Describe to me a fey tavern

[lytokk]

Yeah, I'm a little confused here myself. Maybe more than fey taverns, fey cities or whatnot. Whats going on is the party is travelling with a caravan through no mans land, effectively no civilized race lives there anymore. I've already established that the fey can protect their lands from the fallout effecting the rest of the land. So, they'd be the only likely candidates for a civilized society in this area. The only reason I ask is the bards player has stated that there's not enough taverns for him to play at. Granted, its not my fault that I told them before they started playing that the game would be taking place on the road through no mans land where no societys exist... but I'm trying to be accomodating. So pretty much, the fey are it, and perhaps any hodgepodge of races they took in and protected during the fallout.

[Telonius]

Seriously depends on what type of Fey we're talking about. Nixies are going to be much different than Dryads, which are going to be much different than Satyrs, and all of them are going to be different than Dusklings, Killoren, or Uldras.

[SethoMarkus]

I can't really imagine any type of Fae having a tavern in the traditional sense. Stick to natural locations. Depending on the type of Fae, maybe a natural cave, a clearing in a dense forest, a natural spring, etc.

It should be "open-air" and very free. Maybe the "tavern" is never in the same place twice, or only exists at night; if you don't leave before the twilight of dawn, you're stuck there until dusk, unable to leave. I'd also imagine one's sense of time being warped. Time may flow by the same as the Prime Materia, but it would feel different. Sometimes it feels like you spent an entire evening in the tavern but only minutes have passed by, while other times it feels like you were only there for an hour or two but a week has passed and you're weak with hunger.

[CombatOwl]

Yeah, I'm a little confused here myself.

It's like a normal tavern, but with the Fey Construction template. Meaning that in addition to its hardness, it has DR 10/cold iron...

[Red Fel]

First, you need to consider the overall type of fey. Are these CG wilderness-type fey, CE air-and-darkness type fey, other bizarre fey? Next, you need to consider caste. Are these common fey, everyday critters? Are they rare fey in a secret gathering place? Are they noble fey congregating in their hallowed halls?

I'll give you a few illustrations.

Take your average, common band of CG fey, perhaps some Dryads and Fauns, a band of Pixies, maybe a Cheshire Cat or two. For them, life is a tavern. As long as there aren't hostiles around, their days will be spent partying, frolicking, laughing and singing in their forest grove. That's just how they live.

Contrast that with, say, the Seelie Court. They don't do taverns. Every day, however, is an elegant affair, every night a lavish ball. Parties are over the top, with psychedelic colors and dancing lights, feasts that defy description, and libations that release the spirit and loosen inhibition in unimaginable ways.

As for your other question, cities are anathema to most fey (except for some, such as the Zeitgeist). They are nature spirits by nature. Like animals, they have their home territories, and generally only congregate with reason. Perhaps they may gather in the grove under the moonlight, to party or offer praise to some deity or powerful spirit. But they don't tend to have proper cities. Even the Seelie Court is less a governing body and more a group of decadent immortal nobles who meet for parties.

Short version: Unless it's a fey running a tavern in a non-fey community, don't expect to see fey taverns. And don't expect to see fey cities unless you're doing some sort of "plane of the fey" type adventure. It just doesn't fit their nature.

[hicegetraenk]

The idea of a tavern / 'civilized establishment' created and run by fey doesn't quite fit into my understanding of fey.
To me, they are spirits / creatures of nature, and thus live in and by nature. They don't have the need for money because everything they value is found somewhere in the wild, thus why would they run a business if they don't want money? Also why build houses out of wood and stone when you are a dryad living in a tree, a nixie in a pond or smth, actually enjoying being in direct contact to nature.

But, if I had to bring civilization and fey together, I guess I'd take a glance at elven society. Fey settlements could and should be a part of their natural surrounding, not forcing nature into another shape. Buildings would most likely be rather grown than built, just like the elven ones, but with less emphasis on structural beauty and perfection, and having more of a random look to it.
Use of bright and variant colors as well as a wide variety of materials without a lot of refining seems logical to me. Fey are rather cheerful and random (at least if we're talking about the typical suscpects taken from e.g. MM), so that trait of personality should reflect in the things they built. There should be less order than in others.
Fey also tend to be more inter-racial, so a town would have some of almost any kind of fey running around, from the smallest to tallest, and also have that extreme diversity reflect in their architecture.

So, picking up the tavern example, I'd say it might look like warped tent covered in leaves next to a big tree or something. It is purely passive-lighted, and even rain might drip into it. Seats and tables would be availably in many different sizes and shapes, to fit anyone who might stumble in, the seats might be cushioned with moss, mugs are made of natural materials, ranging from small shot glasses that once were a nut that has been hollowed, to bigger leaf vessels held together by magic.

Could have kinda the smurf-vibe going to it, just not limited to shrooms.

[Taveena]

I could buy a Duskling tavern, just because they're not QUITE as nature-obsessed. Barbarians need a place to drink, after all!

