1354 DR Trades Ward of Waterdeep

Notable Neighborhoods

• Trades Point North

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With no distinct look to separate it from surrounding wards, Trades Ward is somewhat lost in terms of neighborhood identity. On the other hand, though it lacks in neighborhood "feel," its sense of community in commerce occupies nearly every building and person within the entire ward. Many of Waterdeep's middle class and merchant class live and work here.

The busiest of wards due to all the constant commercial work within its boundaries, Trades Ward is active day and night, requiring excessive streetlights (many merchants say that Trades Ward at night is beautiful, "when her streets are filled with the stars of Waukeen"). The Guild of Chandlers and Lamplighters keeps a triple shift here at all times of the night, its streets filled with the bobbing lanterns of young lamplighters; the only more frequent sights in Trades Ward at night are the large and frequent watch patrols. While cursing, shoving, and minor street tussles are typical behavior within this business district, the worst criminal offenses are theft, vandalism, and destruction of private property - the watch patrols are more often needed to protect thieves from angry merchants than to stop robberies!

The ward boundaries are defined by the city walls and the City of the Dead on the east, and Andamaar's Street to the High Road on the north. The High Road and Snail Street border it on the west until Shesstra's Street cuts east to the Way of the Dragon where it links with the northern boundary of Southern Ward. Due to its central nature and rambling boundaries, it is hard to traverse the city without passing through this ward at some point.

Architecture

Trades Ward's architecture is not any different from those wards it abuts. Therefore, depending on one's place in the ward, one can expect old stone and timber row houses and tenements, stone-walled villas converted to restaurants and vaults, or the high wattle-and-daub buildings that run three- and four-stories high above the High Road. The streets are always congested with carters, messengers, and customers. The cobblestone and corduroy streets are well worn from the heavy foot traffic, but the streets can only be swept at night when traffic is reduced to manageable flows. Still, debris and refuse are not a problem; often what one person casts away is claimed by another to sell (within reason, as certain things such as ale, ink, or spoiled food cannot be reclaimed).

Watch of Trades Ward

Wardsman: Saldreen Ujueral (Castle Waterdeep • 5th Floor)

• Spindle St. Watchpost: Rorden: xxx • x patrols
• Virgin's Square Watchpost: Rorden: xxx • x patrols
• White Bull Watchpost: Rorden: xxx • x patrols

Residences

Private Homes

• Myrmith Splendon: Private Home
• Schirkel Wands: Private Home
• Blackstone House: Private Home
• Zeltabbar Iliphar: Private Home

Mage Residences

• Mhair’s Tower: The five-storied tower home of Mhair Szeltune, Lady Master of the Watchful Order of Magists & Protectors.

Rentals

• Huulfor Manor: Rental Villa

Businesses

• Khammeral's Coins: Shop (Rare Coins)
• 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.
• Dunblast Roofing Co.: Roofers
• 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.
• 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.
• Orsabbas’ 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.
• 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.
• Patient Fingers Finework: Shop (Woodcrafts)
• Thond Glass and Glazing: Shop (Glass)
• Belmonder’s Meats: Shop (Butcher) (3c). The most popular butcher shop in the city with its wide variety of fresh meats (and a small concession of fried meat scraps for a quick lunch).
• Surthlan’s Metalwares: Shop (Metalwork)
• The Golden Horn: Gambling House (4c)
• Meiroth’s Fine Silks: Shop (Cloth)
• Rejviik's Mortuary: Mortuary (3c). A run-of-the-mill morticians' business, run by one Master Rejviik. They both sell coffins and prepare corpses for burial.
• Henndever's Coffins & Coffers: Shop (Woodworks)

Nightlife

Inns

• Gondalim’'s Inn: Inn (3c•5a). An established inn of many comforts, with single rooms or suites available at affordable prices.
• Inn of the Dripping Dagger: Inn (3c•4p•4a). A battle-scarred and bloodied door hiding an amiable, comfortable place for hire-swords to stay and be hired from.
• Maelstrom's Notch: Inn. A small inn known for its costly but topnotch seafood from all parts along the Sword Coast.
• The Unicorn’s Horn: Inn (5c•4a). A decadent and costly inn to stay at (its Imperial Suite on the sixth floor has an impressive view, but not one worth 40 gp per night). Its saving grace is its strategic placement to the High Road.
• The Gentle Rest: Inn (4c•4a)
• The Grey Serpent: Inn (4c•5a)

Taverns

• The Underdark: Tavern. An old, rare cellar tavern with low ceilings (5' clearance) that caters primarily to the dwarves, gnomes, halflings, and odd goblins in Waterdeep. Its tough reputation of rousting humans and shapechangers is well-deserved, often started with the uncanny knife-throwing of Amaqel the gnome barkeep and finished by the dwarven bouncers.
• Felzoun'’s Folly: Tavern (3c•3p)
• Bowels of the Earth: Tavern (Dive) (4c•2p). An ill-lit rough-and-tumble tavern that caters to mercenaries looking for employment or a good brawl. (Blazidon One-Eye can oft be found here.)
• The Singed Bolt: Tavern

Festhalls

• The Sumptuous Masque, Nightclub (2c•3p). A nightclub-style festhall and defacto "town hall" for Twilight Vaeteru in the Trades Ward.

