The Locals

Irene spends a lot of time on the streets watching everyone. She is considerably hindered by the fact that she can't understand what people are actually saying, but she is observant and takes careful notes of everything she sees.

She soon learns that there are effectively three groups of people in the Caravanserai. The first is of course the traders. This comprises all the caravans from which the Caravanserai gets its name. They are the merchants leading the caravans, the workers they bring with them, and plenty of guards. These traders do what she would expect. They come in, sell their wares to the locals, and leave after a few days or weeks.

The second group are the people who cater to the merchants. The innkeepers, animal tenders, and local merchants who buy the traders' wares and sell them supplies for their travels onward. They have more of a permanent presence here, though as far as Irene can tell the more well off of these merchants have homes that are actually deeper in the city.

The final group are basically the under class. These appear to consist of poor people who bear signs of having been displaced from their original homes and who are now trying to eke out whatever kind of life they can in Dreosaston. They do odd jobs for the merchants, hunt monsters, run in gangs, and basically do everything they can to survive. It is this group that Marissa and Irene find themselves in.

Irene also identifies four distinct species in the city. Which doesn't surprise her given what Marissa said the system messages were about their destinations, but it's good to confirm things with her own eyes.

The most common are actually humans like Marissa. That might seem odd in a dwarven city, but that is because they make up the majority of the poor underclass that lives in the shanty town built into the walls of the cavern. There are a few local businesses being run by humans, but not many. And what human traders there are seem to be dealing in mass raw materials, mostly lumber.

The second largest population are the dwarves. These short stocky folk run the infrastructure of the caravanserai. The inns, the warehouses, a few restaurants, and the various stores that cater to the traders. They also patrol the main streets to make sure that the traders aren't hassled, and surprisingly there is a significant group of hooded priests handing out food and medical supplies in the shanty towns. Irene didn't really expect those kinds of social services in the fantasy land she and Marissa found themselves in. Still there aren't that many dwarves for a dwarven kingdom, and Irene assumes that most of them must live in the lower layers of the city.

The third race are the elves. They make up most of the traders coming into the mountain. They sell the widest variety of products of all the traders and look to be quite prosperous. They get along okay with the dwarves, but their guards are quick to shove any human who gets too close out of the way, and they get a lot of dark looks from the local humans.

The final and smallest groups are the orcs. They have the look of desert traders, but surprisingly seem to be the most prosperous of the traders as whenever one of their caravans arrives it is immediately welcomed by the dwarven merchants that Irene has tentatively identified as the wealthiest and most influential. Without being able to understand what people are saying she can only guess that the orc kingdoms are far away and so their caravans deal in exotic luxury goods.

Caravanserai Organizations

The Silver Coin Market
The first thing Irene investigates is where exactly Marissa is making her money every day. She finds that there are several labor markets in the city where people apply each day and teams are formed to unload caravans and move goods around the city. It's cheap labor as there are plenty of poor humans looking for work.

There isn't much to differentiate these markets, but the one closest to where she and Marissa are staying is called the Silver Coin Market.

The Vault
Right in the middle of the Caravanserai there is a large heavily built structure of stone and steel. Irene can see dwarves and traders going in and out, but she isn't able to enter herself because the guards glare at her every time she tries. As far as she can tell it's actually a bank where traders can redeem their promissory notes and the local dwarves can store their money. However this is difficult to confirm as her neighbors obviously have no business there and only refer to the Vault as a local landmark.

The Red Rose, The Steel Company, The Hammers
There are a number of what look to be mercenary companies in the caravanserai. They sell their services to the traders to guard their caravans and help keep the local area clear of the worst monsters. Irene isn't clear on the exact mechanics of how they operate as she once again isn't allowed inside, but she makes a note of the names of the biggest three.

The Hands of Lord Seok
There are several small temples spread throughout the shanty towns where dwarves in all encompassing hooded robes tend to the sick and hand out food and medical supplies to the local refugees. Most of which are human, though Irene does note that there are a significant number of poor dwarves as well.

Given her broken pidgin and somewhat tattered clothes it is actually relatively easy for her to look convincingly desperate and get inside to see how the priests operate. It isn't even a disguise as such given that she has no money to speak of. Inside the temple she finds a large pair of stone hands serving as an altar, or possibly it is used for a variety of things as it currently holds a large pot of stew from which robed priests feed a line of hungry people. Irene gets her own bowl and a chunk of hard bread and finds that it is bland, but filling.

Asking around she finds that this is a temple to Lord Seok, but more in depth theology will have to wait on her language proficiency.

