Businesses of Waterdeep

Cost (Coins)

: Very inexpensive. Goods tend to be very cheap, up to 50 - 75% the normal cost of such goods, with a corresponding drop in quality, of course.
: Inexpensive. Goods tend to be very reasonable, ranging between 80 - 90% of the normal cost of such goods. Quality is near or even at average for those goods.
: Fairly priced. Goods tend to be of average price and quality.
: Spendy. Goods tend to be of higher cost, ranging between 110 - 125% of normal cost. Quality may be somewhat higher than normal, but may also simply be because of more luxurious location or clientele.
: Extravagant. Goods tend to be 125 - 150% of normal cost, and are always of better quality. Such establishments inevitably boast a fine location and exclusive clientele, as well.

Castle Ward

• Aurora's Waterdeep Way Shop: Shop (Curios & Exotica). xxx
• Aurora's Whole Realms Coster Offices: Coster Headquarters. A large building featuring a street-facing showroom with offices above it, and ample storage in the back part of the building on both floors as well as a practically cavernous cellars, these offices are the heart of the empire that is Aurora's Emporium. The back ground floor also features a printing facility for the broadsheets the Emporium prints. Many folk in the Castle Ward enjoy spending an hour or so browing through the most fascinating wonders on display in the showroom. The offices are located in the Manyspells neighborhood of the Castle Ward, near the Tower of the Watchful Order, which is no accident: Aurora's Emporium frequently has need of mages to do certain work for them, and they pay well for it. The offices are also the location of Aurora's Academy, a Watchful Order-run school for wizardry.
• Crommor's Warehouse: Warehouse. A warehouse owned by House Crommor, with crates of brazengoods.
• The Curious Past: Shop (Historical Curios & Books) • (3c). A long-standing shop focused on historical relics and books of history.
• Danimar Fine Wines: Shop (Wine) • (3c - 4c). The Danimar family was once the oldest holders of licenses by House Melshimber to sell its wines in the city of Waterdeep. With the plunge of Melshimber fortunes in the Wailing Years, however, several of the other vintner houses attempted to poach the Danimar family's loyalty. The canny merchants maneuvered well, and end up holding licenses to sell the vintages of several of the Houses. Today, they are an incredible wine-shop, with a small tasting counter and bottle room for Amcathra, Rosznar, and Sandhor wines. With the Melshimber re-entry into the wine trade of late, the Danimars have offered the House excellent terms for selling their goods once more, but the Melshimbers have snubbed them.
• Eilean's Maztican Delights: Shop (Maztican Food) • (3c). The resurgence of a family business that folded during the Wailing Years, the family of the original Eilean Makaro still owned the property. With trade to and from Maztica opening back up in the past generation, they have re-established their premiere foodshop filled with chocolate, preserved tomatoes and peppers, and all manner of delights from Maztica.
• Foolscap & Quills: Shop (Stationer) • (3c). Owned by Master Ilvaro Dunaer of the Stationers' Guild, Foolscap and Quills is an excellent resource for all manner of fine paper and parchments, quills, and inks. Master Dunaer's specialty is bound books, and he carries an excellent selection of tomes already bound with empty pages.
• Halambar Lute & Harps: Shop (Stringed Musical Instruments) • (4c) The premiere place to find any stringed instrument of the Realms (expect to pay dearly for quality). It is also host to a magical harp that sings by itself and is rumored to have connections to the Harpers in some capacity.
• Halls of Hilmer: Shop (Armor) • (4c). The work of Master Hilmer was, in his day, unmatched. Today, the craft-descendants (that is, those who apprenticed to him in his craft, rather than blood relations) continue to run the shop, notable for its front of polished plate armor. Several masters use the space, all of them inheritors to the unique smithing craft of old Master Hilmer, and continuing to pass it down today. All armor sold here is premade, but crafted in such a way to allow for a single day's customization, even with the heaviest of armors.
  • Hilmer Warehouse: Warehouse (Halls of Hilmer). The warehouse for the Halls of HIlmer, where the raw materials for the work in the smithy is delivered and stored until needed. It is said that a trio of magical, animated swords act as guards for the establishment, which is a rich target for burglars thanks to the profusion of rare metals and precious alloys kept here.
• Melshimber Offices: Sage Consultation • (4c). xxx
• Mother Tamra's House of Graces: School (Grace, Etiquette, Comportment) • (5c) A "finishing school" that caters to young ladies of ambitious families, being taught how to wash and groom themselves, how to develop a fashion sense and how to keep a wardrobe looking fresh (including washing and sewing for repairs), etiquette and carriage (how to walk, sit, hold one's hands, etc), how to write polite messages, how to politely and with dignity encourage or discourage social entreaties, dancing and the right things to say in difficult situations.
• The Market: The largest open area of the city that plays host to hundreds of stalls and camped vendors able to sell nearly anything in the Realms, and many thieves to relieve one of same.
• Nureene's Marvelous Masks: Shop (Masks) • (3c). A mask shop still owned by Nureene's great-grandson, where masks of all sorts can be both purchased off of shelves, and specially commissioned.
• Old Temple Lot Warehouse: Warehouse • (1c). xxx
• Rebeleigh's Elegant Headware: Shop (Hats) • (2c) A habidasher that has seen better days, most of what is in here is second-hand goods, and the original pieces are somewhat shabby, sad to say.
• Velstrode the Venturer's: Shop (Adventuring Goods) • (3c) Though a bit spendier than most caravans and mercenary companies are usually willing to entertain, Velstrode's is a good place to get high quality goods for adventuring companies and individual sellswords looking to make an impression.