Temples

• The Plinth: Interdenominational Temple. The tallest building in the Trades Ward at six stories, which acts as an open temple for all faiths, as well as a landing place for the Guards' griffon steeds.

City Buildings

• River Gate: City Gate

Guildhalls

• The Citadel of the Arrow: Fellowship of Bowyers & Fletchers
• Costumer’s Hall: Order of Master Taylors, Glovers & Mercers. Little more than an overstocked shop of costumes and props, with meeting rooms in the upper floors.
• House of Song: Council of Musicians, Instrument-Makers & Choristers.
• Office of the League: League of Basketmakers & Wickerworkers
• House of Cleanliness: Launderers's Guild
• The Old Guildhall: Cellarers and Plumbers Guild
• The Zoarstar: Scriveners, Scribes & Clerks Guild. An ever-busy site which enjoys a constant crowd outside its windows looking in at displayed maps and charts, including a constantly-displayed map of Waterdeep, including a helpful red glass-headed pin to mark where the Zoarstar is in the city.
• House of Textiles: Most Excellent Order of Weavers & Dyers
• The Guild Paddock: Stablemasters' & Farriers' Guild
• Cobblers & Corvisers: Cobblers' & Corvisers' Guild
• House of Light: Chandlers' & Lamplighters Guild. A constantly bright row house, complete with a huge four-foot candle out front that is lit at night. It is one of the brightest spots in the ward at night is easily found by the smell of lemony-scented wax.
• Stationers’ Hall: Stationers' Guild
• Wheel Hall: Wheelwrights' Guild

Notable Alleys & Courtyards

• The Court of the White Bull, an open plaza of packed dirt and straw where livestock can be bought and sold and where merchants sell fresh goods direct from the caravans (people whisper that magic goes wild in the Court, and its use here is expressly forbidden by the Lords, lending proof to the rumor).
• Virgin’s Square, a cobblestone courtyard where mercenaries of all types gather to await hire (and many other citizens linger to watch the boastful warriors and the constant traffic on the main roads).
• Blackhorn Alley, known and named for Alsible Blackhorn the cobbler, now the haunt of a number of large, brown rats.
• Brindul Alley, lair of the Hand that Sings, a magical phantasm of a hand with a mouth in its palm, which snatches valuables from the unwary while singing ancient Sword Coast ballads.
• Chelor’s Alley, used often by the watch and nighttime passersby due to Chelor the merchant’s effusive lanterns hung out over the alley.
• Dark Alley, one of the most dangerous alleys of Trades Ward, its gloomy depths—shadowy even at highsun— make it a favorite lurking place for cutpurses and thugs.
• Lathin’s Cut, named after the former landowner who had his house destroyed upon his death to provide this short passage from the Plinth to the High Road.
• Mhaer’s Alley, a street with a great collection of shops on all sides along its length, and includes such places as Chuki’s Moneylenders, the Old Druid’s Herbs & Seeds Shoppe, Salavant’s Scriveners, Marie’s Dry Goods, Diabel'’s Potions & Curatives, Huer’s Sundries (a rumored fence and contact for thieves!), Caer Bannog (a Moonshae imports shop), and many others.
• Quill Alley, the thoroughfare for the primary neighborhood of clerks, scribes, and cartographers (recent rumors tell of the indelible ink stain on its eastern end rising to spell out messages of doom and danger on the outside walls of the Old Guild Hall!).
• Spendthrift Alley, a street with an ever present supply of vendors in a local street bazaar that goes on all day and all night (come here if you’re looking for minor items, trinkets, or quick snacks, but mind your purse!).
• Theln Lane, an echoing chamber framed by tall buildings with balconies from which hard currency girls call to customers.
• Tsarnen Alley, a once-favorite place for thieves and cutthroats that was defended by Tsarnen the ranger quite vigorously (some say his shade still watches and keeps the alley safe, while others offer that the spirits of slain thieves haunt its environs)
• Urcandle Alley, the alley to visit if in need of spare parts or repairs on your wagon or cart, and also a meeting place for agents of the Wheelwrights’ Guild and the Wagonmakers ’and Coach Builders’ Guilds.