Slowly, over the east, the July sun rises, casting long shadows of the palaces of Partash over the stretch of the Gentourin River. Already the summer heat and humidity already making themselves felt, as people in the small but growing trade hub of Cliffport emerge from their homes to do what work they can in the morning, before the heat makes what needs doing thoroughly uncomfortable and exhausting. Distantly, to those who listen, the chimes of the temple of the Eluchish sun god Ogarh can be heard across the river. To the west, illuminated by the pale yellow light, stands the city of the priestess-queen of Nidor, the Citadel of Books.
Presently, a ship from some unknown land on the coast far away is being set to leave. A man, scarcely taller than a dwarf, walks across the dock to the side of the gangway holding a written schematic of the ship's precious cargo. He casually glances down the docks at a prominent sign of a white cloak and thief's mask on a red field, and an elaborately written sign underneath reading
Elsewhere, not far away and paying the docking merchant ship no mind, a nervous-looking halfling man hammers a notice onto a kiosk in what has become the main square of Cliffport. Hanging from his back is a heavy pack the flexible shape of which does painfully little to conceal what is obviously inside: a massive book. Being done with his task, he momentarily glances around the street, before scampering off under the load of his pack and into a door of an anomalously boarded-up wharehouse, where someone closes the door behind him as he gets inside.
Meanwhile, a skinny but tall human woman with golden hair in what looks to be her forties, who had been talking to an armored Hyla making his rounds through the town suddenly screams
[This message has been edited by Beren V (edited 08-29-2010 @ 00:13 AM).]