The tavern “The Lesson of Alcohol” was named out of spite and contempt.

One of the several forces that was able to capture and hold the city of Val Salia for any length of time, belonged to a particularly powerful noble house from Akalos. The occupation lasted just long enough for the invading force to begin construction of its own buildings, which included a high-walled mustering yard, and a smaller attached wooden building.

The stonework structure was meant to be something of a gatehouse, once the city had been ringed with a similarly tall and solid stonework wall, but this was never constructed, as House Ivenmoth (aided by the vast majority of the city’s permanent populace) was inevitably able to drive off the invading force soon thereafter.

The noble held to the Akalosian custom of giving structures poetic, flourishing names, and the meeting house that was built to accommodate the noble and his high-ranking companions during the early stages of the siege was given the name “The Lesson of Might,” as it was intended to be the first of many new structures that would spring up around the city under his leadership. The name “lesson of might” was intended to be the first structure to be named as a lesson of some sort. The first one, by which they were conquered, was might.  Future installments were intended to be things such as “The Lesson of Obedience,” intended to be the headquarters for the city’s new lawmaking force, and “The Lesson of Knowledge,” a grand library and study hall.

When the revolt happened (sparked by a mass poisoning of the invading forces garrisoned within the city), the structure was claimed by the locals, and was repurposed into a bar, and given its new name to spite its original intention and the man who built it.

From its walls hangs a repository of the banners and armaments of all the forces that have tried and failed to take and hold the city over the years, a monument to the endurance of the city and its people in the face of those who would see them conquered.

The entryway used to feature the polished, grinning skeleton of the patriarch of the Akalosian noble house, with a beer mug attached to his skeletal hand, welcoming the customers inwards in a rather undignified pose, but his remains were eventually relinquished to his descendants in his homeland as part of a rather lucrative trade deal House Ivenmoth struck with Akalos many years later.

While far from the largest tavern in the city, it is cherished by the locals, and never lacks for patrons.


Raptie does character colors/shades