Zadash

Zadash is a large city south of Rexxentrum in the Dwendalian Empire. It is built around a trio of towers known collectively as the Tri-Spires. It was formerly the capital city of the Julous Dominion before being conquered and brought under the rule of the Dwendalian Empire.

City Description
The outer walls of Zadash form a sort of triangular shape. The architecture and buildings were designed to rise and almost seem to curve towards the streets when looking up at them.

Around the southern walls of the city, crop workers wearing heavy shawls and head coverings harvested various vegetables and crops from the fields surrounding the city. Closer to the city, the fields gave way to ramshackle communities of tent cities and hovel towns outside the protective bulwarks of the city walls. The city walls themselves were 15 feet high and formed a somewhat triangular perimeter outline around the city. The walls were made of thick basic stonework and masonry. Near the southern gate, the foot traffic grew heavier and led to a 15-foot-wide portcullis that was being held aloft by large chains. Two pairs of Crownsguards flanked each side of the entry gate, keeping a silent watch.

The buildings flanking the street nearest to the gate were quite destitute, though the buildings began to graduate into a standard village feel further along the street.

Beyond the outer walls, the city looked to have a number of perimeter walls that had arches between them. The gaps formed by these arches, which were around 15-20 feet in length, but 40 foot wide, had small tunnel built through them. The tops of these large separation barriers like tunnels were what looks to be carts that move on their own along these wall tops.

On the outskirts of the city proper, there were folk on the streets that sat on the sides peddling handcrafted wears and whatever they could muster to try and make ends meet.

Pentamarket
The Pentamarket is located in the central western portion of Zadash, with a number of streets bisecting it. These streets naturally carve a pentagonal shape and the interior between them has since become the center of most merchant business. There was kind of a bazaar set up in the center of the district, where carts, tents, and buildings were set up all day, every day, as an open market., where barkers peddled their wares to passersby.

Though the Pentamarket contained a variety of shops, it did not seem to have high value goods. Some of the businesses that could be found in the market included small dumpling establishments, simple glassware shops, and a blacksmith shop that made simple repairs. Cresting into fall, carts filled with mulled wine and confectionaries could be found in the market.


 * Hearth of the Allhammer: Located on the northern side of the Pentamarket, this shrine to the Allhammer was a domed iron structure that was slightly rusty due to lack of upkeep. Its interior had large central forge and a beautiful heavy anvil with the symbol of the Allhammer on each of its sides. This anvil was used for both ceremonial worship and the crafting of religious artifacts. Three individuals maned the temple at any one time, two of which were keepers who watched outside of the entry arches leading into the temple. The third was the appointed herald of this temple which was a female dwarf with dark brown hair that trailed off in three long braids past her midsection. Taking her place across from the entry arches to the temple, she wore a chain-mail robe that went past her knees. Defaced by Jester as a form of worship to the Traveler, the central anvil was covered on one side by large pink painted hearts, the words "The Traveler was here", a few brochures for the Traveler left under the offering bowl and on top of the anvil, and a few sprinkled sequins off of her glove.
 * The Invulnerable Vagrant
 * Lodge of the Eclipse: A tavern where nighttime shows would be performed on a stage it had.
 * Sparkhammer Smithing: Operated by Yannick Dumel and Jan, this smithy forged intricate items and had rows and racks of various pieces of armor and weapons on display on the inside.
 * Yannick took on a commission from Jester to create a jewelry box with an engraved outer lining of lead. He charged 1gp 6sp for such a commission and promised to have the project completed in two days.
 * Supplying the Archive of the Cobalt Soul with throwing stars, these weapons could be purchased at a cost of 5cp a piece. Having only 20 available for sale they were purchased for Beauregard.
 * Victory Pit : This Colosseum like structure served as the staging ground for a fighting tournament during the Harvest Close Festival, on the 3rd of Fessuran.

East Outersteads
The East and West Outersteads are found on the outer cusps of the city, and extend through the city's slums and beyond to border the outside of the main wall.


 * The Leaky Tap

Tri-Spire
The Tri-Spire is the wealthiest district in Zadash. It is located on the north side of the city. The area gets its name from the three massive towers that loom high over the rest of the city: the Triumph Chime, the Zauber Spire, and The Constellation Bridge. All different in design, these towers could be seen at some distance from Zadash. Jester referred to the Tri-Spire as the "snooty district of the city".

A round wall encases the interior of this elite portion of the city. These walls were made of solid marble and look to be more decorative as opposed to functional. Two portcullis entrances allow access to this district, one of which opens in the direction of the Pentamarket. These entryways seemed to be magically enchanted, dispelling illusions within a certain distance. Two Crownsguard with spears and shields stood guarding each of these entrances.

