You see a small green lizard, with a ribbon around its tail and a bell around its neck.
"Hiss. My name's Jack. Hiss." The bell tinkles. It looks embarrassed.
"Hiss. I'm a familiar. Hiss. Hiss." It tries to shake the ribbon off.
22
familiar
0
"Hiss. For her nibs, Caitlin. The one who makes my life one long string of torments and humiliations. Hiss. I say, hiss. Hiss?"
22
hiss
0
"Yeah. Whatever."
0
stnd
0
There is a large, genial looking man wiping up the counter. Everything in the bar, including him, is covered with a thin layer of soot.
"My name's Josh, but everyone just calls me Doc. I tend the bar."
"Well, I serve drinks to the rowdies, when work lets off. I got a room in the back you can rent. Other than that, I just try to keep things clean. Room costs five, a drink 1."
0
clean
0
"Everything in Fort Draco gets soot on it sooner or later. Price we pay for prosperity."
0
rowdies
0
"The miners, and the forgers. They're a wild crowd, as you can well imagine."
0
drink
10
He sees you're broke, and goes back to wiping the bar.
He gives you a mug of mushroom beer. It's cheap, nasty stuff, and you feel it burning its way down to your intestines.
1
0
room
4
"You don't have the cash."
35
10
1
stnd
0
You aren't even sure what species this person is, so covered he or she is in soot.
"Hi!" He shouts to be heard over the noise of the forge. "I'm Bill!"
"I run the forge, keep it from blowing us all to the surface."
1
forge
0
"Yeah! Magic! And deucedly hot! Be careful!"
1
surface
0
"Yeah! It's a mighty powerful thing! It blows, they'll feel it at the Castle!"
2
stnd
0
You aren't even sure what species this person is, so covered he or she is in soot.
"Hi!" He shouts to be heard over the noise of the forge. "I'm Bill!"
"I shape the ingots! So they can be shipped out! You know, Exile gets all its good metal from here!"
2
metal
0
"That's right! The best mines are around here! We keep this pit running!"
3
stnd
0
You see a massive bearded man, covered in what must be an inch of soot. The enormous muscles in his arms almost threaten to tip him over.
"Welcome to my shop! I'm Boutell." He clasps your hand in a bone crushing grip.
"The best weapons and armor in Exile come from my forge, and I can repair just about anything as well. I'm the only one with the skill to work the steel well."
3
purch
0
"Armor or weapons?"
3
weapons
7
Boutell's Smithy
25
32
3
armor
5
Boutell's Smithy
9
16
3
skill
0
"Sometimes I wish I could get a real challenge."
3
repair
103
4
stnd
0
You see a smiling, dirty woman sitting behind the counter. She wears a very pretty black dress, that may or may not have once been something besides black.
"I am Aife." It's pronounces Eee-Fay.
"I'm the town metallurgist, and I dabble in chemicals as well. You would be amazed at how often the cave workers need an alchemist of some sort."
4
metal
0
"Yes. they dig up the ores, copper and silver sometimes, but mostly iron, and bring them here to be analyzed. Then the ore gets processed, mostly into pig iron, but we can make steel, in small quantities."
4
alchem
0
She smiles. "You wouldn't be interested, I'm afraid. The alchemy I do is painfully tedious stuff to the layperson." She thinks. "Wait a minute! Someone passing through taught me a recipe for a sort of poison that used Crypt Shrooms."
"Some miners use it to rid their mines of mung rats. If you want, you can buy it."
4
purchase
16
Aife
5
5
5
stnd
0
A woman paces around here, lost in thought.
She mumbles something.
"Research. Please go away."
5
cortath
0
"He crossed the bridge to the west and headed south. Looking for graymold. Go away."
6
stnd
0
You see a small man with short blonde hair. He wears a belt laden with tools.
"I'm Brandon the boatsmith."
"Well, I sell boats. Only 300 gold. Let me know if you want to buy one. They can be useful around here."
6
purch
24
6
useful
0
"I'm the only person who sells boats for use on this river. It's a neat river. Lots of caves off it. Just be careful of the sliths."
7
stnd
0
You see a beautiful woman with long brown hair and an astonishing variety of freckles. Strangely, she's clean of soot.
"My name is Sue. Welcome to my shop."
"I sell supplies to the miners and such, and also to the adventurers that come this way."
7
supplies
0
"Well, mining supplies, mostly. Stuff you wouldn't be interested in. But I do have some things you might like to buy." She brushes off a box with her hand. You notice that the store is amazingly clean.
7
clean
0
She seems pleased you noticed "Yes. I used to spend all my time keeping things neat, but then I found out how reasonably priced dirt repulsion spells are."
7
purchase
12
Sue's Supplies
0
6
11
stnd
0
A harried man bustles about.
"Welcome to my shop! I am Carlos."
"Well, you could buy rations from me, if that's what you would like."
11
purch
11
1
3
15
stnd
0
A sooty beggar rolls himself around the paths on a cart. He has no legs.
"I'm Frank. Give me a gold piece, please?"
"I was once a productive member of society. Then I got thrown into Exile. Then I became a productive member of this society. Then my legs got chopped off in a mine. Now I try to get people to give me a gold. Sad story, huh? How about it?"
15
give
10
"Man! You are poorer than me!"
"Thank you very much! You know, beggars hear many interesting things. Would you like to purchase some information? Only 20 gold?"
1
15
purch
10
"Ah, I'm sorry. I don't give charity."
"Not all spiders are nasty. There's a bunch of friendly ones across the river and to the north. Met one once, not too long ago. She said she was wandering around looking for someone to come help them. She said ask 'Spider' about a 'mission.'"
20
21
stnd
0
You see an old woman in ragged black robes. She seems to be looking for something.
"Oh, hello. I'm Caitlin." She keeps looking under tables.
"I'm looking for my familiar right now. It's being very naughty. Then we're going to go meet the dragon."
21
dragon
0
"Yes. Mighty and ancient Motrax lives in a cave to the east. He welcomes all humans. He actually likes us. Mages from all over go to learn from him. I'm on my way now, if only I can find that naughty, naughty familiar." She turns to continue searching.
She spies a lizard under a table, and leaps after it. It gets away.
21
familiar
0
"Yes, my little lizard. My friend! And helpmate! Who I won't punish! Not at all!" She starts to search faster as she shouts.
You hear, from behind you, something say "Yeah. Right."
25
stnd
0
You see an armored, soot-encrusted person, of indeterminate sex.
"Pat."
"Guarding the town. Things have been slow lately, but you never know when the Nephilim will drop by."
