OK, so we all like the shops, buuuut they also seem a bit odd. I mean, who starts a one-person business between the prison and the caves? What's that about?
So, some ideas to "fluff up" the shops - the imp is already nice fluff-wise, so here are some thoughts for the others. Essentially I'd like to see the "shop" being a larger area with more NPCs in, as a sort of mini-village, which would make some more sense. In simple form this might just be splitting the shop up into 2-4 rooms each with a separate shopkeeper, but it would also allow room for expansion, some friendly NPCs wandering around the little area to give advice, and more interesting sidequests/fluff. I'd envisage potions, weapons/kit, food, and scrolls/items being sold as 4 separate shops in general.
Prison levels - rogue's nest
- A group of rogue merchants and thieves hide out and operate a black market settlement deep under the city's sewers. Occasionally they will deal with wild gnolls or some of the brighter clans of marsupial rats.
Cave levels - the gnoll fort
- A clan of gnolls has a small fort in the upper levels of the cave system. They scavenge and fight some of the wilder nomadic clans underground with their small band of shamans and brutes, but are accepting enough of strangers who will give them precious gold coins. Could have some sort of shaman NPC as clan leader.
Dwarf city - the hideout
- A bunch of sane dwarves defend a single "good" area of the city against the roaming creatures and fanatics. They could have some sort of very aged exiled councillor keeping them going, perhaps the last of the dwarf nobles (the rest being the undead living with the King).
Idea with mileage? I'd be sort of tempted to mod it in myself but I already have two adventure games in the pipeline and possibly shouldn't be modding yet another...