Hektor’s is one of the best-known and busiest eating houses in the City Tier, occupying a prime position on Bazaar Circle where its indoor tables and broad exterior seating allow patrons to watch the life of Aranthaes pass by from morning until late evening. If The Silver Fish is where one goes to dine and be admired, Hektor’s is where one goes to eat well, be seen, and keep an eye on everything.
The café is lively rather than refined. Its shaded outdoor tables are almost always full, while inside the rooms are cool, noisy and comfortably worn by constant use. Servers move at speed between trays of fried seafood, open sandwiches, small plates, bread baskets and cups of strong coffee, while the scent of mint tea, hot oil, grilled fish and fresh herbs hangs permanently in the air.
Hektor’s specialises in familiar Aranthaen favourites done well: white fish sharing platters, fried seafood, hand food, olives, cheeses, open-faced breads and good local wines from the slopes around the Geldcrass and the Lantear Plains. It is not a grand establishment, nor especially expensive by City Tier standards, but its quality, reliability and incomparable location have made it one of the city’s great social crossroads.
That is much of its charm. Wynds folk save for a special meal there, merchants conduct business over lunch, travellers pause there to learn the mood of the city, and even High Aranthaens occasionally descend to Bazaar Circle to “eat among ordinary people” while remaining, of course, in full view of everyone who might notice them doing so.
The place is equally famed for its drinks. Hektor’s strong coffees are said to revive the dead, its mint teas are served all day in silver pots, and its iced drinks – unusual enough in Aranthaes to remain a novelty – are a particular favourite in the hot dry summers, especially among young City folk.
More than almost any other establishment in the quarter, Hektor’s feels like part of the city’s daily rhythm. News passes across its tables, gossip gathers there before spreading outward, and a patient diner can learn nearly as much from an hour on its terrace as from a day spent walking the streets.
Encounters
Hektor’s position on Bazaar Circle, barely two hundred yards from the Wynds Gate, makes its terrace one of the finest places in Aranthaes for watching the entire city pass by. Most encounters here are not dangerous, but almost any class, profession or nationality may appear at the next table. Roll d10 for possible encounters…
- A Wynds family dressed in their very best has saved for weeks to eat at Hektor’s. Their youngest child is completely overwhelmed by the spectacle of Bazaar Circle and keeps wandering away from the table to stare at performers, carriages and exotic visitors.
- A beautifully dressed High Aranthaen couple have arrived to “see how ordinary people live.” They order fried seafood with their fingers, drink iced coffee with enormous enthusiasm and are conspicuously watched by almost everyone around them.
- A breathless courier pushes through the terrace carrying a sealed message and accidentally collides with a server. Plates, mint tea and correspondence go everywhere. One of the scattered letters bears a seal several nearby diners immediately recognise.
- Two merchants at the next table are quietly negotiating a large purchase from the Grand Bazaar. Their conversation becomes increasingly tense when one discovers that the other has already approached the same supplier through an intermediary.
- A group of adventurers fresh from the Wynds order the traditional white fish sharing platter without knowing the custom. Hektor himself eventually appears to explain that they are expected to feed one another. The resulting reactions attract considerable amusement from neighbouring tables.
- A street performer begins an impressive routine in the square directly opposite the café. Within minutes an enormous crowd forms, blocking the view and trapping several expensive carriages. A furious noble passenger and an equally furious performer both insist they have the right of way.
- An elderly regular quietly asks the party whether they have noticed the same person pass Hektor’s terrace four times in the last half hour. The figure appears to be watching someone seated nearby rather than the café itself.
- A visitor from overseas orders an iced drink and becomes fascinated by the quantity of ice available in the middle of summer. Within minutes the conversation has turned into an earnest interrogation of the server about where it comes from, how much it costs and whether it can be exported.
- A well-known City Tier socialite arrives with an entourage and discovers that every outdoor table is occupied. Rather than leave, they offer increasingly ridiculous sums of money to diners willing to surrender their seats, rapidly turning the terrace into an impromptu auction.
- A sudden commotion erupts near the Wynds Gate. People begin pouring into Bazaar Circle ahead of a procession nobody at Hektor’s was expecting: musicians, banners, guards and an elaborately decorated carriage. Within seconds every diner on the terrace is standing on chairs trying to see who has arrived.