Group Action: The party can elect to undertake a group action (for example, for stealth). The skill's leader rolls the check, and everyone else rolls to aid another. For those that don't make the DC 10 threshold, the skill's leader adjusts their role downward by -2.
Our Protagonists:
Annelise Wykes (Female Mixed ethnicity human) - Tortured Crusader. The first thing most people notice about Annelise is the peirceing green eyes. She’s not obviously Taldan or Chel or Varising. Like many in this city, she’s mixed heritage enough that she doesn’t claim anything other than Korvosan. The other thing people tend to notice is the scarf she wraps round her neck in all conditions. It’s not Varisin, although she doen’t mind peple thinking that. It mainly works just to cover up the scar where someone tried to cut her trhoat a few years back.
Cathyriel Alaro (Female Chelish human) - Eldritch Scoundrel. Her pale skin and long, black hair mark her as pure Chelaxian, a descendant of the ones who arrived all those centuries ago and took over on the basis that they could. Her scrawny, underfed appearance and dark circles under her eyes mark her as an addict, although she would insist that the correct term is “functional addict” and she (generally) isn’t stupid enough to get high on or just before the job. Had to give up her decent place in Midland, now lives in a low-rent flat in Old Korvosa with a very annoying street preacher outside her window.
Darius Radulescu (Male Varisian human) - Arcanist. Dark hair and trimmed moustache on lean face. Surprisingly, no scars visible on the face. A locket hangs around his neck, a memoir from his mother whose face he has already forgotten. Representing where he came from. Bloodshot eyes, red from months of inhaling the venomous vapours of the distillery. Representing who he is now. And the leather-bound spell book. Representing who he will be. Lives with his colleague Jakinda in a prison/shiver-cooking kitchen in West Dock called the "Fishbowl," formerly a bakery.
Those who live in Korvosa both respect and admire ostentatious displays of wealth, power, or knowledge. They consider confidence and competence the greatest of assets, and they deride or heckle those who display weakness, indecisiveness, or lack of ability. Korvosans are quick to judge and slow to forgive. They like to capitalize words, and many feel this minor trait gives their works and creations an air of greatness and importance.
As a former Chelish holding, Korvosa militantly enforces its laws (which often have harsh punishments far in excess of those of other nonevil governments). Like it once-suzerain, Korvosa has a complex series of laws and regulations. The city’s charter, an officially sanctioned document created by Emperor Halleck IV of Cheliax in 4406 ar, bears 247 amendments. These amendments add to and complicate the city’s myriad laws (which no leader can modify, except by additional amendment) and are considered as binding and official as the charter itself. In addition, a thick, multivolume body of work spells out Korvosa’s many other regulations, as well as the punishments for violating them. The complexity of Korvosan law is in some ways akin to the language of an infernal contract—overly convoluted and easy for a person in power to abuse for their own needs.
In addition to power, middle and upper-class Korvosans love predictability. The lower classes, unfortunately lacking education, money, and power, have little social mobility. The military and crime are attractive vocations for those from the working class and underclass to attain respectability.
By charter amendment, Korvosa does not allow merchants, laborers, or artisans to form guilds (yet it ironically does allow for a thieves’ guild—currently the Cerulean Society - and its members, like Gaedran Lamm, make sure to pay their vice taxes promptly and in full). This practice prevents these groups from price-fixing and allows the city to maintain control over much of the labor force. Most workers within the city are self-employed or work for a master to whom they apprenticed in their youths.
Korvosa Statistics:
========
KORVOSA
========
large city
Corruption +2; Crime +0; Economy +4; Law +5; Lore +4;
Society +0
Qualities academic, holy site, magically attuned, prosperous,
strategic location
Danger +10
========
DEMOGRAPHICS
======= Government overlord (monarch)
Population 20,486 (18,137 humans, 939 dwarves, 569 halflings, 471 elves,
184 half-elves, 186 other)
Common Ethnicities Chelish, Varisian, Tian, Shoanti
========
MARKETPLACE
======= Base Value 12,800 gp; Purchase Limit 85,000;
Spellcasting 9th
NPCs of Korvosa:
Ausio Carowyn: Patriarch of the Carowyn family, nobles and influential mercantile family.
Blackjack: Infamous masked Korvosan folk hero. Not seen in many years. Speculation that Blackjack is dead or retired.
