<div class="floatright"><div align="center">(http://i.imgur.com/K2hobXZ.jpg)<br/><br/> (http://i.imgur.com/6GLVWTq.jpg)<br/><br/> (http://i.imgur.com/CoO739k.jpg)</div></div><br/>The crew of the Dawnchaser, men and women both, bid the bard a fond fairwell and it seemed that more than a few of the crew kept their eyes on the departing woman until she had merged with the hustle and bustle of the busy docks.  While the docks back in the port town she'd left in her homeland had been busy, it was nowhere near as cosmopolitan as the docks here in Laelith.<br/><br/>Just beyond the docks was a large stone marketplace ringed with buildings of new and ancient construction.  As haphazard as the construction was, so too were the people about.  Humans, elves, teiflings, shifters, gnomes, halflings, warforged, dwarves, Eladrin, even an occasional drow beneath a veil or sun parasol were all busy doing buisness in the open air marketplace.  A hundred different scents assailed the sister's noses, spices, fish, and fruit, as well as oiled leather armors and moldy tomes being hawked as 'ancient artifacts' by less than reputable looking vendors.  But over all the overwhelming scent of life, of people.  Sweat and flesh, fragrances and oils, everywhere the press of people created an exotic odor that grew stronger the further they traveled from the salty sea air of the docks.<br/><br/>But if the smells were layered and complex, the sounds were a cacophony.  In every direction languages were spoken in hushed tones, hurried negotiations, shouted disagreements, and raucous laughter.  The common trade tongue overwhelmingly used, though there were snippets of dwarvish conversation, elvish singing, halflings shrewd haggling, goblin whining in a high pitched tone, Shifter's typical bassy growls, and many more.<br/><br/>One of the first things that surprised  Miyuki  was the style of dress of many of the people here.  It was as varied as the people.  Despite the sweltering heat, there were dragonborne guards wearing near full plate, and seeming to be no less comfortable than the slave girl who wore nothing but a collar and a diaphanous wrap that could only be called a 'skirt' in the loosest of terms.  Her bardic training allowed her to detect magic on the plate armor, but even an untrained eye could pick out magical sigils on the shiny metal breastplates that must somehow make such heavy armor tolerable.  The style of dress ranged everywhere in between as well.  High necked dresses with full sleeves worn by obviously noble women carrying parasols, shifters wearing little more than leather kilts and feathers in their hair, goblin merchants with a toga like style of dress that bared much of their upper torsos, and an even an outfit that seemed to wrap the body in loose white sheets exposing only the wearer's hands and eyes, an outfit so loose and flowing that made it impossible to even discern the wearer's gender.  But for those that seemed to be local, and not transient, the style of dressed seemed to put  Miyuki in her simple slight robe at ease.  Loose flowing garments and exposed flesh was the order of the day, with comfort being favored over modesty.  When the heat could break a hundred degrees every day after noon, it made sense.  The male and female slaves especially seemed to wear little more than belts, loincloths, kilts, skirts, and often sandals in addition to the collars that marked them as such.<br/><br/>Yet for the obvious displays of slavery, none seemed terribly unhappy.  In fact most slaves were unattended and unfettered.  Most only bore their collar as a sign of their servitude, and it was rare as  Miyuki  walked to see a slave shackled in any way.  Admittedly there was no where to go, outside of the walls of the city there was a few farms, but beyond those, nothing but wild untapped and unclaimed jungle.  Beyond the lack of chains however was another sign of the rather light attitude towards slavery in the town.  Their attitude was far more independent than the more rare slave seen back in the Faded Lands.  A slave laborer could be seen laughing and joking with his foreman, the two even sharing a good hearted slap on the back over something that was said.  A slave girl, one breast bared in her toga like tunic, snatched a lavishly dressed noble child as he ran from his mother and scolded the child.  But received not a beating for laying hands on a child of higher station, but an actual thanks from the mother, and a coin pressed into her palm as a reward.<br/><br/>Miyuki asked one of the heavily armored dragonkin about the explorer’s guild, and with a resigned thumb he pointed over his shoulder at a building nearby and on a level higher up then the docks were seated.  The entire city sloped upwards away from the water and towards the west.  As such the city was built on sloping terraces, with the docks and ocean at the eastern most, lowest part of the city.   Miyuki had no difficulty finding a set of stairs that wound between two buildings up to the next terrace and made her way in the direction of the building that the dragonborn had pointed at.  She crossed over a broad street that sloped upwards and found herself in front of a huge tavern with a wide open front wall and a sign out front that bore the name “The Seven Hells Tavern.”<br/><br/>The Seven Hells tavern, while named ominously, seemed to be rather inviting and safe actually.  