Entering the City

[Raven Crowking]

Strange ruins spread themselves across several acres of land. About three hours' walk away, you can see the walls of a city with shining golden domes and minarets rising beyond. The air seems warm, and there is a faint tang of the sea to it.

As you stand, blinking in the sunlight, you notice that you are not alone in the ruins. Lizards scurry everywhere. There are several birdlike creatures hunting here and there for lizards - the bird-like creatures are four-legged though, about the size of a large dog fox, and have no wings. You can see sentries, small but distinct enough when the sun flashes off armour, on the walls of the city. The ruins, away from the city, are dotted by twisted orange-barked trees whose shapes eerily suggest a conglomeration of nude figures writhing in torment. As the field of ruins goes off in that direction, more and more trees rise from them, until the ruins are lost in forest. A great many crows, or perhaps ravens, nest in these trees.

[Dogma]

Jonas looks around in surprise. 'Wha..wha...what happened to the swamp? Didn't there used to be a swamp!"

[caveman]

"Ive always disliked swamps. Ah! But I see my purse is as light as ever, for i have not been gathering my cut of the loot. No matter. Lets see what that burg has to offer. Perhaps we can return to scrape some silver off the walls."

[Dogma]

Willem shakes his backpack to make the coins inside jingle. "No worries, matey, me an the beanpole here was pickin' up some o' the loot from those undead beasties. Should be more 'en enough fer all o' us ta share."

Jonas and Willem had picked up some of the coins and jewelry from the last expedition. RC, how much loot did we haul through the portal with us?

[Raven Crowking]

Sorry I've left you hanging....issues have arisen at work. I will respond this weekend.

3/4 of the party went through the portal....assume they were carrying 3/4 of the treasure.

[caveman]

"Let us explore this city of golden domes and carouse as we have not in many moons!"

[Raven Crowking]

As you cross the ruins, you find yourself confronted by a shortish man with an outfit that brings to mind nothing more than "an attempt at exoticism on a tight budget" - green silk pantaloons, much mended, orange and purple striped linen shirt, and over all a thin cape of vermillion-dyed wool. His footwear is workman-like, and also mismatched. He sweeps a wide-brimmed hat from his head, and salutes you.

"Ah, eminent sirs, what a wonder it is to find you here. And what a wonder it is that you should find me as well. Fortune truly smiles upon use both. I hight Folgo the Munificent. You are dirty and weary from your long sojourn underground, as a discerning eye can clearly see. Do not be fooled by the urchins and criers you will find at the gates! Only Folgo knows where the best bath houses can be found, where the weary will be properly pampered! Only Folgo can guide you to the cleanest sheets on the most louse-free beds! Trust Folgo to know where the best beer is brewed, and the finest meals served. My friends, it would please me no end to be entrusted as your guide to the Golden City of Shanthopal!"

[caveman]

"Oh Folgo, you are like the midsummers dream I've always forgotten! How I would love to follow your pantaloons to the brothels of this place! But I fear I am threadbare and poor! This foray has caused me to lose everything I have ever known, and so I do not think I could ever properly repay you for your extravagant kindnesses!" -Milner

[Dumnbunny]

Jed looks around him uneasily, peering no less uneasily at this strange fellow. He closes his eyes for a moment, attempting to feel his connection with his god, Nergal.

[Raven Crowking]

Jed can still feel a connection with Nergal.

At Milner's words, Folgo's face falls, and it appears as though he is about to weep. In a mournful voice he says, "Sorrowful is the man who enters Shanthopal without coin to his name, with no House to protect him, and with no Family to call his own. I weep for you, brothers, I weep. Surely we approach the end of days. Yet how can Folgo allow you to face the rats and wolves alone? Surely, he cannot! Let me then warn you, friends, that it shall cost you two copper ticks to cross the city wall by the Explorer's Gate yonder.

Folgo can lead you to the Gate of the Unwashed, where such a fee will not apply, but it will cost you much prestige, and he cannot cross that lesser way with you. For know you that I am under a geas that prevents my entry to the Golden City by any other way than that you see before you, and even then, only if another pays the two ticks of copper for my passage.

How I long for the bustle of her streets, like a youth longs for the caresses of his lover! I, who can but lead others to her pleasures, and cannot partake of them myself!"

[caveman]

"Tell me more of your lives, oh Folgo. Whence came this geas? Why arent you allowed joy?"

[Raven Crowking]

"Tell me more of your lives, oh Folgo. Whence came this geas? Why arent you allowed joy?"

"Oh, my dear friend, to ask me of my troubles so! Indeed, it touches my heart!

Know this then: Folgo was but a humble dragomen in the greatest city this weary world has remaining to it. And a thirsty business it is, to walk the streets and to speak always of the wondrous sights Golden Shanthopal affords the world-weary eye! Thus, having no more business for the day, and it being upon the way home, what else could Folgo do but stop for a pint or three at the Green Wolfe - which is, by the wayside of this story, a very fine establishment serving an excellent porter at a fair price.

Thus it was that I entered into that oft-blissful state between seeing all clearly and not seeing at all, for reasons of falling into a drunken stupor. By which I mean, I had more than my fill, and tarried yet, for Folgo's wife is sometimes a shrew of a woman, though he love her dearly, and there are times when his children are five parts vexation to one part joy. It is ever thus, and yet what I would not give to come striding through the door of my own poor apartments and take them all now in my arms!

