Dalamar
Adventurer
Lessee, I've finally gotten around to getting the landmarks done too. Well, half of 'em since I went to bed by that point as of this writing. They do include some information on religion. The number and letter match those in the landmark map (as fuzzy as it is) and the letter comes from one of Commercial, Entertainment, Government, Judicial, Lodging, Manufacturing, Religious, or Sights.
Unless otherwise specified, the first piece of information (non-sblocked) is general knowledge to those who have been in Malador for even a little while. Recent arrivals can make a Knowledge (Local) DC 5 check to know those.
1S. Deluge Memorial
The Deluge Memorial was professionally sculpted from stone, and seems almost to celebrate the coming of the deluge. It depicts a huge wave as it engulfs a small village; yet, emerging from the other side of the wave is a great city, resplendent with towers and banners. The memorial is 12 feet high from its base to the crest of the wave, and nearly 20 feet across. The tallest buildings in the memorial stand some 3 feet high, while the cottages of the swamped village are no more than 6 inches to a side.
[sblock=Knowledge (Local) or (History) DC 15]This is actually the second such memorial. In the immediate aftermath of the deluge, the people of Malador constructed a memorial for those who had died: a cairn built of stones from the victims’ destroyed homes. The cairn stood for over eighty years until the Council determined to tear it down and replace it with a new memorial. The Council felt that the original memorial lacked grandeur, and had no connection with the majority of Malador’s citizens. (After all, the city had been only a small farming village in those days.) The decision caused a small amount of controversy at the time, but has been forgotten by all but a handful of locals today.[/sblock]
2G. Excise House
This two-story stone building overlooks the wharves and boatyards of Malador’s Harborside. Broad, flat steps lead up to the front of the building, where double doors open into a large hall. Above the doors is a great bronze shield embossed with the city’s crest: a ship and a tower.
Within the hall is a roped-off queue that wends its way to a series of desks on the far side. Any ship’s master entering the harbor must report here with a stamped cargo manifest from the Wharves Office (Location 5C). He must then pay any duties listed on the manifest, after which he is issued a moorage token. This token must then be returned to the Wharves Office as proof that all excise has been paid and that the vessel has official permission to remain in the harbor. The Excise House is open throughout the day and night to process traffic (and to collect taxes).
Characters returning from expeditions to the Drowning Towers must also come to the Excise House in order to get their haul to assessed and be paid for what they’ve recovered. This is the most likely reason for PCs to come here, and they will find the excise officials brisk and efficient. The officials are well paid and closely monitored to ensure their honesty and integrity—and they know it.
[sblock=Gather Information DC 10]A large flight of stairs (marked “Officials Only” in both
Common and Sea Speech) leads up from the hall to offices
on the second story. Officials in these offices collate the
paperwork received in the hall and store the collected excise
revenue in a series of metal chests. These chests are constantly
rotated, with town guards arriving to collect a loaded
chest and replace it with an empty one every 2 hours.[/sblock]
Every Excise official has a brass handbell concealed under his or her desk. These bells are sufficiently loud to be heard anywhere within the building and up to 50 feet away outside
the building.
3C. Exotic Treasures
Those items recovered from the Drowning Towers need to be sold in order for the Council to profit from the expeditions, and Exotic Treasures is where those sales take place. A four-story wooden building on the outskirts of the Harborside, the shop is unusual for taking up all four floors of the building and for its brilliant, cobalt blue paintjob and bright yellow signs.
Most of the stock in the store consists of jewelry and works of art recovered from the Masters’ towers. These include statues, statuettes, bracelets, necklaces, rings, torcs, circlets, and many other decorative items fashioned from precious materials such as jade, coral, onyx, gold, silver, and other precious stones and metals of all kinds. The store’s stock is organized according to its value.
The most common and least expensive items are on the first floor; this the only floor that can be accessed without an appointment. In specific terms, the first floor offers goods valued up to 15 gold pieces; entrance to all other floors is permitted only to those who have made prior arrangements and have convinced the proprietor they have the means to purchase his more valuable goods.
