Gloomtown

__**Geography**__: Imagine a large central town with six long, high-walled streets radiating from it. At the end of each street is a fortified gate, and beyond each gate an area that might be described as a town. Such is the layout of Gloomtown, the great and dark city located the eastern shore of the Sea of Wings. The center of the city is Shadow's Walk, a place where none of the six ruling Houses is dominant. The smaller "towns" are each firmly under the control of a particular house.

Not far from the Possum is the home and business of your Leech House contact, the "cutter"/surgeon, Jalaji. He is an extremely pale elf with grey hair pulled back into a long, plaited ponytail, and he is only open after dark. He is handy at patching you up, and has done so a number of times. Does he sometimes use leeches on this clientele...of course.
 * Shadow's Walk**: No house holds sway within the streets of Shadow's Walk, and it is said the Gloomskin himself has decreed that it be so. That does not mean that they don't try, and many of the shops and other businesses, the petty nobility, merchants, and mercs that are found within the Walk owe their livelihoods to one or more of the Houses. It is within the Shadow's Walk that the great majority of Gloomtown's nearly quarter of a million inhabitants live, most catering to the steady flow of visitors, thousands of whom are in the city at any given time. Everything you might expect to find within a great city and much more is present in the Walk, from smiths to whores to merchants of all kinds, as well as a dizzying array of services, most of which you would never consider needing they are so specialized. The particular districts of the houses often have even higher quality artisans or specialists, but visiting those areas carries even greater dangers than Shadow's Walk itself.
 * The Old Possum Inn:** You currently have lodgings in this comfortable if somewhat aged establishment. It is located very near the center of the city, on a backstreet a few minutes walk from the //Burnished Boar// feasthouse. It is about a twenty minute walk to any of the districts under the control of the Houses, though the Salt Gardens may be a few minutes farther away from your inn. The place is run by thirteen goblin brothers. The ones who run the bar are Yeyik and Pulu, the head bouncer is Nam, and the other helpers, clearly younger brothers with little standing, all answer to the name Pug, or "Zo Pug" if Yeyik or Pulu are angry.


 * The Salt Gardens:** West of //Shadow's Walk// is the area known as //The Salt Gardens//, the domain of the House of the Razor (in honor of a kind of local shark known for its extreme aggression and cannibalism). Imagine Venice in near-darkness crossed by canals populated with carnivorous acquatic predators and its streets peopled by the dangerous sorts common to all dock areas at night and you will not be far off. The expansive docks are located at the far eastern edge where the Sea of Sails laps the weathered stone of the oldest buildings. This is certainly the largest of the towns held by one of the houses, and the busiest. The docking and trade fees are collected by Razor House and shared among the other houses. This is the place more so than any other where all manner of folk are to be seen, though there is great variety in all of the "towns". All things connected to the sea are prevalent here, and the unwary often end up as offerings to Ishveshia. It is the only district besides //Shadow's Walk// to have its gate open at all times.

Northwest of //Shadow's Walk// is //The Painted City//, home of the House of the Satyr. It is undeniably the cleanest part of Gloomtown, and its buildings are all made of vibrant colored stone of many types. The effect caused by the combination of color, perpetual twilight, and the occasional flare of torchlight is striking, and passing through The Painted City is like discovering a brilliant gem every twenty feet. Frescoes, mosaics, sculpture, fountains, the sounds of soft music or coquettish laughter are equally common. All who travel into The Painted City must be dressed appropriately, and those who cannot afford at least a modicum of style are simply not allowed to enter its ornate gates. Most of the nobility of the city who are concerned with fashionable living literally would kill to find a townhome in this district (many have done so). In spite of the striking appearance of the facades of its buidings, the interiors of The Painted City are even more lavish. The artisans who ply their trades have shops that would make wealthy merchant's in most towns blush in shame at how drab their manors are appointed in comparison. It is said that Lady Niobe herself takes personal interest in everything in The Painted City being "just so" and that she is more than willing to supplement favorites with her own money and craftsmen. It is here that the fetes and balls are held to rival (some say) those of the lands of Harlequin (quite a boast) though on a smaller scale. It is also arguably the most dangerous place in Gloomtown, not least because it does not appear so. Blood is spilled along its majestic streets and within its tapestried halls with regularity.
 * The Painted City:**

South by southeast of //Shadow's Walk// lie //The Stacks//, the subterranean library city of the House of the Sphinx. Entrance is granted only to those with an engraved invitation from one of the Readers of Sphinx House, invitations that are hard to come by indeed. Visitors enter The Stacks by descending three flights of broad stone stairs and then passing through tall stone doors, each flanked by imposing statues of the very creature that gives the house its name. Whether they are really a pair of twins who refused to answer a question put to them by The Stone Bride or merely statues is a matter of continuing argument among those who care. The Stacks likely resemble no town most travelers have ever encountered. There literally thousands of high walls, shelves, cabinets, counters, carts, and dwellings that house books of many shapes and sizes. One immediately notices that the "cobbles" are books embedded mortar, as firm as any stone. Flame of any kind is never seen here, light being provided by "lightning bugs", a sentient race who call themselves the Idi. They are about a foot in length, with plump abdomens that crawl with coruscating electrical discharges, shedding a steady blue light that is very pleasing and apparently excellent illumination for reading. The Idi have six legs/arms that end in articulated, segmented claws capable of very delicate work, such as restitching or otherwise repairing ancient tomes. Their faces are those of a slender goblin or faerie with broad, fanned eyebrows that resemble the attenae of some moths. They are indigenous to the Fable Wood of Grandfather Stiltskin, and why they have come in such numbers (there are clearly hundreds of them in The Stacks) is unknown. The only shops to be found here are several taverns for scholars and similar folk to find refreshment in, and shops specializing in selling books, information generally, the repair of books, or anything else related to knowledge. A number of sages and most of the town scribes are found here, as are the law courts. But, as knowledge is power, bodies are often found here as well, and though the Fireflies undoubtedly witness much, they say nothing of what they have seen, unless perhaps to The Archivist himself.
 * The Stacks:**

