014: Where you come from isn't always home

[Sierra]

<El-Cideon> After seeing their curious and diverse new companions settled in Amaranth, no doubt soon to become talk of the town through strangeness alone, Rosemund harasses her friends into trekking north along Solata's western mountain range to Bridgeton. The city remains a pitiful shadow of its former self, depopulated, the great forges home to vagrants and rats. Your business lies outside of it, however--Darla leads you to a yawning cavern a couple days' walk from the city walls, down twisting passages dusty with neglect and clogged with rockfalls, Rosemund lighting the way with magic and prayers. After an hour or so of delving, she stops at an otherwise anonymous archway limned with flecks of old green paint. "Here we are, ladyships," Darla says.
<Stephanie> "There a trick to opening it or anything?" asks Stephanie, peering it over.
<Franceska> "Aside from walking through?"
<El-Cideon> "Well, you're supposed to have a bit of emerald on you," she reminds Stephanie. "Doesn't seem to matter how much. Back in the day, we were lucky Mr. Nomos was willing to cover so many of us. Broke up his wife's jewelry into little pieces, he did."
<Stephanie> "Oh, right! Right, fuck, I hope I didn't sell it all," mutters Stephanie, dipping one hand into her bag and rummaging around.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund looks confident that Stephanie will always mysteriously have whatever random object is needed right at hand!
<Stephanie> "Yeah, here we go," she mutters, pulling out a green ring. "This'll do!" she proclaims, before boldly stepping through the archway.
* Julia just has a tiny little unworked shard she'd bought from a jeweler in her pocket, and trusts in that as she too steps through.
<El-Cideon> When Stephanie does so, she finds herself somewhere else--it's still a dark, narrow stone passageway, but this one twists right ahead instead of left, instead of the mine's cool dankness the air is still and curiously neither hot nor cold, and there is an immediate sensation of heaviness--you feel like you're hauling around an extra person's weight on your back the moment you step through.
<Stephanie> The darkness is no obstacle, but the weight certainly is; she grunts from the exertion.
* El-Cideon changes topic to 'Current planar traits: heavy gravity (-2 to attack rolls, physical skills) | '
<El-Cideon> Rosemund steps through along with them, lighting the way, Darla at her side. "You'll get used to it, ladyships," the old woman assures you all. "It'll toughen you up, just give it time!"
<Julia> "Ohh, it's like I'm carrying a backpack full of rocks. And the rocks are on my arms and legs as well!" Julia complains, slouching a bit before she forces herself to adjust into walking with proper poise once more, despite the extra effort required.
<Stephanie> "How am I going to jump when my legs feel like they're stuck to the floor? I was practicing jumping so much, too, and now this!"
<Franceska> "Or we can just leave quickly," Franceska mutters, briefly considering removing her impossibly heavy hat before abandoning the thought.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund turns around, waves her mace around to shed some light on your surroundings. The walls here are a light, speckled granite, and where you'd just stepped through from another world is a blank wall. "Practice more!" she advises Stephanie. "It will build your muscles."
<Franceska> "Can we go somewhere that would let us practice our minds instead?" Franceska can't help but complain to Rosemund.
<Stephanie> "I do pushups every day and they still don't grow any," mumbles Stephanie.
<Julia> "Oh, we must grin and bear it," Julia says resolutely. "Remember it's for a good cause."
<El-Cideon> "There is no reason we cannot do that as well!" she says, starting off down the corridor. It shortly branches in two directions, splitting off to the left and right in passageways just broad enough for two to walk abreast, though the ceiling is uncomfortably close to your heads.
<El-Cideon> "Yes," she adds, nodding at Julia, "you cannot begrudge discomforts that liberate another person from their own!"
* Franceska scoffs at that simplistic notion.
<El-Cideon> "Scoff all you like! You are still here helping me," Rosemund points out before looking to your guide for directions.
<El-Cideon> Darla nods her head to the right path. "Don't want to go down that other way," she says. "Place of ill omens, it is."
<Julia> Julia looks really curious! But nonetheless she goes left. "Has anyone gone there and come back?"
<El-Cideon> "Well, merchant trains come and go all the time," she allows, "but they scurry along without stopping if they don't have to. City by the name of Deephome on the other side, though I can't say I've set eyes on it myself. In between, though, is...well, we just call it the Black Bridge, 'cause that's what it is."