The Blue Quarter
For some reason every inn in the Caravanserai has blue tiled roofs. Irene hasn't figured out if this is a local law or just a tradition, but it makes finding one easy. They cluster near the entrance tunnel and along the broad main street that runs from there to the massive metal doors that separate the caravanserai from Dreosaston proper. Irene made a few extra coppers running errands for the various inn cooks and barkeepers, but she isn't nearly wealthy enough to be a customer.

The Orange Quarter
The caravanserai exists to supply the trader caravans, and of course services of a more carnal nature are available. Irene spots several streets that seem to be dedicated to the trade. Much like the inns all the houses of ill repute are color coded. This time with orange tiles. Though as a young human woman she does not investigate more closely because of the likelihood for misunderstanding and possible conscription.

The Marrok's Nest
There are a lot of stables in the area devoted to taking care of the traders' animals and selling them new ones. There is quite a large variety of livestock, some that Irene recognizes and others more fantastical. The most popular seem to be regular horses, oxen, and a large lizard-like creature with splayed legs.

Marissa has spent quite a lot of time at one particular stable working as a stable hand and mucking out stalls. It's called the Marrok's Nest, but Irene hasn't been able to find out what a Marrok is yet.

Old Tom's General Store
The traders always need to replenish their supplies after their long trips, and the local dwarven merchants are always happy to assist. The busiest near Marissa and Irene's rented room is called Old Tom's General Store, Old Tom's, or just the Store as it also supplies cheap food and household items to the better off shanty town dwellers.

The Knives, the Blood Claws, and the Black Leaves
As might be expected with so many poor desperate people crammed into one place right next to a steady supply of valuable items, crime is rampant. The dwarves keep it off the main streets, but in the shanty towns there are innumerable street gangs. However they all pay homage to one or the other of the three largest criminal organizations.

The one that dominates Marissa and Irene's neighborhood is the Knives. Comprising the lowest of the gutter trash gangs the Knives speciality is assault, theft, and human trafficking. Many of their neighbors have warned Marissa and Irene to keep their guards up, and even in the short time they've been living there they've noticed people going missing.

The shanty town on the opposite cavern wall is dominated by the Blood Claws. From what Irene's heard they are even more brutal than the Knives and value strength and brutality above everything. They hunt the most dangerous monsters outside the mountain using conscripted poor as human shields. As a result, even despite the Knives Marissa and Irene's current surroundings are more desirable to the masses of poor refugees.

The back of the cavern is the domain of the Black Leaves. They cater to a more high class of crime, smuggling, drugs, and assassination. Irene couldn't find out much about them. They are a bit outside the purview of the people just struggling to get by in this part of the city.

---

Marissa

Marissa and Irene camp on the slopes of the mountain for the first few days. It's rough living, but not as bad as they had to deal with before. Still every day Marissa goes into the city and looks for a better place to stay. She very rapidly realizes the nice places are well outside their budget, but stubbornly refuses to take the more abundant cheap housing in the slums. These tenements are small, cramped, and quite possibly about to collapse.

Eventually she finds a small neighborhood built into one corner of the cavern that's really more of a small self contained community. Inquiring around she finds that everyone there was displaced when a monster attack destroyed their farming village. They fled looking for somewhere safe, but the kingdom they were in was collapsing into civil war at the time, and they eventually made it all the way to Dreosaston before they found the safety they were looking for.

Unfortunately the lack of farming land means that the only work is hunting monsters for subsistence rates or working at one of the local labor markets. Neither of which provide much in the way of compensation. As terrible as this is, it does mean that Marissa is able to negotiate to rent one small room for her and Irene to live in for a reasonable price.

It's just as cramped as the tenements, but the families keep it clean, and it definitely seems a bit safer than in the rest of the shanty towns.

Cost: 1 Silver
Shelter: Decent
Danger: Low

With shelter taken care of, Marissa spends the next week hunting. Every few days she goes out onto the mountain side looking for game. There are a variety of smaller animals, but the principal monster variety is a kind of huge salamander that lives in steamy pools heated by geothermal vents.

The things are half the size of an adult human and have some nasty teeth, but they aren't any kind of threat to Marissa, and they are much less vicious than the chimeric monsters she fought in the wastes. So she is able to easily dispatch them, and then drag their carcasses back into the city where the village mothers help her butcher them for a share of the meat and hide.

Most of what's left Marissa sells to the meat stalls. The rest gets packed away for her and Irene to share. Much to Marissa's continued displeasure.

