The Thieves Bazaar is a bustling market of the underworld set within the Undercity, gained by way of Nazif's Scents in the Grand Bazaar. It is peopled by tieflings, half-orcs, half-elves, men, and other beings altered by magic — a very confluence of tongues and secrets. Its narrow ways wind among sundry stalls and shops, the walls of stone and the floors laid with carpets, so that the whole wears a warmth for all its shadow. Dimly lit, it is loud with the cries of vendors hawking their goods and the passage of its motley folk, and stands a chief mart for trade and for dealings that shun the light.
Among its notable houses is the Arraf Tavern, a refuge for such as feel themselves outcast or accursed. The neighbourhood whispers of a spectre called the Ghost of March, which lends the tavern's already curious air a further note of mystery. The bazaar is likewise the appointed road to an audience with Kore, a figure of consequence thereabouts, and to tidings of the supernatural doings bound up with the company's affairs.
The market is famed for its variety of wares — potions, poisons, and articles of magic. Among the goods to be had are healing draughts, a Knock Spell Scroll, and Boots of Elvenkind. It serves as a resort for shady traffic, where forged identities and unlawful goods may be procured. Entry to this hidden realm is eased by Permanent-Entry Coins, jestingly styled "fast passes," which grant a standing right of passage into the bazaar. The Thieves Bazaar is steeped through in intrigue and danger, and underscored by murmured tales and the promise alike of discovery and of peril.
Of late the Thieves Bazaar has shown yet more of its intricate character, disclosing a lively arts-quarter known as the Leaky Pit and a shop of masters in disguise and tailoring called the Shapeshifter. This artful atmosphere draws a various clientele and furnishes goods and services beyond the reach of the upper city. Its approaches, too, have been widened by secret ways, among them a hidden stair made known by Matilda Manukian, a half-elf with connexions in the undercity.
To all this the Thieves Bazaar now adds a quarter set apart for strategy, drill, and the common business of soldiers. This compound answers as a headquarters, with rooms for the planning of war that display the maps of old battles and dwell upon the modern military arts, after the fashion of the Sekban. Within it a bandaged captain, Alemdar Mustafa Pasha — reputed the dead Sekban commander — holds command over the Ghost of March. Here talk turns upon unity and upon strategy, and upon common cause with the Janissaries under Ahra 'the Wolf'; and here too is a library given over to military history, which betokens a nice understanding of warfare amidst the unceasing vigour of the bazaar. As the quarter bustles on with its patrons at their several occupations, it marks a sense of community among its residents, a place where alliances are forged and secrets traded, mirroring the intricate workings of the undercity.