Hello, Everyone!
Sorry this post is a bit late, I forgot to schedule it and almost skipped the update.
Almost.
Anyway, welcome to another part of Mary Windfiddle's story. Last time, our friends foiled an attempt at an ambush and found out it was (badly) organized by a group of desperate teenagers. Their fathers had perished in a mine accident and they were trying to figure out a way to provide for their families. The group showed them the error of their ways and accompanied them to their village. They were met with suspicion but after suggesting to pay for their stay, two of the boys' grandma let them sleep in her barn. At dinner she told them a lot of confusing information about the abandoned villages they'd come upon on their way.
In the morning, Mary and her friends had a surprise for Anzen's villagers. They had gathered all the fruit from the orange tree and had stored it in the barn. When Adam, Bezar and their family came to greet them, they showed them the harvest and asked if they could distribute it among the people.
After all, the tree would grow more oranges the next day, and the little they could give would make much good in this gloomy place.
They spent the morning handing out the oranges. Finally, for the first time since they'd entered Ekoba, Mary felt like herself. Helping the people made her see this place as more than a dreadful hole in the face of the world.
Soon, they parted with the villagers and headed on. The journey south went on pretty smoothly. They spent two days on the road, approaching the city of Ekoba. The land kept on being grey and fruitless, the few lone travellers gloomy and morose. During the night, there were wolves lurking around their camp and eyeing their horses, but they were quickly repelled by Aurum who just showed his head through the orange tree's branches and cast them away with a Stinking Cloud.
On the second day the trio started sensing the salty smell of the sea and the capital city slowly came into view. At first, it didn't look any different from the rest of the country. The buildings were small and broken down, like nobody had taken care of them for years. Dirty streets, full of mud and waste squelched under the horses' shoes. Shattered windows, barred with planks of wood, stared at them like the empty eyes of a dead man. Freezing wind howled around them and bit into their flesh.
But cold wasn't all that they felt. As they were approaching the city, it was like dread descended on their heads. Tension and distress seeped in the air and made their hearts beat faster and faster. They felt the thumping in their ears. Mary leaned down over her horse's back to alleviate the nasty sensation and saw in her periphery Aurum press his hand to his chest as if trying to take a breath.
In the distance, towards the seashore, a wall rose up above the nearby houses.
"All right," Bruno said. Even he was gloomier than usual. "Mission 'Orange Merchants' is on. Let's try our luck at the local market and check out to see what's up with the trade. I can't wait to get out of here."
"Me too," Aurum said. “We’ve got a sea monster to fight afterwards.”
It wasn't hard to find the thing that passed as a market around here. It was just a few stalls with old-looking fish and wrinkled produce near one of the main crossings. Some grey salesmen and a few tired-looking harlots stood around, waiting for clientele.
Bruno and Aurum asked around for someone who'd like to buy their oranges and Mary pretended to look busy and serious, like it behooved of a good book keeper.
"You'll find better luck inside the walls," a man said. "We can't afford to buy or trade for your stock."
Mary remembered what Granny Gretel had said – that her ‘grandchild’ lived beyond the First wall and had access to the Second. Back then, it had sounded strange, but now it made a lot of sense. She worriedly looked at her friends. Were they even going to be able to get to the other side of the wall, if only certain people had access?
They thanked the salesperson and followed the muddy road to the wall. A closed gate barred their way ahead, with four brawny guards in front. They didn’t look very presentable, not like Pamagos’ city guards, but they did seem crafty and corrupt.
Before speaking to them, Mary sent out a few familiars to scout the city. Who knew what they were going to face once they were inside! She folded a few ravens and let them fly in different directions.
The city wasn’t very big, at least not compared to Pamagos or Frinkeltong. It was made out of three concentric circles broken up by two walls. The first circle, where Mary and her friends were currently in, was muddy and grey, and broken down all over. That was probably the poorest part of the capital. After the First wall, the streets became more well-maintained and the houses taller and less tattered. There were more people outside there, and most of them were well-dressed and looked well-fed. There were inns and shops and, yes, a proper market in one of the blocks. It looked just like a normal civilized place. If it weren’t for the joyless country the trio had been traversing for the past several days, they could believe that they were in, say, Pamagos.
The third part of the city was smaller than the other two. Its wall was even taller, and the insides sported a towering castle and a few very pretty, rich-looking buildings. It was too far for Mary’s familiars to be able to fly in and look around, but they were probably not going to immediately go there, so Mary wasn’t too worried that she hadn’t been able to check it out.
She shared what she’d found out through her ravens’ eyes and they decided to first go and talk to the guards at the gate. If they didn’t let them in, there were certainly other ways to get in.
The trio packed away most of their stuff in the Pocket of Holding and headed out. On their way towards the street, a few dirty-looking children passed them by.
“Oh, no, you don’t!” Aurum snapped, grabbing the hand of one of them. It was clenching his money pouch.
The child shrieked and dropped it, and then they all ran away. The bard shook his head and tucked the pouch inside his breeches.
“Let’s see how they get it from there,” he said.
The First wall turned out to be really easy to pass. All they had to do was pay their way in. Yes, it was quite expensive--unfoundedly so--but when they threw in a few oranges, the burly guard in front nodded and let them through.
“Do you have any recommendations on where to rest for the night?” Aurum said.
“Go to Rory’s,” the guard said. “Rory’s is nice.”
Finding the inn in question wasn’t hard. They asked around and they were quickly pointed in the right direction. However, all the people they talked to were strangely glum and joyless, despite their fancy clothes and nice dwellings.
The dread Mary and her friends had felt when entering the city was here, too.
Our friends are finally in Ekoba city. Who knows what awaits them out there. Hope it's nothing mysterious and ominous. (Spoiler alert: it IS!)
See you at Rory's!
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide, the Glossary and the Map for the series. You're welcome!)
An important disclaimer: These are my notes from a D&D game turned into a narrative. All the worldbuilding and NPC encounters belong to our DM, and all the actions of the other main characters (Aurum and Bruno) belong to my co-players. My contribution to the story is only everything Mary-related (actions, reactions, inner thoughts), as well as the writing itself.