If it wasn't for the congeniality of Dwarves and the lucrative hunting areas, the trip to the Dwarven
village would have been a total waste. Three days of travel and a full day in town. Not a soul knew of
Tybolt, and not one trace of him did I find. I returned to Talking Island to train, buy new equipment,
prepare for my permanent move to the mainland.
It didn't take too long to arrange for the transfer of my goods to the mainland warehouse. I'd done some
prior business for Wilphrod so he was rather accomodating about my requests and the transaction fees. Back to
The Village once more to say my goodbyes to a few people and then it was off to the Harbor to catch the next boat
to the mainland.
The crowd at the dock was restless, so I knew it was probably a while since the last boat had pulled in. I
asked how long til the boat arrives and got answers ranging from 5 minutes to a half hour to "Never. Start swimming."
The answers didn't help much, but it wasn't too long before the boat pulled in and two Dark Elves disembarked. "It's just
as well that I'm leaving now," I had thought, "since I'm seeing 'the element' start trickling in." I've no desire to see
any more Illythrai than I have to.
The boat handled better than usual this trip. No one overboard, no one drowned. We arrived at our destination intact.
Anxious to see this new world, I hopped onto the dock and started sprinting for the town.
As I came over the hill from the docks, I saw the walls and archways of the Town of Gludin. It had much more flare and
style in design than The Village had, and appeared to be several times larger. Well-outfitted guards stood watch at the
entrance. I nodded to each and rushed in to see what this doorway to the new world would open for me. The walls stood higher
than those of The Village, and the path appeared to be part of a four-way intersection that led to the four corners of the
city itself.
I made my way to the intersection where a large crowd was buying, selling, and trading goods. It seemed that everyone
who entered or left the Town had to do so through that one spot.
It was then that I noticed where I was and, more importantly, what was around me.
The city was filled with humans, dwarves, orcs and... ELVES.
Not just one or two elves, and not just sylvan or golden elves. Nope. The city was teeming with elves. From the palest
of vacuous blond fruity elves to the darkest and most sinister-looking Illythrai.
I asked several people what was with all the elves, but got little more than vague responses in reply, EXCEPT... oh,
and what a horrible excpetion this was... EXCEPT for a stuttering Orc-ess female person who relayed an eternity
of world history to me over the course of a very long and very painful hour.
After a few hours of just watching and listening, it became apparent that elves and humans, for the most part, seemed to
get along. Equally apparent, was my the fact that I had to try to come to terms with this whole elf thing, if I'm going to
be livingina world full of them. Or maybe not... we'll see. For all I knew this could be just the elf-infested ass end of the realm,
a better world awaits me further in.
Time to meet some people and get to know more about this place.
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