Blaise: Owner of the spellbook that Darius now holds. Unknown beyond that.
Boule: The guildmaster of the Cerulean Society.
Cinderlander: A Shoanti-hating survivalist, as much a monster and boogeyman to the Shoanti as Blackjack is a hero to Korvosa.
Cressida Kroft: (Female Chelish human, age 33) Former adventurer and well-respected Commander of the Korvosan guard, an attractive dark-haired woman who never seems to be out of the suit of red armour she wears with pride.
Darvayne Gios Amprei: Chelish Ambassador.
Eodred Arabasti II: King of Korvosa. Rumor is that he hasn't been seen in many weeks.
Gaedran Lamm: Local crimelord who runs his vast enterprise from his ship moored at Eel's End.
Glorio Arkona: Head of the Arkona family, one of the most influential, if not the most influential families in Korvosa.
Helga Tovaryn: (Female Ulfen half-elf, elderly) An alchemist and dealer in arcane supplies. When Cathy started learning magic, Yarryn gave her a list of things she would need, including spellbooks and other tomes of lore. The price tags on the shops near the Academae made her eyes water, but even poor people occasionally need magic. Which is where Helga comes in. She runs a store in Old Korvosa, where rents are lower. The crowd is rougher, but nobody robs old Helga. She supplies scrolls, parchment, ink and spell components for a good price. Just don’t ask questions about where they came from. Helga has a pleasant and kind demeanour, and cultivates a grandmotherly air; but she has an abacus for a brain and if she has a heart, it pumps ice-water rather than blood.
Ileosa Arabasti: Young queen of Korvosa. Originally a Chelish noblewoman from a minor Chelish House, she arrived in Korvosa four years ago and swept King Eodred off his feet.
Jasan Adriel: Owner of Blackbird Ranch in Harse, one of Korvosa's small village holdings. Blackbird Ranch supplies many of the horses to the Korvosan Guard.
Jolus "Dreamweaver" Radulescu: This Varisian heads up the shiver creation of Lamm's criminal empire. He takes special interest in tormenting Darius, and claims they are cousins. Jolus's got that somewhat round, youthful look that mothers instantly trust and no one takes too seriously, except when they end up on his bad side, jumped in an alley or worse.
Key Lock Killer: Notorious serial killer active in Korvosa for many years, has not killed in a while. So called for the sharpened keys he(?) left behind in many of his victims and for the fact that he never left a murder site unsecured. Speculation that he is dead or gone from the city.
Marcia Thistledown: (Female halfling, 40) Marcia - Marcy to her few friends - is a fixer. Need some silver-tipped arrows to take down an imp? A couple flasks of alchemists fire? Need to get rid of a body in a hurry? Or maybe you just need some information? Go to Marcy's coffee shop, where the kind halfling will be delighted to see you. In a back room, away from the other customers, you will be plied with fresh cakes and as much coffee as you can absorb, while Marcy will listen carefully as you tell her what problem you have that needs fixing. An hour or two later, some stranger you've never seen before and never will again will stumble into you and leave you a note telling you where and when to pick up or drop off your delivery. The note will also make a 'suggestion' about how much you should donate to Marcy's newest pet project - last time Annelise used her services, it was an orphanage. For her friends, Marcy is sometimes willing to trade favours rather than cash. She and Annelise have been friends now for a few years and have done each other some favours. Annelise has currently forgotten which of them owes the other a favour, but she's sure that the twinkly-eyed halfling will remind her next time they catch up.
Marcus Endrin: (Male Chelish human, 42) Leader of the prestigious Sable Company as well as the eponymous Military Acadamey, few people in Korvosa have the stature of this local hero.
Miyoto (Male Tian Human, age 63): A member of Korvosa's Tian community, Miyoto was living in a hovel in the neighborhood that Lorick operated in as a Little Lamm. Took to tutoring Lorick as a monk after seeing Lorick's potential. Is now a prisoner in one of Lamm's dungeons to ensure Lorick's loyalty.
Mother Radulescu: Darius's mum. Darius doesn't know her, or why she gave him up. Was Darius kidnapped on the street and her mother tried to look for him, or did she sell him for her daily shot of shiver?
Neolandus Kalepopolis: Castle Korovosa's seneschal, Kaleopopolis is said to be a fine bureaucrat who does the best he can to temper the king's spendthrift ways.
