(ITV OF THE D E AO
Streetlamps don't fare well in the Dock Ward. Their
candles, oils, and glass are too regularly stolen or
smashed. The Guild of Chandlers and Lamplighters
makes a halfhearted attempt to repair the streetJamps
at the start of each season, but for most of the year, lo-
cals are forced to carry their own light when traveling
these streets at night.
The colors of the Dock Ward are burgundy and or-
ange, and its mascot is a swordfish that has always been
depicted as green for reasons lost to time. The folk of
the Dock Ward take competition seriously, and they fre-
quently draft their champions from the rough-and-tum-
ble sailors who come to the city. (Some say they draft
pirates, but that is pure slander.) Frequent complaints
arise that these women and men are more citizens of
the sea than of the Dock Ward itself. But if they register
with a magister and pay taxes, they are as welcome to
compete as any long-term resident ofWaterdeep.
CITY OF THE DEAD
I could write a book about the City of the Dead. It is such
a fascinating place, filled with so much history and so
many stories. But alas, there would be few buyers for
Volo's Guide to the City of the Dead, since it would be
of interest mainly to Waterdavians- and the topic is one
about which they are already intimately knowledgeable.
The City of the Dead is no drab cemetery. It is a great
park of grassy hills, tended flower beds, artfully placedclusters of trees and bushes, beautiful sculptures,
astounding architecture, and gravel paths that wend
intriguingly through it all. Long ago, Waterdavians
largely abandoned the practice of burying their dead,
instead entombing them in mausoleums. For centuries,
the major mausoleums here have each been connected
to an extradimensional space where the dead are taken,
mourned, and interred.
Those who can afford it memorialize the departed
with sculptures, making the City of the Dead an open-
air museum that features some of the most stunning,
haunting, mournful, and downright eerie statues ever
crafted in marble or bronze. Nobles and wealthy mer-
chants have competed to erect the grandest markers for
their dead, leading to a wide variety of styles and con-
cepts created by artists at the height of their skills.
One of the cemetery's most impressive attractions is
the Warriors' Monument This intricate, sixty-foot-high
sculpture depicts a circle of women and men striking
down trolls, ores. hobgoblins, bugbears, and barbarians,
all of which are falling backward and outward around
the warriors. Above all of them, a Hying griffon rider
spears a skeletal knight whose breastplate bears the
symbol of Myrkul, god of the dead. But this statue is also
a fountain, and the wounds on these combatants gush
water! Don't try to imagine it- just go see it. And see it
as Waterdavians do: pack a midday feast, have a picnic,
and then take a stroll through the beauty of the place.CHAPTER 9 I VOLO'S WATl!.ROEEP ENCHlRIDION