WAREHOUSE

Social Class: Lower.

Power Center: Never.

Buildings: Warehouses (30%), poor trades (5%), poor services (10%), poor residences (53%).

Description: Large, bulky buildings dominate the neighborhood, fi lled with goods not yet ready for sale or shipment. While a few are well maintained, most warehouses are old and dirty—so long as they are sturdy enough to protect the merchandise, their appearance is unimportant. Many of the people who live nearby work in these warehouses, hauling and stacking crates. Occasionally merchants and nobles—or more likely their servants—escort their goods into storage or come down to check on their possessions. Hired guards protect many warehouses, since the city watch does not reliably patrol poor neighborhoods.

Plot Hook: An unscrupulous merchant has been transporting exotic creatures for sale to the rich and jaded. He keeps the beasts drugged for shipment, but one of them awoke and broke free of its crate, and it is now terrorizing the surrounding neighborhoods. Even if the PCs manage to track down the creature, the merchant uses his political connections to hamper their investigation into where it came from. The distractions caused by this affair are slowing down the rest of his trade, increasing the risk that more creatures will awaken and escape.