Wyrm's Crossing

The first sign of civilization that a traveler boating on the Chionthar or coming overland from the south or east is likely to see is Wyrm's Rock, an impressive fort rising high above the surface oft he water. Wyrm’s Crossing, the bridge that arches over the river’s slowly flowing water, connects the fort’s islet to the Outer City districts of Twin Songs to the north and Rivington to the south.

Buildings and merchant stalls, ranging from ram shackle to elaborate, pile atop each other along the entire length of Wyrm’s Crossing, making it impossible to see the water from the narrow, congested roadway that cuts between the structures. Precariously perched establishments that hang over the bridge’s sides occasionally become unbalanced and tumble into the river. Such a structure sometimes pulls its neighbors down with it. Anyone trapped inside a falling building cannot expect any aid.
The Fist requires that all buildings on the bridge be constructed from light timber or wattle and daub, lest one of the spans collapses under the weight of the structures it holds. However, the trade-off is that fire is a constant concern.
The bridge’s two spans extend from shore directly to Wyrm’s Rock. The river’s depth and the bridge’s high arches allow most ships to pass unhindered. However, the largest sailing vessels must pass on the northern side of Wyrm’s Rock, where the water is at its deepest. The best time to make this passage is at night, when both drawbridges are raised, but ship captains in a hurry can request daytime passage. This special service requires paying a fee to the Flaming Fist, which the mercenary company splits with the city. For captains seeking to meet a deadline for a high-capacity trade mission, the inconvenience is often worth it.
(Murder in Baldur's Gate, 2013)
This neighborhood is actually two enormous bridges, each spanning half the Chionthar River and meeting at Wyrm's Rock, a tall, rocky islet in the center. While the Flaming Fist maintains a fortress on the island to tax travelers along the Coast Way and control city access in times of trouble, the bridges themselves are fair game for squatters. Ramshackle wooden tenements, taverns, and shops crowd both sides of the arched stone spans, leaning out over the narrow road between them. Even more cling to the sides of the bridges, anchored to each other or cantilevered over the water. The tendency of these latter structures to occasionally drop into the rushing river, pulling their neighbors down with them, is not enough to deter residents who hope to be the first to sell to travelers on their way into the city, or the last to pick their pockets on the way out.
Even among members of the Outer City, residents of Wyrm's Crossing have a reputation as rakes and riffraff, and the neighborhood specializes in seedy dive bars and gambling halls where belligerent drunks can be ejected directly out over the river. At the same time, it also has a large and tight-knit strongheart halfling community, whose low-ceilinged tenements and lighter weight are perfect for the neighborhood's precarious architectural style.
While the Crossing is renowned for cheats and criminals, the residents stick together, and a local crew called the Crossers ensures that all predatory practices are applied primarily to travelers, and never to fellow bridge-dwellers. For those who consistently refuse to play well with their neighbors, the answer is often Sweetjen's Spices, a precarious bridge-side shop whose halfling proprietor quietly sells some of the most potent drugs and untraceable poisons in the city.
(Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, 2019)

Type

Bridge