There is a large, carved granite slab by the gate:
Bargha
It is heavily cracked.
A small sign by the door:
Ethridge the Learned
Schooling of all kinds
A sign has been put up by the door:
Bazaar of Bargha
Wonders aplenty
A small sign says:
BARRACKS
A splintered wood sign hangs askew by the door. You can barely make out the words:
City Hall
Two words are painted in black by this door:
DEAD ROOM
5
35
"What about it?"
0
stnd
0
A huge, muscular man moves nimbly among the kegs and boiling pots clustered behind the bar. Great purpose and determination shows in his eyes.
"Greetings, outsiders. I am Calder!"
"I cook and brew for this whole god-forsaken outpost! The few travellers we get, and the many fighters we support, they come here for my fresh stew. For you, two gold a bowl. And we have an empty room with clean bed free. Five gold."
0
stew
10
He shakes his head, and gives you small bowls of stew despite your lack of cash. "We have to stick together around here!"
He takes your cash, and gives huge brimming bowls of stew. It's thin stuff with stringy meat, but edible. Calder says "The giants haven't taken everything from us. Give thanks!"
2
0
giants
0
"They have taken much from us, but those above can take much more in an instant. Think on it."
0
room
4
Calder shakes his head. "I'm afraid I must insist on the gold."
22
7
0
scimitar
0
You barely get the word out of your mouth before he swings close to you. "Quiet!" he hisses. "There are those all around who will kill you if they hear you say that word. We've been watching you. You have potential to do us all much good."
"There is a stairway hidden behind this inn. Go down it. The password is 'Phaedrus.'"
1
stnd
0
You find a tired man sitting behind a counter. All around him are dried out hunks of meat, coarse bread, and uninspiring cheese.
"I am Marlowe. Welcome to my shop."
He sighs. "You may purchase food from my meager, meager wares. I once had much better. The Abyss produced some fine victuals. Then, alas, our enemies came."
1
purch
11
12
6
1
enemies
0
He looks at you with mild hostility. "Yes. You voles probably have never heard of the giants, but they're here, killing us, and you don't lift a finger to help. You cast us out, and watch us die." He says all this in a strangely flat voice.
"The Abyss used to be a good place. Now all that is gone."
1
abyss
0
"Yes. It was rough and wild, but not the horror you voles said it would be. It gave us the freedom we'd thirsted for above, and in Exile. But now bandits run wild, and the giants hunger for our flesh. It started good, but it's all gone now."
2
stnd
0
A tall, thin man is busily stringing a longbow.
"Ah! Hello, hello! You can call me Johnson."
"I make bows and arrows as fast as I can. It takes a lot of shots to fell a giant."
2
giant
0
"Yes. Many, many tiny punctures. Each is as a bee-sting, but enough of them make it topple. If you're planning to go do some shooting, please be sure to purchase some of my arrows. I guarantee they'll do the trick!"
2
purch
7
Johnson the fletcher
23
25
4
stnd
0
A small, elfin woman with long scarlet hair sits at the desk preparing a poultice.
"I am Prynne."
"I am a healer."
4
healer
0
"Yes. I lived in Almaria once, but I heard about the war here, and knew that this is where my skills are needed. You can't imagine the threats these people live with. You can buy help you too, if you need it."
4
purch
20
3
stnd
0
A women sits behind the counter writing a scroll. The rooms is filled with other scrolls, on the same sort of parchment as the one she is writing on.
"Cynthia."
"I am a sage." She smiles wryly. "I am here, instead of the nice caves to the south, because this is the place in which I feel safe."
3
safe
0
"Yes, I know. Warring giants. Bandits. Fierce and crude people. But there is also the freedom to study what I want and say what I want, and until now I'd never found a single place where I could claim that."
3
sage
0
"Yes. I identify items. Many strange things are found on the bodies of the giants, and I figure out which ones can aid us. Most of these scrolls describe the bizarre things I've seen." She thinks. "I'm also trying to find out about the dragon."
3
identify
19
3
dragon
0
She turns deadly serious. "Yes. I fear it may be a dire threat to us. The giant fort is to the east, and the dragon, so I believe, lives east of that. They worship it, you see. And I fear it may one day hunger for human flesh and come here."
"When that happens, I doubt we can survive."
5
stnd
0
A man with puffy brown hair and a harried expression wanders around mumbling. He wears nice clothes and some sort of badge of office.
"I'm Maher. Mayor Maher. Welcome to Bargha. I know you're voles, but we need all the help we can get."
"Well, I mainly organize and provide tactics for the soldiers here. Bargha is the last bastion against the giants."
5
giants
0
"Yes. Stupid, vile creatures. They attacked us because it was something to do, and now they refuse to stop. We keep looking to you people for help, and you ignore us!"
5
help
0
"We've sent messengers to King Micah again and again, telling him of the horrors. He hasn't sent a person to help. Not one sword. Not one mage. What I wouldn't give for a group of dedicated adventurers."
5
advent
0
He grins, not entirely pleasantly. "I'm afraid I don't have any reward to offer you. But I can tell you the giant fort is to the east, and they own great wealth. Oh, and there is a secret passage out in the northeast corner of town."
"You can use that to get out and get to the giants more quickly."
6
stnd
0
A woman in dark, flowing robes and a hood flows about the room. You can occasionally make out the outline of a blade through her clothes.
"I am called Ethridge. Welcome to my school."
"I train all who can use it. The people of the Abyss need all the skills they can get."
6
train
9
6
skills
0
"Yes. They didn't have the advantages of the voles. Every advance, every building, every crop was paid for with blood. We have few magicians, few alchemists. We, for the most part, get rejects and scum. We will succeed, but it is hard."
7
stnd
0
You see a shy, eerily pale little girl.
She says "Molly" in a voice you can barely hear.
"I'm scared."
7
scared
0
She shies away from you. "Giants thwow fings. Woud. Scares me." It is clear you scare her too.
8
stnd
0
An ancient, heavily wrinkled man peers at you through a barred window. His armor hangs off him loosely.
"I am Bela."
He emits a rattling cough. "Ach." He spits on the floor. "I'm too old to defend the wall, so I watch the gate. If you want to enter the city or the outer world, let me know."
8
enter
115
9
stnd
0
A young priest with ratty robes and dark skin runs around, looking for wounded.
He bows quickly. "I am called Cabanero."
"I patrol the walls, and heal those who need it. There's more havoc here than I could ever help with, but I have to keep trying. It is, after all, the fate I chose."
9
heal
0
"The giants come here and lob boulders over the wall for fun. Then, when they get serious, they charge. Were it not for me and Prynne, many more would have died. As it is, the bloodshed is still horrible."
9
fate
0
"I shouted and shouted for the poor and downtrodden on the surface. Then, the Empire tired of hearing the truth and threw me down here. I did the same thing around the voles, but they got sick of me too, so they sent me into the Abyss. And I came here."
"It's miserable and dangerous, but I can fight for good here, and nobody tries to shut me up."
25
stnd
0
You see a soldier, wearing mismatched armor and bearing a low quality weapon.
"Sorry vole. Can't talk."
"Waiting for giants to attack. I don't have time to talk."
