"It use to be quite the city," he says, "About twice the size it is today. Still, it's not a small town by any means. It started out as just another farming village, but when the kingdom was divided into Dukedoms a couple hundred years ago, Hommlet found itself right between the two most important dukedoms, and our modern day Cities of Lupik and Calik. Business boomed and the little village suddenly found itself growing faster than any other city in the country. Within a decade it was the same size as either of the duke's cities, and a few decades after it was twice their size. Unfortunately, such prosperity tends to attract unwanted attention. I don't know all the details, but about a hundred years ago a cult was discovered trying to open a portal to the Elemental Plane of Evil. Paladins and Clerics from all over were sent in to fight off the demonic hordes and after several days of hard fighting, the cult was destroyed and their underground temple was sealed.
"Unfortunately for Hommlet and its remaining inhabitants, the taint of the evil made others weary and they stayed away for years, starving Hommlet's economy. It's really only been in the last few decades that Hommlet's begun to make a come back. There have been rumors of a new evil stirring in the land and, naturally, people have been wanting to point the finger at Hommlet. Lots of adventurers have gone through Hommlet lately, looking for clues. Me and my companions even looked around for a while, but didn't find anything other than a bunch of hard used people who are weary of outsiders and have a big dislike of anything evil or demonic. We might go have a look at look at Nulb, once everyone's breathing again...Oh, right, Nulb is the annexed part of the old Hommlet where the cult was based, and is also where their sealed Temple is rumored to be. Even if there's nothing truly evil going on in Hommlet these days, we figure there's a good chance for some ancient relics in the temple that we can salvage. Nothing we'd use for ourselves, of course. We're not into that dark stuff. But who are we to say no if some one wants to look at the stuff for academic reasons?
"Here," he rifles through his side bag for a moment before pulling out a sheaf of parchment, "I, uh, found a couple of these the last time we were at the City of Lupik...just lying around, I swear...but then our Cleric felt bad and made us go buy one, umm, in case the one's I'd found were actually misplaced stock that the store owner was looking for."
He mumbles something under his breath that sounds a lot like "stupid lawful good mamby-pamby deserves to stay crushed beneath the stone bookshelf for making me cough up that much gold for something we already have and what does it matter where I found the map, as long as I have it, and now that I had to buy one with my money the stupid prayer-mumbler won't let me use either one but insists on carrying the one I bought so it can only be used for good and making me hold onto the ones I stole-I mean found, as some sort of penance for my sins and I think I'm going to take that holy symbol and shove it up---
You can't make out the rest of his mumblings.
The map shows an area of about 50 miles with details becoming scarcer the farther from the center you look. At the center of the map is a collection of tiny dots, each labeled with a name as follows exactly as typed: Araja Eloirakn of Celestia (cast-out)*, Raaein of the Forgotten Lands, Cortanna Elvenshrine (a.k.a. Cortanna Paddockson), Neigh-huh-hehe-hrumph (a.k.a. Fire-That-Kills, Briar)*, Rekka Sangrail*, Bar Wench Jessica,
There are also dots and names for the Rogue and other people traveling with you. Those with * after their name have some insignia along with their name but the printing is so small that a magnifying glass will be required to see what they are.
"It's a useful map," the Rogue explains, "since it'll give you everyone's true name in case they try to give you a false name. It'll also show you nearby roads, towns, and even hidden stuff like lost ruins. That's how we found the dwarven ruins in the first place. It'll even give you clues about how to get passed obstacles and to avoid traps. Yes indeed, quite a useful map, unless someone in your party is opposed to using it and then ends up getting everyone killed...Of course, the map doesn't show non-humanoids very well, so you have to watch out for monsters and things. And the map is completely useless on undead and constructs.
"My last word of advice about the map, only ask it for help directly if you really need it. It can help you out only a couple times a week, but it's help is phenomenal, so don't waste it. You never know when you're going to need help. If ever you're lost, you can ask the map for directions to any location and it will show you, perfectly. Every aspect of every turn in the road will be given to the holder of the map, and that information will stay with them until they have reached their destination. However, the map will cease to function until the location has been reached, and there's no way around that short of a portal, so don't go overstepping yourselves. Also, if you really get into trouble, or if there's no way for you to get to your destination, you can have the map open a portal to your desired destination. The map will stop working for a few weeks afterwords, but the magic will return eventually.
"Any questions?"
Rekka: WAIT....MY last name is San-gra-il? Sang-rail?
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