The second-floor items are valued from 15 to 250 gold pieces, and the third-floor items from 250 to 1,000 gold. Items in excess of these amounts, including those rare artifacts that appear to have some kind of enchantment upon them, are stored on the fourth floor. Gaining entrance to the upper floors requires at least 48 hours notice and a demonstration that the applicant has at least as much disposable cash as the minimum cost of an item on that floor.
The proprietor of the store is Halgyn Polle, a retired fortune-hunter who in his adventuring days undertook several expeditions to the Drowning Towers. A skilled warrior and also a learned man, Polle enjoys whiling away the hours by relating tales of his adventures to his customers, telling them how the items in his store were recovered.
He is always ready to chat to others who have been to the Towers, and to hear their stories in exchange for his own. Despite his glib and hearty nature, however, Polle is sharpeyed and careful. He keeps a keen eye on anyone in his store.
4M. Malador Boatyards
The boatyards occupy the northern part of the waterfront. There are four dry-docks here where ships can be built, repaired, or overhauled. The dry-docks are almost always occupied, and there are often a number of other vessels waiting to be called in for work.
Owned by Council member Lox Virrenet, the boatyards
employ some twenty carpenters, metalworkers, and sailmakers on a more-or-less permanent basis. The exact number and composition of the staff varies according to the work being done. The boatyards are designed to handle the construction, repair, or maintenance of two classes of vessel, with two dry-docks designed for use with each class of vessel.
The boatyard is busy and noisy throughout the daylight hours, with a constant sound of hammering and sawing, as well as frequent shouts and arguments between the crews working on the boats. The workers are kept very busy, and rarely have time to stop and talk.
5C. Malador Wharves & Fish Market
The wharves occupy the southern half of the waterfront. They consist of six long wooden piers, overlooked by an equal number of warehouses. Vessels dock here to unload their cargo and then moor out in the harbor for the remainder of their stay. The wharves are busiest at sundown and sunrise: Depending on whether a boat’s occupants are daytime or night fisherfolk, this is when most fishing vessels are either leaving the harbor or arriving at the docks.
Ships’ masters must come to the small office in between the warehouses in order to show their moorage tokens after they have paid their excise. If a ship’s master fails to produce a moorage token within 24 hours of arriving in the harbor, his or her vessel is subject to being seized. This is a crime of property with a fine equal to three times the amount of excise due on the ship’s cargo (to a minimum of 10 gold pieces).
Once a ship is ready to depart the harbor, its master must pay the moorage fees before being issued a pilot’s token. Without one of these tokens, no harbor pilot will agree to guide the vessel back out to sea. The warehouses overlooking the wharves are the site of the daily Malador Fish Market. This market is thronged with people throughout the day, either buying fresh fish or else busily salting, pickling, or drying yesterday’s catch in preparation for the winter. The sheer number of people makes this a good place to hear rumors and to catch up on news.
6L. Mast & Mainsail
This three-story wooden building is the only inn on Harborside. There are many taverns in the district, serving various kinds of food and drink, but the Mast & Mainsail is the only one offering nightly accommodation. Run by retired fisherman Delohan Jex, the inn caters mainly to the occasional passengers who take berths on the trading vessels that travel up and down the Malador River. Delohan doesn’t think much of the “inland sailors” who ply the river, if truth be told, but he’s more than happy to take their money for food and drink and to provide their passengers with accommodation.
The Mast & Mainsail has four private rooms for hire at 1 gp a night. The rooms are suitable for two guests each, and are plainly furnished but comfortable. The inn also has a common room on the second floor with eight beds. Each of these can be rented for 3 sp a night, and are as good as those in the 2-person rooms—they just don’t offer the same privacy.
7M. Municipal Construction
Municipal Construction has a monopoly on major engineering and architectural projects in the city. If bridge needs to be built or repaired, a new road installed, or a major new city building constructed, Municipal Construction is all but sure to get the work. It is owned by Councilor Atrem Neele, one of the very people who make the decisions as to who will get the city’s contracts.
