Every week, hundreds of miners boil up from the depths, their pockets lined with freshly earned coin. The Emporium exists to seperate the men from the money, and at this it is a paramount among Cragmire's diverse buisinesses. Ten years ago it was simply Zalamandra's, one of a dozen vice dens along the Vein. Its ill fortunes changed the day its charismatic young madam suduced Professor
Montague Marat, proprietor off a travelling sideshow and curiosity collection passing through Cragmire. The two soon joined forces, and a cavalcade of freaks and eccentrics moved into the building's lower floor. Thus was born Zalamandra's Emporium, and Cragmaw has never been the same.
Upon entering, visitors encounter a small desk station manned by a grinning businesslike attendant named
Gaspar. The thin, balding man smiles wryly at all times, a gesture accentuated by his upcurled moustache. The house charges three coppers for access to the "Gallery of Science" along the first floor's central corrido, and three silver for access ot the lushly decorated upper floor, which features a large gaming hall, and exclusive entertainment club, and the inffamous Veiled Corridor, where any pleasure may be obtained for the right price.
The private chambers of the Veiled Corridor are frequented by the community's elite, including the mayor, sheriff, most of the mine managers, and several prominent merchants.
Zalamandra does not tolerate blackmailers among her staff, but nonetheless keeps a mental file of the predilections and preferences of all her prominent customers, silently wielding this knowledge as an anvil over the heads of potential political enemies. That she has not yet been assassinated is a tribute to her considerable political skills and to the shielding influence of Professor Marat's motley assembly of living oddities.
Although the professor himself abandoned Cragmaw three years ago, nearly a dozen of his former employees remain at the Emporium, making more money here than they ever did on the road. Foremost among these nonesuches is the affable
Shag Solomon, and aristocratic shaggy "wild man" from the north. Solomon's vicious teeth and jagged claws contrast with his shabby gentleman's garb and cultured demeanor. When not on display, he frequents the opium lounge upstairs, where the wealthier patrons adore his clever stories.
Other attractions include the misshapen contortionist
Tom Shingle, the combustible magician
Ariello Klin, a two-headed calf named Esmerelda Jr, and the alluring
Chezabet, who read fortunes using a replica deck of many things.
The Emporium offers several rotating games of chance, with the most popular being Dragonfire (an ante-based card game(, Norebonne (a polyhedral dice game), and a contest known simply as the Rat Game, in which four rats scurry to be the first through an open-topped maze. When the winner reaches the labyrinth's central chamber, an attendant injects it with a serum that immediately triggers a rabid frenzy. At this time, four doors built into the sides of the maze slide open, revealing four Tiny Spear-weilding Jermaline. Patrons wager on all aspects of the esuing melee.
Folk of all social classes flock to the Emporium throughout the day and night. Because
Zalamandra tolerates absolutely no conflict within her walls, even sworn enemies must treat each other respectfully in the Emporium or risk the attentions of
Kulag, the establishment's imposing bouncer.
| Item |
Price |
| Ground Floor "Gallery of Science" |
3 cp |
| Upper Floor |
3 sp |
| Ale |
1 sp |
| Wine (glass) |
5 sp |
| Wine (bottle) |
5 gp |
| Fine Meal |
1 gp |
| Feast |
10 gp |
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