City Tour: Merchants Quarter

1. Pilgrim's Inn
2. Torch-Bearers' Guild
3. Grand Bazar
4. Traders' Guild
5. The Perfumed Privy
6. Hammer & Anvil
7. Stone's Throw
8. Orcs Skull
9. Soldiers' Arms
10. Owl Bear & Wyvern
11. The Fighting Pits

The MERCHANT QUARTER lines one side this street, TEMPLE AVENUE, and occupies most of the South half of the city. It's by far the largest quarter, housing businesses of every kind, numerous taverns, inns, brothels and markets. Further in are the ARTISANS DISTRICT, where the craftsmen work their trade, and the STONE DISTRICT, where the majority of the dwarves live.

It's the liveliest part of the city, bustling with trade and revelries, busy night and day. This quarter never sleeps.

As you can see, the avenue is lined with numerous shops, eateries, and drinking dens; it caters to travellers and tourists. Let me fill you in on a little secret: we locals call this CHEAPSIDE. Not that their goods aren't expensive– because they are– but because the quality is poor, rushed work and mass-produced rubbish. If you ever want to shop in the city, you want to go deeper into the quarter, ideally to the markets. We'll visit the best of those shortly.

We're turning South now, onto TRADE STREET. That building to your right is one of the oldest Guild Halls in the city: the TORCH-BEARERS' GUILD. It is the place to go to hire torch-bearers, lantern-holders, baggage handlers, guides and the like. They cater to adventuring parties mostly, delving into the catacombs or chasm, and, as their slogan says, you can hire them for "A Silver a Day, to Light Your Way". Although, to be honest, that's just the cost of their most basic services; they normally cost more.

Now we're going to leave the road and head East down his narrow street and onto this avenue. Most of these streets have no official names, only the paved roads are labelled, but the locals call this the GRAND AVENUE, as it leads to the GRAND BAZAR, which you can just see rising above the adjacent buildings, with its peaked rather than flat roof. You may have noticed that the majority of the city's rooftops are flat, influenced by the architecture of the kingdom a few centuries back, which we've adopted and continued with.

That busy building there? That's the TRADERS' GUILD, where disputes are settled, licences applied for, fees levied. It also serves as a bank, for a fee, and has well-guarded vaults flowing with gold, silver, and gems; or so it is said. It's the most powerful guild in the city, and its Guild Masters sit on the council, ruling as much as the clergy, possible more-so. And beyond that is our destination, the GRAND BAZAR.