Chapter 3: Excelsior

Dear Esca'ele,

Strange and wondrous things can be found on the vast edges of the multiverse, but they can also be found at your doorstep. Last week, the wonder was my doorstep, so to speak. The only emotions I sense from Looptoren, my walking castle, are happiness when traveling the Land and boredom when staying in a place for too long. But, when I arrived at Excelsior I sensed a totally new emotion from him – he was jealous. Looptoren is probably genderless, but I prefer to refer to it as him as it gives me a feeling of companionship.

The first sites we saw when coming close to Excelsior were the flying castles of the Paladin Lords. Looptoren probably sensed that they were related to him, even though they could fly while he has to walk. At the time of our arrival, there were seven of those huge buildings floating slowly in exact circles around the city. At a later time, I was told that the number of these picket keeps, as the locals call them, is anywhere between three and twelve.

The castle that had the greatest impact on Looptoren was the floating castle owned by Thotatis of Tyr. This is not so unexpected, since he is the most powerful Lord at the moment. About Looptoren's change in emotion… [Now follows a philosophical monologue that tries to see into the mind of a walking castle which I have removed - Ed.]

Excelsior has its own spire - a huge tower at the center of town. The gate leading to Mount Celestia is located in the top of this central tower. The tower has a number of observation decks and I stood for quite a while watching the surroundings when a local pointed towards two cities. According to her, these two cities were Fortitude and Tradegate. I could not believe her at first, but I had to admit that one city had the unmistakable shape of an oval. Since Fortitude was my previous stop, I concluded that she had to be right.

The helpful woman turned out to be a bit too helpful. After admiring the view, I wanted to buy a painting with Fortitude and Tradegate at the edges and the Spire with Sigil in the middle seen from an observation deck very near the top of the tower, but it turned out that I had been robbed. The city sheriff told me that the woman was a member of the Holy Shadow, the thief's guild of Excelsior. Supposedly, they only prey on non-lawful visitors and she peeled me when I let my guard down. I did not file a complaint, since it appears to me that they help keep the city in the right balance and prevent it from shifting. This conclusion makes me curious as to how the lower gate-towns keep their balance in check. [Erg starts trying to find answers, although he will visit them and see for himself in a few months time. For more information on these topics see Chapters in the second part of this book - Ed.]

A lot of travelers visit the Forum. In this open amphitheater there is always a discussion going on about good, lawfulness and paladinhood. It is wonderful for people interested in these topics, but I preferred "The Golden Deva", an inn located across the street from the Forum. They serve Mount's Delight, a wine brewed with holy water from Mount Celestia. I bought two barrels, so if you find the time to visit me you can taste it yourself. If I find more places with these kind of specialities, I am afraid that I will flood the wine cellar, although technically Looptoren does not have a wine cellar.

I started packing and I will leave for Tradegate shortly. Until next time -

Erg Niewsgierig

[Probably due to his aversion to extremists, he has not mentioned the Order of the Planes-Militant, but they are all over Excelsior - Ed.]