Sea Ward

• Halazar'’s Fine Gems: Shop (Jewelry) (5c). A jewelry shop that prides itself as much on its expensive prices as its magically shining black walls.
• Melvar's Chapbooks & Folios: Shop (Books) • (4c). An upscale tomeshop, with a wide variety of books, and a vast catalogue of those which do not fit in their shop, but which the business has access to.
• Sarenda's Triumphant Arms: Shop (Light Arms & Armor) (4c). A shop located near the Field of Triumph that caters to the fighters and athletes who compete in the Field. Run by the crafswoman Sarenda. (formerly Lavah's)
• Swordshigh Salle: Fencing Academy (4c). Part of the House Bladesemmer villa compound, Swordshigh has become quite the rage in recent years. The school features a variety of armories, salles, and lecture halls, as well as a large street-facing exhibition hall whose outward face can be folded back to give passersby a view at the fights on display. Blademaster Jhaesan Rhival oversees the training and curriculum.
• Velatha's Delights: Shop (Luxuries) (5c). A Sea Ward landmark, Velatha's has served as the setting for several steamy romance novels about Waterdhavian nobles, and over the years has gained a reputation as a place where one comes to socialize as much as shop – as long as one has gold in-purse.

North Ward

• The Bent Nail: Shop (Ironmongery)
• Breerdil's Fine Wines: Shop (Wine) (4c). A fine wine shop. There is a small stream of water that runs from a water feature in the shop, out the shop to form a small stream (complete with walking bridge over it) and flows into Dailantha's.
• Bhephel's Bottles, Exotic Wines & Cordials: Shop (Wines & Alcohol) (5c). One of the finest spirits shops in Waterdeep, specializing in having the widest offerings from around Faerûn. Their small size belies their actual business, for many of their customers simply have them ship their purchases directly from warehouse to residences, without ever entering the shop.
• Corondorr's Countinghouse: School (Finances). A school that caters to young guild members and unguilded shopkeepers desiring to learn number skills and "how business is really practices" from a cynical, veteran clerk-of-coin retired from Piergeiron's Palace.
• Dailantha's Herbs & Exotic Plants: Shop (Herbs and Plants) (4c). A fine herbal shop, complete with a small stream of water that runs through it.
• Downybeard Tobacconist: Shop (Tobacco). A small, aromatic shop with a wide variety of pipeweed, tobacco and snuff. Its owner Lucilla Downybeard is descended from the original Kro Downybeard, a halfling from Luiren. She makes good coin on a made-to-order service offering wooden pipes with hand-carved crests and symbols on them.
• Earthenware Wonders: Shop (Clay Goods). xxx
• The Eltorchul Academy: Wizard School (5c). A pair of tall towers, connected by a two-story campus building with living spaces and common areas. Named for one of the old Waterdhavian Houses known for their magical education, the Eltorchul Academy was the first academy the Watchful Order ever took over from someone else. Based out of the North Ward, Eltorchul students tend to be nobles without connections to get them proper training. Noble scions with the intellect and inclination toward arcane mastery study here under noble members of the Watchful Order who can best teach them about the realities of being a spell-wielding noble in Waterdeep.
• The Grand Salle: Fencing School. A highly respected school of swordwork run by and on the villa grounds of House Agundar.
• Hriiat Fine Pastries: Shop (Bread) (3c). A wondrous bakery run by a family long of the Bakers' Guild, with constant crowds forming when the smells of new pastries roll out into the streets. Its meat and vegetable meal loaf is a savory meal for those on the go.
• Robelard's Fine Silks: Shop (Silk and Luxury Textiles (5c). xxx
• Sulmest's Splendid Shoes & Boots: Shop (Shoes) (5c). A frighteningly expensive shop for footwear, but their guarantees on craftsmanship bear up as well as their fashionable boots do.
• Three Moves Ahead: Shop (Games). A shop owned by the elven artisan Eatiel, a well-known craftsman and collector. The proprietor established his shop in the mid-1300s, and continues to run it even today.