[lytokk]

Forgive any errors here typing on the phone. I admit it's a novel concept fey havin some form of structure. Was thinking more along the lines of cn fey. Not evil but not exactly good. Kinda out for themselves types. Festivals and feasts would work for impromptu gatherings that coincidentally are on the same timeframe as the PC visits. Course every night could be another reason to celebrate when it comes to the fey. What kind of spirits would they serve at a fey party. Good berry wine? Trying to design he whole feel of the gathering along with the actual structure

[Taveena]

I'm pretty sure mythologically Satyrs were big fans of wine, on account of being followers of Dionysus?

[Neknoh]

As the brave few wandered the emptiness, the cold of night creeping, seeping and sneaking through every fiber of their clothing and slipping slowly into the marrow of their bones, the world around them whispered in hushed tones.

"The court."
"The queen."
"The prince of nevermore."
"Starlight."
"Starlight."
"Song."
"The court."

Mists rose from all around, and before they knew it, our chilled and tired adventurers (one of which made it abundantly clear his feet were sore) had but moments before the sky and stars and moon giving light was nowhere to be seen.

"Elawan!?" whispered the dwarfen cleric, "Elawan, are you there?!"
"Mikkel? Mikkel is that you?" a voice answered from the mists, for they could no longer see more than a halfling's girth in front of them.
"Yes, Elawan, where are you?" Mikkel answered, clutching his hammer, sensing something wrong with the mists.
"Yes." whispered the elven rogue, "But I lost Sonya."
Mikkel was not a dwarf for swearing, he was holy and good, but if he could swear, he certainly would right now.
"Mikkel."
"Elwan."
The two companions whispered and moved, slowly swaying, arms spread out, until they bumped into one another, Mikkel's stout helmet bumping Elwan square in his gut.
"Now what do we do?"
"This is no natural mist my dear elf." the dwarf spat, "bogglefolk and crocsmilk, 'tis foulness I swear."
The hushed slip of daggers leaving leather sheathes drew through the mist and drops of freezing water condensed on Mikkel's armor.
"I'm ready for anything." whispered Elwan from somewhere close, lost, once again, in the mists.
"Be prepared." muttered Mikkel and weighted his hammer in two hands. The two (out of three) friends slowly backed into eachother, closing all lines where an enemy could strike unnoticed.
"And now?" Elwan was not used to fighting whilst cornered like this.
"We wait." the heavy leather gloves inside Mikkel's plate gauntlets groaned as his fingeres tensed and his knuckles whitened.

"The song." whispered the mist.
"The court." it hushed.
"The queen." it sighed.
"Nevermore." it blew.
"GUYS!" some one shouted.

"GUYSGUYSGUYSGUYSGUYS!" The green mohawk, the garish blue hair on one side, the dreadful tatoes on the other, that haircut... That haircut Mikkel and Elwan knew all too well.

The tall, human bard crashed into her friends, "GUYS! You have NO idea what I just found, oh oh oh it's wow, oh you have to see it!" She was practically jumping up and down on top of the tumbled over Mikkel.

"What?" grunted the dwarf and elf in unison as they rose to their feet.

"Look!" Sonya turned and pointed from where she'd came, and the mists split in twain, a pathway clad in glittering dew and the twinkling of frost as massive walls of mist lined the way. At the far end of the passage, the mist formed doorposts, and from inside came a golden light that promised warmth and relief from the cold midnight that had been and still was outside of the mists. Music streamed from inside, and by the door stood a man in slight clothing, holding a tray of foaming tankards and crystal glasses.

"Sonya... that can't be good." Mikkel gasped.
"Oh come onnnnn. I haven't been to a tavern in aaaaages." Elwan said, more childish than Mikkel had ever seen him, in truth, he first expected it to be Sonya who said such a thing.
Sonya merely cheered and hugged Elwan before draggin Mikkel along toward the door of mist and light. They each took a tankard before they entered.

The door opened to a grotto, or hall, or a clearing of towering trees with leaves for a ceiling, it was all three at once. For the stairway that followed the door led down ever deeper, past drunken mistfolk and cheering beasts, past human waiters and sleeping elves, all sitting on branches from out of mist, cheering. The walls were made from living trees, mist weaving in between them and hung with crystals from the deepest earth. And high, high above hung stalactites and bats from leaves so green it could but be a dream of summer.

"Have a taste." somebody whispered in Mikkel's ear, and from across the vastness that was the hall and grotto and clearing, on top of a stone in a ring of stones, sitting on moss soft as years, he saw a woman more fair than morninglight filtered through hewn stone and crystal glass.
"Have a taste." the whisper came again, and the womans eyes met his.
"Go on." the whisper said, "A little something to chase away the cold."

The drink tasted of honey and of dew, of morninglight and sun and summer and of spring. Mikkel could not know what gave the ale a bitter flavour still, he had never tasted lies before.