Silken Terrace
The Silken Terrace district is a district within the Tri-Spire where the elite of Zadash live and work. As a result, most of the city's money ends up in the Silken Terrace. Only those of a very specific visual presentation and purpose are allowed entry into this area.

Seemingly magically engineered to be picturesque perfect, beautiful courtyard parks of grasses, trees and bushes filled butterflies filled the interior of this district. Statuesque structures decorated a beautifully laid cobblestone road that was broken up by small patches of small fenced in shrubbery and flower bushes. On the corners of the roads, stood tall lanterns containing very faintly ever-burning flames, between which were long, white, silken banners. The homesteads were of different styles of construction from all across this continent and beyond.


 * Meal Hearth: A large bakery located directly to the right of the Chastity's Nook. A spry, smiling young man, in his late teens with a prickly chinstrap beard, and very short, tattered brown hair waited on customers.. The bakery sold:
 * Bear Claws
 * Fresh Baked Bread
 * Chastity's Nook: A book store containing an extensive collection of pulp fiction and trashy smut. It is located in the southern quarter of the Silken Terrace, and is run by Iva Deshin.
 * Pillow Trove: The biggest inn in Zadash. It serves an expensive clientele, along with diplomats and ambassadors that come to the city.
 * Hall of Erudition & Zauber Spire: The Soltryce Academy's academy in the city.
 * Triumph Chime: One of the towers that give the Tri-Spire its name. The Triumph Chime is a building that looked to have at one point been an old seven-story temple and belfry that had been completely hollowed out. It was repurposed, and by the time the Mighty Nein was in Zadash, it looked like a glitzy casino and was filled with all sorts of bars, gambling halls, inn rooms, a brothel, and other similar forms of entertainment. Simultaneously historically awe-inspiring and gaudy, each floor of this structure seemed to be of slightly altered stone of different colors, which were covered on the outside in braided brightly-colored banners of silk.

Ahead of the Harvest Close Festival, the area was decorated to reflect the autumn and coming festivities of the Pre-Harvest Close Gala. Bunches of flowers were affixed to the tops of lampposts, and additional streamers of bright reds, browns, and yellow-golds. were placed around a central courtyard to replaced the usual white silk banners.

Gilded Willows
The tree dappled residential area of the city, it was broken up into several parts. It had a very natural, almost picturesque beauty to it.
 * The Constellation Bridge
 * High-Richter Dayana Prucine's Estate
 * Sutan Residence

King's Hall
In the southeastern quadrant of the city was the King's Hall, which was devoted to the Crownsguard Garrison.

Signet Wall
On the outskirts of the northern end of Zadash this was where the Marrow Keeps of the Righteous Brand was located and where the military was primarily held up.
 * According to an advertisement posted on the Taskboard, those seeking good pay and an adventurous living as a soldier of the Righteous Brand could join up at the Marrow Keeps, after speaking with Leopold Wanstiker.

Interstead Sprawl
The Interstead Sprawl formed a central connecting ring around and through all the other areas of the city, this area was where the more middle-class individuals resided and generally helped to hold the city together.


 * Apple Tree Tutor Village: Owned and provided by the Soltryce Academy, these three long buildings were where, for a moderate price, children and adults of a less affluent lifestyle could come and learn basic teachings.
 * The Guided Hand Infirmary: This white and peach building with banners on its front was the former medical practice of Dolan and Horris Thrym, before it had been taken over by Ren Sutan.
 * The Archive of the Cobalt Soul: Built off of the western edge of the Pentamarket, this library is known to contain the rarer tomes and elaborate writing within the city. It is maintained by the Cobalt Soul. Although it was open to the public, it was heavily watched, and had areas that were off limit to the general public, requiring special approval for access. After signing in, a monk would be assigned as a watchful escort while one perused the interior. Within the public areas attendee could read and take notes of the materials within, though removing items from the library was strictly forbidden. The archive has a tall, tapering tower that curves off at the top into a dome-like pinnacle. Flanking the sides of this tower were three smaller spires. The stonework of the main tower has a smooth, concrete-looking texture. In the morning sunlight, the tower shone brightly and revealed intricate carvings on the various tiers that spiraled down the tower. The interior of this library consisted of:
 * Several curved staircases that were carved through the bookshelves. Rising to different heights these staircases connected the library to its higher levels in various points.
 * Rooms that could be used for meetings, or the quiet research and study of the materials found within.
 * Subterranean training boxes that had sand pits for sparring, as well as urban and wilderness obstacle courses.


