The Cliffside ward makes up the lower edge of Dura, built on and into the cliffs that drop toward the river. This waterfront district, full of businesses that cater to the sailors who pass through Sharn’s port, can be a rough and tumble place. Legitimate services can be found here—ships need supplies and repairs, goods need to be stored, captains need a place to hire a crew, and sailors need a bed on dry land to sleep in once in a while—but other businesses spring up simply to meet demand. These less-than legitimate services include bordellos, taverns, casinos, and even shadier entertainments for sailors to spend their off-duty hours and wages on. The City Watch finds it hard to keep order here (or perhaps the Watch captains simply find it hard to care), and Cliffside is one of the most crime-ridden wards in all of Sharn. Some say the problem is exacerbated by the presence of sahuagin in the ward, who sell their services as guides through the Straits of Shargon.
Cliffside encompasses the docks and waterfront of Sharn, running along the edge of the Dagger River and up the cliff above it. Massive lifts levitate goods up to the skydocks in the district of Precarious. The area’s rough and poor, filled with sailors and dockworkers. Many of these boisterous folk love the life in Cliffside; as a common saying goes, “Better a tankard of ale in Cliffside than a barrel of Central wine.”
Plenty of legitimate services can be found here—ships need supplies and repairs, goods need to be stored, captains need to hire crew, and sailors need a dry bed to sleep in once in a while—but other businesses meet different kinds of demands. These services include bordellos, taverns, gaming dens, and shadier entertainments for sailors to spend their off duty hours and wages on.
Even though the Sharn Watch has a token presence here, Cliffside remains one of the most crime-ridden districts in the city. This situation is exacerbated by the presence of sahuagin, who sell their services as guides to help ships traveling to Xen’drik. In fact, the sahuagin rarely initiate violence, but there have been clashes between them and aggressive, drunken sailors.