The Brazen Onager
Dockside Inn of Southport
(Commonly called “The Brass Ass”)
Overview
- Type: Sailor’s Inn / Tavern
- Location: Dock Ward, Southport
- Primary Clientele: Sailors, dockworkers, merchants, smugglers
- Reputation: Loud, reliable, and surprisingly neutral
- Proprietor: Calen Cask Morley
The Brazen Onager is one of Southport’s oldest and most infamous dockside establishments. To sailors, it is a refuge. To merchants, a necessary risk. To the city watch, a tolerated problem.
To everyone else, it is simply the Brass Ass.
Description
The Brazen Onager squats near the docks like a defiant old beast, its stone foundation blackened by salt air and soot. The sign—a stylized siege onager mid-launch—swings constantly, whether or not there is wind.
Inside, the tavern is low-ceilinged and crowded, built to trap warmth and noise alike. Long scarred tables dominate the main room, surrounded by benches that have seen decades of boots, blood, and spilled drink. The floor is permanently sticky, no matter how often it is scrubbed.
The air smells of:
- Strong ale
- Tar and wet rope
- Smoke
- Old wood
- Something faintly medicinal
Private rooms exist, but privacy is relative.
Atmosphere & Culture
The Brazen Onager operates on a few simple rules:
- Fights are allowed, but knives stay sheathed
- Cheating at cards is expected—getting caught is not forgiven
- The staff sees everything and forgets nothing
- No one is turned away for lack of coin if they are truly thirsty
Information flows freely here—sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. Deals are made in half-phrases and unfinished sentences. Rumors change hands faster than tankards.
Drinks & Fare
The Onager is known for:
- Strong, inexpensive ales
- Questionable experimental brews
- Surprisingly good stew
- Drinks that should not exist, but do
Patrons are advised to ask what something does, not what it is.
Proprietor: Calen Cask Morley
Calen Cask Morley, the innkeeper, is a broad-shouldered, sharp-eyed man who runs the Brazen Onager with calm authority. He is known for:
- Fair prices
- Quiet enforcement of rules
- A long memory
- An uncanny ability to appear when trouble starts
Calen’s motto is posted behind the bar:
“If you are thirsty, your needs will be met.”
Those who test the limits of that promise tend not to return.
Notable Associations
- Grimgrun Blunderforge worked here briefly, learning the basics of brewing
- Frequented by sailors of the Heterland Navy
- A common stop for crews before or after long voyages
- A discreet meeting place for those who prefer not to be noticed elsewhere
Reputation
Among sailors, the Brazen Onager is:
- Honest
- Loud
- Dependable
Among nobles:
- Disreputable
- Dangerous
- Best avoided personally
Among those who know better:
- Neutral ground
Rumors & Hooks
- A patron recently paid for a drink with coin older than the kingdom
- Someone has been asking about ships that never returned
- A new brew is circulating that makes memories… unreliable
- Calen has refused service to exactly three people in his lifetime
No one knows where they went.