City of Orario; Monday, 9:00~ AM.
A clear and mostly cloudless day, with bright sunshine and a gentle breeze. This is how the morning for the people of Orario was beginning at this still early hour, But despite this, the streets were already filling with people, merchants going to set up their stalls or open their shops, artisans heading for their workshops, day-laborers making their way to their current employment project and, of course, adventurers heading both to and from the centerpiece of the city - Babel, and the dungeon beneath that towering spire. The variety of people out was, as always, wide and numerous - as was typically the case when a city as large as this was home to all the world's various races.
But today seemed especially busy, particularly near the gates and along the four, cardinal main roads. A lot of travellers had seemingly arrived very recently and were now either making their way into the massive metropolis, or standing around and gawking at it in disbelief, utterly shocked at the difference in size compared to whatever backwaer hamlet they had crawled out of originally. The cacaphony of many voices talking at once, the sound of many feet on bricklaid road, the occassional shout about a good deal on a certain item, this was the melody being played throughout the city of adventurers today.
However, over by a certain large villa, located on a side-road to the north of the western main street, things were still rather quiet. It was a rather unremarkable building aside from its size, located in an area with many similar, upper middle-class homes. A waist-high wooden fence surrounded the structure, and the building itself was a matted, natural wooden-brown color. It had three floors and what looked to be a rather flat, balcony-like roof. The door was a thick and sturdy thing, with a brass handle as well as a heavy, iron ring latched on for the purpose of being used to knock with.
There were plenty of windows, but they all seemed to sport the same, identical, patternless, maroon-colored curtains, though some were pulled aside and open, while others were draped to cover the window and prevent anyone from looking inside... Not that you could well see into a room on the second floor when you were on the street...
However, what made this unremarkable, larger-than-average house stand out when compared to its neighbours was a single fact. The banner hanging along the eastern wall's exterior - the banner of the Athena Familia. A round shield with a diagonal spear behind it, pointing upwards with its tip. This was the Home of the Goddess Athena and her Familia, the house known as Warrior's Rest.
Of course, given how quiet and utterly devoid of any activity outside, one would be forgiven for simply passing by without ever even noticing this place. Indeed, compared to the large, more well-known and well-established Familia, who lived in their fancy, crazy-big mansions, this was hardly worth paying much heed to. And, indeed, very few did.
Over by the market, more and more howls from various peddlers could be heard, wagons and carts loading and unloading goods while housewives and the elderly milled about, gossiping and making small-talk as per usual. It was a just another, unremarkable day for the Labyrinth City ... Or was it?
Over along the east main street, two groups of young adventurers had just gotten into a verbal disagreement, likely over something trite and petty. While this was not uncommon, the problem was that the youths were standing in the dead middle of the street, making traffic slow down and generally being loud and in the way for everyone else. Some people had stopped to watch the spectacle, making things even more bogged down and choked. The argument was heting up and insults were now being flung back and forth - it was likely only a matter of time before the powder keg blew up and fisticuffs started sailing through the air... Through the air, to connect with faces.
Along the northern main street, there was a differnt story. A pair of children, a girl and a boy, were running back and forth, tugging at passer-by's clothes and asking if they had seen their mother. But all they got in response was either a shake of the head, a polite 'no' or a brusque brushing off. Then again, both of the small ones were rather dirty and wore ragged, cheap-looking clothing - so one could obviously make the mistake that they were stret urchins or orphans in denial about their state of parental abandoment. But the two didn't seem to want to quit any time soon, and continued their back-and-forth of pestering anyone they could catch up with or who had stopped for whatever reason.
Elsewhere, along the southern main street, a group of suspscious people were hanging about. They were offering people to play some sort of simple game, where one had to find a marble placed under one of three cups, after the cups had been suffled around. The man doing the shuffling looked like a sleazy, middle-aged good-for-nothing, while his two assistants - two buxom and sultry ladies in scandalous clotes - beckoned and urged any nearby traveller to try their hand at the game. And if a smile and skimpy outfits didn't work, cozying up to, grabbing an arm and pressing their chest against said arm, seemed to do the trick. Amusingly, the dealer seemed to lose very seldom, and when he did, it was always when the adversary had made a very modest bet... Strange how that was...
There were however many other things going on, all throughout the city, all at the same time. But to observe and mention every last one, that would be an insane undertaking that nobody in their right mind wold have time for.
So, in the end, was it a normal day then? For Orario, it certainkly was. But for any new arrivals, that may not be the case.
