Population: 6,800
Overview: Droaamite trade center, House Tharashk stronghold
Key NPCs: Governor Xor’chylic (male illithid governor), Bahiri (male goblin chef), Jabra (female night hag alchemist), Kundran Torrn (male orc administrator), Zerasha (female medusa priest)
Graywall is the gateway to Droaam, the first town you’ll come across when you take the newly upgraded Westroad from Quickstone into the kingdom of monsters. It thrives in its role as a border town; it has a foreign quarter devoted to the needs of visitors from the east, and it’s actively expanding. In many ways, Graywall is a model for the vision the Daughters of Sora Kell have for Droaam; a host of different species working together to build something durable, a place where the people of the Five Nations can meet and trade with the creatures they once feared. This has been bolstered by the investment of a number of dragonmarked houses. House Tharashk has established a major enclave in Graywall, the hub for its monstrous mercenaries. House Ghallanda has established a luxurious hotel grander than any Gold Dragon Inn. And yet, this is still Droaam. Graywall isn’t governed by the laws of the Thronehold nations. It’s a haven for fugitives from the east, whether they’re political dissidents, deserters, dangerous criminals, or all three at once. Its residents are dangerous and many have no love for humans and their kin. House Kundarak abandoned its plans for an enclave in Graywall, concluding it was impossible to ensure security in the city; now they are building their vaults in the Brelish town of Quickstone. So Graywall may be the safest place to interact with the residents of Droaam… but ‘safest’ is a far cry from ‘safe.’
Graywall presents a host of interesting opportunities. Gnoll hunters, goblin scavengers, and tiefling merchants from the Venomous Demesne sell their goods in the market of Bloodstone, while the faithful offer prayers to the Dark Six on the Street of Shadows. Graywall is the place where your bard can challenge a harpy songbird to a vocal duel, where your warlock can discuss the ways of the archfey with a night hag, or where you can engage in diplomacy with the mind flayer who governs the city. There may be a thousand ways to die in Graywall, but there are also opportunities you won’t find anywhere else.
A mind flayer named Xor’chylic governs Graywall on behalf of the Daughters of Sora Kell. Order is maintained by Xor’chylic’s Flayer Guard and by a troop of Znir gnolls, but this is frontier justice. The Flayer Guard protects the interests of the city and of the governor: They don’t care what happens to you. If a Brelish veteran picks a fight with a Karrnathi war criminal, onlookers will place bets on the outcome and argue about who gets to eat the loser. Things are a little better in the foreign quarter known as the Calabas, where House Tharashk keeps the peace. But Graywall is no place for the timid. If you’re not ready to spit in a troll’s eye and dare her to make the first move, perhaps you should stay in Quickstone.
Graywall is built on ancient Dhakaani foundations. It’s actively expanding, and most of the Droaamites who live in Graywall are part of this process. Goblins and orcs work in the quarries, while medusa architects direct ogre work crews hauling stone and building walls. Laborers work in exchange for food and shelter, and out of pride for the growing power of their young nation. Most of the laborers live in mass dormitories, and eat at one of two vast dining halls known as “grist mills.” There are a handful of inns for transients and visitors, as well as tenements for residents with means. Overall, Graywall is dedicated to the business of expanding Graywall, but it is also designed to be a place where the people of Droaam can do business with merchants and travelers from the east, and there are plenty of opportunities to spend gold or teeth.
Graywall is divided into four quarters, each of which caters to a particular population. Here’s an overview of the four.
The largest district in Graywall, Bloodstone, is home to most of the industry and businesses in Graywall, from the dormitories housing laborers to massive tanneries and slaughterhouses. Most of the medium and large-sized inhabitants of the city live here. This includes orcs, minotaurs, and ogres, but also changelings, tieflings, medusas, harpies, worgs, and more. It’s a haven for people from the Five Nations who need to avoid their former compatriots, but if you’re going to spend time in Bloodstone, you’d best be prepared to defend yourself. As an easterner, you may not be attacked without reason, but you can be sure that there are plenty of Droaamites who are looking for a reason.
Bloodstone takes its name from the red stone (also known as quickstone) used in many of its buildings. It’s constantly expanding and evolving; businesses can spring up or disappear with little notice. Here are a few noteworthy locations.