• The Tirelessly Turning Wheel: Shop (Curios from around Faerûn) (4c). A vast and wonderful curio shop, with oddities and interesting gew-gaws from around most of the known world, and a few other places besides.
• Wands Academy: Wizard School. This Academy is one of the few such left in the city that isn't run by the Watchful Order. Three stories in height and on the grounds of the House Wands villa, the academy's ground floor features a large gathering chamber generally used for meals and addressing the whole of the student body, plus the academy's library, divided into deeper and deeper vaults of lore. Each student has an attuned badge that gives them access to the vaults they are permitted, as well as allowing them open the glass-fronted cases within those vaults. The second story is exclusively classroom space, as is half of the third floor, the rest of which is spellcasting chambers and student labs.

Warehouses

• Kormallis Warehouse: xxx
• Robelard's Warehouse: xxx

Trades Ward

• Alderblade's Fine Carvings: Carpenter & Woodcarver (3c). xxx
• Aurora's Tusk Street Shop: xxx
• Bristlehands Brightgems: Lapidary & Jeweler (3c). xxx
• The Busy Hammer: Blacksmith (2c). xxx
• Carvers Tombwrights: Tombs and Headstones (2c). A family of craftsmen with generations of experience in the creation and upkeep of the tombs and mausoleums of the City of the Dead. A small courtyard dominated by a tall towered house, with several workshops around the rest of the place. Known for the oddness of the Carver family and the sheer number of black and white cats around the courtyard and buildings.
• Diamond Dreams: Fashion Design House (5c). (House Talmost)
• The Dragon's Breath: Alchemist (4c). xxx
• Mofandar's’ Fine Imports: Store (General Goods) (4c). An overpriced shop filled with rare imports from across (and under, some say) the Realms, with a major side business in authentic costuming for nobles' parties. The shop has changed hands several times over the many years of its existence.
• The Perfect Stitch: Seamstress (2c). xxx
• Rejviikson Mortuary: Mortuary (3c). A run-of-the-mill morticians' business, run by the Rejviikson family. They both sell coffins and prepare corpses for burial.
• Riautar’s Weaponry: Shop (Weapons) (4c). An excellent source of secondhand weapons and "the best bows & arrows in the North". Easily found by looking for a low building with a petrified harpy on the roof.
• The Riven Shield: Shop (Shields) (3c). Shop famous in the Sword Coast region for affordable second-hand weaponry and, more crucial to its notoriety, various magical or historical weapons and armor. Rumors abound of who actually owns the shop these days, with suggestions ranging from one of the Masked Lords to one of the noble Houses to a shadowy smuggling organization!
• Saern’s Fine Swords: Shop (Weapons) (4c). A miniature castle and an expensive place to shop for a sword, but the Tethyrian craftsmanship in all the swords is beyond compare. The shop's fortifications have made it an acceptable emergency guard post for the Watch in the past, such that when its old owner Saern sought to sell it, a group of smiths for the Watch pooled their coin to buy it for themselves, splitting the profit among them. It is still owned by their families today, though they all keep the old owner's name to the place.
• Thentavva’s Boots: Store (Shoes) (4c). A tiny out-of-the-way shop more easily spotted by the smell of tanned leather than its decorative pegasi. The prices here are steep and the wait for boots and slippers is long, but the beautiful work holds up for years. It has been owned by the Thentavvas family for quite a few generations, although they left Waterdeep for two generations or so during the Wailing Years, renting the place out. They returned in the 1470s, restoring its name and operations.
• Three Winds Teahouse: Teahouse (3c). Located right in the Aumardinn neighborhood where a great many Shou have settled in Waterdeep, Three Winds is a delightful teahouse that specializes in the teas and tea traditions of Shou Lung. It is a favorite place by the locals to use for business meetings.