Rhian Wykes: (Female half-elf) Annelise is really *annoyed* by Rhian. Her half-sister, a lavender-eyed half elf, is incredibly talented – art, dance, music, drawing, painting, you name it, Rhian has mastered it – but where Rhian has the talent, Annelise has inherited all the drive. Rhian seems content to drift through the world at her own pace when if she just *applied* herself she could achieve almost anything, from leading lady of the opera house to an art studio of her own. Instead she works at Tenners, offering her services as an escort to anyone with the means to pay for her. It’s a good lifestyle, but Anneliese grinds her teeth a little when she thinks about how *hard* she has had to apply herself to get where she is since their mother died, and everything has just been handed to Rhian on a plate. Of course, Rhian’s version of the story is probably a bit different!
Ruan Mirukova: (Male Varisian human, age 34) Talented player of the ocarina, a Varisian folk instrument that is fiendishly hard to master (played well, it makes saints and angels weep; otherwise it sounds like a cat being put through a mincer). He gives regular performances at the Marbledome and is well known to those in the arts.
Ruslo (Grease-Fingered Ruslo): One of Lamm's most sycophantic underbosses, he runs much of the crime lord's shiver distribution and is as disgusting as his name implies.
Sabina Merrin:(Female Chelish human, age 24) Protégé of the famed weaponmaster Vencarlo Orisini, who left the school after a rumored bitter duel with her former teacher. Member of the Korvosan Guard, she has quickly distinguished herself and been appointed to the Guard's castle contingent. Very attractive.
Salvator Scream: Rumored to be half-mad this painter's moody works are in high demand in Korvosa's high society, as they are the only ones that can afford his prices.
Sorshen: Runelord of Lust, who's capital city much of Korvosa was built upon.
Thousand Bones:Shoanti shaman and ambassador.
Vencarlo Orisini: (Male Chelish human, middle aged) As an aristocrat, Orisini is reputed to be on the liberal side and has expressed dislike of the autocratic rule of the late king. This has earned him friends and enemies both. He is however much more well-known as a swordsman than as an aristocrat; he is the founder of Vencarlo's Academy of the Sword, based in Old Korvosa. Often imitated but never bettered, the Academy still produces some of the finest swordsmen (and women) in Korvosa.
Vendra Loaggri: Owner of Lavendar.
Yarryn Leroung: Alas, poor Yarryn. In one of those classic nature-vs-nurture arguments, he could have become a genuinely good and decent person if he hadn’t been born a Leroung. Of all the noble families of Cheliax, the Leroungs are the ones who went deepest into diabolism and fiendish magic and Yarryn shares that indoctrination. He’s a graduate student at the Academae, although the topic of his PhD thesis is perhaps best left undiscussed; he encountered Cathyriel when she was at a student party, supplying drugs to his friends (Yarryn doesn’t partake). His idea of a chat-up line was to ask Cathy if she was aware of her “classical Chelaxian figure” but Cathy was amused and intrigued by his self-assurance (and, bluntly, the obvious signs of his wealth) and they have struck up some sort of weird relationship. Yarryn has (somewhat patronisingly) taught her some of the rudiments of magic, although to his surprise she has proved to be an apt student. Unfortunately, about a month ago, he decided in his usual well-intentioned but high-handed fashion to stage an “intervention” about her drug use: Cathy woke up in the grip of withdrawal symptoms to find he’d dumped her drugs down the sink and was smashing up all of her paraphernalia. With a rage that she didn’t know she had (and which, honestly, frightens her when she thinks about it) she went for him with her knives, intent on gutting him there and then. He only got away by hitting her with a stunning spell (which made her even angrier) and running for his life. They haven’t made any attempt to contact each other since then.
Zellara Esmeranda: One of many local fortune tellers.
Zenobia Zenderholm: Lead arbiter of Korvosa.
Korvosa's Districts:
Korvosa is divided into six distinct districts, each with its own subdivisions of neighborhoods, as summarized below.
East Shore: Home to a handful of noble houses, East Shore has no subdivisions within its borders.
The Heights: Nearly all of Korvosa’s power players reside in the Heights, Korvosa’s administrative heart.
• Citadel Crest: The wealthiest neighborhood in the city.
• Cliffside: Second only to Citadel Crest in affluence, Cliffside hosts much of Korvosa’s aristocracy.
• University: Those who dwell here may not own a lot of wealth, but they are undeniably rich in knowledge.
