vstars Chapter 7-9
Chapter 7-9
District Two, popularly known as ‘Deuce’, was originally the rough-and-tumble industrial district of the city, directly to the east of Central. Blacksmith’s forges, then considered critical infrastructure, were placed here so as to be further from the north wall and the likely path of an undead attack.
It was also home to brothels, cheap bars, gambling halls, and the original Arena. Popular stories hold that the infamous Syndicates of Lost Angels trace their origins back to some of the disreputable establishments of Deuce.
All of that is long since in the past, however. Since the city’s expansion, much of District Two has been torn down and rebuilt. Today it is considered the newest and trendiest area of the Inner City. Only a few of the original tenants remain, most notably the headquarters of the original martial Guilds - the Delvers, Mercenaries, and Hunters. The lunacy that is Mariners’ Guild also has their small presence there.
- Fodorick’s Lonely Traveler – Guide to Lost Angels
We descended from the hilltop fortress protecting the tunnel, passing through an expanse of untamed dirt and small plants before reaching a narrow strip of farmland between the city and the REZ. Here it was less than a mile wide, but the crops were the lushest plants I’d seen since the dungeon, and they were densely packed in perfect rows.
The road was wide – at least thirty feet across – and there were a few people on it besides us. Most seemed to be leaving the city, heading past us and towards the tunnel. While some moved at a comfortable walk, others were jogging quickly, obviously in a hurry. Nearly all of them had a pistol of various kinds on their hip.
He pointed down the road ahead, where I saw a pair of trihorns approaching at a trot, pulling a large open wagon behind them. As they got closer, I saw that the wagon was packed full of people. It looked like there was a bench around the sides, crammed with people sitting, and then in the middle of the wagon there was another crowd of people standing, holding onto a metal frame. I shuddered at the idea of being packed into such a tiny space while being bounced around.
We attracted a lot of interested looks from the various people we passed, but if they had comments they kept them to themselves – or, more likely, over their Comms. The fields gave way to a narrow strip of bare dirt, perhaps a hundred yards or so wide, just before the city’s moat. Like at Fort Alpha, an arching stone bridge would take us over the moat and to the gatehouse.
Before we reached the bridge, we had to pass by a set of guards who waited under the shade of a small structure just to the side of the road. They wore matching dark blue armor and their helmets had black visors making it impossible to see their faces. I assumed they were miserable on hot days even with the nearby shade. Maybe they just had excellent mods.
We had to divide into two neat lines as we filed past the guards. I assumed they were Identifying each of us as we approached. A few of the trainees got respectful nods from the guards.
“Welcome back to Lost Angels, Miss Eleson,” I heard a guard say to Marta, who was several people ahead of me in line.
When it was my turn, however, the same guard reached out an arm to stop me.
“Azure? That’s not your real name.” He stated it more than asked, in a stern tone.
I was opening my mouth to respond when JJ, who was standing nearby watching the process, stepped up and cut me off.
“You don’t have to answer that, Azure. Policeman, do I need to speak with your Captain? You should be well aware that members of the Guild are permitted to only display their callsigns and Guild affiliation on their profile!”
I tried Identifying the man.
Name: ?Class: PolicemanTier: 2
I couldn’t detect it with my Skill, but I certainly didn’t need help to feel confident his real name wasn’t ‘?’. JJ loomed over the slightly-built man, six inches taller and at least that much wider as well. The guard looked up at the taller Berzerker through the slits of his visor.
“Her name reads as inaccurate, I have a right to question her!” he responded arrogantly.
“Does her Guild affiliation read as inaccurate, Policeman?” JJ responded in a soft, dangerous voice.
The guard finally realized that everyone had stopped and was looking with interest at the brewing confrontation. Without acknowledging JJ’s question, he stepped back, waving me on as if nothing had happened. Confused, I started moving, walking past him and catching up with Raylan.
Another commotion made me turn around again. The orcs, who were in the other line, were being questioned by a different guard. JJ again stepped in to intervene, but this one was more persistent.
“We don’t need loose greenskins running around the city and causing trouble,” she said contemptuously.
“We don’t start trouble,” an offended H’ruk started, only to be cut off by an approaching Professor Osco.
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I noticed that her tentacle-hand was hidden in the folds of her robes as she stepped between the guard and my teammates. Her intense hazel eyes looked the policewoman up and down.
“I would watch my tone if I were you, Policewoman. One might easily assume that you were affiliated with an organization like Pure Humanity, no? Or is it Humanity Pure? I always forget. Let me just Identify you and check – ”
“My Status is not in question here!” The guard’s voice was cold with anger as she snapped back at the Lightning Mage.
“Are you sure about that?” Zenia asked in return, a mocking grin on her face. “I’d be happy to arrange to change your mind, Policewoman Susan!”
“Revealing the name of a City Police Officer is illegal, you know! I should have you arrested for that!”
