text: [Themes: Fantasy, boat, history, travel]
  
  > go downwards
  Bright and shadowy, all at once, this tavern common room is covered in countless burning candles of various shapes, sizes, and colors. This perpetual candlelight has been happening for so long, the floor is covered in dry candle wax, stamped into a dust that has become one with the floor. The wooden walls and ceiling are completely covered in soot and the patrons through the many decades have taken it upon themselves to scrawl graffiti in it with their fingers and knives.
  
  Across from the front door to the east is a large, curved bar, covered in candles and spirits. In between the front door and the bar are a couple of tables and a few scattered chairs. A wooden staircase leads up and a concealed staircase behind the bar leads down to a cellar.
  
  Behind the curved bar, a young woman with dreadlocks attends to patrons.
  
  > go east
  Nestled within the buildings of Badushizd, this stony courtyard serves the patrons of The Vulgar Unicorn as a place to enjoy if the tavern gets too noisy. A dry fountain sits as a centerpiece, surrounded by four stone benches with areas of trimmed grass in between. A closed spiked gate leads out of this courtyard to the east and a shadowy break in the wall to the northwest leads to some sort of dark alley between the buildings. The door into the tavern is to the west. It is currently open, allowing light and conversational sounds to spill out into the courtyard.
  
  On the dry fountain is a periwinkle sadiki bird.
  
  > Go northwest
  This alley is generally crooked, of course, and the way it is sandwiched between the buildings blocks almost any natural light, leaving  this passage in shadows. The alley leads southeast (back to the inn courtyard) and southwest (deeper into shadow).
  
  You can see a squirrelly thug here.
  
  > examine the thug
  This man is lean and strange with dark circles under his bloodshot eyes as if he hasn't slept in years. His greasy hair has the scraggly look of being chopped here and there by sharp implements. He wears dark, stained clothes under a scuffed leather duster.
  
  > talk to thug
  If you approach, he looks like he would rather mug you than talk to you.
  
  > go to the southwest
  The squirrelly thug blocks your way in that direction. He seems to be waiting for you to approach.
  
  > kill the thug
  With your bare hands? You'd probably lose that fight.
  
  > take the dagger
  (putting the cabin key into the leather haversack to make room)
  You're carrying too many things already.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a first inn key
  a coded message
  a leather garrote
  Owls of Stone
  a small jar (open but empty)
  a glowstone lantern (providing light)
  a leather haversack (being worn and open)
  a cabin key
  an old key
  an important note
  some weird dirt
  an antecessor skean
  a mysterious note
  Elements of Ixteesh
  Phandaal's letter
  some traveling clothes (being worn)
  a small black scabbard (being worn)
  
  > PUT INN KEY, OWLS, MESSAGE IN SACK
  first inn key: Done.
  Owls of Stone: Done.
  coded message: Done.
  
  > take skean
  You take the antecessor skean from the leather haversack.
  
  > put the dirt in the jar
  (first taking the weird dirt)
  You put the weird dirt into the small jar.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  an antecessor skean
  a leather garrote
  a small jar (open)
  some weird dirt
  a glowstone lantern (providing light)
  a leather haversack (being worn and open)
  a coded message
  Owls of Stone
  a first inn key
  a cabin key
  an old key
  an important note
  a mysterious note
  Elements of Ixteesh
  Phandaal's letter
  some traveling clothes (being worn)
  a small black scabbard (being worn)
  
  > kill the thug with the dagger
  You were given the skean to use to defend yourself, if that unfortunate event arises. But to rush in to an attack with a larger and maybe more experienced opponent doesn't sound like a good idea.
  
  > throw the dirt at the thug
  (first taking the weird dirt)
  You pour the weird dirt from the small jar into your hand.
  
  You toss the weird dirt at the squirrelly thug. It hits him without any fanfare at all. But suddenly, he remains fixed in place, unable to move any of his body but his eyes. His eyes dart around, terrified, but he cannot move even a finger, leaving him standing awkwardly like a frozen scarecrow.
  
  > go southwest
  You sneak past the paralyzed thug. His eyes follow you as far as possible, until you're past his view and down the alley a bit.
  
  The dark alley stops here at a dead end. The angles of this cul-de-sac are contorted so the dark walls are disorienting to make out. The east border is the back of The Vulgar Unicorn, its face covered with a gray city ivy known as shalifux,  A round window is up the wall on the second floor. Across from the back of the tavern, a tall brick wall blocks what was once another alley. The only exit is back down the dark alley to the northeast.
  
  On the tall brick wall is a lavender sadiki bird.
  
  You can also see an old crate here.
  
  > climb the ivy
  You painstakingly climb up the back wall of The Vulgar Unicorn, grasping the gray shalifux ivy. When you reach the round window, you crawl through, dumping unceremoniously on the floor of the back bedroom.
  
  This room is a chaotic mess. The bed frame and mattress is crooked as if someone pushed it or was pushed against it. A sofa is overturned as if flung by a giant hand. A blood-stained quilt is bunched up on the floor. On the west wall, half of a curtain hangs askew, partially covering a round window. The rest of the curtain is on the floor. There is a closed door to the east.
  
  Finally, on the floor is the still body of Deviah Favash. She is laying in a pool of blood.
  
  > examine the body
  This unfortunate woman was Deviah Favash. Whoever sent for an Ixteesh interpreter from your village did so through Deviah and she was to explain to you who sent for you and where you're supposed to be. Sadly, it appears she has been stabbed a few times in the midsection by something incredibly sharp, given the very clean cuts left behind in her clothes.
  
  Without warning, Deviah's eyes snap open, startling you enough to shout a quick, "Shit lords!". She grabs your wrist tightly and whispers to you in a slowly dying breath, "You must join the
  caravan to Obak! That is where you are needed!" She cringes in
  pain for a moment, then struggles to add, "They are trying to stop you-" but then, having delivered this message to you, she finally dies.
  
  > unlock door
  What do you want to unlock the second bedroom door with?
  
  > open the door
  It seems to be locked.
  
  > search body
  You find the second inn key in one of Deviah's pockets. You absent-mindedly grab it.
  
  > unlock the door with the second key
  You unlock the second bedroom door.
  
  > go to the east
  (first opening the second bedroom door)
  
  This is the upstairs hall of The Vulgar Unicorn. From below, the sounds of the tavern common room rises up the wooden staircase. Bedroom doors are set east and west and a lavatory door is to the south. The soot graffiti continues on this floor, as does the smoky aroma of tobacco.
  
  Your minder, Venkath Mock, is here with a grim countenance.
  
  You can also see Warpeye (the cat) here.
  
  Venkath looks over your shoulder, into Deviah's room. He spies her lifeless body.
  
  "What in all the hells?" He mumbles to himself. Before you can reply, the sound of breaking glass followed by a scream pierces the tavern noise from below.
  
  Venkath looks at your traveling clothes.