Dock Ward

Ports, by their very nature, are unclean, noisy, crowded, and constantly busy places where few outsiders are welcome. Waterdeep's Dock Ward fits this mold, though its notoriety and bedlam are, if nothing else, slightly muted by the tales told up and down the Sword Coast. It was best described, by a wizard of no little note, as a riotous, semi-stationary but nigh-perpetual brawl that covers entire acres and is interrupted only by small buildings, intermittent trade business, an errant dog or two, and a few brave watchmen (who do manage to keep the chaos from spreading beyond the docks), the whole lot wallowing in the stench of rotting fish. Still, in all, twas quite a lusty, intriguing place to spend an evening.

City watch patrols and guard contingents keep this ward in a semblance of order, traveling in well-armed groups of eight during the day and groups of twelve or more after dusk. Many of the roads are gravel-packed dirt, once the docks and cobblestone access roads to the Way of the Dragon are left behind. The dark, mud-strewn alleys are endless in Dock Ward, and they hide many dangers, despite the alertness of Waterdeep's defenders, so travel in large, heavily armed groups if you must.

Dock Ward's boundaries, quickly stated, are the harbor and the southern boundaries of Castle and Trades Wards. The northern boundary runs north and east on Lackpurse Lane to Belnimbra's Street, over and down Gut Alley, and turns east to Shesstra's Street. Moving east and turning south onto Book Street, the boundary moves east again on Drakiir Street until it meets the Way of the Dragon, the eastern perimeter of Dock Ward. The southern border of the ward is, of course, the docks and the harbor.

Demographics

Residences

Private Homes

• None

Government

• Cookhouse Hall: City Guard Mess Hall

Defences

City watch patrols are detailed on page 17 of FR1 Waterdeep and the North. They pass a given point about every 20 minutes and look into a tavern or inn dining room about every half-hour.

As detailed on pages 20-22 and 23 of the City System boxed set booklet, the city guard also patrols Dock Ward in 12-man detachments. Typical patrol details are as given on page 23. Reinforcements will be another dozen LG hm F3s to F6s clad in chain mail and armed with maces, long swords, daggers, slings, and a pole arm appropriate to the situation.

Guard patrols pass a given street location about every half-hour. They appear in 2d4 minutes when a city watch patrol blows a warning horn in Dock Ward.

Watch of Dock Ward Wardsman: Thul Artuir (Castle Waterdeep • 5th Floor)

• Belnimbra's Watchpost: Rorden: Tirul Thelance • 5 patrols
• Cedar St. Watchpost: Rorden: Celestine Gundavil • 6 patrols
• Drawn Sword Watchpost: Rorden: Stury Durleer • 6 patrols
• Sixcasks Watchpost: Rorden: Chasnera Hluldiir • 7 patrols
• Slut St. Watchpost: Rorden: Särkor Thoolussz • 5 patrols

Infrastructure

Alleys & Courts

• Fishgut Court: A cobblestone court off Sail and Dock Streets where many strange happenings occur during nights of the full moon. Many know that Selûne herself hid in a mortal form in the tavern nearby, and her blessings continue to touch the courtyard.
• Smuggler's Dock: The most isolated corner of the ward and also its safest, under the watchful eyes of Mirt's Mansion and the Watching Tower, used often for lovers' rendezvous.
• Black Well Court: The small back-alley home to a polluted, monster-infested well that is sealed by order of the Lords, though it is occasionally broken into – or out of – and creatures haunt the shadows here before they are dealt with and the well re-sealed.
• Manysteps Alley: A narrow alley that is the habitat of soothsayers, fortune tellers and thieves galore.
• Melinter's Court: A dark courtyard often thick with the pipe smoke of curbside philosophers and corner sages (and sometimes the plotting of wizards).
• Philosophers' Court: Also known by natives as "the Foolsquare", a daily (and often nightly) meeting place for intellectuals, old sages and drunken nobles alike found arguing over topics "too esoteric for a common mind".
• Round Again Alley: An alley that doubles back on itself and provides a testing ground for many apprentices' illusions.
• Three Thrown Daggers Alley: An alley that suffers from a magical curse that causes three random blades to fly from nowhere to attack passersby in the alley.

Assets

Businesses

• Arnagus Shipwrights: Shop (Ships) The longest-existing company of shipwrights in Waterdeep.
• Aurora's Slut Street Shop: Shop (General Goods)  The Slut Street Catalog Counter of Aurora's Whole Realms Shop.
• The Fishscale Smithy: Shop (Blacksmith)
• Horizon's Sails: Shop (Maps, Charts & Logbooks)
• House of Pride Perfumes: Shop (Perfume) (4c). A veritable glass jungle of bottles filled with exotic perfumes and other scents.
• The Old Xoblob Shop: Shop (Adventuring Curios) (4c). A curio shop famous in the city for battle trophies from places far and near (especially Undermountain). Currently owned by a deep gnome who calls himself Xoblob, though the name certainly predates him.
• Ralagut's Wheelhouse: Shop (Shipboard Goods)
• Serpentil Books & Folios: Shop (Books) (4c). An exclusive and expensive shop that traffics in all manner of maps, charts, and books, though not magical tomes for sale unless you've one to trade.
• The Smokehouse: Smokehouse. Used by both the Fishmongers' and Butchers' guilds, this rare one-story brick smokehouse almost always smells of curing meats or fish.
• Whistling Blades: Shop (Blades). A shop that specializes in daggers, blades, and knives.

