Three Penny Bridge

The only crossing point between Stoessel and Riddra, is the
notorious Three Penny Bridge, where it is said that anything can be bought and sold.

Buildings line both sides of structure, hanging out over the sides and over the deep kanal running between the Bruenwasser and the Rijksweg. The bridge is well above the water line, connecting the high cliff faces of Riddra and Stoessel.
Additionally, it is a hump-backed structure, allowing all but the largest of ships to pass by underneath.

Once an affluent area, the buildings here are large and well constructed, but with decline of the western end of the Suiddock the area has become little more than a thieves-kitchen. Many of
the houses are subdivided into cheap tenements, while others are heavily barricaded by their owners to keep out the burglars, foot-pads and addicts who make the bridge their home.

A sailor’s tavern named the Grey Gull marks the start of the bridge at the Stoessel side, next to an abandoned temple which is supposedly cursed by the gods. The Stoessel side of the bridge is often frequented by peddlers and streetwalkers, catering to clients unwilling to venture further across the bridge.

The centremost building was once a watch station, but has long been abandoned by the Black Caps. It now operates as the Abandon Hope, a low class tavern, gambling den and brothel

At the southern side of the Bridge, across from the Golden Lotus Dreaming House is the Riddra Fish market, where the fishwives of Riddra come to sell their husband’s catch to the rest of Marienburg. Some servants and housewives come here for the cheapest prices, while other fish are sold to the bigger suppliers who pack them in ice and transport them to the more well-to-do markets in the city. A series of steep steps cut beside the fish market lead under Three Penny Bridge and down to a
small wharf and the notorious Red Lantern Canal, which are used extensively by drunkards and merry-makers during the nights.

“Goran heard a crier calling two o’clock as he got his first glimpse of Three Penny Bridge. The structure itself was little different from many other bridges around Marienburg. Houses and shops stood along either side of the span, such was the lack of space available for construction else wherein the city. Buildings hung out over the cut slicing between the much larger Rijksweg canal to
the north and Bruynwater canal to the south. Ras was always amazed that those precariously perched structures did not topple into the water more often, but most had stood for more than a hundred years. No doubt most would stand for another hundred — barring outside intervention.”

“A line of heavily fortified homes lined the northerly side of the span, all of them looking like they were expecting war to break out at any minute. No doubt they were burgled or attacked on a frequent basis, Jormund surmised. Several looked like they had been abandoned altogether, while another was a burnt out shell, smoke stains above the charred windows resembling the kohl eye make-up
favoured by whores. Armand whistled, drawing their attention while pointing to a building nearby the bridge. "That's where we need to be..."”