The Old Fishery

Board

As with all of Gaedren Lamm’s hideouts through the decades, the old fishery he now dwells in is a forgotten echo of someone else’s dreams. Gaedren chooses these  lairs not only to give him and his gang a place to hide, but also for their current ownership (or lack thereof ), preferring buildings whose owners have died and left behind no heirs. Under Korvosan law, a building abandoned in this manner immediately reverts to the city and is held in escrow for 2 years, during which time any rightful owner who can prove a claim can regain control of the building. After the 2 years, the city claims the building, yet even then, the government is slow to handle the structure’s eventual fate. Gaedren has found that by choosing the right building in the right location, one can effectively live for free for years at a time.

The old fishery is no exception. Its previous owner died when a devilfish attacked his boat, and now Gaedren uses it as a hideout and a base for a moneymaking scheme to augment what his gang of children pickpocket. The fishery is a place where desperate anglers can sell off their less fetching catches (fish caught 3 days dead in the nets, or freakish specimens unfit for sale, for example) and where fishmongers dump their old sun-tainted wares that reek with the first hints of decay. Gaedren’s little workforce of enslaved orphans toil among the guts and slime, creating a foul-smelling slurry that can then be resold as bait, fertilizer, or the main ingredient for what are known as “dock-dumplings,” a local favorite among poorer dock workers who can’t afford fresh fish. Gaedren himself lounges in his secret chambers in the fishery’s underbelly, accessible only by braving the scum-slick narrows beneath the structure itself. (Despite his age, Gaedren is quite adept at scrambling along the walkways and through the decks of the old ship Kraken’s Folly to reach his den.) Here, he plays for hours at cards with his thick-witted companions, counts his coins and examines his stolen goods, and hurls buckets of chum to his beloved alligator, Gobblegut.