Merchants' Marketplace

Level 199

Built by Kextra

It is said that the gnomish merchant's guild have a long standing and noble history insuring prosperity through the realms, allowing artisans and merchants the chance to deliver goods and services to a willing public, and customers the chance to insure that the goods they receive are only of the highest quality, asking only a small commission for the great service they provide. Of course, the only people who say this are the gnomish merchant's guild themselves. Most people view them as a bunch of money lenders and penny pinchers, as ruthless at running anyone outside their monopoly out of business as any robber. With the sinking of the frozen city, the guild's influence waned considerably, it being far harder to slap commissions on local fishmongers and foresters selling goods at village markets than it was to oversee the trading of a large city. The Merchants' Marketplace is the guild's attempt to get back some of that lost trade. By paying a considerable some to clear a patch of forest, even draining some of the local swamp, the guild setup a giant marquee, renting space to any merchants who might wish to sell their wares, in return for hopefully attracting a wider range of customers. Though a few fisher folk from angler's cove and the odd farmer or wood cutter do bring their wares to the market, with the amount of adventurers and travelers running through honeybee village and hillock hills, most people don't get any better prices trading at the Merchants' Marketplace than they would trading at home. Fortunately for the guild however, the large number of adventurers, as well as the establishment of the close by fellowship of artisans at crafter's forge, mean that the Merchants' Marketplace does attract those selling far more exotic goods. Mystical gems, finely made dragon skin armour, rare items or tomes of law, as well as not a few knockoffs and pieces of glass. The most notable merchant in the market place (other than the many experienced adventurers who sell their wares there), is Crystania, the mysterious crystal seer, whose mysterious quartz shop simply appeared one morning, as though it had been there for hundreds of years. Rumours say that any guild officials who attempted to charge Crystania rent, or require a commission on the strange crystals she buys met with extremely mysterious and unlikely accidents, such as finding a baby drag nesting in their privy, so these days, the guild tends to pretend that she doesn't exist, while secretly enjoying the extra custom from the adventurers and thrill seekers her presence attracts.