<Stephanie> "Probably a bunch of monsters or something live there. Well, that's a fight we don't need to be fightin'!"
<Franceska> "How sensible of you!" Franceska exclaims, sounding surprised.
<Julia> "Well we're not trained up to endure the gravity here. Maybe once we are..."
<El-Cideon> "That's what we figure," Darla says as you walk along. "Way I hear it, the bridge crosses this great big empty space. All fortified like, set up to keep out invaders or somewhat, and midway connects to a passage leading to this old ruin. *That's* what nobody comes out of. Nobody knows who built it, but word is it's haunted. So folks'll brave the bridge if there's money to be made on the other side, but a wise man doesn't stop for sightseein'."
<Franceska> "Whyever would we want to get used to enduring hardship?" Franceska asks in genuine surprise.
<Stephanie> "'cos it makes you stronger!"
<El-Cideon> "Exactly," Rosemund agrees. "You must develop a sense of noble forbearance if you wish to be a proper adventurer, Franceska."
<Franceska> "I really have no desire of that whatsoever."
<Julia> "Yes, I certainly feel more poised and prepared to deal with what comes after our harrowing trip to heaven," Julia says primly.
* Franceska sulks gloomily at the reminder of an entire plane filled with elves.
<El-Cideon> "Yes, Franceska," Rosemund says. "Which would you prefer, really?"
<Franceska> "Home."
<El-Cideon> "That is not a properly heroic option! Please choose again."
<Franceska> "Why can I not choose the lesser evil again?"
<Julia> "Because lesser evils are easy!" Julia says, Thing squeaking as he clings onto her arm. "One must be challenged in life if she hopes to better herself."
<El-Cideon> "Yes, exactly," Rosemund agrees. "Franceska, you know that you would be bored if everything in your life was easy. You must admit that much!"
<Franceska> "I suppose I am often bored," Franceska allows.
<El-Cideon> "Then we shall have to find you some excitement very soon!" Rosemund says with a bright smile.
* Franceska sighs. "Well, if the excitement is too much for me, I leave my estate to you. Please keep everything adequately clean in my absence."
<Stephanie> "Don't worry, if you get killed, we'll come get you! From wherever," muses Stephanie, before she turns to Rosemund. "Can we actually do that?"
<Julia> "I can at least make sure she continues walking under her own power until we can restore her mind to her," Julia chirps brightly.
<El-Cideon> "You cannot say that I have ever lacked for diligence in performing my chores," Rosemund says, "so you may rest assured that I shall maintain it all in good condition as a proper memorial!" To Stephanie: "Well, to judge by tales people tell, it is not impossible..."
<El-Cideon> "Oh, that is very...helpful," she adds encouraginly.
<Franceska> "Adendum. Please cremate my remains so I do not end up eating people's brains."
<Julia> "Just out of curiousity, if you were to die in your bear form, would you stay that way or would you revert to a human body?" Julia asks, looking directly at Franceska.
* Franceska shivers at the look. "My true human self, of course. Although it is all theoretical right now, as I have not seen a need to test it."
<Julia> "Oh." For some reason Julia seems disappointed, her interest waning as she focuses on the journey ahead now.
<Franceska> "Did you just sigh?"
<Stephanie> "She did just sigh. I'll sign up for cremation, too."
<Julia> "Oh? N-no, no. Certainly not," Julia quickly shakes her head, walking faster. "It was the wind, it does that in these narrow tunnels."
<Franceska> "I promise to burn you with prejudice."
<El-Cideon> "No wind here," Darla points out, not seeming to get the gist of the conversation. "No wind at all on Earth."
<Julia> "It must have been the rock settling then," Julia rallies.
* Franceska looks at Rosemund, asking awkwardly, "Would you... like to be cremated as well?"
<El-Cideon> "Well, sure enough, that'll happen," the old woman admits.
<El-Cideon> "Oh, this is such a gloomy conversation!" Rosemund replies. "I shall not dignify such a defeatist air with response."
* Franceska coughs. "Alright. To pick a different topic, do you think there will be humans everywhere we go?"
<El-Cideon> As you walk, the corridor acquires a more worked look to it, as if smoothed out deliberately by mortal hands. It gets broader and narrower, taller and shorter, but it's flat and makes for easy walking as if meant for a road. There are branching paths periodically, but Darla bypasses all of these.