Midland: Cosmopolitan and friendly, Midland is the social heart of Korvosa.
• High Bridge: The primary inhabitants of this residential district are laborers or the families of those working in the Korvosan Guard or Sable Company.
• Pillar Hill: This is Korvosa’s most demographically diverse neighborhood.
• Slope: This neighborhood features a large number of small and private libraries, museums, and other bastions of culture.
• West Dock: This rugged neighborhood contains no significant residences, and instead features several warehouses and food processing buildings.
North Point: The seat of Korvosa’s municipal power, this was first section of the mainland settled by the city’s Chelish founders.
• Five Corners: A crowded residential ward, this neighborhood caters to the city’s politicians and their underlings.
• Mainshore: Once the site of some of the bloodiest battles in Korvosa’s early history, this area is where Korvosa’s truly old money still resides.
• Northgate: Many of Korvosa’s non-noble elites and old-money families dwell in this residential neighborhood.
• Ridgefield: This is the most crowded of North Point’s neighborhoods, plagued with poverty and desperation.
Old Korvosa: The original site of the city, the oldest district in Korvosa is its most crowded and least affluent today.
• Bridgefront: Crowded but narrow, Bridgefront is a dismal and filthy slum.
• Fort Korvosa: Once the heart of Korvosa’s military strength, this neighborhood is a decaying remnant of its former glory.
• Garrison Hill: Cramped and bustling with activity, Garrison Hill fights a constant battle to avoid the decay and destitution of its neighboring wards.
• Old Dock: Only the awful state of Bridgefront’s slums keeps decaying Old Dock from being Korvosa’s most run-down and least desirable neighborhood.
Southern Korvosa: This is the newest district officially added to the city.
• South Shore: Much more open than most of the rest of the city, South Shore hosts many of Korvosa’s new nobility.
• Gray: Once considered its own district, the city’s sprawling cemeteries are now considered to be part of Southern Korvosa.
Locations: Government Buildings:
Jeggare Light (Outskirts; G1): This important building allows mercantile vessels to traverse the shallows of the Jeggere River mouth safely, and serves as the first notification were the city to come under attack from the sea.
Longacre Building (North Point; G2): The Longacre Building, also known as Arbiter’s Hall, is an imposing building that serves as both a jail and a courthouse.
City Hall (North Point; G3): Where most of the city's municipal functions happen. Like the Korvosa's laws and regulations, the city's bureaucratic corps are expansive.
Korvosa’s Mercy (North Point; G4): The largest of Korvosa’s state-run orphanages, Korvosa’s Mercy has a long-standing association with the military.
Great Tower (The Heights; G5): This incomplete tower
serves the Sable Company as an armory, a barracks, and stable for the storied company's hippogriffs.
Castle Korvosa (The Heights; G6): Seat of the monarchy and symbol of the Old Empire's reach, Castle Korvosa sits atop the Grand Masaba, a Shoanti-built mound of unknown age. The Masaba is a holy site to the Shoanti, and its desecration is a source of great strife with many of Korvosa's Shoanti neighbors.
Scrapper Hall (Midland; G7): Although this building is relatively small, the highly regimented work hours that orphans endure here push the limits of legality, and the orphanage’s staff members often clash with the priestly inspectors from both Abadar and Sarenrae’s faith.
Riverside House (Midland; G8): This mid-sized orphanage is also Korvosa’s oldest.
Citadel Volshyenek (Midland; G10): This impressive citadel houses the headquarters and main garrison of the Korvosan Guard.
Dawnflower House (Midland; G11): While all five of Korvosa’s orphanages are inspected regularly by the churches of Abadar (to ensure everything is running efficiently and legally) and by Sarenrae (to ensure the children are safe and comfortable), Dawnflower House is the only one of the five to be run by actual clerics.
Little House (East Shore; G12): The smallest of Korvosa’s orphanages is also the newest. Administered by a philanthropic halfling named Bek Blerkian, the Little House focuses primarily on non-human orphans.
Jeggare Isle (Outskirts; G13): A single squat fort sits atop this low, rocky isle, its roof adorned with several siege engines. These days, Jeggare Isle is in large part a nostalgic historical site from the city’s violent past, and while its defenses still function, its skeleton crew can hardly man them with efficiency should the need arise.
