The Fourth Shack (Petrichor 365)

Nearby to the docks, is a shack made of scraps and salvage and hung over the entrance is a battered tankard.  The entrance, which is covered by nothing but a stained curtain made from an empty grain bag, is not entirely unwelcoming.

The interior is a handful of roughly built tables and benches, several barrels of beer and, on a good night, some casks and bottles of other alcohol-containing beverages.  Occasionally new barrels of beer will appear their source is never entirely clear.  Salvaged ship’s lanterns provide some light to the dim interior.  The floor is mostly packed earth, the only wooden planks are under the barrels, and covered in fresh straw or sand as it becomes available.

Sometimes, almost randomly, there will be food for sale as well, the food available are usually . . . acquired shipboard rations of various levels of freshness.  Sometimes it is freshly caught fish, quickly roasted, and, rarely, something else.

The Fourth Shack is run by Tik and Tyr, a pair of siblings of indeterminate age (beyond adult) and point of origin.  They are broad-shouldered and imposing, always with a weighted club close to hand to keep things calm.  Usually, only one is to be seen, the other out . . . doing something.  But whenever there is trouble, the other sibling appears as though by magic.

The name of the place is disputed, some say it was once the fourth shack along out of a line of shacks, others say it is because the previous three burned down, and perhaps both are right.  But it is a place to get a cheap drink and be left alone.

Questions: Who are Tik and Tyr?  Are they part of an organization or just opportunists?  Do any gangs claim the Fourth Shack as their own?

Notes: A place to meet shady contacts or make illicit exchanges, little good happens in such a place.

Petrichor 365.  Previous entry: Ygrin Inkroller, Printer.  Next Entry: Somari Strongarm.

Photo from the Met and is in the Public Domain.