Traders from Below

There is little active trade between the settlements of the Netherdeep and the surface kingdoms. The Stony Ridge Outpost is one of the few places where sunless wares can be traded. This well-defended outpost pierces through the ridge with secure gates on the north and south sides. The north side gate is up a short stone ramp and is defended by a pair of short tower-like bastions. The south side gate is guarded by a portcullis and arrow slits on both sides. A twenty-foot-wide by twenty-foot-tall straight passage connects the two gates. At the very middle of this passage are the main gates into the Netherdeep market. While carts and wagons of goods arrive along Netherdeep passages to the lower tier of this complex, the final ascent to the market is up stairs, so the vendors and their servants haul up a few days’ worth of trade goods and set up “shop” in the lantern-lit main hall.

The rest of the complex is purely support for the trade hall. The majority of the construction is defensive, as many view a known accessway to the NetherDeep to be a source of danger or a place to launch an assault against the deep races. The main passage has a smaller parallel passage along it with arrow slits every 30 feet that is accessed from the guard room on the east side opposite the main hall. Further arrow slits protect the space between the main and second gates into the main hall. On the south side, there is a bunk room and a half-tower that juts out of the ridge. The north side has a smaller barracks and guard room, a storage room, and the “apartments” of the administrator of this facility.

The merchants here sell a variety of Netherdeep-specific goods – mostly those that are magical, otherwise exceptional, and unavailable in the sunlit world. In turn, there are not a lot of surface goods that the residents of the Netherdeep covet except for some rare fruit-based delicacies. Thus most trade here is done for gemstones – a light and easily transported trade good that doesn’t bear the markings of the surface kingdoms’ coins.

The levels above and below this one will be explored in future months.

The Patreon version of this map includes alternate versions in “Old School Blue” and “Blackout” formats that are also released under the commercial use license.

*The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 10,800 x 16,200 pixels (36 x 54 squares). To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 10 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 200 pixels (for the 10‘ foot squares that work with the furnishings as shown) – so resizing the image to 3,600 x 5,400 pixels or 7,200 x 10,800 pixels, respectively.*

[https://dysonlogos.blog/2026/08/05/traders-from-below/](https://dysonlogos.blog/2026/08/05/traders-from-below/)