Municipal Construction’s facilities on the Harborside are basically just a front office for handling the administrative needs of the company. Apart from two clerks who make appointments and handle the company’s billing and payroll requirements, the opulently appointed two-story building is usually empty. A large “office of the president” is located on the second floor, but goes almost entirely unused: the Councilor visits the building for no more than an hour a week.
8J. Guard Barracks
There are actually four of these buildings in the city: one at the Harborside, right next to the Excise House, and three in the Foot. Each is a single-story stone building with a metal door. A shield hangs from a post at the front of each building, emblazoned with the city’s symbol. Bright red banners, matching the color of the guards’ tabards, also hang from the post.
Five guardsmen are always on duty at each barracks room, and there are facilities for five more. There are also three cells in each building, with each cell capable of holding up to 8 prisoners comfortably, and twice that if the guards simply shove in as many as will fit.
9J. The Stocks
Criminals who cannot pay their fines are brought here for flogging and placement in the stocks. There are two whipping posts where prisoners are manacled for their floggings, and six sets of stocks. Floggings take place only once a week, immediately after sentencing, but there are usually some people in the stocks at any given time.
There are usually two or more baskets near the stocks containing stones or rotten vegetables. People passing by can stop to throw these at the prisoners if they wish.
10R. Temple of the Mariner
Prior to the deluge, the people of Malador were not a particularly religious folk, more interested in the here-and-now than the hereafter. Having seen their world completely altered in the blink of an eye, however, some people began taking a lot more interest in questions of religion.
Given the destructive power the sea had demonstrated during the Master’s War, and their newfound reliance on it for a large part of their diet, it is no surprise that one of the dominant theologies to emerge in the last hundred years was centered around a nautical deity known as the Ancient Mariner.
[sblock=Knowledge (Religion) or Gather Information DC 15]Those who follow the Rite of the Ancient Mariner believe that the world was originally entirely ocean, under the lordship of a powerful deity they call the Mariner. However, the Masters raised land out of the waters and sought dominion over it. For thousands of years they succeeded, until the Mariner finally tired of their arrogance and their warring and cast them down into the oceans once more. Followers of the faith believe that only by offering the Mariner their propitiation and reverence prevents him from destroying the land that remains.[/sblock]
The temple itself is a large wooden building with a ramshackle appearance. It is built entirely from the “Providence of the Mariner”: driftwood and other materials washed up on shore. The building could plausibly hold a hundred people or more, but there are rarely more than forty at any one service. These services are held every day at high tide, but only priests of the Rite are expected to attend them all. Laity may attend whenever they are able. At each service, the priests implore the Mariner not to engulf the world, and offer him gifts for his forbearance.
Despite the somewhat apocalyptic nature of their religion, the followers of the Rite are generally quite friendly and open with strangers, provided these outsiders are not openly
opposed to their beliefs.
11J. The Yardarm
Located at the mouth of the Malador River, at the end of Harborside Road, the yardarm is a ship’s mast that has been converted into the city’s gallows. Next to the gallows are eight metal gibbets on poles, into which the corpses of executed criminals are placed after being hanged.
Executions are actually fairly rare in Malador (mainly due to the culprits of serious crimes not being captured), but all eight of the gibbets are almost always occupied, even if by wholly skeletal remains. The authorities leave the corpses of executed criminals in place until they have a new candidate to replace the older ones.
[sblock=Knowledge (Local) or Gather Information DC 20, or Beggar's Flow resident[/sblock]12E. Bloody Banner Arena
Within the Flow, the arena is well known as a site of deadly gladiatorial fights, but rumors are only just beginning to trickle out to the other districts about what goes on here.
This large, ramshackle building lies in the heart of Beggars’ Flow, dominating the area around it. It stands half again as high as the common shanties of the Flow and is unusual because much of it is constructed from earthen bricks and stone. Only the doors and roof are built of the traditional Beggars’ Flow materials: cast-off planks from lumber yards on the outskirts of the city and discarded sails from the harbor.