Chelish Embassy (The Heights): This huge balsalt and obsidian-faced gothic complex is designed as much to intimidate as it is to negotiate. A twelve foot iron fence, topped with spear heads that drip blood, surrounds the perimeter of the complex, and a contingent of Hellknights is always on alert. The streetside in front is a popular place for protests against the actions of the Old Empire (real and imagined) and often even things unrelated to Cheliax.
Locations: Homes, Inns, Restaurants, and Taverns:
Homes: The cost of living in Korvosa varies widely depending on which neighborhood where one chooses to dwell. In a slum like Bridgefront or Ridgefield, one can get by on a few coppers a day or even squat in an abandoned house, while in affluent areas like South Shore or Citadel Crest, one can easily spend dozens of gold pieces a day on rent and food.
Inns and Taverns: Korvosa’s inns and taverns are organized into one of three categories: luxurious services, standard services, and squalid services.
Luxurious Services: These high-end inns and taverns have prices that are double those listed in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook for food, drink, and lodging, and there is no chance of a dangerous encounter while at such a location.
Standard Services: These locations feature standard prices. Normally, there’s effectively a 0% chance of a dangerous encounter at such a location.
Squalid Services: A squalid tavern or inn has prices that are half of those listed in the Core Rulebook, but there’s a 20% chance of a dangerous encounter here.
Arkona Palace (Old Korvosa; H1): This manor houses Old Korvosa’s de facto ruling family, the inscrutable, but feared, House Arkona.
Posh and Turtle (North Point; luxurious; H6): The Posh and Turtle is the finest inn and tavern in all of Korvosa. Upon entering the establishment, it is difficult not to notice the glass flooring overlooking a wide but shallow sea cave, within which lives a 20-foot-long sea turtle named Old Tom. The owner of the establishment, Thaviun Rigulus, is a noted wizard.
Laughing Wave Inn (North Point; standard; H7): The Laughing Wave is the oldest surviving inn on the mainland. It remains a favorite destination of visitors thanks to its long history and the legends surrounding the Barbarian Princess, the ghost of a Shoanti woman said to
appear on certain nights of the year.
Whitecaps (North Point; squalid; H8): Whitecaps is an inn more than a century past its prime. It looks old, it smells old, and it even feels old to those inside it.
Upslope House (The Heights; luxurious; H9): This fine inn can accommodate up to 22 people in its 10 rooms.
Frisky Unicorn (The Heights; standard, H10): The rooms in this comparatively low-priced (for the Heights) inn afford breathtaking views of Conqueror’s Bay.
Wise Dragon Inn (The Heights; luxurious; H11): Normally, this inn caters to students who haven’t yet secured housing at the Acadamae.
Tenna’s (The Heights; luxurious; H12): While it’s the most expensive inn in the Heights, Tenna’s makes up for its prices by offering the most amenities in Korvosa: scented baths, massages, manicures and pedicures, valets, and three lavish meals per day, to name the highlights.
Zellara’s Home (Midland; H15): This tidy home on Lancet street is the home of the fortune teller, Zellara.
Creaky Hammock (Midland; standard; H16): Decorated with a nautical theme, the Creaky Hammock tends to serve ships’ crews in port for a few days.
Bard’s End (Southern Korvosa; standard; H17): Standing just a block from Kendall Amphitheater, Korvosa’s largest inn provides a place to stay for those who have traveled long and far.
Leftover’s (East Shore; standard; H18): Leftover’s is East Shore’s only inn. It contains a dozen two-person rooms in addition to its large, cozy common room, and it charges standard rates.
Carowyn Manor (Southern Korvosa; H19): One of many of Korvosa’s high-class, expensive, and beautiful aristocratic estates, this stately, gabled estate along Shoreline Way serves as the in-town home of Olauren and Ausio, the heads of one of Krovosa's most illustrious families.
Sticky Mermaid (Old Korvosa; squalid; R1): A fixture of Old Dock for more than 2 centuries, the Sticky Mermaid is an unwholesome tavern that serves an unruly clientele made all the rougher by fishjack, a particularly potent spirit served only here and garnished with fermented eggs of Jeggare River salmon.
Jeggare’s Jug (Old Korvosa; squalid; R2): One of the many small pubs that fill Old Dock, Jeggy’s Jug (as it’s frequently called) maintains a not-always-peaceful rivalry with the Sticky Mermaid. The clientele at the Jug tends to be made up of cranky dockworkers and surly laborers.
