<strong>-Helena Shaw - Magnimar - The Irespan-</strong><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">(http://www.rotr.ofge.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/magnimar_view.jpg)</div></div><br/>Atop the massive, crumbling ruin of the bridge that once spanned Varisian Gulf, now standing brilliantly as a testament to the craftsmanship of the old world and a symbol of a dead age, was a most unusual pair.  A dark-skinned woman (http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/655/adventurer2.jpg) bedecked in gear and ornaments of some quality, bags and pouches hanging haphazardly from thick leather armor and weapons knocking from a sturdy belt, stood beside a frighteningly large ape, an exotic primate with a healthy gray pelt and a custom-fitted breastplate around its muscular chest.  Both seasoned travelers, now nothing more than diminutive specks atop one of the largest monuments in Varisia.<br/><br/>Helena put a hand to her breast, as though to feel the heartbeat there.  Her naturally inquisitive eyes, every bit as brown as body, played over the sparkling sea and the powerful city that laid claim to both the plateau and lowlands alike.  A smile crossed her lips, brightening her face in the same way a child's might light up at making some new and wonderful discovery.  There was an uncommon innocence in that face, but not a drop of naivety to soil it.<br/><br/>"Such an amazing thing," she said reverently to the ape at her side.  "And to think that this is simply a small part of what was once a larger whole.  I wonder if Dimari-Diji remembers what it once looked like in days past.  I'm sure he does.  And if not, he surely remembers the days before the first stones were laid here."<br/><br/>The ape nodded as though to agree with her assessment, forcing a laugh from its owner.  Without another word she turned on her heel, clicking her tongue to urge the beast after her.  The two made their way towards the gargantuan road winding its leisurely way down to the lowlands where the pearly waters lapped the Varisian shores.  From this height the whole of the harbor stretched out below them, touched by the shadows creeping out from the Seacleft that cleaved Magnimar in two.<br/><br/>"There can be no beauty without blemish, no color without a darker shade behind it.  But there can also be beauty in the blemishes.  One mustn't be blind to that fact," Helena tutted, like a schoolteacher bequeathing a lesson to an inattentive student.  The ape merely grunted.<br/><br/>She was of course referring to The Shadow, a place that few sensible people cared to visit, and those that were sensible lived there out of desperation and not choice.  The slums clung to the bottom of the cliffs like dung on an old farmer's boot, and against all rational thought it seemed to be the foreigner's destination.  There was no stopping brave sightseers from getting into troublesome situations, often of their own accord.<br/><br/><strong>-Onwards to Underbridge-</strong>