145

The afternoon passes swiftly as you ride across endless miles of treeless grassland. You stumble upon no village or hamlet and spend the hours listening to Banedon’s account of recent events in Sommerlund and the Lastlands. Three years have passed since you were last in the land of your birth, and you are hungry to hear all that has transpired since then.

It is an hour past sunset and night is drawing its black cloak around you when you see a flickering red light on the road ahead: it is the village of Chadi. A great fire roars in the hearth of Guyuk’s Tavern in Chadi, inviting the travel-sore to stop and warm their weary bones. You decide to stay overnight and, as soon as you have stabled your horses, you enter the tavern to ask the price of a room. The taproom is surprisingly quiet. It is full of villagers and farmers but they are a sullen crowd, content to sit in silence and brood over their glasses of lovka, a strong Slovian rye spirit named after the town where it was first distilled.

Guyuk, the tavern owner, greets you with a nervous nod of his shiny bald head and shows you to a table. There are no bars or counters in Anarian taverns; instead, the customers sit at long banqueting tables and wait for the owner and his staff to serve them. He smiles uneasily as he answers your enquiry about a room. ‘A single room with a bed would be twelve Lune each.’

If you have enough money to pay for a room (twelve Lune equals three Gold Crowns), do so and turn to 34.

If you do not have sufficient Lune or Gold Crowns to pay for a room, turn to 132.