Re: Mother of the Year (Rathuris) GM'd by thetwo
The buildings of Acheron seemed oddly varied. Just about every building was either new or had obvious and extensive repairs, and there didn't seem to be an overall theme. Wood mixed with white and black stone, with some of the newest the same blood-red as the walls. Private residences bumped up against small apartments, shops, and inns. At first there were several buildings that were almost certainly brothels, with young women - and even men - soliciting from the doorways, but as she got onto the main street these vanished. If there were such places on the main streets, they were more subtle. Instead, there seemed to be offices for lawyers and accountants, and stores that Aurae couldn't afford to walk into, much what buy anything from.
Her destination became clear as she got closer. The "palace" mentioned by the innkeeper was by far the largest building in the city, and the street she had entered on seemed to pass just to the South of it. Most of Aurae's village could certainly have fit on the grounds, possibly inside the building itself. It was, in contrast to the wall, all white marble, with carved columns and open spaces in plenty out front. Guards stood every few feet across the entrance, all holding pikes or spears, and with additional weapons at their hips, all in the same face-hiding plate as the gate guards. A few had visible wings, in the same style as Aurae's own.
And a short ways in front of the palace, there was a large open area in the streets, away from the shops and most of the crowds. In the center was a fountain, water shooting into the air from some magical or mechanical contrivance. On one side of the fountain was a statue of a nude woman, a life-sized woman in grey stone. She didn't seem to be a great beauty, but there was something disquieting about the face even before one noticed shimmering red stones that made her eyes.
Opposite the disquieting woman was another four statues. On the left was a robed su-ku-ta woman, with a snake wrapped about her left arm, while her right arm held a lightning bolt on the point of being thrown. The woman on the far right had the pointed ears of an elf firing a bow. Between them and slightly forward was a scaled woman with draconian features, holding a sword threateningly, while a human woman in trousers stood behind her, both hands raised with purpose while her hair was lifted from her shoulders as if in a heavy wind that didn't seem to touch any of the others.
It was still a good while before noon, and Aurae didn't see her friend about yet.