For, you see, my eyes were yet strong enough to discern that the woman who walked through the tavern door resembled nothing so much as an aged water buffalo, but my wits were so befuddled that I failed to discern who it was that stood at my elbow. And, even did I know it was Evetheron of the Purple Cloak - and, had I, well I would have guarded my tongue the better! - even had I known, how could poor Folgo know that the ravishing beauty passing just then into the tavern was his own sweet sister? In but a word, I could not. And thus, from my drunken traitorous tongue slipped some small word that He of the Purple Cloak took amiss.

And hence you find me, without even proper footwear for my poor aching feet, and my dear wife and children unaware of where their Folgo has gone. It is enough to make one weep."

And then he sits down on a piece of rubble and do just that, dabbing his eyes and blowing his nose on a large, lavender-coloured handkerchief.

[caveman]

"Ah, poor fool. I have been you once or twice, but never in front of a sorcerer. You have touched my heart. I will bring you to this city, and you will show me the abode of the wizard who would allow his sister to look like a water buffalo. Perhaps there is some compromise that can be reached!"

[Dogma]

"Aye, Folgo, lead us on to this here Adventurer's Gate an' we be seein' ya through it. I don't be thinkin' it wise to be messin' in the affairs of no wizard, but we can be gettin' you inta the city ta see yer wife and youngins. And maybe toss a few coins yer way to lead us to a good inn in the bargain ta boot," added Willem.

[Raven Crowking]

Folgo leaps to his feet.

"Truly?" he asks. "This is joyous day indeed! Then let us waste no more time on idle words! Follow me!" He takes a few steps toward the city, before pausing and turning back. "Some advice friends: Ignore all those you meet at the gate, who would lead you to questionable places, and especially a hairy lout who fashions himself Folgo's chief rival as pre-eminent guide to the City of Shanthopal. And should I collect but a few small silver coins from this odious personage, it is merely because he did wager that the wizard's curse would keep Folgo from his true calling much longer than it has. For he does not believe in the kindness of strangers, having little kindness within himself."

He goes on a bit farther, past some of the trees, which you can see weep sap that looks like blood. Then he stops again, turns, and points to Milner.

"You, good Sir, have given me a wondrous inspiration. With your shield, it would seem auspicious indeed to take you all to the Golden Cockerel for lodgings. A clean house of good repute for those of modest means, and one, most importantly, which can draw a bath or a pint with equal facility. While you bathe, if you will trust Folgo with but a modicum of silver, I will see to replacing those outfits you wear, which, truth be told, stink of the grave. Trust Folgo to do the best with what you can spare! I have a cousin who is a very fine clothier, and who will make you look as though you spent more than you did. It grieves poor Folgo to see such fine gentlemen with good hearts wearing outfits that would bring them ill repute were they no more than the slaves of the least of minor Houses."

Then he turns and leads on toward the gate, moving ahead of you with a proud step, and singing in a surprisingly good voice, in tones that are very obviously meant to sound like a young woman singing:

In the Dungeon of Crows
my true lover lies
the wolves have his bones
the ravens his eyes

I dream of his scream
as the temple bells toll
but the One Down Below
has taken his soul

And ne'er again comes my lover to me
And ne'er again comes my lover to me

[Raven Crowking]

As you approach the Adventurer's Gate, it becomes clear that this was once a gate that separated one part of the city from another, but the part you are now in has fallen to ruin. It is certainly smaller than a gate one would expect to protect a city, and less well defended, with only two smallish towers on either side of the wall, and the wall rising a mere 15 feet here. Clearly, this gate was meant to control access, or to limit attackers who had breached an outer wall.

A shanty town has grown up around the base of the wall, spreading tendrils into the ruins. Most of the buildings here seem to have been (poorly) build from materials scavenged from the ruins. Thin children dressed in rags stare at you, the bolder among them approaching to beg for handouts. "Hands on purses, good friends," says Folgo. "A good place to seek out the illicit, but a bad place to be alone at night, and an easier place to loose your coins. Light fingers make light work."

Ill-kempt women, most not so very attractive, but some of passable looks, call from doorways: "Looking for a bed, Lord, and a body to warm it?" "A copper a toss, a silver for the lot a yeh." "Fortunes told, my Lords, and Lebka smile down on thee!" "Ye've risked life down below, now come taste life down below, fellows!"

[caveman]

Milner fears such women. For he was raised in a convent.

[Raven Crowking]

You are met at the gate by two bored-looking guardsmen, who rise from stools as you approach, and cross spears before the open portcullis.

"Hoy! Belson!" calls one.

"Two ticks per person to enter," says the other.

"Belson! Hoy!" calls the other again.

"Coming! Coming!" says a voice from within, and then a portly man comes puffing through the gate, hoisting his trousers as he arrives. Catching sight of you, he gives you a quick grin. "Wasn't expecting much use of the Gate, being Moving Day and all. But, of course, Moving Day catches you in both directions, doesn't it? Give me a moment to get the book." The he disappears back within the gate, only to come out a few minutes later with an enormous book, bound in red leather, and stuffed with scraps of foolscap that threaten to burst the ancient bindings. He opens the book a little more than three quarters of the way through, dips a sharpened quill pen in ink, and looks up at you again. "Very well then. I'll need to record your names, your business, and your world or time of origin if you know it."

[Dumnbunny]

Jed steps forward. "My name is Jed, I am here to seek lodging, and ... I'm sorry, did you say 'world or time of origin'?"

[Raven Crowking]

"Indeed, indeed! I certainly did. Shanthopal is the crossroads of the world in this age, and the crossroads of many other worlds and times as well. And no shame in it if you don't know from which world or time you hail. Most of them don't. The priests like to know, if you can tell us, though. It aids them in predicting planar conjunctions or somewhat, which is how I could know it was a Moving Day today."