⚔ Aᴅᴠᴇɴᴛᴜʀᴇ ⚔

The Gilded Gallows is a covert Zhentarim stronghold masquerading as an upscale auction house in Caer Callidyrr’s artisan quarter. Officially, it deals in rare curiosities, antique instruments, and exotic magical items—attracting nobles, merchants, and wandering minstrels alike. In truth, it is a nerve center for Black Network operations across the Moonshae Isles. Beneath the golden facade lies a labyrinth of hidden vaults, teleport circles, and interrogation cells. Here, the Zhentarim broker illicit deals, smuggle cursed relics, and bribe or blackmail Ffolk officials to weaken the High King's grip. Meritocracy rules within; promising operatives rise fast, regardless of blood or birthplace. Though the Gallows maintains a polished public image, its name is no jest—traitors are displayed in veiled "art exhibits," and disappearances among rivals or investigators are whispered about but rarely solved.

From the street, the Gilded Gallows gleams like a jewel among Caer Callidyrr’s sandstone halls—its façade a two-story domed gallery trimmed in bronze filigree and draped in rich crimson banners. Golden-hinged doors open into a foyer bathed in warm lamplight, where bards perform before enchanted glass cases displaying wind harps carved from wyvern bone or long-lost fae trinkets. Incense curls in the air, masking the faint metallic tang of blood magic beneath the perfume of roses. A spiral staircase leads to upper salons where auctions unfold in velvet-draped opulence, the air thick with gold and secrets. Hidden doors—seamless and warded—lead down to the Gallows’ true heart. Here, the floors become cold stone, the walls bare and shadowed. Vaults are carved into the bedrock, each protected by glyphs keyed to blood and voice. Interrogation rooms feature sound-dampening enchantments and one-way scrying mirrors; chains hang above ritual circles inked in infernal black.