Asylum Seekers

Sruanaq comes through the portal like a wild animal released after a long captivity, her semi-catatonic state replaced by a nervous awareness. At first, she stands rooted, but glances here and there, sniffing at the air. Her senses, dulled for so long, now pierce the rain and mist. She notices the faint scents of the city; the rotting wood of the shattered door says that it has been broken a long time, and there is no smell of inhabitants within. The echoes of the party from below confirm it is empty space below. That trait is unlikely to be shared by the next doorway down. There, instead of a yawning portal in the side of the mountain, there is a small hut, only a few feet deep, built as a foyer for the cave behind. Further down the street, the slope becomes less severe, and the caves give way to actual buildings climbing the side of the mountain. In the other direction, the slope becomes rockier, with massive slabs of stone pierced by several dark caves.

Srua, looking in all directions like a bird, crosses the cobbled street. It is a wide shelf in the mountain, and at the other side there is an overhanging rock. Some twenty feet below, there are roofs of buildings. From this vantage, she can see more of the city. The opposite side is barely visible due to the curve of the hill, but she can see that it, too ends in great slabs, though the amount of light from that side suggests a working quarry. The burg is like an inverted fan, spreading out at the bottom and narrowing at the top to a fortified citadel at the peak. At the very top is a great black tower, barely visible against the dark sky except that a single orange light burns from a window at the very top.

Closer at hand, where the cave-pierced slabs and cliffs of the edge of town give way to buildings, there is a strong tower and a wall which continues across the hill. Similar towers along the wall's length block passage along each of the major streets that climb diagonally up the slope. The party themselves are down a side-street of sorts, less than a hundred feet from where one of these major streets goes around a switchback, and eventually climbs to the great doors of the second tower along the wall. Thus is the city divided into upper and lower sections, of which the party is in the lower.

"You've got scales, so yer all right wit me, sister" the half-dragon-half-kobold chimes in. "But yer right, what does it matter? What we are is FREE of that hell-hole." He looks up at the falling drizzle and catches some in his mouth.

Uma, now wearing one sock and wielding the other, takes a few steps down into the darkness, adjusting her darkvision to peer into the damp gloom. There is only the sound of slight trickles as little rivulets of water fall down the stairs. They seem rough and ill-maintained, but there are signs of passage; the centers of the top steps are worn, and stained from water and street-dirt.

Meanwhile, the others, still out in the rain, notice a figure walking up the street, approaching the intersection at the switchback of the main street. As he draws level with their side-street, he pauses. He seems to be catching his breath from the climb and produces a small stool from his robes on which he sits. He is dressed, as far as they can tell through the mist, in wizard's fashion, with a large-brimmed, high pointed hat, and leaning on a staff. Indeed, he didn't appear to have been carrying a stool up the hill. He soon notices the party, also out in the rain, and stares a bit.

The person just stares for a few moments. He then takes out a long-stemmed pipe and proceeds to pack and light it. A few moments after he gets it going good, he stands back up and slips the stool into his robes (where it promptly disappears), and starts walking their way.

"Met well and Hail! My only malady is age, friend. Nothing a short rest and a smoke can't fix, temporarily at least. Welcome to MY city!" The manner in which he proclaims ownership is slightly unsettling, for his demeanor goes from friendly to deadly serious in an instant. He then, just as quickly, cracks a pleasant smile again.