Msaka strode down the gangplank and along the docks as soon as it had been secured, wrinkling his nose at the pungent smell of fish which permeated the area. He soon stepped onto solid ground, and paused as he looked around the area, taking stock of the situation.

The captain had informed him of a well-regarded inn near the western gate, but Msaka had been less than certain of the wisdom of that choice when it had also been revealed that the innkeeper and her staff were all gnomes - he'd had more than enough of that race in Shapier's magic shop. Still, the only alternative stood just across from the docks, and it enjoyed a much more seedy reputation. Looking up at it, Msaka saw no overt indication that there was anything untoward about the establishment, but he decided that it might be best to heed the captain's advice nonetheless. The place would probably suffer from the same unpleasant scent as the docks did in any case, and that wasn't something he felt like enduring after days at sea.

He had been told of some other points of interest about the city as well. Mention had been made of an adventurer's guild and a magic shop, both not unlike those he'd found in Shapier. A school focusing in similar matters was also located near the docks, though it was apparently temporarily closed while the owner was away adventuring. It seemed that the owner of was highly advanced years, which made Msaka somewhat doubtful of the claim's veracity.

Glancing to his right, Msaka scanned the row of buildings which stretched away towards the eastern wall of the city which was pierced by a portcullis-filled archway at the far end. Perhaps that led to an access point to the huge, bizarre looking complex on stilts he'd seen standing in the waters east of the city as the ship approached. The captain had merely given the thing a dark look and muttered under his breath when asked about it, leaving Msaka to wonder what the place might hold.

A smithy stood nearby, racks of weapons on display behind the wide open window which fronted it. The smith partially visible within seemed to be very tall - too tall in Msaka's estimation, easily towering over the person walking past outside. Though Msaka could only see the man's upper torso and head from his current vantage point, it was clear that the smith's proportions matched his height. Either the smith wasn't as human as he initially looked, or else he'd been the recipient of some sort of size-enhancing magic. The latter seemed unlikely, if plausible, as the added size would certainly make the task of hammering on steel all day much easier.

He decided to wait for another time to investigate the matter as he turned his gaze to the left, regarding the hill that rose towards another archway in the smaller internal wall that divided the docks from the western section of the city. Noting the presence of another Silmarian descending the incline, Msaka reflected upon the fact that people here at least seemed to traverse the city in a conventional fashion, as opposed to the mysteriously empty streets of the desert cities.

Msaka strode towards the archway, quickly cresting the small hill and passing through the opening. Upon the other side, he saw the path winding along a small cliffside above the water as it wound around a large building. It ended at a stone bridge that crossed a waterfall-fed ravine, which itself led to a point halfway up another hill; this one rising to his right to another archway through the internal wall. It descended ahead of him to a wide space dominated in the middle by the other portcullised gate of the city wall, and terminating at a boulder-studded cliff upon which sat a strange looking structure.

Msaka guessed at once that this was the inn that had been recommended to him. It certainly looked like an inn at first glance, complete with a wooden sign out front. Even from this distance, though, Msaka could spot the vines covering the thing like some sort of living net, a feature the captain hadn't bothered to mention.

He sighed as he began making his way towards it, wondering whether it might not be a trifle safer - and less irritating - to sleep out in the wilds around the city.