Traveling Man (Old Korvosa; standard; R3): This small tavern’s main claim to fame is its proximity to the largest of the otyugh plugs used by the city to feed its sewer-cleaning “allies.”
Three Rings Tavern (North Point; standard; R4): This tavern is low-key and quiet, serving as much coffee and tea as mead and wine. In addition to its extensive variety of beverages—alcoholic and not—the Three Rings also gathers a regular breakfast clientele with its Varisian
sweetbreads and cream-filled pastries.
Jittery Quill (The Heights; standard; R5): This low-key establishment serves both ale and coffee, making it the favorite haunt of university students and faculty alike.
Overlook (The Heights; luxurious; R6): Teetering on a cliff edge, the Overlook gets a little closer to falling into the raging surf below every year due to erosion. This hint of danger carries over to the tavern’s signature offering: a drink called “this-’n’-that,” made
from whatever castoff or leftover ingredients happen to be on hand at the time.
Crested Falcon (The Heights; luxurious; R7): One of the most expensive restaurants (and easily the most overpriced) in Korvosa, the Crested Falcon’s extravagant (and pricey) menu changes each day.
Bailer’s Retreat (Midland; squalid; R8): This rough tavern is a favorite haunt of recently released prisoners from Citadel Volshyenek’s jails. Brawls, and resultant visits from the Korvosan Guard, are frequent occurrences here as a result.
Shoreline Drinkhall (East Shore; standard; R9): The most popular of the few taverns in East Shore, the Shoreline Drinkhall has a reputation for fair prices and stiff drinks, although its meal offerings taste more like military rations than tavern food.
Jade Circle (Southern Korvosa; luxurious; R10): Taking much of its decor from Tian Xia, the walls of this greenpainted, domed teahouse glitter like giant emeralds in the sun. By day, young nobles accompany their parents here for a spot of exotic fragrant teas, while by night, young bravos bolster their spirits with mulled wines and tales of derring-do.
Locations: Shops & Services:
Reefclaw Run Market (Old Korvosa; S1): Fresh seafood remains the order of the day at this market, as it has for almost 3 centuries.
Copper-Beater Hall (Old Korvosa; S2): A cooperative work space for small artisan coppersmiths.
Eel’s End (Old Korvosa; S3): Eel’s End is a tangle of five ships moored to at the eastern end of the Narrows, a clot of decommissioned crafts ruled by local crime lord and PC antagonist Gaedran Lamm, known to many as the King of Spiders.
Hessim, Newby, and Sage Paint Manufactory (Old Korvosa; S4): This building caters to Korvosa’s struggling artist community, offering hundreds of tiny jars and pots, brushes, canvases, and easels.
Giotorri’s Toys (Old Korvosa; S5): Located near Racker’s Alley, an area known to be a haven for illicit exchanges.
Ironworks (Old Korvosa; S6): More a factory than a smithy, the Ironworks focuses on simple and functional wrought-iron goods, emphasizing quantity over quality.
Dock Trade (North Point; S7): This market of questionable legality offers goods that appear brand new, although most have some amount of minor damage to them. Many of the merchants at the Dock Trade have ties to the Cerulean Society or other criminal organizations.
Lavender (The Heights; S9): Lavender is a relatively new establishment devoted to the sale of perfumes and other distractions aimed at the rich and elite.
Gilded Orrery (The Heights; S10): Specializing in magic items and texts in support of conjuring, the Gilded Orrery also stocks a wide selection of other magical wares and books of arcane lore.
Bookmaker (Midland; S11): Korvosa’s largest bookstore, this site also publishes its own small-press tomes on a wide range of specialized subjects written by local scholars.
Old Fishery (Midland; S12): Known primarily for producing low-cost, no-questions-asked fish slurry.
Gold Market (Midland; S13): Korvosa’s largest marketplace serves as the main attraction in Midland. All manner of foods and handicraft from Korvosa’s holdings and the rest of Varisia appear in the Gold Market.
Eodred’s Walk (Midland; S14): Fourteen shops form the semicircular face of Eodred’s Walk, offering a variety of goods and services, including books and maps, harrow readings, tack and barding, jewelry, minor magical trinkets, haberdashery, fishing supplies, bait, haircuts and grooming, knives, smoked foods, clocks and clockwork trinkets, trapping and hunting supplies, and watereddown alcohol.
