The Twisted Ring: One of the oldest inns in Jade Mountain, dating back to the heyday of the monasteries. It's perched on the slope to the north of the valley, at the lower (eastern) end of town. The road that leads up to it once went on to the monasteries higher up, but when they were closed, that part of the road fell into disrepair; landslides have since closed it completely. The Ring, like other old buildings in Jade Mountain, is of stone, the roof-tiles darkened by moss, and the windows are small and high in the walls, appearing to squint suspiciously at travelers in the valley below it. Inside, though, is a welcoming cavern of a room warmed by vast fireplaces on the two side walls. The bar is along the back wall, and a space is always left clear just in front of it for dancing; the rest of the room is furnished with rough plank tables.

The Ring serves beer--very good beer--and a local wine (they call it Red Jade) which is considerably stronger than it seems at first. Meals are available, too--venison, fresh-baked bread, bowls of noodles, strong cheese...plain and hearty fare such as pleases hard-working miners. There are only a dozen sleeping rooms to be rented, and the prices are high--but they've some of the best beds in the mountains, or so they claim. Residents come here at the end of every week for the dancing--Hargio, the owner, brings in fiddlers "all the way from the flatlands" to play for the valley's pleasure, and on that night the dancing goes on till dawn. On other nights a local musician may be moved to play, and no one complains--if he's good enough, they'll ask him to keep on, and an impromptu dance will occur, for the Mountaineers love dancing. Reels, jigs, squares, round dances and lines--they do them all.

The Twisted Ring is named for a ring of black iron two inches through the metal and originally two feet in diameter. The ring has been roughly twisted into a figure-of-eight and hangs over the door as a sign. You hear different stories of how the ring came to be bent, some of them plainly fantastic. The story that seems to have general acceptance is that it once hung over the door in a perfect circle, until the owner of that time refused a room to a monk of the House of Wind; he, in his anger, is said to have twisted the ring with a word.

Owner: Hargio ten Lucan-Jin, a distant relative of Lord Lucan, the major landowner in the valley and ruler of the town. Hargio is 5'9" (the Lucans are not a tall family), on the lean and wiry side, with gray hair worn long and clubbed back with a ribbon; his eyes are black, and there is a long double scar down the left side of his face--he won't say how he came by it. He wears loose dark blue pants, tucked into red boots, either a mustard-yellow or a grass-green shirt, a crimson sash, and an open vest of leather much patched with different colors, which comes nearly to his knees. He wears a dagger at his belt--everyone does, but doesn't seem to carry any "real" weapons. Hargio will tend the bar himself every evening--he knows most of the residents of the valley and will greet his regulars by name. He is reserved with newcomers--there have been too many, lately, who have tried to start fights, and he won't have fights in his taproom. There are always half-a-dozen burly miners who are willing to toss a troublemaker out the door.

Hargio has no formal bouncers, feeling that his customers are well able to handle that for him, and the cook and other employees are seldom seen.

The Keystone Tavern: A tavern near the center of Jade Mountain. It takes its name from the central stone in the arch that frames the front door--the rest of the building is of ordinary gray granite, but the keystone is of green jade, carved with a gargoyle's face that has been known to haunt the nightmares of drunks. The building is very old, dating back almost to the days when Jade Mountain was surrounded by monasteries; it is commonly said that the keystone was taken from a ruined monastery when the town was rebuilding after an earthquake.

It serves drinks and short-order meals. There are no rooms for rent here, no dance floor, and any gambling is privately organized. Also, there is apparently no unspoken rule as to what manner of people shall drink here, as many bars do have--this tavern draws from all the people of the town and is a place of friendly conversation and companionable drinking for the relatively rich and the fairly poor, the professional men and manual laborers, warriors, scholars, and stonecutters.

The owner and barkeeper is Denjar, family name unknown, a small man gnarled with age and as tough as an age-twisted pine on the high peaks. Denjar is a friendly man, at home with the simple humor of the manual laborers yet able to match the scholars quip for quote. People automatically trust him--he has been the stakeholder for many bets, and a surprising number of people have trusted him with their secrets and asked his advice. There has never--NEVER--been a fight in the Keystone; Denjar has said that this is because he will sick the gargoyle from the stone onto anyone who starts a fight. Or maybe it is simply that the atmosphere in this tavern is too friendly.

Mardel's House of the Sword: Mardel's House is a gym, a dojo, or in Adantri terms, a teva: a place of martial training. It's built in the form of a hollow square: from the Street of the White Leopard you enter the first room, where a stern old woman (she is called Lady Wolf) will prevent you going further until you have proven your right to do so. (She is a master of most weapons, and it will be much easier to satisfy her with a written permission from a member of the teva than to fight your way past.) Weapons, both the blunted tools of practice and the prized blades of the warrior, are sold here, as well.

To the right is a locker room, showers, and a healer's chamber (even the most well-regulated teva produces the occasional injury). To the rear, across the courtyard with its winding paths, shady benches, and garden of stones and raked gravel, is the main room of the teva. Here classes are given, warriors exercise, and practice bouts take place. The matting on the floor is always spotless here, for the House of the Sword is well-cared-for, and two walls are lined with mirrors (carried up the mountain at great expense) so that one may study one's form as from the eyes of others. There are three instructors, all of the first rank.

To the left are rooms never entered by most--the quarters of Master Mardel, and his personal teva. Here the Master takes the most favored students for private instruction--it is said that at least one of the Duelmasters of Jade Mountain was a private student of his.

The three regular instructors are Chamadar, Dursila, and Gedhirn. Chamadar is a man of medium height, but burly with muscle, and he teaches the Shadow Dragon style. Dursila, a slim woman with eyes as pale as the sky at dawn, teaches the Silver Fan style, which is difficult to master but deadly. Gedhirn is the instructor of beginners--though himself a follower of the Spirit Hound, he is knowledgeable in the basics of many styles. At times, Lady Wolf will give instruction; she is of the Caged Bear style. What styles the Master teaches is not revealed.