South Ward

• Aurora's South High Road Shop: xxx
• Berendarr's World of Words: Shop (Books) (3c). A bookshop well in excess of a century old, owned by Master Berendarr, a shield dwarf, who is now in his dotage. Its massive shelves are tall, and many are packed with books not out in the public in fifty years or more. It has no system of cataloguing, so shopping here is a little more like treasure-hunting.
• Brant's General Goods & Gear: General Goods (2c)
• Brian the Swordmaster's Smithy: Smithy (3c). Famed for its well-crafted (though high-priced) swords and armor. There is a tradition of it being held by retired adventuring fighters, who pass it down to their own apprentices in the fighting arts when they retire or die. It retains the name of its first owner out of honor to that worthy.
• The Daily Trumpet Building: Printer (Broadsheets) (2c). In operation for well over a hundred years, the Daily Trumpet has a large host of writers and investigators, all with a single purpose: to find out the most interesting information, as word-fodder for their many clients.
• Dragoneye Hall: Dragoneye Dealing Coster Caravanserai. The Dragoneye maintains a large caravanserai in the South Ward, the Dragoneye Hall. Operated like an inn, the Hall is exclusively for the use of Dragoneye caravans and the merchants who operate them. Though the Dragoneye coster maintains a permanent force of guards, they are always looking for more: those who are interested are invited to hire on as an extra guard during a caravan run, and to present themselves to the Dragoneye's guard-house in Iraebor after they have done at least one trip. No one gets in the door without a written recommendation from a caravan-master, but the pay is more than worth it, ultimately. As a result, the forecourt of the Dragoneye Hall in Waterdeep is a place where lots of sellswords congregate, looking to impress the caravan-masters who may be looking for one or two extra blades for a trip into harrowing territory.
• The Garrulous Grocer: Shop (Grocer) (4c). Closed due to damage sustained during the Wailing Years, the Garrulous Grocer was a favorite of Open Lord Laeral's from the last time she lived in Waterdeep, and made it a point to help re-open it once she returned. Now everyone knows the Palace sends its cooks to shop here for choice ingredients, and many in the city have started doing likewise. The place can sometimes seem more like a cautious melee, full of shoppers eyeing one another warily, and looking to pounce on coveted spices or goods before their neighbors can. The prices are precious (although the Palace pays a pittance, out of gratitude).
• Hemmerem's Stables: Stables (3c). A stables run by the fourth Hemmerem to own the place, these stables not only care for horse, but they also rent them out. The owners claim that they have the easy means of finding and retrieving their horses, although they decline to mention what that method might be.
• Hlakken Stables: Stables (2c). A run-of-the-mill stables, mostly intended for the use of caravan horses, without any of the frills or specialty treatment that more expensive animals (or wealthier owners) tend to expect of precious mounts.
• The Medusa's Glare: Sculptor's Shop (3c). This shop has changed hands many times over the years. Today it is a place that provides carved goods on commission, with the sculptors working on projects that interest them between commissions. Their works find their way into that tier of homes who desperately wish to emulate the wealthy and fine, but don't quite have the shine of coin to do it.
• The Old Monster Shop: Shop (Monster Curios) (4c). A place where monsters of all shapes, sizes and most states of being (no undead) can be procured. A favorite spot for those new to Waterdeep to visit, hoping to find a suitably strange keepsake to take home with them.
• Orm’s Highbench: Trading Company. The headquarters of the moderately-successful Orms Highbench trading company. They tend to manage short runs between Waterdeep and Neverwinter, and their years of greatest success were under the Open Lord Dagult. Some claim they maintain back-room deals with Dagult to this day.
• Pelauvir’s Counter: Shop (General Goods) (3c). A general store with moderately-priced essentials and sundries in stock at all times.
• Prestar’s Furniture: Furniture shop (3c). Once the sales floor of a woodworker, Prestars is now a place where a variety of craftsmen consign their works to sell in the shop, run by the Prestars family. As such, a wide variety of offerings can be found here, and all at inexpensive prices. Many of the craftsmen who get noticed here go on to establish their own shops.
• Redbridle Stables: Stables (4c). A fine stables owned by the Redbridle family out of Amphail, these stables not only provide excellent quality of care, but they are also a place from which to purchase Redbridle mounts during certain times of the year.
• Sull's Butchery: Butcher
• Sword Coast Traders' Bank: Service (Banking). In addition to serving as a normal bank, providing loans and wealth-keeping services, this holding of House Anteos is also capable of taking in coin in one of its three locations (Waterdeep, Baldur's Gate, and Daggerford), and communicating those numbers to any of its other branches magically, almost instantaneously. Rather than risking transporting coin on caravan or shipping routes, merchants moving between one of these three sites may simply place coin in their keeping in one spot, and come by to withdraw it from another (for a modest fee).
• Telvar's Tipples: Wine Shop (3c). A wine shop noted for being open all hours of the night.
• Verseene's Bakery: Bakery (1c)
• Waukeen's Wares: Shop (2c). A Waukeenar general shop run by the Vault of Glory (the local temple to Waukeen).
• The Waymoot Academy: Wizard Academy. Run almost entirely by charitable donations (half of which is provided by the Watchful Order itself), the Waymoot Academy in the South Ward takes in youths from disadvantaged backgrounds before street crime and manual labor can destroy any potential they have for the Art, training them in its use. In operation for almost twenty years now, there are a number of adventuring magicians who got their start at spellcasting here, and still contribute coin to it to this day. Per its name, the Waymoot Academy is located in the Waymoot neighborhood of the South Ward. While the academy is in a large building with plenty of room, cruel young mages in the other academies sometimes call them "stablemages," as the building was once a large stable business.

