The Avonbourn
| Type | Tavern and inn |
|---|---|
| Ruler | Reslyn Keiser |
| Notable sites | The bar, the upstairs rooms |
| Notable inhabitants | Reslyn Keiser, Aero Ellisvat |
| Status | Its keeper arrested by the Nelazgians |
| First appearance | A Sacred Tale Collection |
The Avonbourn is the tavern at the outermost edge of the Kella Desert, standing at the end of the only street of a town barely able to pass for one and, late at night, the only lit establishment on it.[1] It serves as a safe space for Eslurians of both near and far, no judgement attached, and it never sleeps.[1] Reslyn Keiser keeps it, and Aero Ellisvat calls it his second home.[1] The map of Eslura letters a small town on the eastern edge of the desert under the same name.[2]
The tavern
The Avonbourn is a two-storey building of wood and log pillars with a chimney puffing black smoke and a weathervane shaped like a rooster on the roof. Lanterns burn on the front porch, steps lead up to the front door, and riders tie their mounts in the adjacent pasture. There are pigs out the back, and a saddle rack on the stable wall.[3][4][1] Letters sent from the house go out embossed with a swooping A.[1]
Inside, candles and oil lanterns light the room, and a fireplace roars in the back corner beside the staircase. Two long narrow tables run down the middle, packed with people and creatures playing cards whose suits are fire, land, water and air. The bar takes up the whole left side.[3] Its house brew is Oakenale, which Aero rates the best he has ever tasted.[1]
The Viper
A large sword with an emerald hilt and snakes etched along the flat of its blade hangs front and centre on the wall behind the bar, a golden placard beneath it reading The Viper. Aero laid it on the counter and told Reslyn it no longer belonged to him; she hung it up and would not leave it to rust in the back, and it stayed there until the night he took it down again.[1][3][4]
Upstairs
A short dark hallway runs off the staircase with two doors on either side and one at the far end. The last is Reslyn's own room, which she keeps locked, and holds a bed, a desk and a fireplace. The guest rooms are small: one bed apiece, a nightstand and an oil lamp, a big window and a worn carpet, with the noise of the bar coming straight up through the floor.[3] The last door on the right has a sign above it reading Occupied. Noran Daharshi lived behind it: Aero left her at the Avonbourn five moons before his last visit, knowing it was safer than his own home in Varaar, and by the end she was blind and could not leave the bed.[1]
Keeping
Reslyn Keiser introduces herself as Reslyn Keiser, Lady o' the Avonbourn. She brews the ale, refuses Aero's coin, and settles a brawl by leaning over the counter and offering the brawlers a bum in the seat or a bum in the street.[1][3] By the time the tavern is next seen she is gone: arrested for refusing service to a high-ranking Nelazgian, with word that prisoners were being taken to Zybersia. A new bartender stood behind the counter and said she had never met the woman.[5]
Notable events
- Aero came back on Noran's summons, sat over an Oakenale at the bar, went up to her room and fastened around her neck the Heart of the Kella necklace he had recovered that night. She drank the pytocane Reslyn had prepared for her and died. Aero came down, unsheathed the Viper, laid it on the bar and walked out into the night.[1]
- Reagan Hideaway, Tabitha Glowdish and Aero stopped a night on the way to Galecrest. A grappling hook came through an upstairs window; a crocodilian intruder darted Tab with rhinespire and went for the Eyearke Stone at Reagan's throat, and Reagan killed it with Tab's dagger. Reslyn then took her to her own room and gave her a photograph of her parents, which Tab burned in the fireplace.[3]
- Returning from the drovig tunnels, the three found the place in uproar, Reslyn arrested and Erwin drinking at the bar. Aero went for him, and a gorilla of the Rewakan gang threw Aero across the bar, dosed him and Reagan with rhinespire and carried them off to the Varaar Colosseum. Tab slipped out of a back window.[5]
See also
- Reslyn Keiser
- Aero Ellisvat
- The Viper
- The Kella Desert
- Gangs of Varaar
- The Heart of the Kella (short story)