The Rusted Keel

The tavern was once a respectable dockside inn called the Tide Lantern, but as Saltshore decayed, the building was worn down by storms, debt, and bad company. When the upper streets began to collapse into gambling dens and half-broken shops, the old inn was sold twice, then quietly taken over by its current keeper. She kept the beams, shortened the sign, and let the sailors keep drinking. Over time the place became neutral ground for thieves, shopkeepers, runners, and debt-ridden locals who needed somewhere loud enough to hide a lie and familiar enough to trust a warning. More recently, rumors have spread that something valuable lies buried beneath the floorboards and older still, below the cellar itself, where the block sinks toward an abandoned dungeon. A few drunk patrons swear the tavern sometimes shudders at night when the hidden place stirs.