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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pdzoch" data-source="post: 6873764" data-attributes="member: 80982">The Gaudy AmphoraName: The Gaudy Amphora (Tavern sign depicts a bright orange ancient amphora decorated with an improbably muscled athlete painted black and in an unnatural pose to show off unrealistic muscles)Description: This tavern has a large patio encircled by a white wooden picket fence partially overgrown with vines. A pergola covered in vines provides shade for half of the patio.  Stone tables and benches provide seating on the patio.  The tavern itself blends with the patio.  An archway leads to the interior, which provides a red clay tile roof covering, but the walls are half height appearing like giant windows and allowing the fresh air to fill the tavern. The floor is made of large red clay slabs, and the red bricks are exposed where the white lime-plaster has fallen away from the walls. Large vases filled with tall flowers, palms, and ferns decorate the corners of the patio.  Inside, shelves are decorated with a large collection of vases, or more accurately, decanters and amphorae that once contained alcohol. A stone staircase beside the patio lead upstairs to a railed balcony and to several doors.  A short bar, presumably made of brick and painted in the same white-lime plaster lines the far wall and sits between two wooden doors.Note: The interior can easily be seen from the outside due to the construction of this tavern.Proprietor: Fulberto Perniciaro is a fifth generation tavern/inn keeper.  His great, great grandfather Gavino Perniciaro built this tavern and the nearby vineyard. Fulberto is an expert on wines, and though he prefers to sell his own vintage, he is very eager to buy and sell wines from other collections.  Fulberto’s is also a collector of decanters, vases, and other containers for wines, though he claims this is actually his wife’s interests. Fulberto’s wife, Maruta, is an excellent cook and can quickly generate a filling meal for a large group in a short period.  Fulberto employs many people from the local village to work the tavern and kitchen, housekeep the rooms, making wine or harvesting the grapes.  The Perniciaro family all run these parts of the operation, whether they be sons and daughters, nephews and nieces, our aunts and uncles.  Fulberto has “many, many cousins” in the region. Fulberto is very wealthy and very influential in town, though he is not a big fan of politics.  As long as no one tries to harm his business, he really does not care what the village mayor and their guilds decide. Fulberto has the look of a successful but hardworking man.  He is stout and happy, usually in soiled work clothes (apron and bar towel), but becomes passionate about wines and his businesses. Other details: The Perniciaro vineyard is nearby and is the source of the blends of wines with rather pretentious names offered at the tavern: The Act of Gods (superior quality red wine), the Wine of Life (high quality white wine), and the Patron Servant (average quality red wine).  An extensive cellar full of wines, mostly from the Perniciaro vineyard, is accessible from the kitchen. Fulberto’s immediate family lives on the ground floor, behind the kitchen.  The second story houses five semi-private rooms equipped with two comfortable beds, a wardrobe, a small table and a stool.  The rooms are decorated with a painting of the countryside, and each has bowl and pitcher of water set on the table. Fulberto has a cousin who runs a bathhouse and another cousin who runs a stable.  Occasionally, the tavern is very crowded when one or more of the Perniciaro family offshoots assembles for a social gathering. Story Hook: 1) Unknown creatures (ankhegs/bullets/purple worms) have been borrowing up through the ground throughout the countryside and destroying farms and homes.  The community is powerless against them and needs help in destroying the pests, preferably at the nest site if there is one. 2) A plague of insects has swept through the countryside; however, the locals do not believe this to be a natural cause.  A curse, witchcraft, and an evil druid/cleric are the things blamed for the plague. 3) The annual wine competition is about to begin, and the regional nobility are to be the judges.  However, assassins may use the event as an opportunity to kill the nobility. Worse, according to the competitors, the Vintner’s Guild thinks that one of the competitors will attempt to poison the nobility during the wine tasting.  Not only will the killing cup frame the wine maker, it will ruin the reputation of his wine and ruin his family and business. The Vintner’s Guild is hiring guards to protect the wine from tampering and hopefully to uncover who is behind the plot.</blockquote>

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