2011-02-06

Floating Quarter

I occasionally make mistakes entering shipping costs into eBay, mostly when I click a "Send Invoice" button accidentally on an international shipment without entering the cost.  So apparently some of that shipping in the past has been for free.  An expensive error.  I'm mostly out of gaming goodies that I want to sell (I'm keeping my 1st edition AD&D stuff, thank you very much, and my Delta Green and a few CoC rulebooks).  I do have some other oddities that will be sold, I'll list them once I'm done mailing the current batch of stuff.

Today, I was writing descriptions of points-of-interest in the city.  Most of them have already been posted in "summary" form, but here's a new area I haven't mentioned previously.  Nothing mind-blowing, but I post what I'm working on, so take it or leave it...  Most of the city is described pretty sparingly, I don't need much detail when my players are in it, so I can't imagine anybody else needing much more to run a game there successfully.  Just "broad stroke" descriptions, and some random tables - that should be enough for a DM to make the place come alive, I hope.

Floating Quarter
The wide bridges that originally spanned the gorge proved to be too valuable as real estate to be used as mere transportation.  The bridges became crowded with small buildings and temples, and stone and wooden extensions were built.  Eventually, the space between the two spans was entirely enclosed.  This section of the city is now known as the Floating Quarter.

The Floating Quarter rises gently to a high point in the middle of the structure, as the underlying bridges are arched and buttressed.  From above, this part of the city is most notable for its wooden streets.  If viewed from below, the massive stone and wood buttresses and wooden floors of the buildings and streets can be seen.

Apart from the trapdoors placed in the streets for maintenance purposes, several buildings have private trapdoors leading to haphazardly-constructed "under-bridges" of rope, used by thieves, escaped slaves, and smugglers.  These under-bridges typically run to sewer and storm drain outlets emptying into the gorge.  Explorers brave enough to try these under-bridges will find that only few are maintained – many were constructed years or decades earlier for sinister purposes long since fulfilled, and the elements have since taken their toll.

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