Room 15: the Taproom

 The stone floors again become wood as you enter an inn taproom... or what's left of one: most of the tables and chairs are broken, the walls sloshed with ale, and shattered crockery is scattered everywhere along with dented tankards and broken bottles. A massive chandelier, having fallen from the roof, sits in the middle of the floor. A puncheon of beer stolen from the local inn sits off to your right. In the far left corner there is a bar that sits mostly undamaged, with an untouched wine cabinet beneath it.

This is a copy of the taproom of The Answering Sword, the inn at Thrommel's Green, but nearly completely demolished.

The doors on walls other than the entrance are false doors that open onto the void of the Astral Plane - as this is where Rivia's memory of them ends.

A throng of a dozen mockeries play dice and drink the last of their stolen ale. Many resemble of the loggers and miners who occasionally trade at Thrommel's Green, although there is a 1 in 20 chance that a mockery will resemble an out-of-towner the PCs recognize, such as a merchant or political figure. They are soused and surly, PCs will meet with a -2 to reaction rolls here, unless they have killed Grandfather, at which point the crowd will be immediately friendly. 

In the evening, brawls inevitably start, and then spill out onto the Common.

Mockeries (12): AC: 4 [15], HD: 3, Att: club (1d6) and bite (1d4); ThAC0: 17 [+2]; MV 120’ (40’), SV: D 12 W 13 P14 B 15 S 16; ML 7; AL Chaotic; XP 35, NA 2d4 (1d4 x 10), TT: PQ

So long as Rivia remains in her sick bed, there is a 1-in-6 chance that the false door on the North wall will spill open and 3d4 new Mockeries will tumble in resembling people Rivia has met in her travels, They will be hungry, thirsty, and ill-tempered.

The tavern is watched over by The Barman, a mockery that flashes from friendly and smiling to furious rapidly if insulted. He wears leather armor and has a heavy crossbow and an axe he will fetch from behind the bar if fighting breaks out, and will not hesitate to inflict grievous harm on Mockery or PC alike if his dander is up.

The Barman: AC: 3 [16], HD: 3 (18 hp), Att: battleaxe (1d8) and bite (1d4); ThAC0: 17 [+2]; MV 120’ (40’), SV: D 12 W 13 P14 B 15 S 16; ML 7; AL Chaotic; XP 35, NA1, TT: PQ

The Barman is willing to buy any alcoholic beverages or food that the PCs care to offer him at the full market price, and will offer intelligence on the Dungeon to sweeten the deal.

Any actual blood shed will begin a timer for 1d4 rounds. After that there is 1 round where the PCs can hear thundering footsteps as if from a stairwell, mixed with growling, heavy breathing, and cursing in a distorted inhuman voice. Automatically roll morale for the Mockeries as they begin warning each other that the Barman's wife is coming. 

Shortly thereafter, a terrifying, ogre-sized mockery will erupt from the false door behind the bar wielding an enchanted rolling pin, and will begin cracking heads of anyone still fighting while hurling profanities and insults.

The Barman's Wife (1): AC: 4 [15], HD: 5+1, Att: 2x rolling pin (+1 to hit, 1d6+1 and stun) and vorpal bite (1d6); ThAC0: 14 [+5]; MV 120’ (40’), SV: D 10 W 11 P12 B 13 S 15; ML 10; AL Chaotic; XP 400, NA 1, TT: -

On a natural 20 on a bite attack, a target must save vs. Death or have their head bitten off.

The Barman's Wife's Rolling Pin: is treated as a +1 mace, and when hit, a target must Save vs. Dragon Breath or be stunned and unable to act for one round.

The Barman and his Wife resemble slightly younger versions of Malthus and Tamra, the publican and his wife in Thrommel's Green. In her younger years, Tamra had quite a reputation as a loud-mouthed shrew, although she has spent many years working on herself. Hearing about this mockery will make her laugh and earn the PCs a rundlet of the Answering Sword's finest ale.

Aside from the Barman's Wife's Rolling Pin, there is a box of lost and confiscated trinkets under the bar that has:

• 27 pieces of cheap jewellery (10gp value each)
• a bag of marbles
• a glass eye
• a potion of gaseous form 
• a strongbox holding 312 gp, 2,800sp, 712cp.

PCs scavenging around the wreckage of the ruined tables will be able to find:

• a pair of loaded dice
• a lost dagger
• 39cp
• as well as a dozen dented tankards.