<El-Cideon> "Is there any reason there should not be?" Rosemund wonders.
<Julia> "Well I wouldn't expect any in elf heaven," Julia points out. "But there Marina was. And lucky for us, too."
<Franceska> "I did not mean just one or two, but entire settlements of them," Franceska says, shudderng at Julia's words. "Yes, there are terrible places like that."
<El-Cideon> "War scatters folk all over," Darla adds with a shrug, as though nothing could surprise her.
<Stephanie> "If there's a place to go, humans are gonna go there, that's what we do!"
<El-Cideon> "I would think some places would be awfully difficult for people to live, though?" Rosemund speculates, stepping across a gaping hole in the corridor floor that has been bridged over with a set of sturdy stone planks.
<Franceska> "Like Limbo?"
<El-Cideon> She nods. "I must say, I do not know if I could live in a place that might set me on fire at any moment!"
<Stephanie> "Doesn't it only do that if you think it will?"
<Franceska> "What if your neighbour does not like you?"
<El-Cideon> "It was doing its best to drown us when we arrived, and I can assure you that was not on my mind when we left!"
<Stephanie> "Well, you'll have to think harder than him-" Stephanie snaps her fingers. "We can go there for that mind training!"
<Franceska> "We could."
<Julia> "Oh, good idea!" Julia claps her hands. "Yes, the planes are marvellous things. I'll wager we'll be much improved people by the end of our quest!"
<El-Cideon> As you walk, another light source becomes apparent around the bend of the corridor. There are noises--some distant grumbling in a grating, grinding tongue, the sound of stone being worked and moved.
<El-Cideon> "I have heard it said that diverse experience is the key to personal growth," Rosemund agrees.
<Franceska> "Is that a different way of saying that suffering builds character?"
<El-Cideon> "Well...well, perhaps it is," she admits. "But that makes neither one less true!"
<Stephanie> "Of course, too much suffering just destroys some people."
<Franceska> "Yes. Suffering can do that."
<El-Cideon> "And that is why we have each other to rely upon!"
<Julia> "It's surely better to say that getting outside one's comfort zone makes people grow. Doesn't sound as negative, no mention of suffering after all!" Julia suggests instead.
<Franceska> "It does suggest discomfort," Franceska points out.
<Julia> "Yes, but that's just a mild thing," Julia waves it off. "It's more about getting out of a zone and into something grander. Like the opposite of being stuck in a rut."
<El-Cideon> Soon enough, the source of the noise becomes apparent: a gang of short, squat humanoid beings are at work in the corridor. Possessed of dun, rocky skin, pointed ears and stubby wings, they are at work moving aside a rockfall that has partially blocked the passageway, overseen by a stern-looking human man in plain brown robes. He has close-cropped blonde hair and narrow features seemingly frozen in an expression of terminal boredom.
* Franceska blinks, and tries her best not to stare.
<Julia> "Are they friendly?" Julia asks Darla quietly.
<El-Cideon> "Well I think what they are is busy," she says, scratching her head.
<Stephanie> "Hello!" proclaims Stephanie, brightly approaching the man.
<El-Cideon> He turns to face you, globes of light circling around his head. "Due apologies for the inconvenience, stranger," he says, dutifully but without much enthusiasm. "We'll have this cleared momentarily."
<Stephanie> "Oh, that's good, then! We, um, won't get in your way," she says, stepping back.
<Julia> "Yes, thank you!" Julia calls over, seeing that they're maintaining the road rather than anything nefarious.
<Stephanie> "It must be hard to pull wagons around here," muses Stephanie. "Do the merchants all use the basement bags? I mean, uh, bags of holding."
<El-Cideon> He barks an obligatory, "Put your backs into it, lads!" at his crew before turning back to Stephanie. "On your way to Peridot, is it?" he guesses. He looks you all over, scanning down the corridor. "No baggage train? That's good, we've opened it up enough you might squeeze through single file. Could be a day or more before my louts here can clear it enough for merchant trains, though."
<Stephanie> That answers her question, she supposes. "We're travelling light, as you can see," she agrees. "Excuse me, but what are these creatures?" she asks, in a lower voice.
