The River Quarter

This most riotous district is centered around the great curving avenue known as the Strip. With its taverns, brothels, gambling dens, and worse, the Strip at night is a cacophony of noises, a shadowland of flickering torches and blazing lamps. And always, day and night, it teems with drunks and toughs, rivermen and cityfolk.

Always there are many who fight at any implied slight, and never are there enough patrols of the City Watch to keep the peace. Generally it takes a patrol 3d6 rounds to respond to an alarm.

People's Constables are common during the hours of daylight, especially near the Cargo Gate. There these tinpot enforcers of law and order (see Ch2 FFF) nab many people just off the river, before they have a chance to adjust to city life.

Naturally, adventurers love it here. Lodgings are cheap, and news from the world beyond is plentiful. There are numerous merchants and innkeepers willing to relieve a traveler of his heavy load of treasure.

Behind the Strip the River Quarter is a mixture of boarding houses and warehouses. While much cargo brought up the river is stored on the wharf, many small warehouses are offered for rental here as well. Cargo moves quickly in the lively economy of the Free City, so a load generally remains in a warehouse only for a week or two.

---

The River Quarter began as a road linking the wharves on the Selintan with the market in front of the Black Gate, when only the Old City was walled. The road became lined with warehouses and businesses, and it was redirected several times until it was quite crooked (much like the people of this quarter, say some), This old road survives today as parts of the Strip and Horseshoe Road. A section of the River Quarter was lost when the Foreign Quarter was created, but the two blend well together along Horseshoe Road.

Crime is greater here than in any other part of the New City, but most of it involves pickpocketing, burglary, mugging drunks, extortion, protection rackets, cargo theft, or smuggling. Actual murder is less common than most people think. Business is concluded without a lot of troubling questions being asked. Rivermen, thugs, mercenaries, thieves, poor adventurers, and wanted men are often seen here, along with foreigners and legitimate merchants of the lower middle class. Restaurants, taverns, inns, bawdy houses, gambling dens, and the like are common. As this quarter is one of the major trade arteries for Greyhawk, its excesses are overlooked to a great extent, though rich folk come here only with bodyguards.

The City Watch and Nightwatchmen will respond to an alarm here in 3d6 rounds. Patrols here are always at or near maximum strength (see “NPC Statistics: Law and the Military”). People’s Constables are common during the day, especially near the Cargo Gate, but they travel in large groups as they are often harassed by residents. Armed groups of priests and lay followers of Pholtus and Trithereon separately roam the streets day and night, searching for evildoers. These two groups are, however, mutually hostile in this area and are prone to attack each other if circumstances permit. Finally, the Thieves' Guild attempts to maintain a degree of order among criminals here to keep its protection, smuggling, and cargo larceny rackets going,

Most of the business in this quarter centers around entertainment, as the table indicates:

River Quarter Businesses
Type of Business	# in Quarter
Armorer	1d4
Bakers	1d4+2
Bawdy house	1d6+3
Boarding House	(1d4+4)x10
Boats/Nautical Equipment	1d4+1
Boot maker/Leatherworker	1d4+1
Butcher	1d4+1
Eatery	1d10+10
Expedition Supplier	1d4+2
Shipper and Hauler	1d4+3
Tailor	1d4+2
Tavern	1d10 +20
Warehouse	1d6+10
Weaponsrnith	1d4