The Dran & Courtier

The Dran and Courtier is the place marked "A"

**The Dran & Courtier** is an inn and restaurant located in Red Larch. It is currently run by proprietress Prophetess "Propha" Dran. It also serves as the headquarters of The "C" Team and they have a permanent residence there. The inn's name is a combination of the last names of Propha Dran and her wife, Audra Courtier.

## Location

The Inn is located just off the long road, to the south-east of Red Larch. It is opposite to Welver's Wagons, which is convenient for travelers who have encountered trouble on the way over.

## Layout

The Dran & Courtier is a large building with an upper and a subterranean level. It is a fully functioning Inn with sleeping spaces for travelers, a wide range of meals and drinks and seating for people to enjoy these pleasantries. It also has storage and a few secrets scattered around.

### **Ground Floor**

The Inn's welcoming interior is made evident quickly after entering through the front door. There is a long bar to the immediate left, adorned with seating for plenty of customers. Behind which there is a shelving unit, filled with rarer drinks than the norm, as well as several tankards, plates and, amongst other things, random decorations from Propha's past. Through an often held open door is the kitchen, containing ready-to-pour barrels of Red Larch Regular Ale along with an oven and stove. There is also nut storage, however, due to recent squirrel intrusions, this is in need of a restock. Through another wood door and you get a rather larder of sorts, complete with preparation table. The only other door here goes back to the bar, so let's go elsewhere.

   The main seating area has a total of four tables, one being a private booth, with enough seating to fit regulars along with any travelers from Waterdeep, there to try the once seasonal cornerstones. Back further into the inn, there is a fireplace, above which is a mysterious painting of Propha's three children. To the left of the painting, you'll find Propha's (and occasionally Audra's) bedroom, which is downstairs to ensure the general security of the Inn. By this, there is a wooden staircase leading to the upper floor, banisters on either side and not too steep for older tenants.

### **Upper Floor**

The Tavern has a total of 8 rooms (Not including Propha's), 4 of which are reserved for members of The "C" Team whenever they are in town. They are arranged into 2 wings, each with 4 rooms, centered around a central meeting room of sorts. Each room is equipped with a single bed and a desk, with the central rooms containing a large table, a fireplace, and two shelving units. Each of the two outermost rooms has windows, along with the meeting room, but the inner rooms do not. The corridor can be used to access all of the rooms with relative ease and also has a balcony that looks down upon the floor below. At the two ends of the corridor, there is a window to let light into the building.

### **Basement\***

This floor is accessed via a hatch out the back of the inn, followed by a stone staircase which leads to a door. Upon opening this door you are greeted with a clean and pest free, but marginally damp lower floor. It is mostly used for the storage of Red Larch Regular Ale, amongst other things, but also has storage for the more expensive beverages that can be purchased. The rooms contain crates of spare tankards, plates, and cutlery. There are spare stools and repair kits in case the front room is attacked by angry baby stealers or just in case an argument turns into a full out brawl that not even Propha can deal with.

The basement also contains an emergency meeting room for Omin Dran and company, just in case the company HQ gets destroyed or infiltrated in some form. It even has a barrel of acid in case Aeofel turns up again. Although Propha rarely ever gets to see her beloved wife, she has made preparations for when she does show up. The basement contains a dressing room for Audra so she can have some alone time, cleanse herself of the dirt and dust of the open road, or just to relax. It does have a bath, which makes this significantly easier.

*\*(This level is mostly comprised of personal ideas by the image's author, meaning that, unless confirmed, most of this floor is not canonical.)*

## The Test Market

The Dran & Courtier has an unfortunate surprise waiting in the doorway of the establishment. Enchanted by Jim Darkmagic, much to Propha's distaste, the doorway will teleport anyone with the misfortune to be holding a gold-tipped acorn into a pocket dimension, referred to as The Test Market. Built by Jim, the pocket plane is designed with the intention of testing new recruits into the organization for their skills, durability and overall hardiness before they are allowed to join.

The Test Market uses a randomly generating system to create challenging obstacles and terrain for the team to conquer, each in the style and appearance of The Dran and Courtier. By leaving one version, you are effectively teleported into a new one, until, of course, you find a way out. Oddly, Onyx, the inn's cat, for some reason is able to travel between each one. We experience this when she remembers the debt that Walnut owes her from the massive version after she emerges back in the material plane.

### **The Jim Darkmagic Themed Inn:**

This version is the first that The "C" Team discover after being teleported from the material plane. It is an incarnation of Jim's vanity and narcissism, as it is an Inn populated with NPCs that are utterly obsessed with him, going so far as to wear his style of clothes. There are paintings of Jim everywhere and the inn is deliberately confusing as to challenge a candidate's intuition. There is also a chandelier shaped like The Homeward star constellation, probably placed as to target Rosie specifically. Aside from its oddities, this version is relatively safe and the NPCs will not attack if provoked, instead of leaving through the front door soon after the candidates have arrived.

### **The Mimic Inn:**

After leaving the first rendition of The Dran & Courtier, the party found themselves back in the front room, albeit devoid of the Jim Darkmagic memorabilia, except this version was seemingly empty of life. Upon further investigation, Donaar was attacked by a door, recognized by the party as a mimic, which they quickly vanquished. However, they soon discovered that every single object in the Inn also wanted to kill them, so they fled back through the front door, escaping the monstrosities. Sadly, Donaar developed PTSD after this attack and has never fully recovered.

### **The Supermassive Inn:**

Due to Onyx's size in this rendition, I imagine that this version somehow shrunk The "C" Team rather than the Inn being incredibly large. Upon entering, the party found themselves in a dark space. After journeying for several hours, they discovered a strange forest that had trees that grew bread on their roots. After meeting with some very large mice and traveling further into the forest, they discovered that Onyx had somehow been catching and eating the mice's queen, over and over again. They made a deal with these mice, who believed that they were mystical beings called far mice, that they would help them escape if they let them ride to the front door. This didn't go very well and although the party ended up getting a ride from Onyx, due to Walnut's bargaining skills, the mice had to flee back to their hole in defeat.

### **The Restoration Inn:**

Originally intended to help franchisees rest up and recuperate before braving the rest of The Test Market, this version of the Inn was unfortunately taken over by a group of ex-adventurers, who had been killing everyone who came through until The "C" Team showed up. It has plates that fill with food every time you set them on the table and beds that are fresh every time you enter the room. The ex-adventurers were swiftly defeated after attempting to subdue the party, with K'thriss successfully rescuing a prisoner, who turned out to be one of the now-dead crew.

### **The Dran & Courtierception:**

After losing Oak after he escaped through The Test Market, the party followed after a lengthy quest for nuts. Passing through the enchanted doorway, they discovered a 'glitch' in the magic in The Test Market. What they found was a version of The Dran & Courtier that was populated with Dran & Courtiers, drinking Dran & Courtiers, which is effectively an ale made of the liquefied inn. After an oddly casual conversation with the barkeep, they managed to acquire a boat, which they used to sail the metallic seas of the Astral Plane.

## Trivia

* The name was inspired by the saying 'Hung, Drawn and Quartered'
* It has a little sign under the main one featuring the Acquisitions Incorporated logo.