Blushing Mermaid (Baldur's Gate)

ARCHIVE SUMMARY

The Blushing Mermaid (Lower City, Heapside/Bindle Street) is a notorious tavern–inn famed across the Sword Coast as a magnet for sailors, smugglers, fences, and violent business. Marked by a life-size wooden mermaid above the desk and severed blackened hands nailed to it (souvenirs of unpaid tabs), the Mermaid is a maze of wings, interlocked floors, hidden rooms, and multiple cellar levels; rooms are purposely unnumbered and insecure. Its staff are discreet, efficient, and dangerous to cross; criminal organizations—including the Guild and the Zhentarim—maintain contacts there, and Aubrin Merrymiles has been noted as a Guild contact. The inn’s owners are unknown publicly; Lupin runs the day-to-day since Aurayaun’s disappearance, and Lupin has received mysterious parcels of shattered pieces of the inn’s enchanted shield sign, each marked with constellations that may form a map. The Mermaid functions as a ready-made underworld hub for hires, fences, information, and clandestine meetings—useful to adventurers needing contacts or plausible deniability. A notorious Lower City tavern/inn in Heapside (Bindle Street) famous across the Sword Coast for frequent brawls, rough clientele, and its life-size wooden mermaid with blackened severed hands nailed to it—trophies from patrons who tried to skip their tabs. The Mermaid functions as an underworld nexus and meeting point for smugglers, fences, bandits, and syndicate contacts; the Guild and other criminal organizations maintain presence there, and Aubrin Merrymiles has been cited as a resident Guild contact. The inn’s maze-like layout, hidden rooms, and unreliable security make it ideal for clandestine meetings, smuggling operations, and violent encounters; the Flaming Fist tends to avoid intervening, which locals cite as evidence of corruption or quiet deals. It remains operational and well-connected in the current era. A luxurious tavern/inn and festhall in Waterdeep's Dock Ward (Net Street) noted for privacy, a central lavender-tinted bath hall tended by merfolk servers, hidden panels, and smuggling tunnels to the harbor. The establishment offers expensive private nooks and reliable discretion; recent observations note an increase in serious, well-dressed patrons who use hidden passages and private rooms—suggesting criminal, political, or clandestine activity. The venue is a civic node for gossip, bargains, and discreet encounters rather than merely a leisure house.

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