In addition to its unusual height and construction materials, the arena is distinctive for two other reasons. The first is its girth: roughly circular in shape, it is close to 100 feet in diameter. The second is the series of red banners that hang from the outer walls. There are twenty of these in all, ranging in color from a bright crimson to a dark purplish-red stain.
14L. The Rat’s Burrow
[sblock=Knowledge (Local) DC 10]The Rat’s Burrow is unique not just as the only inn within
the Beggars’ Flow, but as the only inn in Malador whose rooms are underground. This latter feature is a matter of necessity rather than choice; the typical building materials used in the Flow are not suitable for structures as large as an inn needs to be, nor are they safe enough that many would pay for the privilege of staying there.
The Burrow squats on the edge of the Flow. Above ground, the only things that distinguish it from the other shanties in the area are a rudimentary copper still that sits beneath a canvas awning, and a series of strangled rats that hang from the lip of that awning.
[sblock=DC 15]Run by a foul-mouthed ex-bravo everyone calls “Adder”, the Burrow offers two products: First, it has a series of six tiny (10-foot-by-5-foot) subterranean rooms, each with a simple straw bed. These rooms can be hired for 5 sp per night—an expensive rate for the amenities, but not for the security that Adder and his two bouncers Talsin and Nurdo offer their guests.
Secondly, it offers a brutally raw alcoholic spirit Adder calls “rat’s blood.” Though he promises that the titular substance is not an ingredient, he does so with a sly smirk that makes many of his customers nervous. Amug of rat’s blood costs 2 cp.[/sblock]
[sblock=Gather Information DC 20. Beggar's Flow Residents can also use Knowledge (Local)]15C. Ulric’s Herbarium
The Herbarium is one of only a handful of buildings in Beggars’ Flow to possess a second story, though those seeing it for the first time often wonder how it is that the structure remains standing. Its cantilevered walls and crooked design seem like they would blow over in a strong wind, even if they were built from proper materials. Ulric’s store is built
from the usual cast-offs common to Beggars’ Flow, making it even more remarkable.
The Herbarium is also unusual in its simple function. Stores of any kind are rare in the Flow, due to the risk of theft or burglary. Ulric has had few such problems, however—not after the first four people who tried to rob him ended up dead in a rather spectacular fashion. It’s rumored in the Flow that worse things happened to those men after they died, a rumor Ulric does nothing to deny.
[sblock=DC 25]Ulric only opens his business after dark and closes at first light. Although the Herbarium does sell medicinal herbs of all kinds, Ulric also sells poisons he has created, and many of his customers prefer the cover of darkness.[/sblock][/sblock]
16E. Bath House
Overlooking the Malador River as well as the main caravan road from Borat, the Bath House is an impressive stone edifice, bounded on all sides by a deep verandah with a sculpted fence and colonnade. Within, the building features an airy atrium surrounded by ten private rooms, each containing an in-ground bath. Tunnels have been cut into the riverbank to allow water to flow into large copper tanks under the building, where the water is trapped and heated, then passed through to the bathing rooms.
Each private room costs 1 gold piece per hour to rent. This price includes as much hot water and soap as is wanted. Up to four people can share a booking. The bath house is a popular meeting place for lovers and business associates alike, as the staff are circumspect and the noise of the plumbing tends to drown out the sounds of low conversation.
The Bath House is open every day from dawn until midnight.
17L. Bell & Whistle
This two-story wooden building is the largest inn in Malador, capable of hosting no less than 110 guests: 90 in the fifteen large private rooms and the remainder in a single large dormitory.
The Bell & Whistle is clean and comfortable, with an efficient, helpful staff. It also has a popular tap room, with several varieties of ale and wine and hot food available in generous portions. The innkeep, Joshana Friel, has been running the business for nearly half of her sixty years. Almost all of the staff are her adult children and their families, and most of them grew up in the building.