<Julia> They look a bit like Thing's natural form, except bigger. Julia holds her tongue, though.
<El-Cideon> OOC: K:P if you like
<Stephanie> OOC: I don't have it
<Julia> roll 1d20+11 I do
* Hatbot --> "Julia rolls 1d20+11 I do and gets 22."12 [1d20=11]
<Julia> "Oh! They're earth mephits," Julia smiles, the answer coming to her. "They're nicer than Thing, don't worry."
<El-Cideon> "My little blighters here? They're--oh yes, quite so." He nods. "Mayor contracts a few for grunt labor to clean up the occasional collapse." He shakes his head. "These damn tunnels are always falling in on themselves."
<Stephanie> "Eww. Earthquakes or something?"
<El-Cideon> "Earthquakes and other things." He sounds irritated. "The plane itself moves at times. Other times it's the natives--some of them take offense at open spaces. The ones that can slip through stone like water, right? You'll get a few think open air's some kind of intrusion and they'll bring down any caves they think are in their territory."
<Franceska> "Charming," Franceska mutters to Rosemund.
<Stephanie> "Rockfish," deadpans Stephanie, shaking her head. "The great threat to humanity here? Rockfish."
<Franceska> "Would it sound better as rocksharks or rockwhales?" Franceska asks Stephanie, deciding to get past the obstruction.
<El-Cideon> "I would hope that never happens to the town?" Rosemund is prompted to wonder, at which the man shakes his head. "Dwarves reinforced the cavern nice and strong before we ever got here, and the dao keep most third parties at bay. Only hazard you'll find is drunks tumbling down the gorge of a night." Rosemund gives Franceska a reassuring smile.
<Julia> "You don't want to mess with a groundhsark," Julia nods sagely.
<El-Cideon> Franceska sees there's enough open space for a person to slip around the rockfall--evidently they deliberately cleared enough for one person to make their way along. Kind of a squeeze for the claustrophobic, though!
* Franceska lacks that particular fear, and could always become more compact if she needs to.
<El-Cideon> "Well, we thank you all for your hard work!" Rosemund says to the man and his laborers, favoring them with a bow before turning to follow Franceska. They respond with a low, rumbly cheer, he with a sour, "Sure, sure."
<Julia> "Yes, you've been very helpful," Julia smiles as she follows down the line.
<El-Cideon> It's two hundred feet of awkward sidling before anyone sees open air again--you're pressed in so closely all around by rock that it seems the path was cleared precisely for the average human's specifications and not an inch more, almost coffinlike in its proportion. At one point it's so narrow that Rosemund's armor gets her stuck between the walls, and it's only with a shove and an ominous shifting of rock that she makes it through. She heaves a deep sigh of relief on the other side.
<Stephanie> "I thought it'd never end," says Stephanie, looking around their new surroundings.
<Franceska> "Am I the only one who thought about dieting after that?" Franceska voices, though she's staring at Rosemund as she says that.
<Julia> "Oh, that wasn't fun," Julia winces, her back popping as she stretches. "I hope it's wider on the way back."
<El-Cideon> "Should be cleaner when we get closer to town," Darla assures everyone. "Mr. Nomos makes sure to keep the roads clear as can be, you can say that much for him. Get a team of dwarves out here to shore things up proper, most like."
<El-Cideon> "What?" Rosemund responds with an innocent look.
<Franceska> "Please consider it."
<El-Cideon> Shortly past the rockslide, the tunnel composition takes on a different aspect, shifting from cold stone to something more liked packed dirt, soft and muffling footfalls.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund looks to her other friends for support!
<Julia> "You're entirely healthy and wholesome Rosemund, there's nothing to worry about," Julia assures her.
<Stephanie> "But you should eat more greens, all the same," insists Stephanie.
<Franceska> "When the world is giving you a hint, you should always listen."
<El-Cideon> "Oh, you sound like Auntie Leah!" Rosemund says to Stephanie, stalking off exasperated.
* Franceska hides a smile behind her hand, following after her.
<El-Cideon> The path opens up further on, mercifully, broad enough for two oxcarts to ramble past each other if need be and twice a man's height. Darla leads the way past another pathsplit--in a tall cavern, she takes a ramp angling upwards, walking right past a descending path that spirals down a well of darkness, a perilously narrow ledge the only obvious means down. Up in the cavern mouth at the top of the ramp, a faint green light shines. "Should be a waystation to rest our legs not much further on," the old woman says encouragingly.
