It’s common knowledge that if one has business with the Emerald Claw, the Black Freighter is the place to go, and equally common knowledge that one probably shouldn’t go looking for a fight there. Not only will the numerous fanatical warriors of the Claw gladly accommodate, but so will the Karrnathi militia, who don’t take kindly to troublemakers intruding on their territory, and the various and sundry other Karrns who patronize the tavern.
Known to locals as simply “the Freighter,” the Black Freighter was built atop a piece of unusual architecture left behind from when the thri-kreen ruled the area that would one day become the city of Stormreach. It sits in the water in Southwatch, and despite its reputation outside that district, hosts a packed house every time it opens its doors. The base of the structure—the piece of thri-kreen architecture—is a vaguely hull-shaped piece of almost indestructible, yet strangely buoyant, green stone. The bar was built inside and atop this “hull,” and all visitors must walk a plank (which is withdrawn every dawn when the bar closes) to gain admittance.
Technically speaking, the order has no claim over the establishment. But everyone knows that its proprietor is friendly to the order’s cause and membership at best, and an involved and important part of the order’s Stormreach operation at worst. A ribald and garrulous seadog named Smargat runs precisely the sort of place that would appeal to Karrnath’s criminal element. The food is the traditional cuisine of working-class Karrns, the drink flows steady and cheap, and the air is thick with Karrnathi verse, from the most raucous sea shanty to the most somber of ballads that stoke the fires of nationalism in the heart of every Karrn.