Sleeping arrangements in the private (maximum six-person) rooms cost 5 sp per night per bed. Joshana reserves the right to fill empty beds in these rooms with strangers. Groups who want privacy therefore have to pay for any beds they aren’t going to use. Beds in the 20-person dormitory cost 2 sp per night.
Unless otherwise specified, the first piece of information (non-sblocked) is general knowledge to those who have been in Malador for even a little while. Recent arrivals can make a Knowledge (Local) DC 5 check to know those.
1S. Deluge Memorial
The Deluge Memorial was professionally sculpted from stone, and seems almost to celebrate the coming of the deluge. It depicts a huge wave as it engulfs a small village; yet, emerging from the other side of the wave is a great city, resplendent with towers and banners. The memorial is 12 feet high from its base to the crest of the wave, and nearly 20 feet across. The tallest buildings in the memorial stand some 3 feet high, while the cottages of the swamped village are no more than 6 inches to a side.
[sblock=Knowledge (Local) or (History) DC 15]This is actually the second such memorial. In the immediate aftermath of the deluge, the people of Malador constructed a memorial for those who had died: a cairn built of stones from the victims’ destroyed homes. The cairn stood for over eighty years until the Council determined to tear it down and replace it with a new memorial. The Council felt that the original memorial lacked grandeur, and had no connection with the majority of Malador’s citizens. (After all, the city had been only a small farming village in those days.) The decision caused a small amount of controversy at the time, but has been forgotten by all but a handful of locals today.[/sblock]
2G. Excise House
This two-story stone building overlooks the wharves and boatyards of Malador’s Harborside. Broad, flat steps lead up to the front of the building, where double doors open into a large hall. Above the doors is a great bronze shield embossed with the city’s crest: a ship and a tower.
Within the hall is a roped-off queue that wends its way to a series of desks on the far side. Any ship’s master entering the harbor must report here with a stamped cargo manifest from the Wharves Office (Location 5C). He must then pay any duties listed on the manifest, after which he is issued a moorage token. This token must then be returned to the Wharves Office as proof that all excise has been paid and that the vessel has official permission to remain in the harbor. The Excise House is open throughout the day and night to process traffic (and to collect taxes).
Characters returning from expeditions to the Drowning Towers must also come to the Excise House in order to get their haul to assessed and be paid for what they’ve recovered. This is the most likely reason for PCs to come here, and they will find the excise officials brisk and efficient. The officials are well paid and closely monitored to ensure their honesty and integrity—and they know it.
[sblock=Gather Information DC 10]A large flight of stairs (marked “Officials Only” in both
Common and Sea Speech) leads up from the hall to offices
on the second story. Officials in these offices collate the
paperwork received in the hall and store the collected excise
revenue in a series of metal chests. These chests are constantly
rotated, with town guards arriving to collect a loaded
chest and replace it with an empty one every 2 hours.[/sblock]
Every Excise official has a brass handbell concealed under his or her desk. These bells are sufficiently loud to be heard anywhere within the building and up to 50 feet away outside
the building.
3C. Exotic Treasures
Those items recovered from the Drowning Towers need to be sold in order for the Council to profit from the expeditions, and Exotic Treasures is where those sales take place. A four-story wooden building on the outskirts of the Harborside, the shop is unusual for taking up all four floors of the building and for its brilliant, cobalt blue paintjob and bright yellow signs.
Most of the stock in the store consists of jewelry and works of art recovered from the Masters’ towers. These include statues, statuettes, bracelets, necklaces, rings, torcs, circlets, and many other decorative items fashioned from precious materials such as jade, coral, onyx, gold, silver, and other precious stones and metals of all kinds. The store’s stock is organized according to its value.
The most common and least expensive items are on the first floor; this the only floor that can be accessed without an appointment. In specific terms, the first floor offers goods valued up to 15 gold pieces; entrance to all other floors is permitted only to those who have made prior arrangements and have convinced the proprietor they have the means to purchase his more valuable goods.