Coins: +35 Copper
Marissa XP: +175

The rest of the month Marissa spends at the labor yards. Every morning she reports to the dwarven clerks who take down her name and assign her to a work detail. Then she spends the rest of the day hauling crates, cleaning out animal stalls, or doing other types of grunt work that require nothing but sheer muscle.

The first few days the other workers mock her a bit for her slight frame, but she quickly proves that she is just as strong as any of them, and tireless in moving heavy loads back and forth. Given her cheerfulness and willingness to help at even the most dirty tasks she quickly fits right in.

The traders like her too. One time one of their carts' axles snaps in the middle of the street and Marissa helps lift the cart up so it can be hauled away and fixed. Another time she helps with a load of heavy anvils. The rest of the workers strain to lift and carry each one and have to do it in pairs, but Marissa is able to carry her share solo. Though admittedly only one at a time and it's harder than she makes it out to be when she brags to Irene later.

The pay is a handful of coppers a day, but Marissa's tireless work gets her a bonus each time and by the end of the month she has acquired a tiny hoard of silver.

Merchant Rep: +4
Coins: +16 Silver

---

Irene

Irene spends her time wandering around the city trying to learn the local language. Since she has no dictionaries or translation guides of any kind her only option is to immerse herself in the local culture. So she lurks around the various market stalls trying to put words to various goods and trying to get an idea of how exactly the city runs. In the evenings she practices with Marissa and works on her grammar.

With draining patience Irene tries her hand at "<I know the one Irene>"

"No, it's <I am Irene.>" Marissas says easily.

"<I will be the Irene.>" Seeing Marissa's head shake, Irene flops back on the stack of tanned salamander hides that make up her bed, "This is taking forever, let's take a break."

Marissa laughs, "The vaunted study queen herself wants to take a break. What did you do with the real Irene."

Glaring up from the floor Irene sniffs, "Yeah well I'd love to see how well you would do if you weren't cheating."

Marissa just laughs.

New Irene Skill: Marathi Trade Pidgin (Inferior)

After she gets to the point that she can at least use broken Marathi, Irene moves on to trying to learn Stone Tongue. This is a bit trickier since only the dwarves closer to the inner gates use it regularly. The ones closer to the shanty towns stick to Marathi as almost everyone can understand it.

The dwarves who use Stone Tongue are the ones who are wealthy and important enough to expect everyone to understand them without translation. And naturally such important dwarves aren't keen on having human refugees in their surroundings. Still Irene is determined. She spends time in the backs of the better class of inn doing kitchen work and listening in to business deals. And she sneaks up to the back of important buildings to try and listen to the dwarves in their offices.

This isn't really effective as full immersion since she is only getting a partial vocabulary, but with Marissa to help her fill in the gaps Irene manages to make some progress.

New Irene Skill: Stone Tongue (Inferior):

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A Back Alley Encounter

One day Marissa is heading home from one of her hunts. She's is whistling a happy tune as today's salamander was particularly large and she figures she should be able to sell the claws to Mr. Hogarth, a local dwarf who runs a small smithy, for a few extra coppers.

However she is interrupted by a scratchy voice, "Hey, hey what do we have here. A little girl carrying something too good for her."

Marissa spins as fast as she can with forty pounds of salamander on her back and finds three thugs looking at her. The speaker is heavyset and wielding a rusty sword. By his side is a slim man with two jagged knives. And behind them is a huge man with a massive club slung over his shoulder.

Marissa is defiant, "This is mine. I killed it myself."

The heavy set man smiles cruelly and says, "Oh ho, she fancies herself a little warrior does she. Well dontcha know little miss warrior that you gotta pay a toll around here. Now you're new so we'll let you off this time. Just give us the salamander and we'll let you go." By his side the slim man snickers and the giant behind them stoically chews something.

"No, it's mine!" Drawing her sword Marissa prepares to fight when a boom thunders through the alley. The lead thug's head snaps back as a bullet tears through it.

"Mage!" screams Slim and he promptly abandons his comrades and flees. The giant seems torn about what to do and finally roars as he raises his club and prepares to bring it down on Marissa. She winces and brings her sword up to block, but before the giant can attack three more booms shatter the silence and he falls to his knees screaming with three bullets in and around his heart.

Marissa is wavering a bit in confusion when Irene runs up and grabs her. "Come on. Come on. We've gotta go."

The two women run through the streets until they feel confident that they are out of any immediate danger. Then Marissa whirls on her friend, "Why'd you do that. Why did you shoot them."

Irene looks a bit shaky as she examines her gun before putting it away. "They were Knives Marissa. I've been hearing about them. And I know you have to. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have stopped at just the salamander."