Dock Ward

• Arnagus Shipwrights: Shop (Ships) The longest-existing company of shipwrights in Waterdeep.
• Aurora's Slut Street Sop: xxx
• The Fishscale Smithy: Shop (Blacksmith)
• Horizon's Sails: Shop (Maps, Charts & Logbooks)
• House of Pride Perfumes: Shop (Perfume) (4c). A veritable glass jungle of bottles filled with exotic perfumes and other scents.
• The Old Xoblob Shop: Shop (Adventuring Curios) (4c). A curio shop famous in the city for battle trophies from places far and near (especially Undermountain). Currently owned by a deep gnome who calls himself Xoblob, though the name certainly predates him.
• Ralagut's Wheelhouse: Shop (Shipboard Goods)
• Serpentil Books & Folios: Shop (Books) (4c). An exclusive and expensive shop that traffics in all manner of maps, charts and books, though not magical tomes for sale unless you've one to trade.
• The Smokehouse: Smokehouse. Used by both the Fishmongers' and Butchers' guilds, this rare one-story brick smokehouse almost always smells of curing meats or fish.
• Whistling Blades: Shop (Blades). A shop that specializes in daggers, blades and knives.

Warehouses

• Dawnharbor Storage: Rental Warehouse
• El Erat Imports: Warehouse (Imports)
• Fellowship Storage: Warehouse (Fishmongers Fellowship)
• Gullcry Warehouse: Warehouse
• House of Tarmagus: Warehouse
• Kavingarde Warehouse: Warehouse

Deepwater Harbor

• Sea Elf Trading Outpost: Southeast of the South Gate.

Previous Eras

• 1354 DR