# Main Hall

The heart of the Nether Inn. A single large room with a low ceiling, stone floor, and the permanent smell of smoke and regret.

## Key Features

### The Bar

A massive slab of darkwood, scarred by decades of knife marks, spilled drinks, and at least one axe blow that's been sanded down but never quite disappeared. Behind it: shelves of unlabeled bottles, a few labeled ones nobody orders, and a collection of confiscated weapons mounted on the wall like trophies.

The working side is a real bar, not an armory display: two tapped casks, clean and dirty cups in separate racks, a water bucket, wiping cloths, a cash bowl with 18 sp and 43 cp, a jar of pipe spills, a tinderbox, and a ledger of ordinary food-and-drink tabs. None of these mundane accounts duplicates Orenn's coded debt-journal.

**Orenn's body** lies behind the bar on the stone floor. He fell backward — whatever killed him came from the front, but nobody in the brawl was close enough, and the hall was black when it happened (Rennt's Thunderwave had just snuffed the candles). He's bruised and bleeding from a knock taken wading into the brawl — a **decoy**; that wound didn't kill him. See [Murder Mystery](../storylines/murder-mystery.md) for details.

**On Orenn's person:** A search finds his ordinary tavern keys, 12 gp and 8 sp, a plain silver ring, and two objects that matter tonight: the [silver mirror](../npc/orenn.md#orenns-silver-mirror) in his breast pocket and a heavy **black iron key** that is the master key for the [concealed Deep Cellar door](cellar.md#the-concealed-door), Vault, and lower cells. The mirror is found automatically by anyone examining the body; locating the unfamiliar key among the others requires DC 12 Investigation, or is automatic if the body is thoroughly looted.

**House ward implements:** The fist-sized **ward-crystal** sits openly on the shelf above the bar until Mags shatters it. A short brass **ward-focus** rests in clips beneath that shelf; speaking its house-word lights or extinguishes the Inn's ordinary lamps and candles. Neither is portable treasure: the crystal discharges once, and the focus works only inside the Nether Inn.

**Hidden:** Under the bar is a recessed shelf with:
- A loaded hand crossbow (Orenn's insurance, DC 13 Investigation)
- A flask of **Sovereign Glue** (for situations that needed permanent solutions)
- A small leather journal in coded shorthand (DC 16 Intelligence to decode — contains names and debts owed to the house, including entries for both Sevra and Haddon)
- An ornate brass fitting used as a **bottle opener**. It is Vey Corren's signet, filed down and mounted beneath the bar after the Grey Quay betrayal. Sevra recognizes it instantly; Orenn's journal records the debt as closed.

### The Fireplace

Large stone hearth, fire burning low. The mantle holds a single iron bell that has never been rung — a relic left from the tavern's summoner days. **Mags knows the trick to ring it** (never what it truly does): turn it mouth-down, strike the rim with bare iron, then let it toll without touching the clapper.

The bell wakes the old foundation sigils for **1 minute**. During that minute, anyone inside the Inn sees Xarrul as a blurred outline even while it is Ethereal. This removes concealment, but not the planar boundary: seeing Xarrul does not allow a Material creature to affect it. Veilhook Salt cannot cross the boundary, but can anchor Xarrul if applied when it manifests.

The bell alone does **not** trap or banish Xarrul. If the cellar sigils have been restored, its toll also prevents Xarrul from using Ethereal Jaunt while it is inside the binding circle. Bell, restored sigils and the circle together can seal it consciously between planes; see [The Reckoning](../storylines/the-reckoning.md#the-bell-and-sigils-seal).

### Assassin Table (North-West)

A long table pushed against the wall. **Sevra** sits at the head with her back to the corner — she can see both the entrance and the cultist table. **Dace** is to her right, nursing a drink and making easy conversation with anyone nearby — jumpier than usual, though he'd blame the room. **Kael** is standing, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, glaring at the cultist table. **Thera "Even-Hand,"** the eldest blade present, sits a little apart with her hands folded, watching everything and saying almost nothing; Kael keeps glancing at her the way a dog checks on its master.

Two other unnamed blades fill the rest of the table. They defer to Sevra completely.

**After the murder:** Kael wants to search the cultists by force. Sevra is holding him back — barely. Dace is being "helpful" to whoever is investigating, subtly steering suspicion toward the cultists. Thera does not join the noise; she drifts once to look at Orenn's body, reads it in a glance no one else can, and returns to her seat. See **[The House of Scales](../storylines/house-of-scales.md)**.

### Cultist Table (South-West)

A round table covered in papers, open books, and half-empty inkwells—maintaining the scholar facade. It is not merely the cultists' chosen seat: Haddon and Vyre used it as their worktable during the original cleanup fifteen years ago. Tiny catalogue numbers cut by Haddon remain along one edge, and regulars know not to take his chair. **Haddon** sits at the center, composed. **Dalla** is on his left, distracted and pale. **Rennt** is on his right, leaning forward with intense energy. **Essek** sits slightly apart, saying nothing.

Beside it stands a narrow bookshelf containing the original summoners' volumes Haddon and Vyre classified as safe enough to keep upstairs. Early pages carry cautious notes in Haddon's left hand and responsible annotations from Vyre before doctrine consumed her. Later volumes contain Bren Aldara's precise corrections. Three equally substantial bookmarked entries could plausibly explain his ordered "madness": **[On Ethereal Skeins](../prints/o-eterickem-predivu.md)**, **[On Mist Leeches](../prints/o-mlznych-pijavicich.md)** and **[On the Return Echo](../prints/o-navratove-ozvene.md)**. Bren annotated all three as **B. A.**, but only the first matches the selective silencing, stolen movement and six tendrils. Haddon now writes right-handed because the containment circle that saved Orenn ruined his left arm.