The guard’s voice had even more of an edge to it now. She started to motion to her fellow guards as if she was expecting them to jump in and grab Zenia. JJ began to take a step forward when Zenia raised her normal hand to cut him off.
“Isn’t it also illegal for a member of the police to be affiliated with a terrorist group, Susan?” Zenia asked in a biting tone. “Why, that would get you kicked out of the police, making it perfectly legal for me to call you by name.”
A large, older man with a slight gut pushed his way through the crowd of students around me. He was also wearing the dark blue armor of a guard, but bearing rank insignia on his shoulders. Unlike the others, his face was visible, a smile pasted onto it.
“Now, let’s not be hasty!” he boomed out in a falsely cheerful voice. “I’m sure my Policewoman here had only the best intentions!” He leaned in to ‘whisper’ to the Lightning Mage at a volume I could clearly hear from over twenty feet away. “She’s my nephew’s sister’s cousin’s roommate, I’m sure you understand.”
“What I understand is that we’ve been marching all day and it’s getting late. Do we have a problem here or not?” she asked bluntly.
“Of course not!” he said loudly. “Welcome to Lost Angels, young orcs!”
I could practically see his insincere smile through the back of his head. Nephew’s sister's cousin’s roommate? I don’t think that even makes sense!
Under the supervision of the captain the rest of the students were quickly passed through the checkpoint. We were just turning to leave when I heard one of the guards cursing in surprise, and I looked back to see what was going on. Approaching us at terrifying speed was a monster that I recognized all too well. Head Instructor Thompson had caught up with us, riding on top of her enormous spiderwolf.
The ridiculous beast came to a stop in a heartbeat, just a few dozen yards away from the guards, which they apparently called police here. Several of them had summoned their weapons, and a few were hesitant to dismiss them even after Thompson leapt lightly down from Trite’s back. She strode casually by the twitchy guards, Trite happily panting in her wake.
Seeing us watching her, she gestured impatiently, and we made our way over the bridge. The gatehouse had a single set of heavily reinforced doors, each easily twenty five feet high and equally wide. One of them was swinging closed as we approached, but the other remained fully open. We passed through the gatehouse, under the wall, and then through a strangely elongated tunnel.
I expected to see another set of doors, but instead there was just a massive arched opening in the stone. Seeing my confusion, Zenia explained the design to me.
“This rock,” she gestured at the tunnel, “isn’t part of the wall. An Earth Mage can shift it in to completely fill the gatehouse with solid rock, making it nearly as tough as the rest of the wall.”
I was about to admit that it was pretty clever when we reached the end of the tunnel and stepped out into the city itself. The noise hit me first, followed a moment later by the smell. The space we entered was an open square, maybe a hundred yards on each side, and it looked like a market. Stalls and carts ringed the square, with a crowd of people wandering around.
I was amazed at how many people I saw. There were easily hundreds in the square, many eyeing us curiously. It looked like a festival day in Sunland, when half the town turned out, but here it was just a random Wednesday. The people were also more normal-looking than I expected.
Jeans, shorts, t-shirts – I saw all of them in abundance. Some people carried pistols or knives, but it was probably the minority. Somehow I’d expected everyone living in the city to be wearing fine clothes or fancy armor, but the people I saw were dressed much more like me than any of the trainees. More than a few of them were scarred in one place or another, a few even showing signs of mana corruption.
Looking around, I hardly spotted a non-human outside of my own team. There were a few dwarves and that was about it. Ahead of us, the broad street – stone like the bridge – ran straight ahead towards the inner wall. Instead of ending in another gate, it seemed to intersect a corner of the wall.
On both sides, broad stone buildings rose up. They were between one and three stories tall, with small windows, and most of them were massive. Some looked to stretch hundreds of feet long. I followed along with the rest of the students while my gaze kept jumping from one sight to another.
The noise of people talking mingled with the shouts of vendors. Loud booming sounds rang out from some of the buildings to the south of us, sounding like giant-sized blacksmiths pounding steel with hammers the size of a person. Smoke wafted through the air, along with the stench of thousands of people living too close together.
Everyone gave us plenty of space. Whether that was because we were all wearing armor, the Guild logos on our chests, the non-humans among us, or because of the huge spiderwolf scuttling along behind our wagon, I didn’t know. It did make it easy for us to move down the huge street at a quick walk, though. I was hungry and tired, but my excitement at seeing the city had me forgetting all about that.
G’hala noted.
We were approaching the inner wall now, and I could see that it was much higher than the outer city wall. Unlike the outer wall, it had no moat, only a broad expanse of dusty open stone at its base. A few packs of children were running around playing on it, and my heart ached to see my adopted siblings again.
The road met the open space at the base of the wall and split in different directions. One continued straight ahead, running along the southern wall of the inner city. Another turned left at an angle, while the final branch went to the right, running to the north along the eastern wall. That was the direction we were headed.