<Stephanie> "I can't believe people live like this, day in, day out. Folks at the town must be strong as orcs," says Stephanie.
<Franceska> "How do you get used to never seeing the sun?"
<Julia> "I bet lots of vampires and shadows live here," Julia says, spurred by that thought.
<Stephanie> "Oh, geez, you shoulda mentioned that, I would've brought stakes and stuff! No trees grow down here, right? Where're we gonna get stakes from?"
<Julia> "Don't worry, I can handle any undead we run into!" Julia encourages everyone, an eager smile on her lips.
<El-Cideon> "World makes you what you need to be to survive, or you don't," she says with a shrug. She gives Julia an odd look. "Don't take this the wrong way, young miss, but you sound a little...excited about that." To Franceska, she says, "Well, it's a constant strangeness to me just what a person can get used to. I admit, for all his foulness, the sun and air up in Blackbird's rooftop prison were its own comforts."
<Julia> "Oh, well, you know. Adventurer... we're always excited about what our next battle might be, right ladies?"
<El-Cideon> "R-right!" Rosemund manages, with ill practice at subterfuge.
<Stephanie> "Battles are for chumps. The wise adventure defeats their enemy without fighting," intones Stephanie, with a sagely nod.
<Franceska> "Alright, we can pretend to take it that way," Franceska agrees. Looking at Darla curiously, she asks, "Why not move back, then?"
<El-Cideon> A luminous green crystal juts from the wall within the next passageway, shedding a sickly light along the corridor. Darla gives it a reassuring pat as she walks by. "The thing of it is, there's the home you're born to and the home you made, and it's hard to leave that last one however much you might miss the first." She shrugs again. "And we all got it in our heads there weren't any going back for so long, you know? Miss Senacott didn't make much secret who she was handing the town over to, we all figured for the longest time there wouldn't be much to go back to."
<Franceska> "You can decide properly now, then."
<El-Cideon> "It's hard work living here," she says as she walks along. "There's some pride in that. How would you feel walking away like all that labor meant nothing?" she asks. "And anyway, we've got young ones never knew any other home, by now."
<Stephanie> "Might be good for 'em to get out and see the world a bit, maybe?"
<El-Cideon> Rosemund's magical light proves unnecessary as you walk further along--crystals mar the smooth dirt walls and ceiling at irregular but reliable intervals.
<El-Cideon> "Maybe so, maybe so," the old woman allows. "Not too much excitement for young folk in Peridot, and much of what there is has bad intent behind it," she adds with old sadness.
<Julia> "Yes, regardless of all else, having friendly Dao trying to enslave you at all hours of the day must be trying," Julia chimes in.
<El-Cideon> After another hour so, screaming muscles are like to make the inexperienced traveler of Earth sag with weariness. Even Darla looks to feel the strain, having not been home for years. She just grunts, discouraged, at Julia's observation. "There's those of us in town always said we should've run the scoundrels off the day they turned up," she admits.
<Stephanie> "That's it, I'm done today," says Stephanie, collapsing. "Hey, we don't even need a tent here, that's a perk, right?"
<Julia> "The weather is nothing if not constant," Julia agrees, carefully sitting down. If she falls in this gravity she might break something! "Why not have a break for lunch if nothing else?"
<El-Cideon> The passageway opens up into a broad cavern finally--the other side must be a couple hundred feet off, you can barely see it amidst the distant light of shining crystals. Your path continues alongside the wall near the roof of the cavern, but it also branches off to spiral down to a bowl-shaped depression. There's a pool of water at the bottom, and several small caves carved in the wall down there. "Traveler's rest," Darla pants, pointing down. "Mayor set up a few along the big tunnels for traders and such. Lunch, aye, and maybe a nap or three."
<El-Cideon> There's a dozen individual sleeping cells carved out of the basin wall for those who desire a bit of privacy, all stocked with soft beds, the water is fresh and cool and surrounded by a garden of edible mushrooms tended by a kindly old man dressed in some kind of uniform--brown roughspun, plain as plain can be, but clearly some kind of city employee's outfit. Darla spends some time grilling him about recent news before you move on the next morning (for lack of a better word). "Another day or so ahead of us, maybe a bit more," she assures everyone as you start off again.
