Inn of the Terrible Flood

A shady but prosperous timber inn of Akàzjir, the Dalūj Malar has been welcoming customers since 594 DR, when Lzar’s father Aldis opened the inn. The original tavern was named “The Lost Sailor”, and catered to shipmen who wandered in from the docks. Since that time, the top stories of the old warehouse have been emptied and incorporated into the ground floor tavern; the second floor is now an open mezzanine , while the top floor has sleeping rooms.

The name change occurred after 635 DR, when the Terrible Flood ravaged the seawall of Akàzjir, tearing thirty feet from the shore, and all the buildings and piers with it. When the water receded and the mud was cleared away “The Lost Sailor” became riverfront property. Aldis renamed the inn two years before his death and handing it over to his son Lzar. The death of Aldis is a favorite story at the inn, even sixteen years later.

In Drûr 637 (Manzàrdor), an old woman, wearing a Pendant of the Martyr some add, arrived at the Daluj Malar looking for Aldìs Kar’il. Lzar was innkeeping at the time and told the woman that there was an Aldis that worked here, but that he had no last name other than innkeeeper. The old woman said, “Is that so?” and planted herself at the bar to wait.

Lzar sent for his father. When Aldis arrived and saw the old woman he became very afraid. “So you remember me,” the woman said, “I thought you might. But then again, after so many years I wasn’t sure whether you’d recognize me.” Before the old woman could continue further, Aldis grabbed her and led her from the common room. Lzar tended to the inn for the remainder of the evening. Late that night when no customers remained, Aldis emerged from the back room (there was only one door in or out), alone. Lzar asked him what happened to the old woman, but Aldis explained that she’d left through the crowd much earlier. Lzar did not believe this, for he and a dozen others at the bar had been studying the door they’d gone through, wondering what was happening. Three days later Aldis died. The woman was never seen again.

Lzar received counsel from the friends he spoke of it to, but in time the story grew and took on a life of its own. Some said it was a ghost come back to claim Old Aldis, a long lost love. Others guessed that it was a witch come to claim his spirit for some dread contract entered in his youth. Still others claimed the woman was Lzar’s mother, a thought that has stayed longest with Lzar who cannot remember having a mother, ever. As to what may have happened to the old woman, no one has been able to piece that together, though some have jokingly speculated that Aldis carved her up and deposited her pieces into the week’s stew. Since the story became popular, regulars at the Daluj Malar call served wine, “Blood of the Woman”. There are no connections made between the old woman and Manzar, that is just a detail added to all Jædðàri suspicious stories to make them more mysterious.