Open Exploration: The Old Capital.

[thequestgiver]

Where: The Old Capital
When: RD6, all day
What: The Hero of the Mountains has come and gone from the Old Capital, just passing our heroes on the way. Time to explore the city in her aftermath?



On the surface, the Old Capital looks much like Schwanheim, only without the two rivers flanking the castle. It's much smaller, the houses father apart and older looking that the more crowded capital, and far more ordered. It has the feel of a city that was planned out. The castle stands in the center, simple, yet impressive, navy blue banners flapping from the the towers that grace each corner, acting as gateway to the 4 wide streets that slice through the circular town like the spokes of a wheel, dividing it into sections. One quarter is the market and craftsman district, the road leading to the castle lined with stalls and merchants with goods on blankets, side streets winding down towards the less sightly businesses. Flanking it on both ends are two housing districts, the smaller homes closer to the market, getting larger as they head for the 4th district, full of large mansions and an impressive church.

There's a large clock tower in the market district that matches the one back in Schwanheim, and a bulletin board much the same.

The clock is stopped, the board blank, and there is an eerie feeling as if something is just... missing. A lack of bird song. A lack of breeze. An odd feeling of stillness, almost as if one were walking through a ghost town even though there are still people about their daily chores as if nothing's wrong.

Comments

[shadedsunlight]

Ginia rides into the city on horseback and gives an appraising look at the city spread out before her. She was already on her way toward the arena due to Giles' message, but the rumors she heard flying around were also a good enough reason to check the place out. She carefully guides her horse down the street, avoiding people as they go about their day, though she notices not a single person gives any notice of her or her horse, even when she has to rein back her horse to avoid bumping into someone.

Strange. Very, very strange. First things first, Ginia needs to find a place to stable her horse. Then a bit of exploring and meeting up with Giles.

[thequestgiver]

Stabling the horse may be a bit tricky. Not only does no one seem to notice either Ginia or her horse, but they even seem to go right though them both.

Ginia may need to find other arrangements she can mange herself.

[shadedsunlight]

Her horse wickers and snorts when someone passes through him, taking a few steps back. Ginia stares at the person then at everyone else around them. Ghosts? It certainly would explain the sheer strangeness of everything.

She urges her horse onward, going up and down the streets until she finds an area with a post she can safely hitch her horse to. Ginia removes his bridle and hangs it off the saddle, giving him a pat on the rump before she heads off to explore a little more. Her first stop is a building that looks somewhat like a shop. She'll try the door and go inside if possible.

[thequestgiver]

The door opens easily, showing what could easily have been a higher end shop back in Schwanheim. Goods line the shelves behind the counter as the shopkeeper chats with a pair of gossiping ladies. Every now and then there's a something like a flicker or a slip of a film strip, something on the shelf suddenly replaced with another similar item, or vanishing all together. A glass jar showing off dried fruits suddenly emptied, only to be full again. The shop boy suddenly being older, then younger, then someone else all together as the ladies at the counter are replaced by a young couple.

[shadedsunlight]

Ginia glances around the store, observing the people and items alike. Her brow furrows as an item disappears and reappears, as the people shift about. As an experiment, she walks over to the nearest shelf and reaches up to grab at an item, a clay jar with some sort of salve inside.

[thequestgiver]

Her hand passes through it as if it, or she were not there.

[shadedsunlight]

She'll make an attempt at grabbing a few more items, seeing if anything is truly real, each time her hand passing through. As the customers in the store shift again, the young couple admiring a selection of jewelry turning back into the original gossipers, Ginia leaves the store.

She watches the direction people come and go from for a few minutes, observing what items people are carrying and guessing where they might have been come. When she moves again, she sets out toward where she thinks the city square would be.

[thequestgiver]

The center of the market district is the city's hub, the town bulletin board at the base of the clock tower. The clock has stopped, the bulletin board blank despite those hovering around it as if reading the invisible postings.

[shadedsunlight]

The town square reminds Ginia much like Schwanheim, though it makes sense to her. If this was the old capital, it's sensible enough the new one would have signs of the old, whether for the sake of familiarity or out of homage. Ginia stares up at the stopped clock, then over at the group of people huddled around the blank bulletin board, going over there to look at both the people and the blank board herself. After a few minutes of essentially observing nothing, Ginia decides to move on. The castle in the distance seems like a nice destination...

((ooc; Moving into the castle thread, thanks for the NPCing! <3))