<Julia> Julia doesn't reply with her customary cheer, feeling sluggish and tired from sleeping with what felt like a giant weight on her chest.
<El-Cideon> Darla clucks her tongue as she leads the way up towards the corridor out. "You just think of it this way, young miss: when you get home, you'll feel twice as strong as ever."
<Stephanie> "I can't believe you're wearing all that armor still, Rosie," says Stephanie, forcing herself to get going, it surely won't be as bad later!
* Franceska cheers herself up with the thought that surely there are no elves on this plane. "There is magic for that," she mutters, but keeps up.
<El-Cideon> The crystals become sparser as you move along, then peter out altogether, so Rosemund lights up her mace to lead the way again. The plane around you takes on the hue of slate, the walls composed of broken, uneven edges of stone. "If I do not get used to it now, how will I fare if we have to fight someone later?" Rosemund asks, all wide-eyed earnestness.
<Julia> "Yes, I'm looking forward to that," Julia admits. "But it's hard going."
<Franceska> "You can just hide behind us," Franceska tells Rosemund.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund shakes her head. "Depending on my friends and hiding behind them are two different things!"
<El-Cideon> Another long day of punishing travel grinds along. You pass through a colonnade of stalactites, a corridor of bloodred stone that glows eerily in response to Rosemund's light, rest at another waystation carved and stocked as an actual wayfarers' inn. A few hours into the next morning, as you start down a long sloping passage of beaten earth with a ceiling almost lost in shadow, Darla assures everyone that it cannot be more than hour before you reach your destination.
<Stephanie> "I can't keep track of time anymore," laments Stephanie.
<Franceska> "Try keeping track by how tired your body is getting," Franceska suggests with a groan.
<Julia> "I've been counting by how often Rosemund recasts her light spell," Julia says. "I think each one is about an hour and a half?"
<El-Cideon> The old woman nods with understanding. "Sure enough, it's one of the first things you lose. 's why the mayor set up clocks at the big market squares. After a while you just get a feel for what time's what."
<El-Cideon> Rosemund nods with a smile. "Yes, exactly, Julia."
<Stephanie> "I've never been this tired, it's no good for measuring," replies Stephanie, before nodding. "Huh, that so?"
<El-Cideon> A clanking and hammering reaches you from somewhere up above--just ahead of you in the corridor, men are up on ladders reinforcing beams up at the roof of the corridor. There's a dwarf on the ground monitoring, dressed in old leather and graybearded. He gives you a look as you walk along.
<Julia> "Afternoon?" Julia greets him, an uncertain lilt in her voice.
<El-Cideon> "Morning, but close enough," the old dwarf says with a wry look. Darla stops to exchange Good Mornings and pick up a bit of news, whereupon she's told there was some sort of trouble in town last night. The work chief doesn't have much in the way of details, save that there's rubble and empty space where a couple buildings ought to be.
<Stephanie> "Bit much for a brawl, huh?"
<El-Cideon> "I'll say," he says, sounding irritated at this unconscionable destruction of good, worked stone.
<Julia> "Could be interesting," Julia hums, wondering what they might find being responsible.
<Franceska> "What about the people living in those buildings?" Franceska asks. "Were they injured?"
<El-Cideon> "Couldn't say, myself. Talk to a watchman," the dwarf advises. "We set out for work early in the morn. Weren't much news to be had then but what I told you." Darla frowns. "I don't want you girls to take this the wrong way," she says. "It's a quiet town most days. We're decent, hardworking folk who don't cause no trouble. It's just...sometimes trouble finds you."
<Franceska> If someone is responsible and people were hurt, they can sue for compensation. Franceska perks up at the thought. "No time like the present to go and find out, then," she suggests.
