for him and if Azalahn would grant it then he would have the backing of the city guards, at least to the extent the d'Arc family could influence it.

Miriam had been the wife of Arthurius d'Arc she knew full well how her son Anthonius had run and ruined the family business, she had left not wanting to watch the inevitable murder of her son. If Azalahn would clean up the place, restore it to it's former glory and let her be a part of it then she could tell her husband that although it was not in family hands anymore then it was a thriving place contributing to bring much fortune to this grand city. Azalahn agreed to give her a job after he got rid of the gang. Well he had to pay this old crone, but well getting some official backing would be well worth it.

Business was slow and the gang did their worst. Aria and Thorgrim didn't make it any easier. One day Elliane caught the assassin sneak in and try to slip something into a drink while the rest of the gang was making a spectacle in the doorway. That was it, if Azlahan didn't do something about this right away then Thorgrim and Aria would. Thorgrim was in his full armor shortly after.

After everyone cooled down Azalahn spent some time thinking then he got Elyssia to talk to the officials and get him permission to clean up the way he could, well she had to give them a little gift before they agreed. He gave Elliane some money to find an assassin to take out this wannabe assassin and that damn little guy as well. Elliane left, and 2 months later the gang assassin was found dead with no clues and the little guy had vanished he turned up dead a month after that. There was also a note for Azalahn that Elliane would return 6 months later to avoid suspicion.

It was time for the warrior. Aria and Thorgrim beat him up so badly that he would forever after walk with a limp and his right elbow would be locked straight when or if it healed. As for the rest then various knees, clavicles and ribs were broken for those that didn't run in time and they were left in the dark alley they used to hang out in. The next morning the authorities found the leader of the gang dead and there were rumors about an internal powerstruggle, but the puzzling thing was that the weakest 2 had apparently come out on top and the 3 really dangerous members were dead while the remaining 5 were severely injured if not crippled.

Another gang tried to take over the territory. It was just a band of local ruffians with no truly dangerous members so Azalahn went straight for the man supposed to be the leader, beat him up very severely in full daylight, tied him up and let him hang in a long pole, and only his second in command would be allowed to help him down, but he would have to climb up naked. They tried to force the locals to get their leader down but the next day there were 2 naked men up in the pole. They gave in and came to get their leaders then they all had to march after Aria and to Darsai, Naked. Food and water was sparse and the heat was terrible but they had to march on unless that female knight would crack a whip against their back again. They pleaded and begged for mercy. When Aria thought they were about to loose their consciousness if she marched them any more she offered them Azalahn's deal. They would take over the neighborhood as the protectors they claimed to be. The payment. Yes there was plenty of food and water on the pack horse, if they didn't like the deal then they could always keep on marching.

Back out later and...
Of course they could always back out of the deal when they returned to town but yes Azalahn was a high noble from a world to the west called Nybelmar. He was here because he couldn't stand the woman he had been forced to marry and live with back home. On that world they had both orcs and half elves as well, but one particular breed of these half elves were half dark elf and half orc. A race that was also half alive and half demonic. It had been created by the powerfull magic of the chosen back in times of myth. The chosen one was Menemronn or something like that. His creations should be dead and long gone by now, but due to the demonic deals he had made when creating these horrors then the race got a life on it's own fueled by the abyss.

This race has a habit of creating semi undead servants, they destroy most of the soul, replacing it with energy from some abyssal place every mortal is lucky not to know the details about, but a fraction of the soul remains the victim can sense everything that is going on around it and everything the body does and feels, but it can't do anything about it. These servants go on for thousands of years, well humans only go on for hundreds of years before their bodies become damaged beyond the possibility to repair it. Of course they could also run away from these Chyr... something. But good luck with that, she herself would consider it easier to openly enter the king's pallace as an enemy, but that was not the issue here. The issue was that if they backed out of the deal, they could even have Azalahn and all of them killed, but someone from Nybelmar would come and hunt them all down sail them across the ocean to that world of nightmares and sell them to the ultimate nightmares the Chyr... something.

Yes they themselves would not be important enough for anyone to bother, but the commands of Viscount Melór'raín, Azalahn's true father, would be and despite his son living here instead of where he belonged then his demise would be revenged in the most horrible fashion anyone could imagine. Well not a Viscount the way the humans defined it, but an elven equivalent to what humans called a Viscount.

Their only hope would be Azalahn's lover the dark elf beating his father in getting them, for she surely would have some interesting but both extremely painfull and long lasting ideas about revenge. These darkelves have problems when it comes to enough is enough especially if you take something from them. They can keep people prisoners and torture them daily for years. Speak of anything concerning this deal, who Azalahn really was and they would end up on a ship sailing west when they least expected it. She would require a few drops of their blood to seal the deal though. If they really wanted to run away from the deal, they would be wise to find out about demonology, necromancy and magical enslavement before they decided to act upon any ideas.

The gang was scared almost into wetting their pants (that they didn't have). They more than willingly agreed to serve Azalahn, by claiming the neighborhood as theirs and let the residents live their lives in peace.

The business started to improve, the streets were peacefull, nobody else tried to move in and the dark elf returned. After he got permanently rid of the gang, and got another gang to "protect" the area he started to fully rebuild the place to what it looks like now.

The name
Naming the place proved to become somewhat problematic, Thorgrim and Aria wanted a militaristic name while Elyssia and Elliane wanted a poetic name. Famous heroes, weapons and battles vs Artists and poems. In the end Azalahn came up with a name that both Elyssia and Elliane like and after telling the tale of High Queen Mseríá the silver of the Aestera and the military effect of her last song which was actually an enormously powerfull spell, Thorgrim and Aria also liked the name. This is a myth from the Krean Empire, but given his fascination with those things it came as no suprise. Thorgrim sometimes says, the boss comes with a good idea and I will bet my beard on it having roots in that mythical kingdom of his, and Aria will reply: Yes I wonder if he is a descendant of these Krath/Kreans he is always mumbling about, then they look at Elyssia and say, sometimes he is a bit hard to understand, are you sure it is Styrash or could it be Kreath he is mumbling in when drunk?

The locals usually call the place: The last song.