CIVIC

Social Class: Upper.

Power Center: Always—conventional (town council).

Buildings: Council hall, bureaucratic offices, monument/memorial, guard post, temple (Heironeous, Pelor, St. Cuthbert), fine lodging (5%), fine food (10%), exotic trades (15%), fine trades (23%), average trades (23%), fine services (23%).

Description: The civic district, or noble quarter, is the seat of government (or at least bureaucracy). Nearly everyone who works in the district earns a living from the government, either directly or by serving the needs of city offi cials. Although adventurers must come here to meet offi cials who have posted job offers and rewards, guards and local inhabitants frown on the presence of “rough and tumble” types. Those who obviously do not belong (especially the poor, and perhaps even the PCs) are advised not to loiter. Fancy garb at the height of fashion is common, crafted from the finest materials. The streets are crowded with carriages and couriers both on foot and horseback. The hum of conversation fills the air, punctuated by the occasional trumpet calling some assembly to order. Workers keep the streets relatively clean, so the district has a better odor than most.

Plot Hook: The PCs have come to the civic district to answer a call for adventurers. The mission is typical, perhaps clearing out a nest of wererats in the city, or driving a tribe of goblins from the neighboring farmland. Upon arriving, they discover that the noble who was to have hired them has been murdered, and they are now suspects. Was the death coincidental? Is it tied into the job they were about to take? Or was the job offer merely a lure to frame them?