<El-Cideon> "Yes," the old woman agrees, with something akin to excitment. "Yes, it's time to go home." She walks onwards down the corridor, which soon opens up and out until you find yourself standing on a ledge overlooking a great cavern that must be some miles in diameter--you can't see the far side, but the town itself is well-lit, an army of little beacons in the darkness. (more)
<El-Cideon> You have a good view of Peridot from here--from above, it's a grand circle of illuminated civilization slashed through diagonally by a depthless gorge. Most of the structures are domes dug right from the soft earth that makes up your local surrounds, though some are masonry constructions of more noble stone. There's not much in the way of formal organization or urban planning, but at least all the intersections are lit up, some by glowing green crystals, some by soft white magelamps. A few notable structures stand out on the east side: a two-floored mansion with a domed roof (Darla says this is the mayor's residence), a somber black temple overhanging the gorge's southern edge, an enclosure at the north that shines with as much light as the rest of the city combined and looks given over to trees of all things. Three bridges span the gorge: one broad and heavily trafficked across the center, one spindly at the north, one at the south encrusted with shacks and hanging buildings. Across the gorge, the most notable structure is a gleaming white mansion behind high walls. And, not far from that, a grand pavilion of red stone with a collapsed roof.
<El-Cideon> "That was Ol' Breck's casino," Darla says, pointing to the ruined building and sounding confused. Out of old habit, she shades her eyes with one hand as she looks further over her city. "And that there--" she points out a busy plaza near the big bridge on the east side of the gorge, "--that'd be Market Square. Miss Granville's house, I think. Oh, I hope I didn't get her into some trouble."
<Julia> "It looks as respectable as any city... oh, the Casino's been destroyed?" Julia smiles. "Perhaps people have had enough and been able to evict the Dao, then?"
<El-Cideon> "Couldn't say," she continues, slowly. "Their tradehouse is still up, though." She points out the big white compound at the western edge of town.
<Stephanie> "Where's your place?" asks Stephanie, after a moment.
<El-Cideon> "Up near Narrow Bridge," she says, pointing to the northeast sector. "Quiet neighborhood. Lot of folk don't like living 'round there since the crypts run all down the northern wall of the gorge."
<Julia> Julia's expression noticably brightens when she hears that word.
<El-Cideon> She starts down a ramp leading towards town, failing to notice Julia's enthusiasm. "'course, these days we get more and more folk living here weren't with us when we came from Solata. Like Mr. Nomos says, you light a candle in the dark, you'll draw yourself some moths."
<El-Cideon> "Don't know how I can thank you all," she adds when you reach the edge of the city. "Didn't think I'd ever find myself out of Blackbird's cage again. I don't know how I can repay you girls..." she wipes away a tear.
<Julia> "You needn't worry about that, you've helped us get here after all," Julia reassures her.
<Stephanie> "Yeah, no need, no need! You just worry about settling in, okay?"
<Franceska> "Or leaving."
<El-Cideon> She gives Franceska a look. "You got a curious way of looking at new places for a lady adventurer," she observes with a smile. "Well, I'd offer you all a place to stay, but it's a little place and someone'd be sleeping on the floor and I couldn't ask that of you. We've got plenty of inns and common houses, at least, since we get plenty of traders here. Couldn't live without 'em, really. Well, well--" She gives everyone a grateful hug, even Franceska, and bows in gratitude before making her way off towards home. "Thanks again, thank you forever!"
<Franceska> "People are mistaking me for an adventurer again," Franceska complains to Rosemund.
<Julia> Julia returns the hug and waves Darla off. "Good luck!" she calls, and then now lacking their guide she turns to the others. "So, what next?"
<Stephanie> "You're ruining the warm and fuzzies!" protests Stephanie.
<El-Cideon> "If you do not approve this, your only recourse is to stop adventuring!" Rosemund observes. "And I shall not permit that."
<Franceska> "You are growing into quite the tyrant," Franceska says with a grudging admiration.
<El-Cideon> "A benevolent one!" Rosemund protests.
<Stephanie> "There are such things?"
<Franceska> "Of course."
<El-Cideon> "Be that as it may, Julia raises a pertinent question," Rosemund says.
<Julia> "They're called mothers," Julia clarifies the answer.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund blinks and looks at her friends anew. "Is that what I am to you all now?"
<Franceska> "No."
<Stephanie> "No."
<Julia> "Not to me," Julia shakes her head. "But they're the best example of a benevolent tyrant I can imagine."
<Franceska> "Would a necromancer not make a better one?"
<Stephanie> "I'll take your word on that," says Stephanie. "Let's... I don't know, let's get a drink and see what's going on in town."
<Julia> "I've never really thought of myself as a tyrant," Julia pouts. Thing squeaks and receives a disappointed look for his trouble.
<El-Cideon> ~