**After the murder:** Haddon immediately begins constructing an alibi — "we were all engaged in discussion, none of us left the table." This is technically true but irrelevant: Xarrul briefly manifested behind the bar, killed Orenn and withdrew to the Ethereal Plane; no cultist had to leave the table. Rennt is agitated and defensive. Dalla doesn't seem to care about the investigation at all — she's thinking about her child.

**On the table (DC 12 Investigation):** Among the scholarly papers, one diagram shows planar boundaries with annotations about "thinning points." Haddon will claim it's theoretical research. It's actually a map of potential Opening sites, and the Nether Inn is marked.

**Haddon's personal journal:** A narrow black volume with a brass clasp stays beneath Haddon's hand or buckled inside his robe. Stealing it requires DC 16 Sleight of Hand during a distraction; its clasp is DC 16 Thieves' Tools and the cipher DC 18 Intelligence. One deciphered page is printable physical evidence against Dace; see [Haddon's journal](../npc/cultists.md#his-journal-dc-16-sleight-of-hand-to-steal-dc-16-thieves-tools-to-open-dc-18-int-to-decipher).

**The missing folio (DC 14 Investigation after the brawl):** One leather folio lies open with two cut binding threads and clean rectangles where pages protected the dusty inner cover. Haddon insists it held irrelevant calculations. In fact, Xarrul stole both restricted extracts during the blackout; see [Haddon's Missing Research Folio](../storylines/order-of-mending.md#haddons-missing-research-folio).

### Curtained Booth (South, near wall)

A small booth with high-backed wooden seats and a moth-eaten curtain. It has a clear sightline to the bar, the entrance, and both faction tables while giving anyone seated inside a little privacy. Nobody claimed it before the brawl. During the investigation it is the obvious place to isolate Essek, question a witness, protect a lucid Bren, or stage a conversation someone else wants to overhear.

### Bren's Corner (North-East, near bar)

Not a seat — a spot on the floor between the bar and the wall. **Bren** sits here with his knees drawn up, rocking slightly, muttering to the air beside him. A wooden bowl with a few copper coins sits in front of him — the regulars toss him change out of habit or superstition.

The space beside him where he talks to is **occupied** in the Ethereal Plane by **Skein**, a translucent, spider-like entity made of knotted threads. *See Invisibility* reveals it directly; Orenn's silver mirror provides the same sight only within its reflection. Neither makes Skein Material or allows an ordinary attack to cross the planar boundary.

### Center Floor (Post-Brawl)

After the brawl, the center of the room is a mess:
- Overturned tables and stools
- Broken glass and pottery
- A few blood spatters (non-lethal injuries from the brawl — DC 12 Medicine confirms these are from fists and thrown objects, nothing matches how Orenn died)
- One cultist's book, kicked under a table, open to a page about **binding circles** (DC 14 Arcana reveals it's specifically about binding fiends)
- **Dace's ritual-marked dagger**, lying in the debris just outside the bar where it was kicked during the brawl. Its edge carries **Essence of Ether**, not blood; DC 12 Medicine or Poisoner's Kit identifies the sleeping poison, and the wound does not match Orenn's death. Dace claims it was torn from his belt in the crush. He is telling the truth about losing it and lying about why an assassin's blade bears Order markings.

## Read-Aloud: After the Brawl

> *Ticho. Po minutách chaosu je to ticho skoro bolestivé. Stoly leží převrácené, střepy pokrývají podlahu jako skleněný koberec a ve vzduchu visí prach a těžký dech tuctu lidí, kteří se právě mlátili. Někdo kašle. Někdo nadává polohlasem.*
>
> *A pak to někdo uvidí.*
>
> *Orenn leží za barem na zádech. Jeho oči jsou otevřené, ale nic nevidí. Na jeho tváři je výraz čirého, upřímného překvapení — jako by smrt byla to poslední, co v tomhle místě čekal. Na hrudi má spáleninu ve tvaru, který nedává smysl. Žádná krev. Žádná rána. Jen ta podivná, černá značka a muž, který před chvílí stál za barem klidný jako jezero za bezvětří.*
>
> *Ze dveří kuchyně vyjde žena. Zastaví se. Podívá se dolů. Její tvář projde něčím — ne pláčem, ne křikem. Něčím horším. Něčím tichým a tvrdým jako led, kterému trvalo celý život, než zamrzl.*
>
> *"Nikdo," řekne Mags hlasem, který nepřipouští námitky, "nikam neodejde."*
>
> *Klapnutí závory na hlavních dveřích zní jako rozsudek.*

*(DM: this is only her entrance. The full set-piece that follows—the forced heal, the failed* Revivify *with the diamond from her necklace, the shattered ward-crystal that seals the tavern until midnight, and the ultimatum—is scripted in [Mags — Act 2: The Reveal](../npc/mags.md#act-2--the-reveal-dm). The "bolt" the players hear is the ward-crystal discharging into every exterior opening, not a simple latch; the cellar remains reachable from inside.)*

## Lighting & Atmosphere

- **Before the brawl:** Dim candlelight, warm in a grimy way. Shadows dance.
- **During the brawl:** Candles knocked over, intermittent darkness — then, on cue a few rounds in, **Rennt's Thunderwave snuffs every flame at once** and the hall goes pitch black. That blackout is the murder window. (Darkvision PCs/NPCs still see in it — use a glimpsed shape or cold spot near the bar as an early fiend clue, or make the dark linger unnaturally long as a "someone reinforced this" tell.)
- **After the murder:** Mags relights every candle and lantern at once with a brass **ward-focus** behind the bar. The room is brighter than it's ever been and somehow that makes it worse — you can see every stain, every scar, every face that doesn't want to be seen.