Marissa brandishes her sword, "Yeah, and that's what this is for. I could have scared them off. You didn't need to kill them."

"I don't think they would have been scared off. I thought someone was going to die there, and I didn't want it to be you!" Suddenly Irene doubles over and pukes on the stones that made up the alleyway they were in.

Abandoning the salamander entirely Marissa grabbed her friend, "What's wrong! Did you get hurt!"

Through teary eyes Irene looks at Marissa, "No it's just. It's just ... I killed someone. I didn't want to kill anyone either, Marissa. I was never supposed to hurt anyone."

Taken a bit aback by the tears flowing from her normally stoic friend Marissa sighed, "Okay. Okay. Let's just get you home. We can talk about this later."

The Knives Reputation: -20
Minor Clock Added: A Vengeful Knife: [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

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Actions

Marissa and Irene can each take four actions each turn. Each turn is a month and each action represents about a week's worth of effort, though that time might be interspersed throughout the month.

DCs: For now all DCs are at the Bone level. Which means Marissa will auto pass any defense checks.

Other Actions: If you want to do something that isn't listed I'd be happy to add an action for it. There's no way I've thought of everything possible.

Survival

Adventuring

Knowledge

The Caravanserai

Relationships

Crime

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The Daily Grind
Marissa once again goes to work making money to support her and Irene. She hauls crates, tends to the grumpy lizard mounts, called goros by the local dwarves, and does the general scut work that keeps the wheels of commerce moving in the Caravanserai.

It isn't fun, but Marissa finds that it is at least relatively straight forward. It also highlights just how much she's improved because of leveling up. She definitely wouldn't have been able to do this much manual labor back on Earth. She was stronger than average, but not this much.

Even the other workers comment on it. They jokingly call her "little miss adventurer" and some of the more helpful acquaintances she's made tell her she should really see about joining one of the mercenary companies to get some training and start making a real living.

Coins: +17 Silver
Merchant Rep: +4

Grinding Salamanders
Of course Marissa is taking advantage of her strength to do some hunting on the side. Every few days she leaves the mountains and stalks the steam pools looking for the biggest meanest salamanders, because those are the ones with the best claws and hides.

Unfortunately this month she didn't have nearly as much luck as she hoped. They're as easy to handle as before, but she just can't find many of them even scouring all over the mountain side. She does run into a few other hunting parties from the city. Mostly made up of ragged teens armed with makeshift weapons, and the occasional larger band of serious adults.

It seems that people are trying to make ends meet whatever way they can, including hunting for monster meat. Which Marissa can understand perfectly well given she's doing the exact same thing. But the competition does make it harder for everyone. And some of the other hunters make her uneasy with how desperate they look. She gives the larger bands a wide berth.
Copper: 25 Copper
Marissa XP: +125

---

That Foreign Girl
Even though her Marathi is still fairly poor, Irene can at last engage with the other residents of Dreosaston. She takes over the selling of salamander meat, since Marissa is doing so much already, and makes a trip into the market every day with packets of meat and the odd claw looking for whichever stall will give her the best price.

Over the course of the next few weeks she becomes a regular in the markets chatting up the stall owners and absorbing more Marathi like a sponge. She haggles with Hogarth the blacksmith and trades slices of flank meat with a young woman named Mola for some of the produce of her vegetable stand. She checks out the weapon sellers and the tinsmith's selling pots and pans. Through it all her grasp on the language improves by leaps and bounds.

Unfortunately at the end of the month she realizes she has made a mistake somewhere in the process when she overhears some of the nastier street thugs doing mocking impersonations of various locals, including her! Apparently she has become known as the weird foreign girl with the strange accent.

Later that night she brings it up with Marissa.

<"Uh yeah, you talk decently now. But you've got a funky accent."> said Marissa between bites of her fruit.

<"How so. I thought I was saying everything correctly."> Irene meanwhile is carefully cooking some salamander with some spicy paste one of her new acquaintances in the market swears will remove the bitterness.

Marissa, <"I can't really describe it. You just say things weird sometimes. Like the way you pronounce your "i"s.">

Sighing Irene pulls her meat off of the fire, <"I guess I'll have to keep working on it then. At least I can understand everyone now. Blegh!"> Taking a bite Irene makes a face as she realizes that the vendor vastly overstated the effectiveness of their wares.

Skill Improved: Marathi Trade Pidgin (Insufficient)
Check Failed
Skill Improved: Marathi Trade Pidgin (Ordinary)
Trait Gained: Weird Accent
Irene has learned to speak Marathi fairly well, but unfortunately she did not quite manage to learn how to pronounce everything correctly. People can understand her, but she has a very distinct accent. This makes it fairly easy for people to remember her.