The second-floor items are valued from 15 to 250 gold pieces, and the third-floor items from 250 to 1,000 gold. Items in excess of these amounts, including those rare artifacts that appear to have some kind of enchantment upon them, are stored on the fourth floor. Gaining entrance to the upper floors requires at least 48 hours notice and a demonstration that the applicant has at least as much disposable cash as the minimum cost of an item on that floor.
The proprietor of the store is Halgyn Polle, a retired fortune-hunter who in his adventuring days undertook several expeditions to the Drowning Towers. A skilled warrior and also a learned man, Polle enjoys whiling away the hours by relating tales of his adventures to his customers, telling them how the items in his store were recovered.
He is always ready to chat to others who have been to the Towers, and to hear their stories in exchange for his own. Despite his glib and hearty nature, however, Polle is sharpeyed and careful. He keeps a keen eye on anyone in his store.
4M. Malador Boatyards
The boatyards occupy the northern part of the waterfront. There are four dry-docks here where ships can be built, repaired, or overhauled. The dry-docks are almost always occupied, and there are often a number of other vessels waiting to be called in for work.
Owned by Council member Lox Virrenet, the boatyards
employ some twenty carpenters, metalworkers, and sailmakers on a more-or-less permanent basis. The exact number and composition of the staff varies according to the work being done. The boatyards are designed to handle the construction, repair, or maintenance of two classes of vessel, with two dry-docks designed for use with each class of vessel.
The boatyard is busy and noisy throughout the daylight hours, with a constant sound of hammering and sawing, as well as frequent shouts and arguments between the crews working on the boats. The workers are kept very busy, and rarely have time to stop and talk.
5C. Malador Wharves & Fish Market
The wharves occupy the southern half of the waterfront. They consist of six long wooden piers, overlooked by an equal number of warehouses. Vessels dock here to unload their cargo and then moor out in the harbor for the remainder of their stay. The wharves are busiest at sundown and sunrise: Depending on whether a boat’s occupants are daytime or night fisherfolk, this is when most fishing vessels are either leaving the harbor or arriving at the docks.
Ships’ masters must come to the small office in between the warehouses in order to show their moorage tokens after they have paid their excise. If a ship’s master fails to produce a moorage token within 24 hours of arriving in the harbor, his or her vessel is subject to being seized. This is a crime of property with a fine equal to three times the amount of excise due on the ship’s cargo (to a minimum of 10 gold pieces).
Once a ship is ready to depart the harbor, its master must pay the moorage fees before being issued a pilot’s token. Without one of these tokens, no harbor pilot will agree to guide the vessel back out to sea. The warehouses overlooking the wharves are the site of the daily Malador Fish Market. This market is thronged with people throughout the day, either buying fresh fish or else busily salting, pickling, or drying yesterday’s catch in preparation for the winter. The sheer number of people makes this a good place to hear rumors and to catch up on news.
6L. Mast & Mainsail
This three-story wooden building is the only inn on Harborside. There are many taverns in the district, serving various kinds of food and drink, but the Mast & Mainsail is the only one offering nightly accommodation. Run by retired fisherman Delohan Jex, the inn caters mainly to the occasional passengers who take berths on the trading vessels that travel up and down the Malador River. Delohan doesn’t think much of the “inland sailors” who ply the river, if truth be told, but he’s more than happy to take their money for food and drink and to provide their passengers with accommodation.
The Mast & Mainsail has four private rooms for hire at 1 gp a night. The rooms are suitable for two guests each, and are plainly furnished but comfortable. The inn also has a common room on the second floor with eight beds. Each of these can be rented for 3 sp a night, and are as good as those in the 2-person rooms—they just don’t offer the same privacy.
7M. Municipal Construction
Municipal Construction has a monopoly on major engineering and architectural projects in the city. If bridge needs to be built or repaired, a new road installed, or a major new city building constructed, Municipal Construction is all but sure to get the work. It is owned by Councilor Atrem Neele, one of the very people who make the decisions as to who will get the city’s contracts.
