Inn at Jenkins
The Inn at Jenkins
Things seemed so much bigger then.
The Inn at Jenkins is the Hamlet center of the Hamlet of Jenkins and in many ways serves as the central civic center for the Village of Vale and it's residents.
By far the biggest building in the village it serves many purposes. It sits in what was clearly once a castle though it has been in ruins for ceturies. Many of the buildings connected to the Inn share ruin walls, and reconstructed walls are made from salvaged stone.
It has a common room with nearly 20 tables seating 6 to 8. This is enough seating for nearly a 5th of the village alone. There are several fireplaces scattered about and one main hearth with a raised are behind it with 3 large tables able to seat 20 each. This area is the Elders Hall.
The hearth in the inn's common room is clearly the remains of a once mighty castle's fireplace, reaching up through the levels of the building. It provides heating for the center of the building and taps on the floors above heat many rooms. The fire is always maintained, though in summer much of it is banked.
There is a long side hall that is used for storage and travelling merchants areas. It also has a rack of wood buts at one end where archery and thrown weapon contests are held, or what can most kindly be called "break out". While one side of this hall is open to the general common room through arches and windows, the other wall, called "the long wall" is extremely solid and is wood covered inside and thick supporting stone outside. The long wall looks a bit out of place since it is one of the remenants of a long abandoned castle. Inside the wooden wall it covered with relics of past wars as well as quivers of arrows and hunting equipment of various antiquity.
Another nook of the common room is the Hobble. It was a stone wall that is the back of the cooking hearth in the kitchen. This cozy nook has 2 tables and 8 crude bench chairs with pillows and blankets. In many ways this overly warm area is the retirement area for elderly and the infirm. It is out of the general movement of the hall and is often quiet. A loose curtain can be pulled across the entrance.
There is a chair near the back of the hearth that is reserved for the Duke. It is not a throne, but a large, wooden, padded chair In the warmest place during the cold of winter.
The second story of the Inn has a dozen various shaped rooms for travelers and 6 2-room apartments that have permanent residents.
The third floor is the resident of the innkeeper and his family.
The 4th floor is the exposed roof. It has areas for drying as well as providing great views.
A stable can manage many animals. A storage building of stone mixes a castlevwall, wall chunks, and native stones to create a gigantic storage area for winter stores.
The Inn is a mini village in its own right when you include it's out buildings. It has its own grainery, brewhouse, blacksmith/tinkerer, a house dedicated to weaving and dying fabric, a small mill, olive press, and ciderhouse. Several less secure storage buildings are tuckered into a corner of old castle wall.
