A Teardrop Above the City

The next day, Caleb led us up the river to a tributary. We followed him over a hill and down a valley, where we were finally able to see Lordahl.

From a distance, we could see white spires pointing up toward the sky. Beneath these spires was the grubby underbody of the rest of the city.

There was a vast central tower that tapered up. Above this tower hung an inverted teardrop, suspended in the middle of the sky.

The second tallest tower was jagged at the top. Smoke billowed from the top.

Caleb turned to us and said, "This is as far as I go. I don't want to go into the city. I have enemies there."

We parted ways and headed toward the city. We no longer had any Finder to guide us along.

On our way, we were intercepted by a patrol of 4 guards.

"Guild pass," they demanded.

"We don't have any guild pass."

"No guild pass? Well, then, you'll need to pay the entrance fee. There are 8 of you, so that will be 120 gold pieces."

Tiny frowned and whispered to us, "They're trying to extort money from us."

Bran turned to the guards. "By whose authority?"

"The authority of the mayor," the guards replied. "You'll have to join a guild. The main guild hall is in the inner city." They pointed to the central tower. Then, they pointed to the burning tower. "The mage's school is in the outer city. Now pay your 120 gold pieces."

"Hold on," Firinne interrupted. She spoke with them diplomatically and was able to bring down the cost of our entrance to 60 gold pieces.

We walked into the city and noticed that the structures along the way were low and dismal.

Ryn checked around and found that we should go to the gate, talk to the guards, and get into the market. We walked to the gate, and the guards looked us over.

"We need to know if you're serious and have the gold to spend."

Kale showed them some of the treasure we had collected, and the guards let us through.

Inside, there were solemn warehouses filled with people in chains. It turned out that this was a slave market. There were a variety of slaves -- most of them human. There was a tall wall around to prevent their escape.

Garg walked along, oblivious to the sight, but the rest of us felt uncomfortable. "How could you not care about what is going on here?" growled Carlagnios.

As we approached the mage's school, we noticed the top of the tower was glowing, as if it had been blown off. We walked through the broad entrance to the school and noticed a Chimeric leaving.

The Chimeric had a scar across his head. People quickly moved out of his way to give him space. It was an odd sight.

In the center court, there were plants growing. The towner was a hollow cylinder with doors leading to inner rooms.

Tiny sat down and reflected. As we waited, a wizard approached us.

"Can I help you? You're not all here to enroll, are you? We are one of the premier mage academies in the area. We teach students how to become great wizards."

"I'm a mage, sixth rate," replied Kale. "I've mastered fire and ice, and I have knowledge of poisons."

The wizard seemed to perk up. He introduced himself as "Provost Benjy Bellingham". "We have an open teaching position here. We need someone to teach our classes on Intro to Glyphs, Aberrants, Greater and Lesser Dragons, and Practical Pyrotechnics."

"That sounds interesting. Have you also had experiences with these?"

"I was actually once an adventurer myself. But," he sighed, "I decided to settle down and get married. Say, why don't you come back here for dinner tonight, and I will set the table for you."

Tiny whispered to us, "He's dying of boredom and is looking for someone to talk to."

We agreed to meet for dinner and continued our exploration of the city. The area beneath the inverted teardrop was the inner city. It was the tallest tower in the city. Instead of a courtyard, there was a levitating platform that went up and down many floors of the tower. You could speak to tell it to go up or down.

It used to be an old building, but the alcoves and the stalls were retrofitted at some point. It also seemed to be a dangerous area. There was a criminal element that pervaded the place.

After our exploration, Bran decided to buy some wine for dinner. Then, we headed off to have our dinner with Benjy.