[Red Fel]

Forgive any errors here typing on the phone. I admit it's a novel concept fey havin some form of structure. Was thinking more along the lines of cn fey. Not evil but not exactly good. Kinda out for themselves types. Festivals and feasts would work for impromptu gatherings that coincidentally are on the same timeframe as the PC visits. Course every night could be another reason to celebrate when it comes to the fey. What kind of spirits would they serve at a fey party. Good berry wine? Trying to design he whole feel of the gathering along with the actual structure

Well, first off, it would not be a "tavern," but a "gathering." A group of fey congregating in a given place - probably a grove or something, if we're talking the "celebrate life through booze" kind of gathering.

The experience should be overwhelming - CN fey would be wild. There should be incense burning and the smell of food cooking. There should be Dancing Lights and bright moonlight above and maybe some torches and various illusions. There should be pipes piping and voices singing and dancers dancing and cheers and shouts. The singing should be raunchy and loud, with no regard for decency or neighbors. And there should be wine. Rich, deep, red wine, from grapes harvested deep in the woods. Beer from the noblest hops. Whiskey that a leprechaun snatched gleefully from unsuspecting dwarves. And so on.

Describe every mouth-watering detail, from the succulent roasts to the endless goblets of foamy ale. Belt out a racy shanty. Let the PCs take in a performance.

Remember one rule, however. The fey may welcome others to their parties, but there's always a cost. One should never wholly accept their hospitality, but to reject it openly is the height of rudeness. And with CN fey in particular, the one thing you must never do is tell them what to do. These are like beasts, wild, strong, and untamed, but also cunning and cruel. If the players cross them, the party should quickly turn into a rampage.

As an aside, Neknoh makes an interesting point. A group of fey might create a tavern, not for their own use, but for the sole purpose of messing with travelers. In that case, you either want to give them exactly what they'd expect, or - if the expected seems to suspicious - something completely otherworldly. Take the Doctor Who method, start with an innocuous outside, like a tent or a tree with a door in the bark, leading into a lavish inside, with bright, dancing colors and smells and music and crowds of cheering and laughing fey. Just remember that even in their merriment, everyone will be watching the outsiders.

[Neknoh]

And furthermore, the tavern does not ever have to be there again. The very nature of fey and nature is fleeting, cyclical, decaying and rebirthing, outlived and garish and huge and small.

Mostly I imagine fay holding court in meadows and by waterfalls, in grottos and on open fields, and the parties are big, there's food from places one could not imagine, or only the very favourite food of each individual whilst actually being a plate of maggotriddled fruit.

Think decadent, think big. Think of those parties under open sky that you've dreamt of being to, take them up a notch and place them in the proper music. If you have ever been in a camp of medieval people, with song and fire and food and dancing and firejugglers, do that, but without the manmade parts, no tents, no benches, but stones raised from the earth (or just fallen trees and sitting on the grass), with taken slaves serving, being eaten and dancing. Firejugglers who juggle pure fire, singers who lull you into a trance.

Look to celtic, brittish and nordic myths of fae if you need more inspiration.

[lytokk]

Thanks for the help with this concept guys, I especially loved reading that story. It really helped with some of the flavor I was going for. In the end, the bard sang his dirty song much to the amusement of the fey, the sorceress got drunk and danced naked in the moonlight with the fey, which I'm comfortable being the start of her unlocking her fey heritage. The psychic warrior had his pants stolen from him for the 3rd time that session by a rather mischevious pixie, who he's only seen once. The first time was all him trying to add some flavor to his capturing, and I just ran with it, as he is my younger brother. He's probably going to invest in a cold iron belt buckle at some point.

Now I just have to kinda cook up a dozen more of these scenarios, including at least one where the fey didn't hold the corruption out of their lands and became CE.

[mabriss lethe]

You could retype the Bacchae (fiend folio) as Fey instead of Outsiders. They are debauchery embodied. Party for too long with them and you risk becoming one of them.

[Neknoh]

Look to Midsummer Night's Dream, Oberon, Titania and Puck.
Have a fae ruler want to mess with another and send his pixie servant on a mission to bring back a fallen star or a certain flower or something else, and have it bringing back the wrong thing and handing it to the other ruler.
So now you have CE, a pissed off Lord or Prince or king or somesuch who also feels incredibly guilty over what he did to his lover, and an exiled/drunkard pixie who tries to handle its mistake in any way it can and could be the one to tell the story to the adventurers.

[lytokk]

Never been much of one for Shakespeare but I think maybe the time calls for it. Good idea. Thanks a bunch

[INoKnowNames]

I'm not sure whether or not this site is safe for work or not, but Sister Clare features an Atlantean Bar (http://www.sisterclaire.com/index.php?id=85)... I dunno, but it seems like inspiration could possibly be gained from it.

[Mutazoia]

I instantly got a mental image of a bunch of elves in leather doing an acoustic version of "YMCA" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqhl6qEiAWQ)....