Intrigue is the specialty of the house at the Moonstone Mask, a glitzy and glamorous high-end establishment with lithe, beautiful, attentive servers who always wear masks when they work. These magnetically attractive people are enchanted against mind magic, making them perfect confidantes when the wine is flowing, as any secrets entrusted to them cannot be plucked from their thoughts.
Wine is the other specialty of the Moonstone Mask, which claims to have the best cellars in Faerûn. The establishment's location on a floating rock held in place by chains means it also has the highest cellars in Faerûn.
Utmost Discretion
At the Moonstone Mask, "utmost discretion" is both a drink and request, and the establishment prides itself on providing both. This dry, effervescent drink was originally referred to as "the house special," provided to guests freely on arrival as a welcome gesture in the establishment's earliest days. Each guest was greeted by the host with a promise of "utmost discretion" and handed a drink, and the association stuck.
These days, the drink has to be ordered, but patrons are assured that discretion still comes free at the Moonstone Mask.
Lady Ophala
One of the remarkable features of the Moonstone Mask is that it sits atop a floating rock anchored to the ground by heavy iron chains. This unusual arrangement was a side effect of the wide-reaching cataclysm of 1385 dubbed the "Spellplague," but the owners of the Mask decided it suited their purposes. Being located on a floating rock both speaks to the elite, elevated character of the venue and makes it much harder for unwelcome guests to intrude.
To mark the venue's centenary, the Lady Ophala cocktail was created. Named for founding proprietor Lady Ophala Cheldarstorn, the luxurious drink is "garnished" with ice cream to evoke the Mask's unusual outward appearance.
Feywine Punch
Honey-sweet, effervescent, and as floral as a garden on a warm spring day, Feywine has a unique reputation among elves, who associate it almost exclusively with celebrations and victory feasts. Liset Cheldar, the half-elf current proprietor of the Moonstone Mask, stirred controversy when she started serving Feywine to her customers, as the proper recipe for Feywine is not supposed to be shared outside of elven society. A delegation of elven dignitaries descended on the bar to taste her offering and left satisfied, which led many observers to conclude that Liset could not be serving real Feywine but instead a homemade punch "inspired" by the true recipe and not subject to elven prohibitions!
Whether the Feywine at the Mask is made from the breath of moonlight captured in glistening dew on the skin of rare grapes in the Feywild or by mixing strong liquor with fruit juice and sparkling wine, no one can say for sure. Liset's Feywine certainly has the desired effect of the original in making patrons merry!
Many Stars
The city of Neverwinter has faced its share of power struggles over the years, but the city's history could have turned out very differently. Some of its gravest threats were quietly dealt with by a secretive guild of arcane mages known as the Many Starred Cloak who devote themselves to protecting the city. Rumor has it that one of their members from this forgotten organization was Lady Ophala, who established the Moonstone Mask to fund and support their operations. It's also said that a secret room exists at the establishment where members of the guild once met to make their plans. The name of the guild lives on in this sweet, spiced, delicious wine cocktail that remains popular throughout the blazing Neverwinter summer.
The current owners of the Mask insist that if any secret meeting room ever existed, they have not found it; and if any such guild ever met there, they know nothing about it; and if the guild still exists and is still meeting there, they certainly will not answer questions about it, so perhaps you should order another drink.
Rime of the Frostmaiden
Cold weather is a half-remembered idea for many residents of Neverwinter, where the climate stays warm and balmy year-round thanks to magic intercession. In many parts of Faerûn, for many species, ice presents an existential threat to survival. In Neverwinter, it is a way to cool drinks.
This frozen wine cocktail is named for SCAG, a god of winter known for her merciless indifference to living things. It's said the land around her is magically frozen to a degree that far outmatches the trickery that keeps Neverwinter warm. Followers of the Frostmaiden have occasionally protested the inclusion of this drink on the Mask's menu as they see it as a mockery of their god, but SCAG has been dormant for generations and her followers are not very powerful. Most crucially, the drink is too delicious to drop from the menu.
Beauty Mark
The servers at the Mask have a sterling reputation—they are attentive, intelligent, and graceful. They are also anonymous. Whatever their species, whatever their gender, all servers dress in sheer black and wear bespoke masks to disguise their faces. The servers also wear amulets that protect them from mind-reading and mind-control. All of this anonymity makes these servers appear especially trustworthy to any guests looking for confidantes to speak to or perhaps to spend a few hours with in one of the private rooms.
On one occasion a guest insisted to his friends that he had identified one of the servers by a beauty mark on her neck. When he looked again, the beauty mark had moved to another server, then to all the servers, then to none of them. The Beauty Mark cocktail serves as a gentle reminder to guests that they must respect the servers' privacy just as much as the servers respect theirs.
Courtesans
Private rooms are available at the Moonstone Mask, and guests can order food and drink to their room and request a specific server to bring it. One particularly popular order is a serving of courtesans. These sweet roasted figs are a decadent indulgence with a long list of purported benefits that have made them legendary. Figs are said to stir arousal, of course. Pistachios boost one's vigor. Goat's cheese feeds desire, and honey encourages sensuality.
Liset Cheldar makes no specific claims to the aphrodisiac property of this dish, but establishment power brokers certainly spend a small fortune testing the possibility.