Municipal Construction’s facilities on the Harborside are basically just a front office for handling the administrative needs of the company. Apart from two clerks who make appointments and handle the company’s billing and payroll requirements, the opulently appointed two-story building is usually empty. A large “office of the president” is located on the second floor, but goes almost entirely unused: the Councilor visits the building for no more than an hour a week.
8J. Guard Barracks
There are actually four of these buildings in the city: one at the Harborside, right next to the Excise House, and three in the Foot. Each is a single-story stone building with a metal door. A shield hangs from a post at the front of each building, emblazoned with the city’s symbol. Bright red banners, matching the color of the guards’ tabards, also hang from the post.
Five guardsmen are always on duty at each barracks room, and there are facilities for five more. There are also three cells in each building, with each cell capable of holding up to 8 prisoners comfortably, and twice that if the guards simply shove in as many as will fit.
9J. The Stocks
Criminals who cannot pay their fines are brought here for flogging and placement in the stocks. There are two whipping posts where prisoners are manacled for their floggings, and six sets of stocks. Floggings take place only once a week, immediately after sentencing, but there are usually some people in the stocks at any given time.
There are usually two or more baskets near the stocks containing stones or rotten vegetables. People passing by can stop to throw these at the prisoners if they wish.
10R. Temple of the Mariner
Prior to the deluge, the people of Malador were not a particularly religious folk, more interested in the here-and-now than the hereafter. Having seen their world completely altered in the blink of an eye, however, some people began taking a lot more interest in questions of religion.
Given the destructive power the sea had demonstrated during the Master’s War, and their newfound reliance on it for a large part of their diet, it is no surprise that one of the dominant theologies to emerge in the last hundred years was centered around a nautical deity known as the Ancient Mariner.
[sblock=Knowledge (Religion) or Gather Information DC 15]Those who follow the Rite of the Ancient Mariner believe that the world was originally entirely ocean, under the lordship of a powerful deity they call the Mariner. However, the Masters raised land out of the waters and sought dominion over it. For thousands of years they succeeded, until the Mariner finally tired of their arrogance and their warring and cast them down into the oceans once more. Followers of the faith believe that only by offering the Mariner their propitiation and reverence prevents him from destroying the land that remains.[/sblock]
The temple itself is a large wooden building with a ramshackle appearance. It is built entirely from the “Providence of the Mariner”: driftwood and other materials washed up on shore. The building could plausibly hold a hundred people or more, but there are rarely more than forty at any one service. These services are held every day at high tide, but only priests of the Rite are expected to attend them all. Laity may attend whenever they are able. At each service, the priests implore the Mariner not to engulf the world, and offer him gifts for his forbearance.
Despite the somewhat apocalyptic nature of their religion, the followers of the Rite are generally quite friendly and open with strangers, provided these outsiders are not openly
opposed to their beliefs.
11J. The Yardarm
Located at the mouth of the Malador River, at the end of Harborside Road, the yardarm is a ship’s mast that has been converted into the city’s gallows. Next to the gallows are eight metal gibbets on poles, into which the corpses of executed criminals are placed after being hanged.
Executions are actually fairly rare in Malador (mainly due to the culprits of serious crimes not being captured), but all eight of the gibbets are almost always occupied, even if by wholly skeletal remains. The authorities leave the corpses of executed criminals in place until they have a new candidate to replace the older ones.
[sblock=Knowledge (Local) or Gather Information DC 20, or Beggar's Flow resident[/sblock]12E. Bloody Banner Arena
Within the Flow, the arena is well known as a site of deadly gladiatorial fights, but rumors are only just beginning to trickle out to the other districts about what goes on here.
This large, ramshackle building lies in the heart of Beggars’ Flow, dominating the area around it. It stands half again as high as the common shanties of the Flow and is unusual because much of it is constructed from earthen bricks and stone. Only the doors and roof are built of the traditional Beggars’ Flow materials: cast-off planks from lumber yards on the outskirts of the city and discarded sails from the harbor.
In addition to its unusual height and construction materials, the arena is distinctive for two other reasons. The first is its girth: roughly circular in shape, it is close to 100 feet in diameter. The second is the series of red banners that hang from the outer walls. There are twenty of these in all, ranging in color from a bright crimson to a dark purplish-red stain.
