Location
Friendly Arm
Fortified caravan waystop on the Coast Way
A walled hamlet and neutral caravan waystop on the Coast Way between Beregost and Baldur's Gate, centered on a former keep now operated as an inn.
General description
The Friendly Arm is a fortified settlement built around a stone keep. It serves merchants, adventurers, and caravans traveling the Coast Way. Bentley Mirrorshade and his wife, Gellana, run the settlement as neutral ground where guests are expected to suspend their feuds. The keep dominates the enclosure, but the Friendly Arm functions as a small community rather than a single inn: stables, gardens, wells, wagon sheds, a meeting hall, and Gellana's Temple of Wisdom all support travelers and permanent residents.
Reference details
- Region
- Sword Coast
- Route
- Coast Way
- Settlement Type
- Walled hamlet and inn
- Founded
- Established in its present form around 1346 DR
- Proprietors
- bentley-mirrorshade
- gellana-mirrorshade
Key facts
- The community includes the keep, stables, gardens, a horse pond, wagon sheds, a meeting hall, and the Temple of Wisdom.
- Weapons are controlled at the inn, and Bentley maintains strict rules intended to preserve the settlement's neutrality.
- The upper floor of the keep contains loft stables with sliding roof panels for aerial steeds such as griffons and hippogriffs.
- Deep wells and secondary backup pumps protect the settlement's water supply.
- Food and herbs are grown in windowboxes, rooftop beds, and ground plots.
- During the fire-shrine breach, structural fire is contained to the kitchen, pantry, and great cellar; the common room, guest floors, stables, walls, meeting hall, and Temple of Wisdom remain intact.
- Bentley uses one confirmed illusion-shrouded iron golem as a stand-in. The same single construct later assists with heavy repair work; ordinary staff and hired tradespeople perform the rest.
History
The keep was once the holdfast of Mericor, an evil priest of Bhaal. Adventurers killed Mericor first in human form and later after he returned as undead, leaving much of the interior ruined. Around 1346 DR, a gnomish adventuring company led by Bentley Mirrorshade seized the abandoned keep, cleared out the remaining monsters, and rebuilt it as the Friendly Arm.
Governance and neutrality
Bentley and Gellana Mirrorshade lead the settlement. The Friendly Arm is treated as neutral ground, and guests are expected to put aside private feuds while inside its walls. Bentley permits southern powers to quarter troops nearby when doing so does not threaten the settlement. He refuses entry to anyone claiming descent from the Tethyrian royal family.
The Keep
The stone keep houses the inn. Its accommodations are airy, clean, and generally uncrowded. The upper floor includes loft stables with sliding roof panels that can accommodate aerial mounts. The keep's age is visible in thick masonry, patched interior stonework, and spaces whose original defensive purpose has been adapted for hospitality.
Temple of Wisdom
Gellana's separate Temple of Wisdom is dedicated to Garl Glittergold. Its modest exterior hides gem- and gold-studded interior walls, layered protective illusions, and a sanctuary unusually welcoming to human supplicants. The temple is also tied to Gellana's stewardship of the settlement's wells, gardens, healing, and private counsel.
The fire-shrine breach
In Adventure 004, supernatural fire opens the buried gate beneath the kitchen. Wards, stone construction, and the inn's responders keep structural damage inside the kitchen, pantry, and cellar. Other parts of the settlement suffer smoke, water, disrupted service, and frightened guests but remain standing and usable.
Meeting Hall
A large building with a grand, many-pillared entrance provides space for business negotiations, caravan dealings, civic meetings, and large gatherings. It is deliberately more formal than the inn's common room and gives merchants or rival parties a place to negotiate under Friendly Arm rules without occupying Bentley's dining floor.
Gardens and infrastructure
Gellana oversees a deliberate food and water strategy. Deep wells have secondary backup pumps, while windowboxes, rooftop beds, and ground plots produce herbs and food for the inn. The compact infrastructure matters because a closed gate, siege, fire, or poisoned well can quickly turn the welcoming waystop into an isolated fort.
Provender
The inn serves simple, good food in a clean environment. Many herbs and crops used by the kitchens are grown inside the settlement.
Secrets and rumors
Travelers exaggerate the number, but one human-looking servant is a confirmed iron golem concealed by illusion and sometimes made to resemble Bentley. Another rumor places a magical gate somewhere in the keep's cellars. The archmage Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun has reportedly assisted in apprehending criminals at the Friendly Arm.
Also known as
- Friendly Arm Inn
- the Friendly Arm
- the Friendly Arm Inn