Pestico’s Dolls and Figurines (Midland; S15): A doddering but gentle old man little more than a loud noise away from the grave, Vadid Pestico has lived and worked his entire life in Korvosa, crafting exquisite dolls for the city’s children.
Horse Shop (East Shore; S16): A no-frills shop (as its simple name testifies), this combination livery stable and equestrian supply shop has fair prices.
Orkatto’s Feathers and Fur (Southern Korvosa; S17): Animal collectors and wealthy nobles of South Gate acquire exotic pets or oddities to add to their menageries from Orkatto’s.
Green Market (Southern Korvosa; G18): This small, fully enclosed market specializes in food, clothing, and commodities that the residents of the city need to survive, but it also provides jewelry and other luxuries for the nobles of the city. Merchants here are expressly forbidden from selling weapons, armor, or magic items.
Locations: Schools & Temples:
Orisini Academy (Old Korvosa; T1): This famed sword school stands in the heart of the city’s ancient center district. Within its walls, men and women—mostly young scions of noble houses—practice the many elegant skills of fencing and the grandiose arts of mobile swordplay.
Endrin Military Academy (Old Korvosa; T2): These whitewashed buildings act as overflow barracks for Fort Korvosa’s small garrison of Korvosan Guards and Sable Company trainees, and also contains classrooms and sparring rings.
Bank of Abadar (North Point; T3): More than just a temple to the god of cities, the Bank of Abadar also serves as Korvosa’s main financial institution.
Sanctuary of Shelyn (North Point; T4): The Sanctuary of Shelyn is the smallest of the independent temples in the city.
Acadamae (The Heights; T5): Students of the Acadamae are expected to specialize in a school of magic, but the primary focus under the ever-scowling headmaster Toff Ornelos is conjuration.
University of Korvosa (The Heights; T6): While it pales next to the grandeur of the Acadamae, the University of Korvosa proudly offers classes in all manner of subjects, and its faculty members are eager to point out that they don’t limit their scholastic pursuits to only magic—a thinly veiled jibe at their greatest competitors.
Temple of Asmodeus (The Heights; T7): This starshaped temple hosts a relatively small number of priests.
Temple of Sarenrae (The Heights; T8): This many-turreted, whitemarble
temple houses the priesthood and has its hand in many of the charitable activities happening in the city.
Theumanexus College (East Shore; T9): This small school focuses on arcane magic, with a specific concentration on generalist magic that often puts its professors and students at odds with their competitors at
the Acadamae.
Pantheon of Many (Southern Korvosa; T10): The Pantheon of Many holds shrines to 17 different deities within its white-marbled walls. Of the 20 main deities of Golarion, only Gorum, Lamashtu, and Rovagug do not have shrines present, for these three deities have traditionally been unpopular in Korvosa. Of late, the shrine to Norgorber has gone untended as well.
Grand Cathedral of Pharasma (Southern Korvosa; T11): As in many cities, Pharasmins are the keepers of the dead and the monitors of fate in Korvosa.
Locations: Sites of Interest:
The Shingles: In many ways, the area known as the Shingles is like its own sub-ward of the city of Korvosa. Here, in shanties built atop roofs, on the upper floors of otherwise abandoned tenements, and amid jungles of chimneys, peaked roofs, and eroding gargoyles, are vagabonds, thieves, monsters, and other perils equal to those found in the most dangerous slums. Stirges and nests of imps haunt the gutters. The house drakes that lair here often cause nearly as many problems as the imps they seek to exterminate. Criminals use the Shingles as a highway to move about while remaining unseen by the Guard. Worst of all are the chokers—hideous aberrations with long, boneless arms—which have taken to the Shingles with tenacity, having resisted all eradication attempts. Stories of chokers reaching arms down through chimneys or upper windows are common and serve as the primary reason most citizens avoid going above the second floor in regions overshadowed by the Shingles.
The Vaults: Most cities have sewer systems of some sort. Some can even claim dungeons and deep caverns beneath them. Few cities, though, have a complex system of subterranean tunnels quite like the Vaults of Korvosa. Modern Korvosa stands atop the remains of at least two other civilizations and integrates both of them in its design. As a result, the origins of the Vaults of Korvosa can be divided into three primary categories.
