It dawned on Lucius why this city couldn't be taken by force as he entered it; it was a peaceful place that forbid the use of arms inside of the walls, save for the local law enforcement. Too much had to be spent to put a worthless wax seal on all of his scabards, just so he could keep them. At any rate he doubted that had he left them with at the gate that he would find them again. But with the ban on the weapons, it would be all but impossible to find any work, or at least, the kind he was used to. Even if this was the center stage of an upcoming war, little would be done within the actuall walls. But at any rate, he wasnt turning back now, even if it had been a bit of a waste.
Upon entry of the city he had received a map; not of great detail, but a map all the same. Regardles of the little help it gave, it still gave a general idea of the city, and where he could find basic things he was looking for. Seeing as the sun was already begining to set, though, he decided it best to head towards a tavern. Not one on the map, anyway; none of them would be any good. What he was looking for was information, and he wouldn't find it anywhere supported by the local guards. Carefully examining the map showed a lack of markers in several areas, and it was these that he chose to explore. Suspecting they were at the very least places guards avoided, and would at the very least serve as points of interest worth investigating.
The city itself wasn't great; not a poor city, but warring factions were apparent, with the state of affairs. Several times on his journy through the city Lucius observed a fist fight in the open, and though he had no exact idea of the cause, it certainly wouldn't happen under normal conditions. Not 4 times, at least. The cobble streets were often crowded with people of all sorts, nobels and the poor alike. Occasionally a lost child would wander about, crying for his mother, or children would run straight into him playing some foolish game. The buildings crowded the side walks, and seemed very closed in to Lucius. Merchants hawked there wares on these sidewalks, occasionaly being shoved along from the owners of the house they were in front of. At least the occasional laughter in the background gave it a cheery atmosphere than the looks did. Though, it did seem a little odd; laughter with no source, that is. He also noted a few forms of, what he had guessed were small places for public humiliation; a stockade here, a cross there, and other strange miscellanious devices, one that looked like a chair, but with straps all about it. He supposed that public humilation was the punishment of choice in a peaceful city such as this.
Lucius' travels through the town yielded little of use. The first of the areas he had decided to visit, the most promising on the northern side of the city, turned out to be villas of the nobles. A seperate wall seperated the vivid villas, and the guards turned him away with weapons.
The second area proved just as useless, and though it seemed a seedy area of town, there were only a handful of people around the area, which seemed very largely abandonded.
The third, and the last area he had decided to visit today, seeing as the sun was begining to set, gave him hope; it wasn't exactly a seedy part of town, but it was hardly a place that guards would want to bother with. And to his surprize, people around him were gossiping about the local lords, and news of the war. Ironically, the mention of a certain man gathering mercenaries for some use or another in the port he had left not long ago was heard by him more than once; at the very least, if nothing turned up here, he could go back and seek out this gathering.
Though Lucius knew that this town had a ban on weapons, he also knew that local thieves would be about when the sun set, using common house tools to hold up people. It would be... unfortunate... to say the least, if he had to deal with some of these folks. The only place he could find that seemed hospitable happened to be a tavern, by the name of Dragon's Way. (For behold, our tavern has a name! Cheers, unless some of the admin shoot it down.)
Perfect tavern atmosphere; smoked filled the air, drunks were eying up the women, fellow travelers in their worn clothes, drinking ale and counting their cash, merchants who had stopped their sales for the day, with their body guards closely eying all those who happened to even look in their general direction, a person who appeared to be a bard somewhere in the mix, cute waitresses, and a few lovely dancers, and what appeared to be 2 sets of vacant stocks, for whatever purpose they were there(its a tickling RPG, lets get this started already!). A nice place to relax, and from the looks of things, was a hangout of the locals as well. Ideal for gathering information on the current status of the house war.
The boards that made the floor creaked loudly as Lucius walked across them, or what would have been considered loud if the building was anything but a tavern. It took a few minutes to get across the room, what with having to weave his way through the drunks and what not, but he managed it. He also managed to secure a room for the night, which Lucius decided to use immediately; walking around a city for the majority of the day, and traveling to it for the rest for that matter took quite a deal of energy. Even if it was important to secure what he was doing, it could wait until the following day. With the key in hand that the inn keep had given him, Lucius weaved again through the crowd, to the far side of the room, up a flight or two of stairs, and to a room at the end of the hall.
Inside the room was nothing save a dusty bed and table. The table did have a chair, but it didnt seem entirely safe to sit in. He had been ripped off, but it at least was safer than an alley for the night, and the bed seemed at least to be clear of any fleas or other pests.
(And cause Im getting tired of writing), Lucius goes to sleep. Thar.
(sorry about a long post, I tend to do that >_<. And, I hope I at least speed up some of the tickling. C'mon people, thats the point =p. )
(Also, kalamos, I hope Im not, how to say this.. going against your tide with how you want this. If at any point you, you know, don't like where I might be going with something, or already did, feel free to say something. Yea, its you know, player controled, but I dont want to mess up anything that you have planned ^^)
