Dungeon Master reference
Encounter detail for Teremisis - chiefly a walkthrough of the Night Market. The in-world overview lives on the Settlement-Teremisis page; this companion holds the read-aloud detail and the secrets behind it.
The Night Market - Entry
A concealed door opens in a wall, and behind it stands a tall, menacing figure dressed in black that emphasises his muscles, a bird-shaped mask over his face. He asks for payment, then asks whether the visitors are “red or blue.” The answer for those who mean to leave the city soon is red. From a box at his side he hands out ribbons of that colour to tie around the wrist, and says “welcome to the Night Market.”
The Quarters
The market is like many rooms of a building with the walls between them pulled down to make a single roofed street - a mostly straight path with a few turns and branches. Visitors enter at the services quarter and pass through the others in turn.
Services
Masked patrons throng the place - mostly in black robes, with masks of raven, owl, imp, dragon and wolf. The services quarter is full of people seated in “rooms” made of cloth sheets stretched over poles, speaking with clients in hushed tones; some have chairs and tables set with tools or writing implements. Need a document forged? A ring? A guard bribed, the floor-plan of a house obtained? Here are people willing to do whatever is needed - for a price.
Forbidden Goods
Sellers press all manner of poisons on passers-by - truth serum, midnight tears, succubus lipstick, glassblood - and dubious potion reagents: unicorn horn, pegasus feather, demon blood, shadow blood, bulette dung. There are dubious books too (manuals of necromancy, demon-summoning, and charm and domination magic), knives easier to conceal in clothing, lead-lined sheaths, and lead-lined robes to hide the magic worn beneath them.
Living Goods
Beasts and worse are kept here in wretched conditions: a caged, emaciated almiraj; a chained winged monkey; barking dogs of various kinds (one of them a blink dog); a panther; a pseudodragon failing to hide in its cage; a pixie weeping quietly; two goblins brawling while the crowd cheers and bets; a kobold shining a patron’s shoes and taking kicks for it; and a chained, wounded aarakocra, its beak bound, looking utterly defeated in a large cage.
Stolen Goods
People circulate holding wares large and small - paintings, statues, necklaces - much like the services quarter, many of them with private guards. These are the fences, who buy stolen goods and launder them back into the open market.
Appendix
Sources & Attribution
Translated from the campaign’s original Hebrew notes on Teremisis and archived privately. See Settlement-Teremisis for the public city page.