Warehouses

• Dawnharbor Storage: Rental Warehouse
• El Erat Imports: Warehouse (Imports)
• Fellowship Storage: Warehouse (Fishmongers Fellowship)
• Gullcry Warehouse: Warehouse
• House of Tarmagus: Warehouse
• Kavingarde Warehouse: Warehouse

Nightlife

Inns

• Shipmaster's Hall: Inn (sea captains). A private inn and dining club for captains, first mates and ship owners and their guests, with an interior elegance that far outweighs its exterior. It is sponsored by the Master Mariners' Guild.
• The Ship's Prow: Inn (3c•5a). An inn well known among sailors of the Sword Coast and easily found as it is actually a converted ship's prow that now juts into Fish Street and Ship Street. The prices and services in this four-story inn are reasonable, though its clientele often isn't.
• The Rearing Hippocampus: Inn (4c•3a)
• The Sleeping Snake: Tavern & Inn (barely) (3c•2p•2a)
• Stormcloak Inn: Inn (1c • 1a). The Stormcloak is a run-down ramshackle inn whose rooms are filthy and taproom filled with street thugs and drunken sailors.

Taverns

• The Angry Coxswain: Tavern
• Azuth's Mug: Tavern (3c•2p)
• The Bloody Fist: Tavern (Dive) (2c•1p)
• The Blue Mermaid: Tavern (3c•2p)
• The Dancing Pony: Tavern (2c•1p)
• The Friendly Flounder: Tavern (3c•3p). A local tavern that thrives on simple seafood fare, favored by the locals and almost unknown to visitors.
• Full Sails Tavern: Tavern, Guild HQ: Most Diligent League of Sailmakers & Cordwainers. A merry, bright tavern on Net Street at the docks, with its upstairs space acting as meeting and storage space for the sailmakers' guild.
• The Grog House: Tavern (1c•1p). Often called a "swill hall" by those who've heard of it, it is a place that literally does nothing else but serve terribly cheap alcoholic swill for sailors to drink away their coins. It offers no accommodations, but no one cares if its patrons pass out under their tables.
• The Keelhauled Dwarf: Tavern (2c•1p). A tavern in the basements of the House of Tarmagus (a rental warehouse complex), with low ceilings, good dwarf-brewed ale, and a dark, smoky ambiance.
• The Knight 'n Shadow: Tavern (1c•1p). A run-down, dingy tavern with a long, poorly lit staircase that descends into Downshadow below, a portion of Undermountain that some Waterdhavians down on their luck or on the run from the law have laid claim to. A squatting ground for unsuccessful treasure hunters, coin-shy adventurers, and other criminals.
• Muleskull Tavern: Tavern; Guild HQ: Dungsweepers' Guild
• Selune's Smile: Tavern
• The Thirsty Throat: Tavern (2c•2p). A ramshackle dive known for its massive tankards of cheap ale and its taproom full of quiet drinking men.

Festhalls

• The Copper Cup: Inn, Festhall (4c•3p•2a). Three old three- and four-story warehouses linked and converted into one of Waterdeep's busiest and most famous nightlife spots.
• The Mermaid's Arms: Inn, Festhall (3c•3p•3a)
• Three Pearls Nightclub: Nightclub (4c). A popular festhall with nightly stage acts such as comedians, trained animal acts, illusionists' displays, recitals by famed bards and orators and exotic dance.
• The Hanging Lantern: Festhall (4c). A festhall famed for its stunning escorts and its skilled matchmakers, as well as a side business in costume rental.
• The Smiling Succubus: Festhall (2c)
• Tarstroun's: Gambling Den (3c) & Moneylender A notorious gambling den and money-lender for those who are desperate or down on their luck. Known to have rooms for rent above the main floor.

