Entering the paga tavern, you let your eyes adjust to the light provided by tharlarion oil lamps and torches. Moving through the entry you take a seat at a nearby low table upon the furs. The walls are hung with many fine furs from e Ubar's hunts and beautifully crafted tapestries worked on by his girls. The ceiling is high and arched with wooden beams. Hanging from these beams are the round iron braziers holding the tharlarion oil lamps, casting a soft welcome glow to this rowdy place. The flooring is of planked wood, waxed smooth by the hands of the girls serving there. Slave bells are heard as the girls scurry to do the Master's bidding for the food and drink, and perhaps other pleasures.
Free Women take a great risk entering this bastion of the Masters................beware you do not feel steel upon your throat when leaving ! Slaves girls ? Aye, there are many. All are collared or branded in some fashion. It is the right of any Master to swiftly discipline any slave found displeasing in her service. Idle slaves will not be tolerated and take the risk of punishment for such and any disrespectful actions when in this tavern.
There is a long bar along the right hand wall of the tavern, well stocked with bowls and goblets and other necessary serving equipment. Behind the bar is a smaller serving pit where botas of paga are kept warm. To the side is an area where the girls may prepare the drinks and food offered.
The rear of the tavern shows a large hearth where the fires burn all night...much like the fires within the slaves serving there. In front of the fireplace is a sandpit, roughly ten feet by ten feet, tended and raked by the girls. The huge whipping post with the hanging shackles caressing the pole's ten foot length in the center reminds the girls that it can be either used pleasurably, such as when they dance for a Master or to discipline the girls when they are disobedient.........or if it simply pleases the Master to do so. Many Masters prefer to hand spar in this pit for the enjoyment of the challenge.
Some of the tables boast an inlay of mosiac tiles for the games of Kaissa. These tables are well crowded by the men.......each cheering on their choice of victor. To the left hand side of the tavern is a raised platform where the musicians play. Behind them are seen three rows of curtained alcoves where the slaves can be taken for the price of a bowl of paga.
Your senses are delighted by the smells of the tavern. The heady aroma of paga, the sweet scent of roasting tarsk .......the perfumed and oiled bodies of the slaves within. The barbaric music heightens the pleasures found within these walls, the laughter is welcoming, the Masters sharing their stories of battles fought, slavegirls captured......tamed..........