On the first terrace above the docks, it sat on the street, looking out above the buildings below it at the black ocean to the east.  The sounds of the docks could still be heard as ropes and furled sails on the moored ships snapped and slapped in the breeze.  The sounds of people still at work on the docks, reached up over the noise coming from inside the tavern.  It was an interesting affair.  It was housed in one of the larger chunks of ruins of the ancient city, but they'd done a great job rebuilding around the ruins to incorporate new building.  The entire front of the building had large open arches that provided a direct view into the tavern, with men and women leaning against the half walls both inside and out.  Though while the attitude was energetic, it was not completely chaotic.  Which may have had to do with the half dozen armored guards, emblazoned with the crest of the Laelith Defenders who stood a few hundred feet away, near a building marked with large lettering that proclaimed it as a jail.  The guards weren’t paying much attention, and seemed relaxed as they chatted amongst themselves.  But their posture said that they were ready should there be trouble of some sort.<br/><br/>Entering the tavern made  Miyuki  start to sweat ever so slightly.  The heat inside the building had everything to do with how crowded it was, and more than one person was almost totally naked as they sat around doing whatever it was they were doing.  For those that were still clothed, light linens and loose robes were the attire of choice, again putting  Miyuki  at ease with her choice of clothing.  It was obvious that were it not for the huge passthroughs at the front of the tavern that allowed for some fresh sea air to circulate, the building would be a hotbox of sweat and people.<br/><br/>The room was packed tightly, but there was plenty of room to move between tables.  Though it appeared that every chair had been taken and the men and women standing near the front wall were using the half wall in the arches as makeshift tables.  Waitresses and one skinny teenage tiefling boy ran back and forth with plates, mugs, bottles, and bowls frantically as coin seemed to flow in a steady stream into a large locked box behind the bar.  There were three men behind the bar, though the largest of the three, a human man with an intricate tattoo on his bald head seemed to be surveying the room and giving directions to the waiters and waitresses.<br/><br/>One wall near the door as  Miyuki entered held a series of cubbies for people to place weapons and armor, though there were a few still people in the tavern wearing arms or armor so it was obviously allowed.   Miyuki ’s magical training showed a slight glyph above each cubby, and she had no doubt that there was some sort of security in place to prevent rampant theft of those trusting individuals who divested themselves of their gear upon entering.  Then again, who would be foolish enough to steal from the adventurers guild hall?  But as she saw it, she also noticed a middle aged and somewhat rotund halfling man sitting on a chair smoking from a pipe.  One leg propped up on another chair, his leg bound in bandages and splinted on either side.  He smiled and nodded at  Miyuki  and said over the raucous crowd,<strong> “Welcome to the Seven Hells.  Anything armor you leave there’ll be safe enough.”</strong>Then giving the bard a second look he smiled lecherously and added,<strong> “Tho it doesn’t look like yer overburdened with a great amount of heavy armor.  Name’s Jax, pardon me for not getting up to greet ya properly.”</strong><br/><br/>His next words were lost in the roar of the crowd as it appeared that someone had either just lost or won a great deal of coin at a game of cards in the back corner.  But the way he gestured with his pipe towards his splinted leg got the point across fair enough.  When the noise level in the tavern had died down back to a dull roar, he spoke again,<strong>“Meal of the day is grilled flounder with fresh keffa leeks.” He looked at the tavern, “I don’t see any open tables, though you might be able to share a table with those two dragonborne guards over in Dawn’s section.”</strong><br/><br/>He pointed with his pipe again, and she couldn’t help but catch the reference to a blonde waitress, who’s hair was pulled back in a tight pony tail who hustled around from table to table.<strong>“We have a few private rooms open if you’d prefer.  There’s a card game going on in that corner if you’ve got coins to lose.  If you just want a drink and relax, I’m sure a pretty girl like you can convince a gentleman to give up a stool at the bar.  An’ if you’re looking to talk to Master Flint about joining the guild, he’s down in the basement.  Now’s the best time to catch him, too late in the day for him to be hungover, too early for him to be drunk.”</strong><br/><br/>He smiled at  Miyuki  and then tapped out ashes into an ash tray on the floor next to him.  An act that automatically drew the eye to a clay pot next to it.  The clay pot had a few coins in it and a small note on it that said ‘Jax recovery fund.’ An act that was both subtle and rather obvious at the same time.  Though the smile on the halfling’s face said that he didn’t expect a tip and was simply enjoying the view at the moment.<br/>