Burial Mounds: The Shoanti who lived in Korvosa prior to its Chelish colonization dug tombs into the earth to bury their rulers, heroes, and shamans. The Korvosans then made these tunnels into sewers without any regard for the dead Shoanti buried there. Today, the sewers under much of mainland Korvosa make little sense, twisting randomly into numerous festering dead ends, thanks to the haphazard layout of the Shoanti burial mounds.
Sewage Tunnels: The most recent of the vaults are those constructed specifically to serve as sewer tunnels or storm drains. In many cases, the city’s architects took advantage of existing tunnels, repurposing them for this use. In others, though, relatively new brick-lined sewer tunnels adjoin or connect via these existing tunnels, with barred walls blocking off unexplored avenues.
Thassilonian Ruins: The oldest, deepest, and most dangerous of the vaults date back to Thassilon, when the region above served as the sprawling capital of the nation of Eurythnia, the realm of Runelord Sorshen. Many of these tunnels collapsed in the wake of Earthfall, but enough exist and maintain their links to the Darklands to ensure that the threats awaiting explorers here are the most dangerous of all those to be encountered in the Vaults of Korvosa.
Old City Hall (Old Korvosa; V1): This dark-brick building, sometimes affectionately called the Charcoal Palace, served as the city hall for 60 years, but it is largely abandoned today save for a tiny staff of caretakers.
Exemplary Execrables (Old Korvosa; V2): Refurbished with gaudy, gold-colored paint and massive glass “gems,” this looming building is the home of a perverse and detestable theater of all things foul, gore slicked, and unnaturally pornographic.
Temple of Aroden (Old Korvosa; V3): Old and crumbling, Korvosa’s Temple of Aroden has lost almost all of its former splendor.
Avenue of Arms (North Point; V5): This bizarre landmark of the city extends from just east of the Great Tower along the riverfront to Burnt Bridge Boulevard. All along the wide thoroughfare, exactly 127 human-looking stone arms reach up from the rocky soil along the road at an even distance. No two arms look the same, but despite variations, all of them have a few things in common: they face the same direction, with their elbows bending away from shore to point toward the road; they all look like the arms of human adults; all are evenly spaced at exactly 2 feet, 3-1/2 inches apart; and they share the strange Thassilonian feature of resisting erosion or vandalism. All attempts to learn more about these curiosities have met with failure, other than to confirm that the arms protrude from a single, solid length of buried basalt. Any attempt to dig up or damage the arms causes strange shrieks of pain and terror, as well as the welling up of brackish black water where the wound in the stone occurs. Damage inflicted on the arms heals over time. Today, the people of Korvosa have come to accept the Avenue of Arms as just another ancient curiosity—one that is better left alone.
Jeggare Museum (The Heights; V6): Built and operated by House Jeggare, this large museum displays hundreds of objects pulled from ruins and archaeological sites scattered across Varisia. Mercival Jeggare, the museum’s curator, happily buys treasures and items from “freelance treasure hunters” for reasonable prices.
Marbledome (The Heights; V7): This gleaming fixture is home to Korvosa’s opera company, a poorly managed affair known for producing mediocre performances that bleed gold.
Gatefoot (The Heights; V8): All that remains of what was once an immense statue of Runelord Sorshen is this well-proportioned but immense stone foot. As with all Thassilonian structures, old rumors hold that the foot marks the uppermost reaches of an extensive underground complex, yet no evidence of such has ever been found. To all appearances, the massive foot is nothing more than a remnant from a prior age.
Kendall Amphitheater (The Heights; V9): The church of Abadar and a team of dwarven architects repurposed a massive sinkhole here into a sprawling amphitheater. The sinkhole itself disgorged a large number of particularly aggressive ankhegs back in the day, a blight of monsters that was put down thanks to the heroism of Mina Kendall. She perished in the attempt, and the city honored her deed by naming the building after her.
Eodred’s Square (Midland; V10): Forming a plaza just past the west end of High Bridge, the square makes a popular venue that locals and visitors alike use to set up meetings or to simply orient themselves within the ward.
Pillar Wall (Southern Korvosa; V11): One of Korvosa’s many Thassilonian ruins, this row of 100-foot-tall stone pillars was once a small part of a much larger and more grandiose city defense, but it now serves as little more than a landmark.
Great Tomb of Leadership (Southern Korvosa; V12): One of the largest crypts in Gray is the Great Tomb of Leadership, a heavily secured and constantly guarded building that holds the bodies of past military leaders and the city’s most-decorated soldiers.
