text: > 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.
  
  A raging fire is blocking any exit through the tavern's front door.
  It is making the tavern a boiler and the countless candles are melting rapidly as the fire spreads.
  
  Your minder, Venkath Mock, is here with a grim countenance.
  
  You can also see Sceldrus Jandol here.
  
  Sceldrus and Venkath continue their swordfight in the common room as the tavern burns.
  
  Warpeye (the cat) comes down from above.
  
  > examine Sceldrus
  He is tall and has a handsome face but one you feel you can't trust. He wears black brigandine armor and you spy two swords crossed on his back. He wears no helm or hood but rather ties his long black hair behind his head. His eyes never notice you.
  
  Sceldrus and Venkath continue their swordfight in the common room as the tavern burns.
  
  > throw the jar at Sceldrus
  (first taking the small jar)
  You lack the nerve when it comes to the crucial moment.
  
  Sceldrus and Venkath continue their swordfight in the common room as the tavern burns.
  
  > throw skean at Sceldrus
  You lack the nerve when it comes to the crucial moment.
  
  Sceldrus and Venkath continue their swordfight in the common room as the tavern burns.
  
  > examine garrote
  This garrote is a braided, black leather ligature.
  
  Sceldrus and Venkath continue their swordfight in the common room as the tavern burns.
  
  > take the bottle
  You grab an empty glass bottle.
  
  You can hear the crashing and clanging of a sword fight coming from the tavern common room.
  
  > go upward
  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.
  
  A raging fire is blocking any exit through the tavern's front door.
  It is making the tavern a boiler and the countless candles are melting rapidly as the fire spreads.
  
  Your minder, Venkath Mock, is here with a grim countenance.
  
  You can also see Sceldrus Jandol here.
  
  Sceldrus and Venkath continue their swordfight in the common room as the tavern burns.
  
  Warpeye (the cat) comes up from below.
  
  Venkath looks at your small black scabbard.
  
  > Cold
  That doesn't go in there.
  
  You can hear the crashing and clanging of a sword fight coming from the tavern common room.
  
  > put the pooling in bottle
  (first taking the pooling water)
  You fill the glass bottle with water.
  
  You can hear the crashing and clanging of a sword fight coming from the tavern common room.
  
  > put the water on the fire
  Putting things on the raging fire would achieve nothing.
  
  Sceldrus and Venkath continue their swordfight in the common room as the tavern burns.
  
  > throw the water at the fire
  Strategically taking aim, you hurl the bottle at the raging fire.
  With a smash, it breaks apart, spilling the water within on enough of the fire to allow you safe passage through the front door to the east.
  
  Sceldrus and Venkath continue their swordfight in the common room as the tavern burns.
  
  Paevana the alewife comes up from below.
  
  Venkath fidgets with his travel pack.
  
  > Go east
  You quickly run through the temporary space you made in the raging fire, and fall outside to the inn's courtyard.
  
  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.
  
  You can hear the crashing and clanging of a sword fight coming from the tavern common room.
  
  Warpeye (the cat) arrives from the west.
  
  Paevana the alewife arrives from the west.
  
  The doorway to the tavern is now engulfed in flames. The surrounding doorframe collapses in on itself, making any escape through there a fiery trap. You can see in the windows that the fire is spreading fast within.
  
  You're staring at the blazing building, wondering about Venkath Mock, Warpeye the cat at your feet, when Paevana appears next to you. Staring as well at her livelihood literally going up in smoke, she puts her arm around your shoulders.
  
  Obak. It is an ancient land far to the north, once a prosperous kingdom, now a frozen wasteland of broken towers, empty and decaying cities, and ships half-sunken in the ice, as if the bitter cold hit the land all at once, taking the kingdom by surprise. Believed to be a cursed region, and given its remoteness, the land is rarely visited by the wise.
  
  Deviah was to tell you what is going on and why exactly you are needed in Obak. Xethes, the head of the small caravan that you and Paevana joined, has only said that something was found and someone who can read Ixteesh is needed. He's also mentioned that more than one city-state has sent envoys to investigate the matter as well.
  
  Despite not knowing Venkath Mock's fate, and fearing the worst, you are comforted by Paevana joining you, having explained that with the razing of the Vulgar Unicorn, she has nothing left to her name.
  
  After a few days of solid travel on pony, your group finally reaches a. . .
  
  Sloping Path (on Rags)
  The long trail you've been following, if one could even call it a trail, slopes upward from here to the north. Badushizd is now days to the south, where the snow and ice are not eternal and the sun actually peers through the clouds. Obak, however, you've come to find is a gray and frozen wasteland. Around the faint path up the slope are a good many spruce trees, frosted with snow.
  
  You can see Storm (on whom is Paevana the alewife), Keeta (on whom is Xethes Balaam) and Nibbley (on whom is Zaucular) here.