# General Select Settlement: Select Category: Commerce *The great spice auction hall of [[2-World/Hubs/Port Cassia.md|Port Cassia]] · where the bell rings* The Peppercorn Exchange is a vast open-sided hall of carved teak on the Port Cassia waterfront, with a roof of red tiles and a bronze bell hanging above the auction floor. When the bell rings, the bidding opens, and for the next hour the hall is the loudest place in the Spice Isles. Buyers stand on a raised gallery around the floor, shouting bids and waving coloured flags. Porters carry sample sacks from the warehouses below, and the auctioneer's clerks write every sale in an enormous ledger that the Spice Council checks every night. Ember-saffron is sold separately, in the sealed **Jar Room** at the back of the hall, to buyers who have paid for a licence. # NPCs The following people are associated with this place. # Selling | Item | Cost | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | | Pepper, clove or cinnamon (1 lb) | 2 gp | Auction price; cheaper by the barrel | | Nutmeg (1 lb) | 5 gp | | | Ember-saffron (sealed jar, 1 oz) | 50 gp | Licensed buyers only; a spell reagent | # Buying Spice from anyone with a planter's or captain's mark. Unsealed ember-saffron is refused, loudly. # Services | Service | Cost | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | | Gallery pass (one day) | 1 gp | Lets you bid | | Ember-saffron buyer's licence | 25 gp | A season; issued by the Council | | Clerk's valuation of a cargo | 5 gp | Honest, usually | # Rumours - "The Jar Room ledger never matches the warehouse count. Never." - "The Graymantles haven't sent the old man himself in years. Just agents." - "There's a buyer who only bids after dark, and only on ember-saffron." # Image *No image yet.*