 * Evening Nip
 * Platinum House: This shrine to the Platinum Dragon was a beautiful white building with blue tapestries on its outside. The white had a mirror-like reflective quality, which during the day made the building give off a sort of glow like a beacon. This building served for both worship and meditation and held sermons usually around noon.
 * Song and Supper Inn: Located on the west side of the Interstead Sprawl, this inn was used as an alternate meeting place for The Knights of Requital ahead of their mission against Lord Sutan and High Richter Dayana Prucine . The interior of this inn was very lively, filled with loud conversation, singing, and music. There were three different bands that cycled through on the main, raised performance dais. A poor tavern, compared to the Leaky Tap, this inn had chipped and crinkled paint, and had a bit of a smell to it. Basic food and drink could be found here. Clay Owens was the balding, portly, middle age barkeep at this establishment.

Sewers
All the sewer covers in the city are latched and locked by a small metal pole, requiring a key kept by the Crownsguard. The measure was taken to prevent folks from wandering down into the sewers.

Below each manhole is a series of metallic bars that act as a sort of ladder rung down 15 feet to the sewer floor. The sewer tunnels themselves are about 10 feet in height and around 15 feet across from side to side. The walls of these tunnels are made of slick stones which curved slightly down towards the floor, while this curvature continues and rounding off at the top of these tunnels. The middle of the floor has a small ditch basin that, with the mild decline of the sewers serves to move water and waste through the city and away from the Tri-Spire.

Near the base of each of the ladder rungs are arrows pointing towards each of the directions where a tunnel continued on. Additionally, mirroring the tunnels, these arrows would fork and branch out in accordance with the directions they lead on into the sewers.

One of the entrance to the sewer is at the corner of Ruen Road and Dewmist. This intersection, largely still cobblestone, is maybe two blocks from the outer wall of the Tri-Spire. The cover is off to the eastern side of the intersection behind one of the poles that contain the lanterns.

Another entrance (Money Pot) is in the Tri-Spires district in a dark alleyway 25 feet off a cobblestone road with fine buildings across the way.

Demographics
Size-wise, Zadash is comparable to the metropolis of Port Damali, though where Zadash is tall, Port Damali is more spread out.

Most of the populace that was seen by the Mighty Nein beyond the city walls consisted of humans, with the occasional halfling and dwarf.

Factions

 * The Knights of Requital: A group of around twenty civilians that conduct their meetings in one of the cellars of the Leaky Tap tavern. Keeping as secretive as possible, they discussed methods of changing the current political unhappiness in the city of Zadash and beyond. While investigating why this group was meeting, Beau and Fjord joined and listened as members aired their grievances and argued for change.
 * The Faction of The Gentleman : Cautioning Jester from using the name out loud, Claudia Sheed mentioned that a very specific man who wallows in the mire of the underbelly of the city goes by the title of "the Gentleman."

Steam's Respite
This reasonably priced bathhouse was a very simple looking building, of deeply dark-stained vertical wood slats against heavy load-bearing columns at each major corner. This bathhouse allowed those of the fairer races to use their services.

The bathhouse had private rooms, as well as a common room that was less expensive at the cost of being less private. Use of the common chamber was priced at three silver pieces per person. The bathhouse also provided clothes washing and cleaning services for the price of one silver piece.

Interior
Its interior was fairly sizeable for its simple exterior. The entryway was flanked on each side with benches that were among small planters that contained low-light plants kept in the area to give a fresher scent. This entryway led to a small chair and a desk where an half-orc clerk, named Miss Rima, sat.

Leading from the entryway, a back chamber was provided for patrons to undressed. From this room, there was a doorway that opened into a central common hot spring bath that was dug out of the ground and had a rock perimeter to it. Among the steam and cloudy water was the smells of herbs and soaps. This water was every so often topped off with fresher warmer water.

Patrons

 * An older couple in their 70s that left when the Mighty Nein entered the common room.

Umber Dungeon
The following crimes against the empire which will be met with imprisonment include:
 * Worship outside the approved idolatry

King's Hall
This massive single 20-foot tall single-story structure of bronze and cobalt acts as the central courthouse of the city. It had long thin windows about every 15-feet. The Crownsguard presence around this structure was quite large, with at least ten watching the front as general sentries.

Interior
There were two round tables with curved benches along their sides, with crown's guards and civilians conversing. Beyond this are were two hallway entrances that lead further into the King' Hall.

Taskboard
A ten-foot by five-foot, heavy piece of wooden board stood about four feet from the main entrance to the right. Clearly labeled, it had the words Task Board pressed into the top of the wood. It had many dozens of nails, some of which were used to staple a number of pieces of parchment which contained paying work that could be taken on. On one side of the Task Board, there was an engraved bronze plaque that stated "all job inquiries are to be taken to Herald of the Hall, Voloshin."


