The proprietor and brewmaster, Bartleby Groondson, does all his brewing in the basement and allows no one down there. His recipes are well-kept secrets, and the only information he’ll volunteer is that he uses a variety of flavors and spices from around the world.

There is a reason beyond mere “trade secrets” that Bartleby is so tight-lipped; the brews of The Salient Green harbor dark (and, some might say, disgusting) secrets. For example, the Greenskin is made from weeds and lichens taken from the goblin caves of the west… and some well-fermented goblin as well. Likewise, the Poinyear uses elf, the Halfbread halfling, etc. All of Bartleby’s brews have some sort of creature in them.

Encounters at The Salient Green

The PCs could be hired to track down a missing person, or to investigate a recent rash of kidnappings. Of course, their investigations would lead them eventually to The Salient Green.

Alternately, the PCs might stumble on the secret on accident. Perhaps an overly-rowdy barroom brawl sends one of them hurtling through the door down into the basement, which looks more like a butcher’s shop than a brewery. Human, elf and dwarf parts hang from hooks along the walls, and a head bobbles up and down in a bubbling pot.

Things start to fail a bit upon closer inspection, though. The boards nailed to the window are too well-maintained; the paint too perfectly cracked. Even the graffiti seems less edgy, using clever half-curses to avoid the outright obscenities one would expect to find. Perhaps most damning of all– The Slums is located centrally in one of the more affluent quarters of Amberdine.

The Slums is actually something of a dinner theater. Wealthy patrons pay for the privilege of seeing a vicious bar-fight three times a night. The proprietor, Angus Greedly, allows anyone to eat for free in the central area as long as they get involved when the fight breaks out. They’re given cheap food, and much of it ends up getting wasted over the course of the brawl, but the many beggars of Amberdine gladly participate.

The actual customers are allowed to sit on the second floor, giving them a fine vantage point of the fight and much-needed distance to protect them. Angus hires several bouncers to guard the staircase, preventing the riff-raff below from trying to get upstairs. The food upstairs is some of the best you can find in the city, and Angus employs both a halfling and an elf as the main chefs.

The lower portion of the tavern is set up to encourage a good fight. There are several low-hanging chandeliers, stacks of (empty) crates and barrels, lots of wooden mugs and dishes to be thrown, etc. Angus makes a point to buy the most shoddily-crafted furniture he can for the first floor, not just because he has to replace them so often, but also because they tend to break apart more spectacularly when used as weapons.

Some of the wealthy diners will drop a bit of coin to the floor below, to bring the fight closer to them. It is also not uncommon for particularly entertaining participants to be given tips and gifts from the customers. Angus even pays a few people who have proven both to be wily and entertaining combatants, and to be good at getting a fight started.