5th Moonday, Early Morning
Readying
Temple of Enduring Silence
As we had approached Verbobonc the city rose from the outside wall and got higher as it drew to the center. It seemed that the war was having its toll on the city. The first day Mukinzir had told me to find a job so that we could pay for our way while in the city. I asked him why he didn’t take money from father to pay our way. His response was that I needed to get use to providing for my self, and that he too was going to try to find a job.
I had no idea where to start. So as I walked around the inn trying not to get lost, I heard someone pounding metal in the back of a small store. I entered the store from the front and it looked like some sort of general mercantile supply shop. It was open in the back and the proprietor of the store asked if I could be helped. I had never laid eyes on a dwarf but this one was covered in black soot and carrying a huge hammer, very imposing. His voice sounded like the rumbling of a rock slide. As I found my voice after what seemed an eternity I asked him if he had a job available. He laughed at me and asked what I could do. I told him that I had spent many hours at a forge with my father teaching me how to make armor and weapons. He looked at me as if I was trying to lie to him just to get a job. He also stated that today was my lucky day because his other guy that worked for him had been knifed in the belly the night before due to an outstanding debt that he owed to a loan shark. I made it a point not to owe anyone money.
He introduced himself as Beleg Dorath of the clan Stonehammer form the Cairn Hills. Beleg told me that if I could repair a breastplate for one of his customers and prove my skills that he would hire me. As I agreed and went to go shake his hand he grabbed my wrist and looked at the palm of my hand and nodded. He told me that it seemed that I did have the hands of a blacksmith. I asked when I should start. Beleg said right then would be good. I took off my shirt and grabbed a spare hammer from the floor and started right then. I grabbed the breastplate and a patch of the highest quality scrap metal I could find and went to work. With in several hours the armor was done. I had Beleg examine my work and he looked very pleased. He decided to pay me for the work I had done and told me to come back tomorrow. He told me that I was lucky to find a job so fast in town, with all the refugees in town jobs were hard to find. I went back to the inn and saw Mukinzir eating mutton at a table. He asked if I had any luck in finding a job, so I told him about the dwarf Beleg around the corner. He looked surprised that I had a job so fast. He told me that he was still looking.
Verbobonc was amazing in its complexity. The city was built with a mixture of people and races. On my free time I went to the library to look up some history on the town. Oddly enough it started as a gnomish settlement about –200cy. As the years wore on and invasion occurred by the Suel in –182cy a combination of gnomes, elves, Oeridians and Flannae joined forces to stop the invasion. The city prospered as the years wore on due to the geographically desirable location and it’s perpetual good weather. Many years later in 360cy the Knightly Order of Guardians, devoted to Trithereon, were responsible for holding the town against an invasion from Keoland for six months in attempts to annex the city. As a result a huge temple was erected in the City Square and a holiday declared, The Feast of Freedom.
It seems that the presence of the Trithereon church is a blessing and a cruse. While it seems that the whole of the city gives much to the tenants of the god of individuality, there is static between those dedicated to He of the Cudgel and the God of Retribution. It seems that Trithereon preaches self-freedom and helps those by way of self-defense training, to protect themselves and their families. But on the other hand they have a strong bent towards too much of an oppressive government. They are in constant conflict when the city tried to enact new tenants and laws. Where as He of the Cudgel preaches law and unity with zeal. All those that are non-believers must be brought into the fold. This and many other subjects is where those two butt heads.
Now my own bit of knowledge here is that in 578 Viscount Willfrick had commissioned a large castle built to protect the village of Hommlet and Verbobonc as well as surrounding lands, against the rising Temple of Elemental Evil. In 569 the Battle of Emridy Meadows.
According to Mukinzir, Verbobonc has come to show the best efforts of gnome, man and elf. The architecture of the town has distinct gnomish origins. It seemed that most of the gnomes lived in Gnomesburg, a small section of the city built to look like the gnome warrens of the Kron Hills. I laid eyes on many races with in the city that I had never before seen, elves, gnome and different races of man, rich, poor and destitute.
Now, the city was shockingly overcrowded. The population from dozens of outlying towns, farms and villages had all come into the city – the only high ground in the region. People thronged the streets, made shantytowns in the ally ways, and huddled outside the city walls. Every government building had been given up its lower floors to refugees and every house and shop was filled with poor families. This is what made my heart ache the most.
Soaking in all that I saw was more than I could bear. I could not believe the way these people lived in this city, much less live in these conditions. I begged for Mukinzir to tell me this was not the case with all cities. Children begging in the street for scraps of food or a bronze chip. First off I had never before seen this many people in one area at once and packed in like a crate of eggs. The claustrophobia, filth and sorrow started to suffocate me.
Mukinzir and I had spent many days just walking around the city, soaking in exactly what was going on and why. Shouldering my way through the mob, according to Mukinzir, it seemed that the city had done a superb effort to do justice to its citizens. The homeless were being sheltered, the poor fed. City officials led soldiers through the throng, trying to make order out of the chaos and clean away the filth that might lead to disease. Mukinzir told me that he approved of what was being done that a good effort was being made in the city. With that I was shocked that he thought this was a good effort. While thinking to myself and looking around, I wondered that if this was a good effort to control the over population in this city, what were other cities like that didn’t have this supposed good management. Mukinzir moved carefully through the crowds, opening the way so that I could follow in his wake. One time the street was hopelessly jammed. Mukinzir stepped onto the stairs that led to the ramparts of the city wall. He grabbed me and pulled me up beside him. We walked up to the rampart to watch the sea of people swim about us at the bottom. Mukinzir looked at me and said that I was learning well how to fend for myself in the city life, but that this was only the beginning. He looked at me and told me that it was time for lesson two…
Mukinzir’s sharp, suspicious eyes flickered to check the rooftops and streets as he talked, right then he jabbed a finger in my side and I let out a most girlie yelp. He startled me and at that my face turned a deep crimson. “Crowds: minimal danger from missiles, maximal danger from daggers. But to do that they have to get close. If a crowd is thick enough, they’ll have trouble getting enough force to penetrate your armor. Deep in a packed mob your sword blade is an impediment. The pommel is better that the blade. Draw from the scabbard and punch the hilt at an enemy’s gut and hit hard! You can break his nose with your knee as he folds down. A man with a broken nose is out of the fight for at least 30 seconds.” I was shocked every time Mukinzir gave these little speeches but I had hung on every word.
