When You Arrive in Portsend by Ship
"Hmmph. I'm not sure exactly what port you sailed from, but you say you want to know about Arrhynsia?"— Dirvan Longshoreman
"Most passenger folk off a ship want to know where's the nearest place to stow their stuff, rest their head and get a long pull brew. That would be the
The Broken Staff Inn or the Ocean's Kiss depending on the contents of your purse and your taste in whiskey. Looking at you folks, I'd be recommending the Broken Staff. It's up the hill past the Town Hall and to the left.'
"Not looking for a place to stay, you say? Just want to know about Arrhynsia? I have a map here I'd be willing to sell you...'
"Not interested in that either? Not planning to spend your money in our fine town are you? You want me to just tell you what you want to know? Hmph.'
"Arrhynsia. Well, it's not much of a world, not really. Not even a world as though you don't already know that. Just an odd little continent and a couple surrounding islands cut off from the rest of whatever other places and people there are. The
Ur Hilgarria and her nasty chaotic magic currents make sure of that. Well, I guess you know that having just got off a ship. Mighty handy the Ur Hilgarria. Keeps people who don't belong here away you see.'
"Nope, Arrhynsia is the kind of sleepy place where people mind their own business, and those of us who call it home like it that way. You all understand that now, don't you?
Good. So since you're not spending any money here, why don't you just hop on over to the next pier and grab a berth out...'
"You want to know if we have
Humans? Yeah, well, I suppose you would be interested in humans, wouldn't you? We have some. Doesn't every place? Human folk are a good bit like fleas - once they show up it's best to learn to scratch a lot cause they don't seem to ever go away. Well, our humans ended up in the deep southlands after they caused the
Cataclysm and made the
Northern Wastes. We wouldn't let that crew settle here in the
Draak'thor Massiff. The second and third wave folks who landed here in Arrhynsia in
Portsend were fine. We had no trouble with the second wavers, they're fine upstanding citizens. But we wanted nothing to do with those fifth wave people who were so crazy they tried to tame the wild magic.'
"And they never stop picking fights either. Whatever it was that possessed the human empire to take up arms against the orcs in the
The Lost War just proves that they are daft.'
"Good thing the short and the
Elves didn't get involved. Not that elves would get involved in anything that don't concern them directly nowadays, what with their floating cities falling out of the sky and eldritch turning up in that tree that passes for a capital in the
Echovad Forrest.'
"Ridiculous thing that war, and the worst of it is the
Stone Throne supported the humans in that mess even if we didn't send troops. Nothing but a distraction from what a good dwarf should be about. I even heard we let one of those cursed
Dark Elves escape from the dark caverns! Five thousand years since
The Uprising of the Dark and we've kept those cursed followers of
Ligeoa bottled up. Now the throne decides to let one out. They say the Great Dwarf told them to, but I don't know that it wasn't just sloppiness.
"Bjorn said he made his way here to Portsend with a bunch of mercenaries.
Adenshur Kenghym I think they called him. Visited Bjorn and Krannik at the
Portsend Arms - odd. Wouldn't have thought old Krannik would allow a dark elf near his place, but Bjorn said they got along well enough. Guess not killing each other is getting along.'
"Ah well, I see we've another party coming off the ship so I've got to move on - I'm still recommending the Broken Staff for you. Perhaps you can let lose your purse a bit and buy me a draft in Inlet's taproom later tonight, and I'll see if I can't find something more interesting to say about Arrhynsia.'
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