Originally, the guildhall was an opulent place, adorned with high-quality tapestries and paintings such as "The Prophet". Leaders of the merchant guild came here to negotiate trade and Neverwinter's prosperity, as well as to live in luxury.
However, following the Mount Hotenow eruption in 1451 DR, the majority of surviving merchants fled the ruined city and resettled in Waterdeep. Others relocated to the Neverwinter's Protector's Enclave after the trade market was re-established there by Lord Dagult Neverember. Their former guildhall remained abandoned and fell into ruin.
Then, when a tribe of orcs from Many-Arrows invaded the River District in the late 1470s DR, they seized the Merchant Guild Hall and made it their fortress.