#khalid posting

Taorahl Drudach

Taorahl Drudach nestles in amongst the outer walls of the sabban, comfortably wedged against Wizard Ward and the shipyard walls of Hook Ward. Taorahl Drudach is the easternmost drudach of the three, and its wide streets lead from the edge of the Ajvent Sabban (shipyards) and the docks to the walls of Tarshaj Sabban in adjoining Wizard Ward. This drudach is commonly called the Twelvetors Dru-dach, as 12 minarets dominate the skyline. Three are am-lakkhan minaret posts, six attach to rich villas, and the three remaining towers belong to temples in this neighborhood. Of all the Hook Ward drudachs, this one is the safest at night due to more guards, clean streets, and an incorruptible sultan.

The syl-pasha recently selected this drudach to become an area for embassies specifically set up to gain foreign alliances in commerce and politics. Many of the pashas both like and dislike this, for it automatically "places outsiders at an undeserved social status above so many of our own" but it also opens up new opportunities for them to do business with prospects once too far from their reach. The most strident complaints come from those who wished to claim the housing that the embassies now fill.

Tavern: The Jet Jambiya

TD27, 2-story Class C building

Eraré Sabban; Taorahl Drudach. There are two internal taprooms for use during inclement weather, but most folk referring to the Jet Jambiya are talking either of the open-air courtyard that the G-shaped building encloses or the magical blade that hovers in the air above the courtyard. The place is clean, prices are moderate to expensive (but only if nonguild affiliated drinks are ordered on the sly, and only after the staff knows you or gains at least 50 gp in bribes), and the food is good.

A meeting place from sundown to sunup, it is famous for its safety and usefulness as neutral territory for all.

Should any weapons (beyond the clubs of the staff) flash free of scabbards or sheathes, the magical jambiya that hovers 40 feet above the court's central fountain flashes toward that weapon and magically absorbs it without fail. The jambiya then just as quickly returns to its normal position. Legend has it that the jambiya has no substance and is a portable hole with some modicum of in-telligence, and it has swallowed some mighty weapons such as the Beljureled Blade of Nazir Rabir, Samark the Staff of Screams, the Four Daggers of Delvenahr, and even Giisan the White Sash of Sorcerers.

City Building: Amlakkhan Taorahl

TD2, 3-story Class C building

Painted Elves

More closely related to wild elves than high elves, painted elves commonly dwell in petrified forests-which in ages past, they claim, were their ancestral homes. The painted elves take their name from the nature of the wastes in which they dwell, but also from their habit of camouflaging themselves with pigments derived from the mineral deposits found in such places. Though they rarely see visitors-since painted deserts and petrified forests offer little in the way of treasure— painted elves are extremely distrustful of outsiders, and can turn on guests at the slightest provocation.

Painted elves are in most regards identical to wild elves, as outlined in the Monster Manual (which in turn are based on the high elf detailed in the Player's Handbook).

The exceptions to the standard Player's Handbook elf are summarized below:

• +2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence: Painted elves are every bit as graceful and agile as high elves, but they are a bit more limited in their understanding of the world around them, having experience with little more than their own petrified domains.