235

This is it, then. You are within the Citadel, probably the first of your family to ever dare venture out of the wild lands for generations. You wonder what in the world you will make of yourself here. You’ve no special talents, no particular interests or passions. Not to say you’re devoid of passion; young, strong and clear-minded, there’s plenty of lust, want for danger and fun, all churning in a hot mess together. But you have no focus. A few days ago you set your heart on getting away, escaping from the condition you grew up in, as a spare wheel. Now, what?

You stumble onto a large open space only a few streets deep into the city, currently occupied by the messiest and most disorderly congregation of people you’ve ever laid eyes on. It must be a market. As you walk about within it you discover that it is made up of stalls, hundreds of them, each with boxes, trays, containers filled up with every possible form of merchandise. Here they sell fruit, of every kind there is, there they sell vegetables. Here they sell mushrooms; over there meat, over that way fish; a little further on they have yards of wool weave and animal skin both before and after tanning. And then it hits you: half the sellers aren’t even human!

Almost every noble-minded species you only ever heard of by a few travellers passing by your village is present right before your eyes: dwarves, elves, orcs, goblins, a dozen crossbreeds and a dozen other creatures you never once dreamed of.

After touring the market and marvelling at all there is to see, you note three exits from the square. Down one street you see what appear to be shops, one after the other, each bustling with activity in its own way. Down another you can see what you suppose must be taverns and inns, as you spotted a man (or what you took to be a man under his helmet), arrive on horseback, dismount, and give money to someone who took his beast inside. In the third street, you saw an ox-drawn cart full of huge freshly cut logs driving away, presumably to deliver the timber to a sawmill. All three could represent starting points. You’re in your prime of youthful strength, with nothing better to do than offer it to whoever might have use for it.

Do you:

• Leave the market down the street full of shops and see if anybody might be willing to take an apprentice? Turn to 34.

• Go to an inn or a tavern and see if there’s a vacancy for hire anywhere? Turn to 263.

• Follow the cart full of logs to the sawmill, and see if you can put some of your old agrarian skills to work in a new way? Turn to 13.