Khyree's Story

The caravan pulls out. From your hidden vantage point you see the humans close the doors after the last carriage of the caravan exits. One pulls a lever or something similar. You then hear a mechanical hiss and the humming sound gets louder. You think you see the cables dangling around the warehouse jerk as you hear the sound of four hissing and groaning metallic clanks and wheezes secure the door; the reverberations echo through the warehouse. While the door mechanism operates and the cables hum more loudly, the blue energy ceiling seems to swirl a bit.

One human turns to the other, "I'll go out the back and head to the station. Don't worry I'll secure the back too. You gonna do the rounds here before leaving yourself?"

Khyree listens. She know she has to act now to get out the back before the guard gets there. She moves through the warehouse and heads for the back doors. This warehouse ordeal is becoming way more trouble than its worth to get into this city.

Ahead of the guard who you heard announce his intentions, you manage to sneak through the warehouse to the back. There, from nearby shadows you see a smaller--but thick and reinforced--door that looks to be the back way out. There is a lever on the wall next to the door that is pulled down. The lever is fastened to a metal plate that has a keyhole in its center. Near the lever a large key hangs on a rod.

The guards are still having some last words at the front of the warehouse.

Khyree cautiously touches the key. If nothing happens, she takes the key and inserts it into the keyhole. She turns the key and then pulls the level down.

Nothing happens when you touch the key. When you pull the lever there is a mechanical hiss. The humming sound amplifies. The door releases with metallic clanks that sound through the warehouse.

You hear a guard exclaim. "What!? How? Check the back door!"

The door releases from its frame and you can see a beam of daylight shine through. You push the heavy door to open it wide enough and then slip through. Outside of the door you step onto a busy city street. A tailor displays wares, a cobbler makes repairs outside a workshop. Others walk down the street toward more workshops. City walls loom in the distance. You detect an ocean breeze. In various places down the street, cables--overgrown with jungle vegetation--connect structures.

No one seems to look up as you emerge through the door. Everyone appears occupied.

On the outside of the warehouse building, next to the door you came through there is another lever and a keyhole. You still hold the key.



Time: Mid Afternoon

Khyree places the key back on the rod, moves through the open door, and closes it behind her. She hastily moves down the street to mingle in the crowd, looking for a tavern to have a drink and bite to eat, and a market to purchase supplies.

Closing the warehouse's backdoor, you shift inconspicuously in to the crowd.

As you move down the street, you see that the people in this city are a mix of peoples from different lands. All look foreign to look.

You pass by a number of workshops and trades peoples' establishments including:
An Apothecary
A Blacksmith Shop
A Bakery
A Barber/Surgeon Service
An Alchemist Shop

Eventually the road widens into a square of sorts where there are carts selling poultry, eggs, grains, produce, spices, meats, and other provisions and goods.

"The Weathered Boot Inn" stands at the edge of this market square, its timber-frame is adorned with a worn sign depicting a faded ship.

Khyree takes note of location of the various carts of goods in the market square and heads towards the inn. She doesn't have much coin to spare, but would like to find something filling to eat and a drink before going about her shopping for supplies.

As you push open the heavy wooden door of the The Weathered Boot Inn you hear a cacophony of sound. The dimly lit interior combines with thick smoky air. The mingling scents of burning jungle leaves (enjoyed by some patrons), exotic spices, roasted meats, and the sweet aroma of honeyed mead fills your nostrils.

Orb shaped lanterns connected by cables and suspended from wooden beams cast a soft, un-flickering light that illuminates worn wooden tables. The walls are adorned with various trinkets and artifacts from distant lands.

At the center of the tavern, a large fireplace crackles and snaps; its flames casts long shadows across the room. Patrons huddle around it, some sharing tales, others warming in silence. The bar, a massive jungle mahogany structure, is lined with bottles of various sizes, holding a diverse array of liquors foreign to you. There is a mahogany table in the center of the common area with a map carved into it.

The tavern's clientele is just as diverse as the city's population. There are even a few elves with graceful features that sip elixirs, their ears barely concealed by their flowing hair. Two dwarves with braided beards laughed uproariously while clicking tankards of ale. Some hooded figures whisper secrets in a corner, and humans at the bar engage in lively discussions that sound to be about the jungle and its mysteries.

As you make your way deeper into the tavern, you are met with only a few curious gazes, some patrons taking measure of you while others remain engaged and oblivious.

The bartender, a grizzled figure with scars on his face, nods in greeting, offering a welcoming smile. A server, wearing a vibrant, flowing outfit carries a tray of exotic dishes balanced gracefully on one hand and weaves through the crowd, expertly delivering orders to occupied patrons.

A tiny Grippli bard perches atop a sturdy wooden table, his emerald skin glistening under the soft light. He regales a party of sailors at the table with uproarious tales and witty jests in a guttural, croaking version of the common tounge. The bard accompanies his tales by skillfully interjecting sounds from an intricately crafted set of aquatic hand chimes perfectly suited to his webbed fingers, each note resonating with a silvery, otherworldly tone.