A clear and mostly cloudless day, with bright sunshine and a gentle breeze. This is how the morning for the people of Orario was beginning at this still early hour, But despite this, the streets were already filling with people, merchants going to set up their stalls or open their shops, artisans heading for their workshops, day-laborers making their way to their current employment project and, of course, adventurers heading both to and from the centerpiece of the city - Babel, and the dungeon beneath that towering spire. The variety of people out was, as always, wide and numerous - as was typically the case when a city as large as this was home to all the world's various races.
But today seemed especially busy, particularly near the gates and along the four, cardinal main roads. A lot of travellers had seemingly arrived very recently and were now either making their way into the massive metropolis, or standing around and gawking at it in disbelief, utterly shocked at the difference in size compared to whatever backwaer hamlet they had crawled out of originally. The cacaphony of many voices talking at once, the sound of many feet on bricklaid road, the occassional shout about a good deal on a certain item, this was the melody being played throughout the city of adventurers today.
However, over by a certain large villa, located on a side-road to the north of the western main street, things were still rather quiet. It was a rather unremarkable building aside from its size, located in an area with many similar, upper middle-class homes. A waist-high wooden fence surrounded the structure, and the building itself was a matted, natural wooden-brown color. It had three floors and what looked to be a rather flat, balcony-like roof. The door was a thick and sturdy thing, with a brass handle as well as a heavy, iron ring latched on for the purpose of being used to knock with.
There were plenty of windows, but they all seemed to sport the same, identical, patternless, maroon-colored curtains, though some were pulled aside and open, while others were draped to cover the window and prevent anyone from looking inside... Not that you could well see into a room on the second floor when you were on the street...
However, what made this unremarkable, larger-than-average house stand out when compared to its neighbours was a single fact. The banner hanging along the eastern wall's exterior - the banner of the Athena Familia. A round shield with a diagonal spear behind it, pointing upwards with its tip. This was the Home of the Goddess Athena and her Familia, the house known as Warrior's Rest.
Of course, given how quiet and utterly devoid of any activity outside, one would be forgiven for simply passing by without ever even noticing this place. Indeed, compared to the large, more well-known and well-established Familia, who lived in their fancy, crazy-big mansions, this was hardly worth paying much heed to. And, indeed, very few did.
Over by the market, more and more howls from various peddlers could be heard, wagons and carts loading and unloading goods while housewives and the elderly milled about, gossiping and making small-talk as per usual. It was a just another, unremarkable day for the Labyrinth City ... Or was it?
Over along the east main street, two groups of young adventurers had just gotten into a verbal disagreement, likely over something trite and petty. While this was not uncommon, the problem was that the youths were standing in the dead middle of the street, making traffic slow down and generally being loud and in the way for everyone else. Some people had stopped to watch the spectacle, making things even more bogged down and choked. The argument was heting up and insults were now being flung back and forth - it was likely only a matter of time before the powder keg blew up and fisticuffs started sailing through the air... Through the air, to connect with faces.
Along the northern main street, there was a differnt story. A pair of children, a girl and a boy, were running back and forth, tugging at passer-by's clothes and asking if they had seen their mother. But all they got in response was either a shake of the head, a polite 'no' or a brusque brushing off. Then again, both of the small ones were rather dirty and wore ragged, cheap-looking clothing - so one could obviously make the mistake that they were stret urchins or orphans in denial about their state of parental abandoment. But the two didn't seem to want to quit any time soon, and continued their back-and-forth of pestering anyone they could catch up with or who had stopped for whatever reason.
Elsewhere, along the southern main street, a group of suspscious people were hanging about. They were offering people to play some sort of simple game, where one had to find a marble placed under one of three cups, after the cups had been suffled around. The man doing the shuffling looked like a sleazy, middle-aged good-for-nothing, while his two assistants - two buxom and sultry ladies in scandalous clotes - beckoned and urged any nearby traveller to try their hand at the game. And if a smile and skimpy outfits didn't work, cozying up to, grabbing an arm and pressing their chest against said arm, seemed to do the trick. Amusingly, the dealer seemed to lose very seldom, and when he did, it was always when the adversary had made a very modest bet... Strange how that was...
There were however many other things going on, all throughout the city, all at the same time. But to observe and mention every last one, that would be an insane undertaking that nobody in their right mind wold have time for.
So, in the end, was it a normal day then? For Orario, it certainkly was. But for any new arrivals, that may not be the case.
