Intro Story - Go into the Forum

The room is long, and the narrow windows at each side let in only enough gray, wintry light to cast wispy shadows across the floor. There’s a bookshelf and a desk. You can make out a bar stocked with glasses and bottles, a rack of weapons, and a few stands of armor. It’s well organized, but once you close the pine door the silence is disconcerting, like finding a table set with a fine meal in an empty house.

A sudden glare of cool light makes you wince. Next to the bar there are five crystals on the floor, placed evenly around an elaborate casting circle. Inside is a short figure. The skin along its cheeks and hands is yellow as maidenflowers, but it has black lips and its eyes are sunken and purple. Its head is bald, but gnarled horns curl above its pointed ears. It stands three feet tall and wears a suit of blue-gray clothes, stylish and well-tailored.

Rubbing its hands together, it grins with a mouth like a fetid wound. Perfect white teeth—normal, human shaped teeth—are exposed, and seem to glow against its black lips and gums.

It’s waits for you, but now the entire room is visible in the light of the crystals. You can see the bar is well-stocked, not just with wine and spirits, but also alchemical vials.

The weapons in the rack are well-made and practical. The leather on handles and hilts shows signs of wear but they have been oiled and honed. These are tools, not trophies. You note short swords, daggers, and bows, but also empty spaces scattered throughout.

The stands of armor include sets of boiled leather and chain mail, helmets, and a wooden shield. There are scratches and signs of mending, but like the weapons they are ready for use.

The books on the shelf, like the quality of the bottles behind the bar, compose a subtle display of wealth that belies the simplicity of the rest of the room. Despite the martial equipment, this is not a rough pub for mercenaries.

On the desk is an open-topped box with a few scraps of parchment. There is writing on them in precise rows. Blank parchment and an inkwell are set neatly between the box and a leather-bound book.

A tapestry hangs on the wall next to the desk, which seems to be a depiction of the first royal family of Soros. Peter the First is visible, his name floating over his head in embroidered script. You can see his wife, Queen May, and the arm and shoulder of his son Peter the Second, who is the current king. The rest of the image is obscured because the tapestry has been pushed partially to the side, exposing a door. This face of the building should abut the city wall, so it’s unclear where this door could lead.

The short, yellow creature is still smiling patiently, but his eyes glitter as they follow you around the room.