"Nobles' District it is!" the Player crows, veering northward. "I guess you look respectable enough to get in, but don't blame me if you get spitted by the guards!"
The Player leads you through the crowds at a good clip. The northbound road changes from cobbles to well-kept paving after a little while, and the buildings surrounding you go from grey brick to polished stone at about the same time that the Merchants' District ends. A wall stands off to the left a little bit, running in parallel with the Kimrilaan road; only half of it is still there, the rest torn down to allow easy entrance to the lower part of the District. Where the wall was truncated, it turns at a sharp ninety degree angle, climbing up the hill toward the castle.
Passing the border demarcation of the demolished wall, the Player veers again toward the new segment of wall. Beyond the stone houses off to your right, a river gleams, running out from under a great arch in the wall; a mast with brilliant green sails ghosts by behind the paleness of the houses. Further along the wall is a wide gateway flanked by guardsmen in burnished armor, their red tabards emblazoned with the symbol of a black hammer. They pay you little attention as the Player leads you through.
Once you pass through the gateway, the road opens up into a broad avenue. Trees and small patches of garden dot its center, casting their shade over the white path. To either side, huge manor houses are set far back from the main road until some are almost hidden, separated from each other here and there by hedges or low walls. Fountains glimmer and gurgle. A bit further in, the road becomes a square with a huge fountain in the middle, its centerpiece a female figure pouring an endless stream of water from her marble jug into the basin. The buildings around it are of uniform, highly polished white marble, giving the whole area a brilliant shine.
Off to the east, a pathway winds up the steep part of the hill to the great black castle that broods there. Beyond its spires and across the river but still in the district, you can barely see the silvery spires of a curious-looking building. The Player, who has paused to relax by the fountain, looks off that way as well. "Interested in the College of Lords, are you? We could always get a tour there. Or I could show you around the grounds of a couple manor houses. I have friends here, after all. Then there's the Keep, or all the fun things here in the square... This is the heart of the City's high society, after all."
To the College of Lords To the Manors To Castle Keep Explore the Square
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