City Maps: Archlis

[RobJN]

Back cover copy, still in draft, but suitable teaser material, I hope....

Trade with Archlis, usually brisk with the lifting of the mantle of winter’s ice and snows from the North, has trickled to a halt. Ships are giving up on the southern spur of the Crab Coast, turning around to take the long way ‘round to Maus.

A mid-spring’s storm blew in off the Northern Sea, sank its teeth into the coast, and settled in to see about drowning the Dancers.

Two week’s steady rain stretch into a third. Ships that tried to leave port found the winds turning against them, tearing sails where it didn’t tie them in knots, and sending ships too close to the shallows and reefs for their captains’ comfort.

And now, the latest news is that the Channel Bridge on the Erak road has washed out -- no small feat, as the wide stone bridge was a gift from the dwarves, sealing an alliance from the old days after the Mage Wars.

After the first week’s nonstop rains, jokes in the taverns were all of “Ellierre’s pent -up tears” (some mentioned other, unsavory fluids), finally spilling from her centuries-old duel with the White Wizard.

After two weeks, nobody was laughing.

As the third week draws to a close, what was once spoken of in jest is now talked of in tense, hushed whispers, quickly followed by the closed-circle warding against Evil’s Eye.