The Naratyr Coldmarket
The Naratyr Coldmarket is a chaotic evil marketplace where stalls, buildings and pathways shift daily based on deals made, debts called in, and infernal whispers traded in the shadows. Vaguely resembling a spiderweb or pane of shattered glass, with a core made up of several black stone towers from which streets radiate and connect irregularly, it radiates the heart-cold of the frozen sea beneath the city, which wells up through the gaps in the mortar which are many and reach down to the ice below; the entire place shudders and vibrates with a low-frequency hum that emanates from the black towers.
The market is itself surrounded by the rest of the city; though exact locations change, the relative positions are fairly constant.
Items of note:
In a strange juxtaposition of an earthly market, one is much more likely to find rare and very rare items here than common or uncommon. Roll a D12:
- Regardless of the item's rarity or nature, it is not to be found in the Coldmarket today (for the next 12 hours minimum). Roll an additional D4; it will be here 1-next year, 2-next month, 3-next week, 4- tomorrow.
- A very rare item can be found for triple the normal price (1 soul coin = 1000 gp, so mimimum 30 coins)
- A very rare item, at double price (20 coins)
- 4+ a very rare item at normal price or better.
- A rare or very rare item; rares will be triple normal price (3 coins minimum)
- rare or very rare, rares at double price (2 coins minimum)
- rare or very rare at normal price, legendary/artifact at double price (200 coins minimum)
- rare, very rare or legendary/artifact at normal price (1, 10, 100 coins minimum)
- rare, very rare, legendary/artifact or uncommon. uncommon at triple price (3 soul brass minimum)
- All types, normal prices except uncommons at double (2 soul brass) and commons at triple price (3 pips minimum)
- All types, normal prices except commons doubled
- All types. normal prices.
Currently available without a check:
| Item and cost | Description |
|---|---|
| Dust of False Death - 5 pips | Allows a creature to appear dead for 12 hours, useful for faking assassinations. More of a novelty here where nothing is alive to begin with other than Drow and some tourists. |
| Glamerweave Cloak - (Uncommon Glamerweave) - 3 pips | A richly woven cape that shifts with the wearer’s mood as desired as a bonus action, always pristine and luxurious. |
| Bloodveil Chalice - 6 pips | Liquefies powdered blood and flavors the blood drunk from it to taste like any type of wine as the drinker wishes. |
| Handmirror of Some Untruths - 1 brass | Works as a handmirror vampires can see themselves in, but can also show a near-future event that will not happen. Player rolls a D20 and inverts it; a 1 becomes a 20, the most dramatic reversal; a 2 is a 19, a 3 is a 17 and so on. The player can then use this inverted roll, or use a reaction to assign it to any ally or enemy in combat, until their next long rest or 24 hours, whichever comes first.. On a roll of a 10 or 11, the player rolls again when using or assigning the roll, and can decide whether to use the original or the re-rolled result. |
| Censer of Stillness - 2 brass | When swung as an action or bonus action, negates all sound within 15ft of the item, preventing thunder damage & verbal spellcasting. Note that it takes 1 hand to operate and only lasts while being swung - attacking with a 2 handed weapon or switching weapons will likely mean you have to stop swinging it. |
| Mask of the Nameless - 1 brass | A gold funerary mask that renders the wearer unrecognizable to those who have met them before. Many of the Mummies of Naratyr go around with one of these on. |
| Urn of the Dead Sands - 4 brass | A small urn of cursed desert sand—spilling it as an action creates difficult terrain for 1 minute in a 10x10 space within 20' for non-undead. It can be magically returned to the urn as a bonus action simply by setting the urn down with the lid off. If the sand is somehow lost or left behind, for instance, dumped into the sea, it can be replaced by setting the urn with the lid off in normal sand over the course of 1 week. |
| Purgative Bindings - 5 pips | This roll of blasphemed linen will convert a normal skeleton or zombie into a regular (CR3) mummy if left wrapped in the dark and undisturbed for 24 hours. Rumor has it that it can also work on a vampire but must be left in place for a much longer time. |
| Soul Coin Shield - 70 Iron - Very Rare, requires (A)ttunement - 70 Iron | This shield is made of fused and welded soil coins over a black iron core, offering +2 additional AC and reflecting psychic damage back on attackers if they are within 20'. Magic attacks made by the attuned wielder that cause psychic damage have advantage on spell attack rolls and impose disadvantage on saves. Because of the mental and physical weight of the shield, it requires a 14 STR and WIS and gives the wielder the armored condition (interfering with abilities and effects that require unarmored conditions) |
Purpose / Function
In addition to being the only convenient place to resupply or trade items in the city, the market is also a direct conduit to the Abyssal Credit Bank which in turn is connected to the Cathedral of No Gods and the Abyssal Soul Coin Foundry, carrying Orcus' soul coinage in 3 denominations:
- Pips, which are pieces of soul brass each equivalent to individual acts of malice, cruelty or selfishness by chaotic evil mortals, worth about 10 gold each;
- Soul Brass, which are the memories of crimes and tortures suffered or committed, and worth about 100 gold each;
- Black Iron Soul Coins, which are the imprisoned individual mortal souls of chaotic evil mortals, trading at 1000 gold or more each. Of course the exchange rate is whatever the buyer and seller agree on for a particular item or service.
Most 'precious' metals including gold are worthless in the Abyss, as conjuration makes them trivially easy to acquire, but fine cut gems and works of art do have value based on their craftsmanship, rather than their value. The exception to this is Abyssal Black Iron, which is valuable mostly because it's a necessary ingredient in minted coin, and too valuable to be used even in lesser denominations without a soul, memory or sin infused into it. The metal is mined under the Final Peaks in slave mines still controlled by the Fiend Drow, aligned with either Lolth or Kiaransalee, who both seek to seize Naratyr, and who Orcus and his minions seek to overthrow and deprive of their resource.
The marketplace caters to a bizarre mix of clientele, including a dizzying array of local sentient undead, who align with either the (wet, noisy) vampires or the (dry, silent) mummies depending on their nature, or fiends of all descriptions, mostly of a CE bent but a few Yugoloths, Devils and unaffiliated evil creatures in the mix who sometimes pass through the city. The Drow are occasionally welcomed, but usually prohibited by agents of the Executor of Treasonous Thought, however the merchants themselves are there to sell to anyone with anything valuable to trade, including soul coins, their own souls, services of all kinds, lands, promises, secrets, or anything else for which a value can be agreed on.
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