Emporium
Hundreds of farmers and miners roll into town every week, their pockets lined with freshly earned coin. The Emporium exists to separate the men from the money, which is paramount among Ravengro’s diverse businesses. Ten years ago, it was Zalamandra’s, one of a dozen vice dens along the Vein. Its ill fortunes changed the day Zalamandra, its charismatic young madam, seduced Professor Montague Marat, proprietor of a travelling sideshow and curiosity collection passing through Ravengro. The two soon joined forces, and a cavalcade of freaks and eccentrics moved into the building’s lower floor. Thus, Zalamandra’s Emporium was born, and Ravengro has never been the same.
Upon entering, visitors encounter a small desk station manned by a grinning, businesslike attendant named Gaspar. The portly, balding man always smiles wryly, a gesture accentuated by his curled mustache. The house charges three coppers for access to the "Gallery of Science" along the first floor’s central corridor and three silver for access to the lushly decorated second floor, which features a large gaming hall and an exclusive entertainment club, including the infamous Veiled Corridor, where any pleasure may be obtained for the right price.
The private chambers of the Veiled Corridor are frequented by the community’s elite, including the Governor-Mayor, sheriff, most of the mine managers, and several prominent merchants. Zalamandra does not tolerate blackmailers among her staff but keeps a mental file of the predilections and preferences of all her prominent customers, silently wielding this knowledge as an anvil over the heads of potential political enemies. That she has not yet been assassinated is a tribute to her considerable political skills and the shielding influence of Professor Marat’s motley assembly of living oddities.
Although the professor himself abandoned Ravengro three years ago, nearly a dozen of his former employees remain at the Emporium, making more money here than they ever did on the road. The affable Shag Solomon, an aristocratic shaggy “wild man” from the northern pine forests, is among this crew. Solomon’s vicious teeth and jagged claws contrast his fine gentleman’s garb and cultured demeanour. When not on "display," he frequents the opium lounge upstairs, where the wealthier patrons adore his clever stories. Other attractions include the misshapen contortionist Tom Shingle (Male Boggle), the combustible magician Ariello Klint (Male Halfling), a two-headed calf named Esmerelda, Jr., and the alluring Chezabet (Human Female), who reads fortunes using a replica Harrow Deck.
The Emporium offers several rotating games of chance, with the most popular being Kings Gambit (an ante-based card game), Bounder (a polyhedral dice game), Fortunes Spin (wheel spinning game), Mother Maiden Crone (a dice game), Knights and Maidens (a poker-like game played against other patrons) and a contest known as Behemoths Dash, in which four rats scurry to be the first through an open-topped maze. When the winner reaches the labyrinth’s central chamber, an attendant injects it with a serum that immediately triggers a rabid frenzy. At this time, four doors built into the sides of the maze slide open, revealing four Tiny spear-wielding Sprites. Patrons wager on all aspects of the ensuing melee.
Folk of all social classes flock to the Emporium throughout the day and night, so the place makes an excellent staging ground for meetings and chance encounters with important people. Because Zalamandra tolerates no conflict within her walls, even sworn enemies must treat each other respectfully in the Emporium or risk the attentions of Kurlag (Male Flesh Golem), the establishment’s imposing bouncer.
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