 * General construction work in reinforcing buildings that were crumbling.
 * Help shooing away parts of the Outersteads that are encroaching upon the farmlands on the outside of the wall.
 * "Seeking and paying for any information on Myriad activity in the city."
 * "Reward for information on rebel gatherings and anti-Crown rhetoric."
 * "Proof of others' worship of heretical gods paid in gold."
 * "Looking for work for the glory of our King Bertrand . Good pay and adventurous living as a soldier of the Righteous Brand. Seek Leopold Wanstiker at the Marrow Keep, in the Signet Wall."
 * "Roving beast in need of extermination. Must be trained sellsword with experience."

Writ of Lawmaster Intent
By accepting a task, one would receive a writ of Lawmaster intent which both granted unimpeded entrance to a location of where a job is supposed to take place and would enable those whose names were written within to collect the funds promised when proof of tasks completed were presented.

Miscellaneous

 * Basic Clothing Wears Company: A basic clothing shop that sold clothing made for utility. The shop mainly had pants, work shirts, gloves, and cloaks in the colors of either brown, black or grey. This shop did custom modification work to an existing article of clothing, though such work took about a day's time to finish and would cost around 2sp.
 * The Ossuary Gates: A vast multi-layered catacomb graveyard that was used by the most of the higher-ranked families of this city.
 * The Raven's Den : This shrine was located in the center of the graveyard and dedicated to the The Matron of Ravens. The outside of the shrine consisted of an iron and obsidian archway that stretched up to a height of about 20 feet to frame the small shrine. Topping this shrine was a large statue of the Raven Queen wreathed by carved ravens in flight. This statue was made in its entirety of black obsidian except for a large white porcelain mask that made up its face. At the base of the statue were a number of bowls where offerings could be left. There was a door on the back of the small shrine which was around 20 by 10 feet. Groups of morticians, in long dark robes and dark clothing, entered and exited this facility.
 * Packwearer's Provisions: A smaller scale blacksmithy that deal mainly in smaller smiting wears, such as the forging of tools.
 * Wares & Ends
 * Candy Shop

Background
Zadash was once the capital of the Julous Dominion, the last empire to be conquered by the Dwendalian Empire. It was brought under Dwendalian rule at some point nearly two centuries before 826 P.D. As opposed to erasing Dominion society, the Dwendalian Empire instead merged their own way of life, laws, and rules with those of the people of Zadash and adjusted as they saw fit.

The Mighty Nein were directed to The Invulnerable Vagrant by a local guide named Ulysses Stanneras to acquire magical items. Upon arrival, Caleb, Nott, Fjord, and Jester met Enchanter Pumat Sol, who ran the shop with three magically-manifested duplicates. The Pumat Sol staffing the counter told Caleb that his establishment required a certain level of cleanliness and, with a wave of his hand, removed all the filth that covered Caleb and his clothes.

When Caleb and Jester first attempted to enter the Tri-Spires through the gate at the Pentamarket, one of these guards named Reeve escorted Jester into the Tri-Spire. After another guard came to replace the one that left, Caleb attempted to have Frumpkin enter the district as well. One of these guards, trying to keep what seemed like a stray cat out of this elite district, kicked Frumpkin to death. Caleb, frustrated in his attempt to enter the first gate in disguise, tried a secondary gate with no luck.

While the party admired the Archive of the Cobalt Soul, Nott noticed a stoic, well-dressed human patron leaving the Archive. Taking Mollymauk's advice to only rob people who look "grumpy," Nott followed this woman as she made her way through the city and attempted to rob her using Mage Hand.

The Mighty Nein delved into the sewers of Zadash in search of a mysterious beast that had been terrorizing the Crownsguard at its lair. According to a job posting on the Taskboard, a creature was holed up in a sewer nexus right on where the Interstead Sprawl meets with the outer wall of the Tri-Spires. The flow of sewage had been backing up and strange noises from cleaners had been heard. A few Crownsguard had gone to investigate the disturbance and found a masses of small congealed nests of sewage slime and webbing.

Individuals had been going missing, including two of the three parties that had previously attempted this task. Of the parties of Crownsguard that went down to investigate, only a guard named Cloen had returned. The job specifics were to find what was creating the disturbances, kill it, and to back with proof of the kill it. The reward for doing so was 700 gold pieces.

During a heist, Ulog killed himself and High-Richter Dayana Prucine with a fireball.

Shortly afterwards, two drow spies from Xhorhas blew up part of the Zauber Spire. Though one of them was swiftly killed, the other escaped into the sewers with a strange dodecahedron.

Trivia

 * The carrying of open alcoholic beverages was legal in the streets of Zadash.