The Cat & The Fiddle

From Praemal

The Cat & the Fiddle is a two-story plaster-and-timber tavern and inn. The front facade is white-washed, but painted with small bright images of household and forest animals playing musical instruments In addition to serving as Maidensbridge's tavern and inn, the Cat & the Fiddle also produces cider, which is popular throughout the barony and is exported to the world beyond.

Inside, the tavern is warm and cozy, with trophy heads lining the walls, including one of a hasenbock taken by Rubik himself. A large mirror -- a rarity in Midwood -- fills the wall behind the bar.

Although the tavern and inn were built nearly 100 years ago with upscale ambitions in mind, Maidensbridge never grew the way the original owners expected it would, so the parlor and guest rooms of the inn have grown shabby and unused over the years, with the bulk of day-to-day activity centering on the tavern instead. Likewise, the stable is rarely used, and any guests with horses or ponies will have to wait while the staff scrambles to make a stall ready.

The Cat & the Fiddle are run by a middle-aged couple, Milos and Jana Fordham who never had children (although they talk about their adventurer nieces and nephews warmly, and strangers might well get confused). They took over the bar after the previous owners were killed in a late night raid on Maidensbridge by the Black Reavers almost 25 years ago. They are assisted by Ella, an orphan turned tavern wench.

The tavern hosts music contests every year during Ale Days. It was here that Fiddler first made his presence known in the barony.

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Food, drink and lodging

Breakfast and dinner are normally simple affairs in Midwood, with lunch being the biggest meal of the day, especially in winter months.

Breakfast (poor): 2 cp
Breakfast (common): 6cp

Poor breakfasts include gruel or salted fish.
Common breakfasts include black bread, bratwurst, piles, sauerkraut and sheep's cheese.

Lunch (poor): 5 cp
Lunch (common): 1 sp, 5 cp

Poor lunches include goulash, raindough and potatoes.
Common lunches include haggis, rustum or bratwurst, sauerkraut, potatoes or carrots, Gnomish flatbread with sheep's butter, sheep's cheese.

Dinner (poor): 3 cp
Dinner (common): 9 cp

Poor dinners include bratwurst and potatoes.
Common dinners include mutton or rabbit, potatoes or carrots and Gnomish flatbread with sheep's butter.

Apple pie: 1 sp

Ale (gallon): 2 sp
Ale, Dwarven (gallon): 5 sp
Ale (mug): 4 cp
Ale, Dwarven (mug): 10 cp
Apple brandy (gallon): 1 gp
Apple brandy (mug): 2 cp
Beer, Child's (mug): 2 cp
Hard cider (gallon): 2 sp
Hard cider (mug): 4 cp
Vodka (cup): 2 sp
Wine (common, pitcher): 2 sp
Wine (fine, bottle): 10 gp

Inn stay (Poor): 2 sp/day
Inn stay (Common): 5 sp/day

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Ground floor

1. Tap room
2. Stables (normally empty)

Cellar

1. Cellar

First floor

1. Parlor
2. Corridor
3. Bedroom (single) -- Heda Littlelark often stays here
4. Bedroom (double)
5. Bedroom (double)
6. Bedroom (single)
7. Ella's bedroom (locked)
8. The Fordhams' bedroom (locked)
9. Bathrooms