Snakebite

Tucked along a crooked alleyway above the northern market district of Shariz, the Snakebite has defied time, law, logic, and it's architecture for over three centuries. A crumbling adobe ruin clinging stubbornly to the city’s sandstone spine, it leans with the dignity of a camel with one leg shorter than the rest—but it still stands, and for the people of Shariz, that’s enough.

Wreathed in the reek of sweat, liquor, and half-forgotten oaths, the Snakebite is not merely a tavern. It is a rite of passage, a shrine to vice, and a cracked sanctuary for adventurers too scorched and sunburnt to care for polish or propriety.

History

The Snakebite was built—if such a term can be generously applied—shortly after the founding of Shariz, during a time when stone was scarce, mud was cheaper, and the only thing colder than the nights was the Sultan’s mercy. Its earliest patrons were caravan guards, bounty hunters, and mercenaries returning from failed expeditions deep into The Sands of Serrakhan.

Over the decades, it gained infamy for its signature drink—the Snakebite—a volatile shot of desert liquor laced with venom from a still-living serpent. Some claim it heightens desire, others that it grants prophetic dreams. Most simply pass out or start fights. There is also a 'secret' menu item wherein the bartender will use a live snake to bite the nether regions of willing patrons as a sort of sexual aphrodisiac.

The tavern itself has collapsed in sections more than once. Repairs are haphazard, if they happen at all. The ceiling beams groan, the windows are papered over, and the back door leads to a sinkhole filled with broken chairs and broken promises. But still it draws a crowd, night after night.

Culture & Clientele

Frequented by adventurers from the Emris Adventuring Guild—now renamed the Sunsations Adventuring Guild—the Snakebite serves as the unofficial endcap to countless journeys. Tradition dictates that no expedition is truly complete until its survivors stagger through the Snakebite’s warped doors and toast to those who didn’t.

On any given night, one might find a grizzled bounty hunter losing gold to a swindling conman, a mercenary arm-wrestling an airship mechanic, or a bard performing a song that’s banned in three provinces. Fights are frequent, and so is wretching. Usually in the same breath.

The Snakebite (The Drink)

Prepared by drawing venom directly from a writhing desert asp into a burning shot of red agave liquor, the Snakebite is the tavern’s namesake and pride. Some patrons demand the fang still be in the glass. Others request the whole snake. Death is not uncommon, but the locals say that’s just part of the charm.

It’s served with no chaser, no warning, and no regrets.

Notable Figures

Durf: A larger-than-life Goliath adventurer of the School of the Phoenix, Durf once ran the Snakebite with the same enthusiasm he brought to the battlefield: shirtless, fearless, and soaked in mead. His booming laugh could crack stoneware, and his appetite was legendary. Unfortunately, however, he was assassinated in Torbah during the Sunsations’ investigation into the Snake Cult, his final toast unfinished on the bar he loved.

Burf: Durf’s father, a leathery mountain of a man with the same boulder-sized fists and a heart twice as big, returned from retirement to helm the Snakebite once more. With grief buried beneath a grumble and a gut full of mead, Burf maintains the tradition with gruff defiance, keeping the tavern alive in his son’s memory.

Legacy

The Snakebite is as much a part of Shariz as the sandstone walls or the market bells. Despite condemnation orders, noble complaints, and the occasional demonic incursion, it remains.

To outsiders, it’s a ruin. To those who’ve bled, loved, and lost under Tolria’s twin suns, it’s sacred.