The Arena. The denizens of Droaam are always eager to watch a good fight, and there’s almost always some action going on at the Bloodstone arena. Condemned criminals are often tasked to serve a sentence in the arena, potentially buying back their freedom if they can survive long enough. Gladiatorial combat is a thriving form of entertainment; such matches aren’t necessarily fatal to the contenders, though crippling injuries or death are always an exciting possibility.
The Bloody Market. The open market of Bloodstone hosts a vast assortment of often unsavory merchants. Honest traders from the Five Nations will usually conduct their business in the Calabas, but the Bloody Market is the perfect place for brigands to offload their loot or for kobold scavengers to sell trinkets retrieved from Dhakaani ruins. If you’re looking for Shiftweave from the changeling village of Lost, Znir metalwork, or new barding for your worg friend, the Bloody Market is the place for you.
The Broken Sword. This tavern caters to former soldiers of the eastern nations: deserters from the Five Nations, Tairnadal revenant blades, Darguul chainmasters, and more. It’s a haven for expatriates; patrons are expected to leave their national feuds outside, and should anyone start a fight—especially a Sentinel Marshal or bounty hunter—everyone is expected to lend a hand to bring down the instigator. This is where you can find that Karrnathi bone knight who killed your brother, but don’t start a fight at the bar. The bartender is a Cyran warforged named Maul, who also serves as the bouncer; the owner prefers to remain anonymous.
Challenge Rings. If you want a spectacle, go to the arena. But if you’re just looking for a fight or a challenge in Bloodstone, you’ve got a lot of options. Rough circles are etched into the ground at many major intersections—circles marked with dried blood, char marks, and pieces of broken statues.
At any time, you could see ogres straining under the weight of heavy objects, kobolds matching insults and sorcerous power, or changelings engaged in a complex duel of shifting shapes. Minotaurs and ogres often compete in wrestling matches that end when one of the contestants is forced out of the ring.
The Labyrinth. If you’re looking for local flavor, the Labyrinth is the inn for you. A mine that ran dry centuries ago, it’s been converted by a family of minotaurs into a tavern and boardinghouse. The rooms are spread out through the maze of tunnels that gives the inn its name. It’s on the austere side of modest living, but if you’re looking for privacy, it can’t be beat.
The Skin Factory. This is the general name for the mass of slaughterhouses, butchers, and tanners found on the edge of Bloodstone. The orcs of Horac’s Hides produce excellent leather armors, and there’s a dizzying—and possibly disturbing—array of rations and preserved meats available here.
The Street of Shadows. While the Cazhaak interpretation of the Dark Six is the most common faith in Droaam, it’s not the only one. The Street of Shadows contains a host of shrines, icons, and altars. A handful of different idols of the Horned King stand across from a Znir cairn, and the wind whistles through a harpy shrine to the First Song. The street comes to an end at a small, windowless temple of black stone. Known as the Eye of the Shadow, this is the home of the medusa priest Zerasha and hosts the services of the Cazhaak faith.
The Venomous Voice. The bards of Sharn gather in the Golden Horn; the harpies of Graywall roost at the Venomous Voice. While the Voice only rents rooms to harpies, anyone can come to listen to the performances—though a duel between songbirds can be a maddening experience for the unprepared. In addition to musical duels and performances by harpy virtuosos, the Venomous Voice hosts spectacular storytellers and training sessions for novice songbirds. The roost is owned by Zoryanna of the Last Dirge, who many consider to be a voice of the Fury.
The Daughters of Sora Kell are interested in trade with the nations of the east, and they’ve worked with House Tharashk to create the Calabas—a little piece of the Five Nations tucked into a corner of Graywall. While there are a significant number of orcs and half-orcs in the Calabas—scions and servants of House Tharashk—the other Droaamite residents of the city largely shun the Calabas (a Goblin word meaning “kennel”). Tharashk guards maintain order, and there are no challenge rings or brawling in the streets. The architecture feels familiar and comforting to people from the Five Nations, and signs posted in the Common tongue can be seen around the district.
The Calabas is a small district, organized around a central plaza known as the Roar—a reference to the snarling dragonne statue at its center. Most of the businesses in the district are clustered around the Roar. Hahlo’s is a small Jorasco healing house. Mundane goods can be acquired at Vorgath’s General Store, while Far Davandi is a haberdasher catering to expatriates, capable of reproducing the styles of any of the Five Nations. The Merry Marcher is a tavern specializing in the cuisine and spirits of the Shadow Marches, while the ubiquitous Gold Dragon Inn serves exactly the same cuisine you can find at any Gold Dragon Inn anywhere in Khorvaire. The Cracked Keg is a tavern that gives merchants a chance to sample—and purchase—powerful Droaamite spirits. The owner—a dwarf named Banor Blackbarrel—is generally known to be a smuggler with connections to the Pennyroyals of Quickstone. House Orien maintains a small station to resupply coaches and caravans passing through, though house diplomacy is now conducted in the town of Quickstone. Here are a few of the other important businesses in the Calabas.
