*Apologies but being my first post, I wasn't able to quote this poster directly for some reason....hence the copy/paste function. It was posted by E. Lightfoot, I think the third entry in this thread.*
"Nik's Nook: If the heroes have cash, Nik is willing to partner up to get his place going again, resulting in a good monthly return to the investors once the gang is removed. Investors may even choose to fund additional hires (more barmaids, assistant cook, good bouncers, etc) which will also increase the place's prosperity and reputation."
In the Council of Thieves adventure, the module, "Mother of Flies" there is a short article about the ecology of Thieves Councils. There was a map of a generic thieves council hide-out.
I remember two things - there was a black ooze pit (for disposing of bodies) and thinking that a tavern would make a good base of operations for a thief/assassin character who also has a (silent or public) controlling interest in the tavern.
Lots of people coming and going so easy for people to disappear. Also...drunk people always lose things and forget things so it could make it easy for items to "walk off" from their owners.
A home base that your character can retire to when resting from adventuring as well as storing treasures and exotic items s/he hasn't found a need for yet.
A place to "store" your money. After a few adventures, you're (hopefully!!) going to have a large pile of gold to haul around....gets tiresome. Better to put your money somewhere "safe" such as in a money making establishment.
You could have a few secrets in a place you own - hidden escape routes, treasure rooms - one public as a target for thieves and one or more hidden with your power items and riches, perhaps even a prison for those times when you need to keep a prisoner on ice til you can get information you need from him/her or arrange for a ransom.
And of course, with enough ale in them, tongues wag. Opportunities to swoop in and take advantage of opportunities to earn money, blackmail, and hire people you need for adventure X or Y.
I am not certain how it would work, but could such an establishment also function as a bank and make loans at exorbitant rates to struggling merchants? There has to be some use we can get out of all this treasure we've gathered!!
So...with all that in mind, I submit this:
(This concept is based on the Pink Dragon Inns from the Leo Frankowski series, "The Cross Time Engineer")
Name: The Pink Dragon Inn
Owner: Mr. Money Bags (Public) and Dirk Dagger (Silent partner)
Hook: Featuring scantily clad servers clothed in high heels, fishnet stockings and bunny ears - think of the Playboy Bunny for an image of this server.
Clientele: Primarily humans, elves and halflings.
Serving ales and vittles, offering rooms to rent.
Public: Serves ales and vittles, offers rooms to rent (12 in total but one is reserved for staff so 11 available), stabling for mounts (feed and grooming), bard nights (bards drink and eat for free), other events as desired (weddings perhaps?).
Secret: There is a large cavern beneath the inn which is accessed via two secret passages. One from the interior of the inn, the hearthstone of the fireplace is removable and leads to steps leading into the subterranean tunnels. The other entrance is located in the rear of a cave occupied by a hibernating mother bear. (Think of Bruce Wayne's underground liar for the Batman.)
(Adjust at will. Both entrances as described above rely on secrecy for defense rather than other methods such as magical guardians or traps.)
Within the cavern complex there are several tunnels leading to other smaller caves which function as storerooms for exotic items, money, and a magical library.
One particular tunnel leads to a hole of no bottom down which victims of the assassin(s) are disposed of, never to be seen again. A DM/GM might eventually reveal that there is some type of monster at the bottom of this pit that feeds on the corpse of the unfortunate victim, perhaps granting magical bonuses to the assassin in exchange for all the offerings over the years.
When I started to write the above, I was thinking "out loud" (that's why it's so long! - I don't know when to stop...) and it strikes me that this place is going to become very, very successful. It might eventually earn the owner(s) more money than adventuring! Loaning money, renting rooms, selling food/drinks, stealing, taking advantage of investment opportunities, and disposing of corpses for a fee from others....
Anyways....I'll stop here. Thoughts?
