Mosskeep Tavern

The tavern is dim inside, lit by smoky torches.  Reasonably clean straw mostly covers the dirt floor, and a firepit in the center of the single room contains a spit, upon which a goat is currently roasting.

Several long tables and benches surround the fire pit.  These are sparsely occupied, but a few adventurers are scattered throughout the room, and a lanky bard plucks dolefully at his lute in the corner.

Upon seeing you, the bard’s eyes light up, and he immediately launches into a song.  It seems to be a local song, about the abandoned manor house across the valley.  He sings of dire magics an ancient curse, and something strange – there are a few lines about the “Mousecups of Mosskeep Manor”.  The tale the bard sings speaks of tiny cups that, when put up to one’s ear, whisper tales of days gone by.  Strange.  You give him some money to make him stop, and look around the tavern, determined to find some stalwart fellows to join you on a quest to this Mosskeep Manor.