House Kundarak and Sivis. After a series of disastrous robberies—including one rumored to have involved an actual hacking of the extradimensional Kundarak vault network by thieves from the Venomous Demesne—Kundarak has scaled back its services in Graywall. It maintains a single mundane vault and offers letters of credit and money-changing services, but keeps limited funds on site and is no longer tied to the vault network. House Sivis provides scribing services and maintains a Speaking Stone in the Kundarak bank.
House Tharashk. The fortress enclave of House Tharashk takes up an entire side of the square around the Roar. It is the largest Tharashk enclave outside of Zarash’ak. Since the rise of Droaam, House Tharashk has been brokering the services of monstrous mercenaries; this enclave serves as both a recruiting office and a training center, ensuring that their monstrous contractors are familiar with the customs of the Five Nations. As Tharashk is charged with enforcing the law within the Calabas, the Roar enclave also contains an audience chamber that doubles as a courtroom. While the mercenary trade is the greatest focus of the enclave, it pursues Tharashk’s other interests as well, selling the services of bounty hunters and inquisitives and supporting Tharashk prospectors.
The House of the Nine. This humble inn serves as Graywall’s sole temple to the Sovereign Host. The food and lodging are modest, but Channa Perryn blesses each meal, and Cord Perryn performs Vassal services in the back room. The Perryns aren’t spellcasters, but they can offer sanctuary and spiritual guidance to Vassals and could potentially have divine visions.
The Silenced Stage. This playhouse specializes in works that have been banned in the Five Nations, along with the new creations of exiled and expatriate artists. It is quickly becoming one of the major tourist attractions in Graywall, drawing patrons from as far away as Fairhaven and Korth. Star performers include Laren Devir, a Brelish playwright known for his sympathies for the Swords of Liberty; half-elf Asta Brand, a Karrnathi singer-songwriter whose opera “Army of the Damned’’ is a bitter condemnation of both the Code of Kaius and the Karrnathi use of undead soldiers; and Syro Talandro, a changeling from Thrane renowned for their solo performances and their warnings about the Shadow in the Flame. If you’re an Entertainer with a checkered past of your own, you might be invited to perform at the Silenced Stage!
The Twilight Palace. Unquestionably the grandest hotel on the Western Frontier, the Twilight Palace is luxurious even by the standards of Sharn and Fairhaven. A joint venture of House Ghallanda and House Phiarlan, it was built on the belief that a prosperous Droaam will result in a wave of merchants who will be happy to have a taste of comfort in this harsh land. While it has a few “budget” rooms of comfortable quality, the standard services of the Twilight Palace are aimed at people who maintain a wealthy lifestyle, while the top floor is devoted to aristocratic suites. Beyond the comforts of the rooms, Phiarlan entertainers perform classic works from the golden age of Galifar and Ghallanda chefs provide food in the finest styles of the Five Nations; it’s got everything you need to forget that you’re in Droaam for an evening.
While Graywall wears the trappings of trade, the Karda is a reminder that it is ever ready for war. This small district is a walled fortress, housing the soldiers of the Flayer Guard and a garrison of Znir mercenaries. Though the gates are open, the only reasons guards have for allowing easterners into the Karda is if they have approved business with Governor Xor’chylic or if they’re prisoners; the Last Tower serves as courthouse and prison for Graywall, and public executions are conducted in front of the tower. While there are smiths and stables in the Karda, all services are devoted to the upkeep of the Flayer Guard and ensuring that Graywall is ready for any unexpected hostilities.
The mind flayer Xor’chylic dwells in the central keep, looking down on Graywall from his high tower. Xor’chylic had a hand in designing the Karda, and there is something subtly unsettling about the architecture. If you’re familiar with psionic tools, you might spot traces of psiactive sentira in the walls, and recognize that the governor feeds on the fears of his subjects and prisoners.