Guilds and Factions

Temples

• Starry Cradles Orphanage: A Selûnite-sponsored orphanage.
• Wavehall of Valkur: Temple to Valkur

Guildhalls

• The Butcher's Guildhall: Guild of Butchers. A recently renovated timber-frame two-story guild house with an available cold cellar for the guild members' overstock.
• League Hall: League of Skinners & Tanners. A large tannery with an upper-level tavern for the business of the League.
• Mariner's Hall: Master Mariners' Guild. A lavish two-story wattle-and-daub building just off the Way of the Dragon that puts up many a visiting ship's captain during and after guild business.
• Waterman's Hall: Guild of Watermen. A boat- and warehouse that serves as their headquarters, the boathouse for their skiffs and ferries, and storage for any all flotsam and jetsam found while keeping the harbor clear.
• Seaswealth Hall: Fishmongers' Fellowship
• Full Sails Tavern: Most Diligent League of Sailmakers & Cordwainers
• Cooper's Rest: Coopers' Guild
• Shipper's Hall: Fellowship of Salters, Packers & Joiners
• Muleskull Tavern: Dungsweepers' Guild
• Shipwright's House: Order of Master Shipwrights
• The Metal House of Wonders: Splendid Order of Armorers, Locksmiths & Finesmiths. This guild hall is quite distinctive, with its metal roof.
• Jester's Clubhouse: Jesters' Guild
• The Pavilion of Paving Stones: Loyal Order of Street Laborers

Tourism

Anyone who is crazy enough to want to tour the harbor can rent small boats from Albaeron Halembic of the Fishmongers' Fellowship at the Fish Warehouse. The cost is 4 dragons/day or 2 dragons/half-day. The boat comes with oars, a small mast, two long fending poles, and a retired fisherman as skipper (who must be kept on board and in command of the vessel at all times).

Those daring or foolish enough to want to delve beneath the waters of the harbor are advised that the city guard keeps a very close watch for smugglers and items dropped for recovery by someone else later. Also, the mermen who patrol the depths do not welcome tourists and will turn them back promptly.

A further warning for those wishing to sightsee here: Unless the salty tang of rotting fish and sea life holds a special attraction for you, avoid the docks-or do not tarry overlong. I can attest to my cost that when the damp night and evening dew or morning mists are present and the clearing winds aren't strong, the stink of the harbor clings to your clothes and travels with you for almost a day.

Architecture

Despite being the oldest settled area of Waterdeep, Dock Ward consists of many wooden structures all built upon each other with a few stone buildings to provide structural support for the rest. While people worked and lived here for 1000 years before Ahghairon's rule, few buildings last for more than 30 years. The only permanent constructions that have existed for extensive periods of time in Dock Ward are the docks themselves, as well as the protective harbor walls and the towers of Deepwatch Isle. With the relatively new cobblestone streets along the docks providing easier access to trade routes within the city, talk is circulating of updating and improving buildings along those routes. As far as the Lords are concerned, any improvements here are definitely for the better

Notable Neighborhoods

• Abovefish: Aeldinmuth Court, Arun's Bend, Drawn Sword Court, the Everwind, Fishgut, Frostraen, the Hobbles, the Hooks, the Krakenway, Leera's Trod, the Lurch, Redcloaks, Sakiir's Street, Scoundrel's Cradle, the Slide, Spider's Web, Three Daggers
• Belowfish: Asteril's Trod, the Bitters , Cod Lane , Essunmar's Dream, the Ghemmerwalk , Greathoist, Horizons, Manycrates, the Odd , Old Elbermaen, Old Tar's Walk, Pressbow, Shipwright's Square, the Sirenwalk , Six Casks , Two Flasks
• Eastsnail: Amanaster's Lane, Blackwell, Bulette Point, Candle Lane, Doerlunn, Emeskine's Shine, Foxden, Knightsfoot, Marvynhurst, Melinter's Alley, Oubliette, the Pearls, Philosopher's Court
• Southdocks: Cedar Wharf, the Fishgut, Hoedmar's Trod, Manylines, Ormibar's Sky, Sailmaker's Run, Sambril's Lane, Smuggler's Run, Southshore, Sperival, Tower Watch

Trades Ward Lifestyles

• Wretched: xxx
• Squalid: xxx
• Poor: Candle Lane,
• Modest: Emeskine's Shine,
• Comfortable: xxx
• Wealthy: xxx
• Aristocratic: xxx

Type

Ward

Location under

Waterdeep

Included Locations

• Amanaster's Lane
• Asteril's Trod
• Blackwell
• Bulette Point
• Candle Lane
• Cedar Wharf
• Cod Lane
• Doerlunn
• Emeskine's Shine
• Essunmar's Dream
• Foxden
• Hoedmar's Trod
• Horizons
• Horizons
• Knightsfoot
• Manycrates
• Manylines
• Marvynhurst
• Melinter's Alley
• Old Elbermaen
• Old Tar's Walk
• Ormibar's Sky
• Oubliette
• Philosopher's Court
• Pressbow
• Sailmaker's Run
• Sambril's Lane
• Shipwright's Square
• Six Casks
• Smuggler's Run
• Southshore
• Sperival
• the Bitters
• the Fishgut
• the Ghemmerwalk
• the Odd
• the Pearls
• the Sirenwalk
• Tower Watch
• Two Flasks