The Endmere Common Bazaar

It is said that in Free City of Endmere, one can purchase anything if one is willing to spend enough time and courage looking for it and enough gold to pay for it. The place all such searches begin is the Grand Bazaar in the Market District of the city. If one stands in the center of the square, the odds are excellent that whatever it is being sought - anything from an afternoon snack of lamb kebabs to vials of Tears of Death.

The Stalls in the Squre

Most of the temporary stalls are occupied by sellers of food - prepared or raw - or ingredients for cooks, alchemists, and potion crafters. The air is filled with the smells of spices and cooking meat. Those not selling food are selling fabrics, or cheap garments, or decorative trinkets. Most of these stalls are operated by locals from the outer districts of the city or the nearby farms and settlements. Many are truly temporary, erected in the early morning hours and taken down entirely as night falls. But among the mostly honest common folk selling there wares, there are also stalls that are essentially fence operations for the thieves guild of the city. Rumors abound that the thieves' guild answers to one of the Four Families, though the same rumors differ as to which of the four.

The Perimeter Shops and Avenues

The permanent shops that ring the main bazaar and line the four avenues that lead to it are typically two story stone structures. Merchant owners or renters of these shopts live on the upper floors and conduct their business on the lower, ground floor. These shops deal in goods that are more difficult to pack up and move on a daily basis, or are too expensive to be placed out in the open where every pickpocket or petty thief can grab them. Goods available in these shops include fine woven rugs from far-off lands, exquisitely carved furnishings and expensive clothing made of imported silks, satins, and metalcloth. Some shops deal in finely crafted jewelry, some imported from the dwarven Glitterhold, where the finest jewelry and the purest gemstones in the world. Finally, there are a few refreshment shops where one can get out of the sun and enjoy a Kafay beverage and small tea-cake.

The Dark Alleys

The third, and by far the most dangerous part of the Endmere market "experience" can be found along the many narrow alleys that lead between the shops and away from the square. Here, there are no visible selling stalls, and no signs hang above the doors. In fact, many of the doors simply belong to some of the residents of the city not quite poor enough to be relegated to the truly substandard accomodations that the Wharf district is known for. But among those nondescript doors, there are many that lead to small rooms or shops that deal in goods and services that the higher classes have no desire to be associated with - whether or not they make use of them. It is here that the poisoners can be found. It is said that one shop deals in special taxidermy orders: stuffed heads or even whole bodies of the Folk. Others are fences for stolen goods that are too valuable - and too recognizable - to be relegated to the stalls in the main bazaar. Services are also available, ranging from perverse "personal" services to paid assassinations.