Finding a Better Class of Monster
Despite this hindrance Irene can still communicate fairly well. She spends a few days asking around about tougher monsters in the nearby area. She doesn't have much luck at first since with her slight frame she appears far too weak for monster hunting and everyone tells her to stay in the mountain.

Changing tactics Irene starts asking about the dangerous places to avoid in the local areas. There are quite a few. It seems that once you go away from the mountain the guards stop culling the monster populations and the world becomes far more dangerous. Irene hears about beasts the size of houses and roaming bands of bandits that are more like demons than civilized folks.

She does however manage to winnow down the list of dangerous places to one where Marissa might actually be able to safely hunt. Several days to the south the main road enters a large forest known as the Pale Woods for the strange silvery color of the trees there. There are strange corrupted beasts in the woods that stalk and kill anyone who enters.

However caravans do make it through and hunting parties venture inside regularly. Irene thinks Marissa might be able to handle it as long as she sticks to the edges and is careful.

New Location: The Pale Woods
A forest of strange silvery trees. Monsters corrupted by the remnants of the god wars stalk these woods. They are deadly to the average peasant. Caravans don't leave the main road, and hunters prepare carefully before venturing inward.

Grocery Shopping
Irene and Marissa have been sharing a communal kitchen with the neighboring families, but unfortunately neither one of them is a very good cook, especially without modern appliances. And given that Marissa is making a fairly good wage at the labor markets they've instead decided to try and find a good source of food that isn't charred meat on a skewer.

So towards the end of the month Irene ventures out into the markets armed with a large bag of copper coins. She's been coming here for a while now so she already has a good idea of where everything is, and the local market prices. So her main search is checking the different types of foods looking for ones that are a reasonable balance of taste, nutrition and cost.

Of course Marissa would be more focused on taste than anything else, which is why Irene is doing this and not her. She goes from stall to stall buying small skewers of meat, and strange ungainly vegetables, grown in the depths on dwarven farms. She nibbles on them as she travels analyzing their taste and chemical composition. Some things taste terrible, and some just aren't safe, like the oddly shiny mushroom she detects high levels of lead in.

But eventually Irene settles on a handful of stalls that fit the pair's budget. Flat cakes made from pounded roots, grilled meat that isn't salamander, and some grey fruits that look rather unappetizing, but are actually surprisingly sweet.

It isn't world class fare, but it's way better than what they've been eating. Irene is sure Marissa will be happy about the improvement in their meal situation.

Cost: 10 Silver
Food Quality: Decent
Marissa Morale: [Neutral]

---

A Peaceful Night
Marissa and Irene are sitting on the roof of the building they're renting a room in. It's hard to tell what time it is exactly given they're underground, but several of the outer braziers have been extinguished and a dimness has fallen over the cavern walls. It's the closest thing that it gets to night time and the little neighborhood has quieted with the children in bed and the adults making their last preparations for the next day before following them.

Marissa sighs in contentment as she nibbles on her meat wrap. "You know this isn't half bad."

"Yeah, I expected it to be worse really." Irene is peeling one of the fruits she bought. It looks disgusting, like an orb of flesh, but she tries to ignore that as she expertly carves hard nodules out of its core. "Do you really want to fight stronger monsters? We could stay here a while."

Marissa nods, "We could, but it would take ages for me to level with the salamanders. And you said it yourself. It's super dangerous out there. So I have to get stronger if we ever want to leave. And while it might be surprisingly nice here, I don't want to stay in the dwarf slums forever."

Still trying to avoid looking directly at it, Irene takes a bite of her fruit and takes a moment to savor the sweet juices before she responds, "I figured, but just making sure. Well the good news is I think I found something. If we go south we'll find the Pale Woods. There are dangerous beasts roaming there, but not too dangerous. I think we could hunt them if we're careful."

"Sounds good. We should probably get some gear first though."

"Yeah," the conversation dies down as the two friends gaze out over the underground city. Even now they can still hear the bustle of the main streets as trade continues even into depths of the night.

Marissa Morale: [Content]

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Actions

Marissa and Irene can each take four actions each turn. Each turn is a month and each action represents about a week's worth of effort, though that time might be interspersed throughout the month.

DCs: For now all DCs are at the Bone level. Which means Marissa will auto pass any defense checks.

Other Actions: If you want to do something that isn't listed I'd be happy to add an action for it. There's no way I've thought of everything possible.

Survival

Adventuring

Knowledge

The Caravanserai

Relationships

Crime