There’s one lone young human male sitting at a corner table. He’s eating a meal and looking like he’s trying to keep inconspicuous.

Khyree approaches the grizzled figure at the bar. "What do you have on the menu tonight? I'm looking for a good meal and a drink." She tells him.

"Hello. Haven't seen you in my inn before. Welcome. Hmm...let me see...tonight..." he looks up and thinks as he continues to wipe out some tankards resting on the bar. "...Tonight we have a hearty pottage of various meats, bread and house made cheese, fish-potato pie, and an assortment of edibles from the jungle foragers. Plenty to drink here too." he nods in the direction of the various exotic liquors behind him. "But if you want something more straight forward we have some ales, meads, and wine."

"The pottage, bread, and cheese, with an ale, please." Khryee tells the barman and looks about for a place to sit.

"Excellent choices. You won't be a bit disappointed. Let's see..." The innkeeper/bartender stares at the ceiling and does some quick math in his head. "That'll be 12 copper coins. Find a seat you like. I'll have Jayla bring your meal out to you."

The bar is built out from the center of the left wall of the room. Directly across from it, the fireplace is on the opposite wall. There's a swinging door off to one side of the bar. Judging by Jayla's activity with trays in hand, you presume it leads into the kitchen. On the other side of the bar is a dark narrow hallway.


Seats in the Tavern:
>There is an open seat at the bar where some humans discuss the dangers and mysteries of the jungle.

>There is a unoccupied small table top fixed to a barrel near the fireplace. Some patrons huddle around the fireplace sharing stories. They look mostly human, but there is a small one you guess to be a gnome.

>The grippli bard entertains on an table at the back corner of the tavern; in the opposite, somewhat shadowed, back corner there is an unoccupied table. This shadowed back area is also where the young human male eats alone at a table. His clothes are tattered and worn, his face is dirty. He doesn't appear to have any weapons.

>The cloaked figures sit in shadows on the opposite side of the tavern--the side with the door you came in. You notice they occasionally look up at the young male eating.

>There is a free table between the elf and dwarf parties' tables.

>No one sits at the large carved map table. There is a large candle chandelier hanging above it. The candles are not lit. Instead light in the room comes from the illuminated orbs hanging from the beams. The map table separates the fireplace and bar area from the back area where the grippli and young human are.

Khyree takes the grizzled barman and slides 13 coppers across the bar to him. Then, moves over to sit at the map table to await Jayla with her food and to get some fresh eyes on the details of the map.

You sit down at the map table to see a map of what looks like trade routes to the northern continent on the Sea of Dread, the sea that this city and the jungle coast sits on. The protruding wooden carving is made to look like a parchment map. Islands, routes, and ports are carved and painted under a glossy finish.



You are examining the map as Jayla floats over with your meal, balanced on a tray. She places it on the table at the edge of the map, trying to find the flattest spot. "Not many sit here...well, enjoy dear." She finds a spot flat enough not to spill your ale and starts to say, "If you need anyth..." before getting cut off by a loud dwarf calling across the room for more mead. She rushes off.

While continuing to study the map, you enjoy your meal and drink, which is rather tasty and refreshing. When you are nearly finished the young lad in the back of the tavern get's up and walks by you to leave. He makes quick involuntary eye contact with you giving you a faint nod but presses hurriedly by your table to the front door.

As you noticed before, he is tattered, dirty, and weaponless. You see that he has something clenched desperately in his hand as if to keep it concealed.

He hastens out of the front door. You see that the cloaked figures watch the boy leave. A moment after the boy does, the two of them get up and exit the front door.

Khyree finishes her meal and drink, then makes her way out of the inn and back onto the street. Where, she heads back toward the market area to begin buying supplies.

As you get up and move to the tavern's exit, Jayla rushes by you with another tray in hand. "Bye dearie," she says just as you open the front door.

On the way back to the market, you walk by an alley and catch a glimpse down the narrow passage of the two cloaked figures beating down the young lad who walked by your table in the tavern. One hits the boy with a quarterstaff; the other readies a narrow mace. The weaponless boy doesn't stand a chance if left alone against the onslaught.

Certainly not swayed to assist the dirty boy against the two men, Khyree stops in her tracks upon seeing the situation and calls down the alley. "What did the boy do to deserve this?"

Having seen the boy clutching something in his hands, she could easily believe that he was a common thief and she has no sympathy for thieves...or bullies.

The cloaked figure with the mace looks up when you speak and sharply replies, "This does not concern you! Begone wretch!"

The other cloaked figure now searching the fallen boy exclaims in a hissing female voice, "He has nothing! This is not the boy."

"Just finish the useless urchin then," replies the other. "and let us move on from here to continue our search."