The exterior walls are thick stone (8 def, 11 body). The exterior gates are of iron (7 def, 5 body). Interior walls are lath and heavy plaster (4 def, 3 body), except those of the stairwells which are stone (7 def, 7 body). All doors are wood (4 def, 3 body). All ceilings are 4 M high. The windows are open, with wooden shutters (2 def, 3 body) - normally latched at night. The bulding is contiguous with (but 1 storey higher than) its neighbours on either side. It forms the end of a small plaza reached by a narrow alley (2M wide) from the street and backs onto a canal (5M wide). The building immediately facing across the canal are also 3 stories high.
The building is watched over by a pair of guards (use basic Watch stat.s) who live near the front door. They are supposed to wander the stairs at night, checking that the doors are locked, lighting the torches etc. They also lock the gates at night, opening them for people returning. The areas designated "rented rooms" are mere open spaces - the people living in them usually curtain off parts for extra privacy. The smaller rooms on the ground floor are mostly used as offices and workplaces for scribes and clerks, some of whom live there as well. During the day, they either sit outside the building in little stalls if the weather is good, otherwise they mostly set up the stalls in the central alley, which is lighted by braziers (it is pretty dark, even during the day). The rooms are filled with a variety of light furniture. Most people cook over braziers mounted by the windows, or eat at food-sellers' stalls. Note that there are narrow light wells down the sides of the building to light the interior rooms - but on the bottom two floors, this still admits little light. The public toilets are used by the residents of the building and their clients - not the general public - who would just use the square if necessary, or a canal.
This floor houses a suite reserved for important guests of the Precious-smith's guild or its officers, or for meetings that require more privacy than the Guildhouse can afford. It is maintained by two close-mouthed servants who also staff the kitchen. The entire floor (except the kitchen and servant's rooms, which are whitewashed) is panelled in exotic woods and the floor is covered in fine weavings. The Guest rooms each house two beds, with silk mosquito netting, animal skins on the floor and delicate artworks in each room (statuary, paintings, ceramics). The storage space is used for items of expensive furniture and similar bric-a-brac temporarily exiled from the guildhouse, that are occasionally recalled to service and several chests full of papers and receipts from a few years ago. The storage room is quite dusty, since it is rarely entered, and is secured by a heavy, locked door (5 def, 3 body). The servants do not have the key which opens it, this being kept at the guildhouse.
The top floor contains stairs which give access to the steeply pitched roof via a trapdoor - bolted from the inside. The stairs up to the roof are rickety and creak alarmingly if walked on, although they are safe enough. Bassalino's apartment is reached through two rosewood doors carved with scenes of mermaids disporting in the waves. Similarly to the floor below, most of the walls are panelled in rich woods and the floor is inlaid parquet, with many rugs. There is a single servant who tends to Bassalinor's needs, but he is currently away - having been given leave by Bassalinor until this monster business is over (for that reason Bassalinor rarely takes meals at home now).
The library has shelves holding many volumes - mostly poetry, works of comedy or historical romances. Mixed with these are a few volumes on sorcery, but these are in the main poor copies of works of dubious value - the rest being cheap pamphlets of the sort sold (covertly) in the marketplaces. A reader unskilled in magic might not recognise this (Appropriate KS roll). The rest of the shelves hold various small items of art - mostly apprentice work from the Guild of Precious-smiths, but valuable for all that (12 items of 1-100 Gp value). There is a large swamp oak table (which holds Dyneach's Monster creator) and six chairs around it.
The dining alcove has a long low table surrounded by richly embroidered cushions and bolsters. The walls are decorated with a magical painting showing a mountain scene, that changes with the time of day and season so that it appears as through overlooking windows. Besides the dining alcove is another full of shelves used primarily for domestic purposes.
Bassalinor's bedroom is dominated by a massive 4-poster bed hung with a silk mosquito net and draped with a red-bristled howler's skin. There is also a small writing-desk and stool. The papers on it are personal in nature and reveal nothing beyond the fact that Bassalino is carrying on a trivial romance with a girl of good family and a rather more physical one with a courtesan. In one corner of the room is a magical lamp cast so as to depict a dragonish creature curled around a column. Its head is hinged and if lifted, it allows the light inside to escape. Otherwise, its eyes (of greenish glass) cast a faint glow over the room. Large wardrobes hold Basslaino's clothes and armour and also a crossbow and bolts (unstrung and obviously long unused).
The Solarium is well lighted by a row of windows and in addition to a small stove - used to heat the room during infrequnt cold spells - there are three couches and a number of small tables holding ferns and orchids, giving the room a green and peaceful look. More plants hang in baskets from the roof.
