Danion's Well: Danion's Well is an inn in the caravan quarter of Simtakka, outside the western gate between the city and the arena. The liquor is generally strong enough to peel paint, the food is edible and plentiful if not fancy, and the rooms are very small but reasonably clean--and no one robs you while you're sleeping.

Danion's is a large place with a big taproom and nearly a hundred sleeping rooms arranged around a courtyard. It is the regular hangout for mercenaries and out-of-work caravan guards--even if they aren't staying here at Danion's, they come in to check for available jobs. Danion handles that himself; he seems to know every mercenary in this part of the world and be able to match a man to a job with considerable skill.

Owner: Pelmen ten Harol, Adantri, 5'11" and very strongly built. He took over when he bought out Danion three years ago under somewhat mysterious circumstances which have never been cleared up. Pelmen is a former mercenary, as Danion was, who wears his dark brown hair between jaw- and shoulder-length, controlled by a headband; his eyes are a yellowish brown. Pelmen is considered handsome by most and is known as a ladies' man. He normally wears loose blue pants tucked into his boots, a loose shirt of red or orange, and a very unmistakable scale-mail vest. He carries two scimitars in over-the-shoulder sheaths, the usual daggers (on his belt, down his boots, up his sleeves...), and wears steel spurs on his boots (he kicks when he fights). He's considered dangerous when his short temper gets out of hand. Pelmen does his own bouncing, and enjoys it.

Danion ten Morlan, cousin to Pelmen and former owner of the inn. Six feet tall, sturdy build, dark brown shoulder-length hair just touched with gray, greenish eyes, and the four parallel scars of some sort of animal's claws down his face from left eye to jawline. Friendly and cheerful normally, he has been morose since he had to sell the Well to his cousin. Danion normally dresses in tight black pants with a band of crimson embroidery down the outer seams, sandals, a crimson sash, and a vest of some sort of green-scaled leather, an outlandish costume he became fond of in some outlandish country where he worked as a mercenary before coming home to Simtakka to settle down.

Ketro t'Lakshis, cook and occasional bartender: 6'2", part Adantri and part westerner, reddish brown hair in braids to his waist and a full beard, blue-gray eyes, very sturdy, muscular build. He has a smiling face with a nose that was once broken and he is missing a front tooth. Ketro cooks--fries meat, bakes or fries gertos (edible tubers resembling the potato), makes a mean pot of stew, and other basic stuff; he may not be fancy, but he's fast. When Pelmen and Danion are not available for some reason, he leaves his kitchen to mind the bar, which he does quite well. He, too, is a former mercenary, and he will tell anyone that he gave up "t'at bloody job, b'cos I was tired clear t'roo wit' fightin' for some ot'er man's life. I figgered to fight for my own for a change." Ketro usually wears pants of a blinding red-orange tucked into boots of dark blue leather, a shirt that was probably white originally but now is covered with multicolored embroidery, and an apron "to protec' my shirt" that usually shows evidence of several hours' wearing. He's rarely seen away from the Well; if he's called upon to break up a fight in the taproom, he'll grab his cleaver--which has a blade at least 18 inches long... Ketro is probably the friendliest person you're likely to find behind the bar at the Well.

There are other people on the staff--a swamper to clean up (the job changes hands frequently), a couple of hostlers...

Anyone you meet at Danion's Well is likely to be well able to take care of himself or herself in a fight--maybe not up to arena standard, but better than your average man-on-the-street. And with such tough and independent clients, fights are not uncommon... Pelmen and Danion insist that you take your fights outside, though, and not bust up the fittings--and if you don't go willingly, they'll be glad to help you find the door.

The Red Camel: The Red Camel is a tavern and inn outside the city walls in the caravan quarter. The beer is good, the food is fair and reasonably priced, and you can sleep in the rooms without expecting to wake up robbed and murdered. Although the whole operation is considered to be fairly honest, there are some cellars where smuggled goods are held before being disposed of...and it's a good place to contact smugglers, if you can ask your questions tactfully--they aren't going to ADMIT that they're smugglers...

Owner: Belek tan Inkiron, half-Adantri, 5'10", sturdy build--very broad-shouldered and husky, light brown hair a little longer than shoulder length and loose in back but braided down either side of his face, black eyes, scar on his jawbone (it looks like the kind of jawbone that fists break against), and big, callused hands. Usually wears loose red pants tucked into soft boots with curled toes, a loose blue shirt, and a black sash with fringed ends; carries a scimitar and several daggers, probably has some concealed as well. He usually tends the bar and is very friendly--superficially--always ready to tell a joke or laugh at someone else's... He has a reputation for being a dangerous man in a fight and normally does his own bouncing.