Southeast of //Shadow's Walk//, rising high above the rest of the city, is //The Aerie//, a town composed of high towers and minarets build into a natural rise of the land, and home to the House of the Leech. It is said the the members of Leech House are even prouder than the haughty Satyrs, living above the rest of Gloomtown having made them feel superior, and they certainly do nothing to dispel this impression. Their district is the darkest of them all and the Leeches themselves are never seen abroad during the dim daylight hours, waiting until the depths of the night to emerge onto or above the streets. For this reason, and their general paleness, many claim that the Leeches are vampires. So long has this been repeated that most generally accept it as true. For this reason, being out at night in the Aerie means one is either mad, desperate, or supremely confident of being able to deal satisfactorily with an encounter with an undead being bent on draining one's life. However, the Aerie sees a brisk business during both day and night; a testament to the kind of people who inhabit Gloomtown. Its surgeons and apothecaries are usually more elegant and less shocking in their methods, if more expensive, than those in Vulture House's district, the Gauntlet, and it is also the headquarters of the important banking houses within the city. There are many other reasons to come here, but most do so before the night shadows gather. Once they do, visitors are welcome to enter the gates, but not until the bleak false dawn may anyone leave.
 * The Aerie:**

East of //Shadow's Walk// lie //The Twitches//, the unnerving and bizarre domain of the largest collection of lunatics outside of Barosha's lands, the House of the Spider. Around the perimeter of Gloomtown, and between the various towns, lies the Dark Forest, an expanse of wood left untouched by the centuries of habitation of the city itself. It is said that Gloomskin himself decreed that the forest be left uncut once the city was completed and it certainly seems to have been so. Unique of all the "towns", The Twitches lies within the Dark Forest. Black Tree Gate leads from the eastern boundary of Shadow's Walk to a long, canopied tunnel visitors follow into the wood. There, among the very trees and streams, and even a broad pond or two, Spider House makes its home. Beasts and birds and crawling, cawing, croaking things of all kind are to be found here, mostly for sale, often at large. Stranges plants, lichens, fungi, molds, and mosses are in profusion, though most are poisonous and there is a strict picking prohibition. Along the northern edge is a small wetland and it is here among a stand of greiving willows that the patriarch makes his home. Those interested in sorcery or any of the magic arts may well come here, as none among the houses surpass the Spiders in this regard, though there are individual exceptions to this rule. Nothing here, whether tree or toad or pocket watch is as it shoud be; each is at least slightly "off", and many things are much more so. Even the Dark Forest itself is warped here, where the grotesque is the norm. Most do not linger here on their visits, and those that do are rarely seen again.
 * The Twitches:**

Northeast of //Shadow's Walk// is //The Gauntlet//, the carnage-strewn district of Vulture House. Prominent within this shabby-looking holding are the 6 and a half foot tall Emperor Vultures (Grank imports several dozen a year at a stiff cost in order to supplement its own venu: yes, a group of vultures is called a venue, unless they are circling, in which case it is called a kettle. Owned) so often seen perching atop roofs or feasting upon the bounty of corpses that end up in the dump bins outside the many fighting establishments within the district. The patriarch of Vulture House has, like all of his household, massive appetites for food, drink, illicit substances, the flesh, and bloodsport. This accounts for the profusion of establishments catering to all of the aforementioned vices. Drunken, glutted violence is often the order of the day here, but it is not rampant upon the streets. Indeed, the streets themselves are as safe as any in Gloomtown(meaning very dangerous indeed) because the main violence takes place within the fighting pits, the most famed of which is The Sands. Many of those who live within Gloomtown and most who come here willingly are no strangers to violence; indeed, most are professional killers. Some make a living from such pursuits, while others just enjoy ending another's life. Whatever the case, to blow off steam, make a name, earn coin, or, most valuable of all, to learn a piece of information otherwise too expensive to obtain, many make their way to the arena. Most die there, as unknown, broke, or ignorant as when they stepped onto the sand, but some of those who survive gain glory, wealth, or knowledge key to a remarkable future. Those interested in outstanding weapons or armor, incomparable feasts and overall amazing food and drink, parties that may not be as refined as those of The Painted City but are often wilder (one has been going on for three years at the //Minotaur's Horn// tavern after its purchase by the Company of the Amber Blade), the hiring of mercenaries or even entire armies, and much more need seek not better place to visit. If they survive the experience they will at the very least have an excellent story or five to tell.
 * The Gauntlet:**