Most of Graywall is designed for the comfort of orcs and ogres, creatures of medium and large size. However, a significant portion of Droaam’s population and workforce are goblins and kobolds. Ogres perform heavy labor and orcs work in the quarries and mines, but it’s the goblins who perform much of the more delicate work; goblins serve as carpenters, tailors, potters, painters, custodians, and more. Khaar’paal elders work with the kobolds to identify those with sorcerous talents and train them as magewrights. Workhouses often have halls and doorways high enough for ogres to haul out carts, but everything else about Sar Kuraath—from the furniture to the flagons at Bahiri’s—are designed for small creatures.
Workhouses and dormitories comprise the bulk of Sar Kuraath. Established clans of goblins and kobolds—including the Bone Crows, the Hammer-Knockers, the Hidden Hands, the Stonebreakers, and others—have their own dedicated dormitories, but there are also tenements inhabited by the goblins who have no loyalty beyond Droaam… people who were once oppressed by ogre or minotaur chibs, and who have found new freedoms under the rule of the Daughters of Sora Kell. While there are some feuds and rivalries between clans and families, the people of Sar Kuraath are proud of their freedom and the role they have to play in Droaam’s future, and they will unite to deal with any outsiders who start causing trouble in the district.
The grist mill in Sar Kuraath provides free meals for workers, and most of the inhabitants dine there. However, there is one especially remarkable inn that has a reputation even beyond Graywall. Bahiri is a goblin chef who has perfected not just goblin and kobold cuisines, but also a number of Talentan dishes; some say that the halfling cooks at the Twilight Palace come to Bahiri’s for the orastaca (a tender lizard-meat stew). There are a few modest rooms at Bahiri’s, and these are usually occupied by gnome or halfling travelers and expatriates. Some people believe that Bahiri’s is a center for intrigue, that the Trust and the goblin spies known as the Silent Folk both run operations out of this inn; however, it’s likely these rumors are largely exaggerated.
Graywall is one of the largest towns on the Western Frontier and boasts a host of colorful characters. If you’re a Talentan halfling, you’ve surely heard of the wonders of Bahiri’s kitchen. But there are four individuals who are known across the wider frontier.
Governor Xor’chylic. Giants, minotaurs, medusas—these are all well known in Droaam. But a mind flayer is a horror even to the denizens of this nation of monsters. The common story is that the Daughters of Sora Kell recovered Xor’chylic from the goblin ruins below Graywall, where he had been imprisoned by his own kind. He is thought to be truly ancient—perhaps even a survivor of the original force that destroyed the Empire of Dhakaan. Only Xor’chylic knows the truth of these rumors, but he certainly enjoys the fear he inspires in others. His mental powers are impressive even for a mind flayer; it’s said that he can plant fears in the minds of people who anger him, or subtly reshape the memories of people in his presence.
Jabra. The night hag Jabra is an alchemist and purveyor of wondrous goods. She sells traditional potions, but she also peddles her own unique concoctions—along with bottled dreams and nightmares, which she often claims as an additional charge for her goods. She has an ever-changing collection of trinkets and magical items, and some say she bargains with beings from other planes. Jabra is said to deal fairly with her customers, but she often asks for unorthodox payments; stories suggest that she can actually deal in luck, or buy years of your life. Jabra sells her goods out of a red tent, but she moves around Graywall and often vanishes for days or weeks.
Viceroy Kundran Torrn. As a viceroy of House Tharashk, Kundran Torrn holds the power of the law in the Calabas. However, he has also managed to win the respect and even affection of people across Graywall, especially the local orcs. Torrn has been a generous ally to the town, and he has impressed many with his good humor and his willingness to engage in tests of strength and endurance in the challenge rings of Bloodstone. Of course, there’s at least a chance that Kundran’s charm and courage are a carefully managed front. Graywall is an important foothold for Tharashk, and while Kundran surely is bold and strong, it’s quite possible he’s clever enough to have staged a few victories to help bolster his reputation.
Zerasha. This black-scaled medusa priest is beloved of the Shadow, or so the faithful believe. She knows dangerous secrets; some say that she sees your greatest shame the moment she lays her eyes upon you. She is a powerful spellcaster capable of raising the dead, and she can teach esoteric secrets of magic—but her gifts always have a high price. Zerasha is held in high regard by the Droaamite citizens of Graywall, both for her power and her wisdom. While she generally supports the Daughters of Sora Kell and their vision for Droaam, there is no question that she is loyal first to the Shadow and next to Queen Sheshka of Cazhaak Draal. If you’ve ever met Zerasha, what secret did she share with you?