14L. The Rat’s Burrow
[sblock=Knowledge (Local) DC 10]The Rat’s Burrow is unique not just as the only inn within
the Beggars’ Flow, but as the only inn in Malador whose rooms are underground. This latter feature is a matter of necessity rather than choice; the typical building materials used in the Flow are not suitable for structures as large as an inn needs to be, nor are they safe enough that many would pay for the privilege of staying there.
The Burrow squats on the edge of the Flow. Above ground, the only things that distinguish it from the other shanties in the area are a rudimentary copper still that sits beneath a canvas awning, and a series of strangled rats that hang from the lip of that awning.
[sblock=DC 15]Run by a foul-mouthed ex-bravo everyone calls “Adder”, the Burrow offers two products: First, it has a series of six tiny (10-foot-by-5-foot) subterranean rooms, each with a simple straw bed. These rooms can be hired for 5 sp per night—an expensive rate for the amenities, but not for the security that Adder and his two bouncers Talsin and Nurdo offer their guests.
Secondly, it offers a brutally raw alcoholic spirit Adder calls “rat’s blood.” Though he promises that the titular substance is not an ingredient, he does so with a sly smirk that makes many of his customers nervous. Amug of rat’s blood costs 2 cp.[/sblock]
[sblock=Gather Information DC 20. Beggar's Flow Residents can also use Knowledge (Local)]15C. Ulric’s Herbarium
The Herbarium is one of only a handful of buildings in Beggars’ Flow to possess a second story, though those seeing it for the first time often wonder how it is that the structure remains standing. Its cantilevered walls and crooked design seem like they would blow over in a strong wind, even if they were built from proper materials. Ulric’s store is built
from the usual cast-offs common to Beggars’ Flow, making it even more remarkable.
The Herbarium is also unusual in its simple function. Stores of any kind are rare in the Flow, due to the risk of theft or burglary. Ulric has had few such problems, however—not after the first four people who tried to rob him ended up dead in a rather spectacular fashion. It’s rumored in the Flow that worse things happened to those men after they died, a rumor Ulric does nothing to deny.
[sblock=DC 25]Ulric only opens his business after dark and closes at first light. Although the Herbarium does sell medicinal herbs of all kinds, Ulric also sells poisons he has created, and many of his customers prefer the cover of darkness.[/sblock][/sblock]
16E. Bath House
Overlooking the Malador River as well as the main caravan road from Borat, the Bath House is an impressive stone edifice, bounded on all sides by a deep verandah with a sculpted fence and colonnade. Within, the building features an airy atrium surrounded by ten private rooms, each containing an in-ground bath. Tunnels have been cut into the riverbank to allow water to flow into large copper tanks under the building, where the water is trapped and heated, then passed through to the bathing rooms.
Each private room costs 1 gold piece per hour to rent. This price includes as much hot water and soap as is wanted. Up to four people can share a booking. The bath house is a popular meeting place for lovers and business associates alike, as the staff are circumspect and the noise of the plumbing tends to drown out the sounds of low conversation.
The Bath House is open every day from dawn until midnight.
17L. Bell & Whistle
This two-story wooden building is the largest inn in Malador, capable of hosting no less than 110 guests: 90 in the fifteen large private rooms and the remainder in a single large dormitory.
The Bell & Whistle is clean and comfortable, with an efficient, helpful staff. It also has a popular tap room, with several varieties of ale and wine and hot food available in generous portions. The innkeep, Joshana Friel, has been running the business for nearly half of her sixty years. Almost all of the staff are her adult children and their families, and most of them grew up in the building.
Sleeping arrangements in the private (maximum six-person) rooms cost 5 sp per night per bed. Joshana reserves the right to fill empty beds in these rooms with strangers. Groups who want privacy therefore have to pay for any beds they aren’t going to use. Beds in the 20-person dormitory cost 2 sp per night.
). Do you have any suggestions?
