While towns and cities are still a rarity among feudal kingdoms, many ancient cities exist – trade cities where different cultures meet, fortress cities when kings and rulers wield their power and massive ports facing deep habours. Those cities are razed and rebuilt, again and again, as different empires take control of it. Evidently, soon, those cities develop quirks of their own, one which is the twisting streets and alleyways which only the natives could navigate and are a bane to visitors. However, in one ancient city, there is a set of deserted alleyways where you would get more than just lost inside there. It has been said that of those who wandered in too deeply, many failed to find the way out…
- A pair of youngsters, taking on a dare, venture into that set of alleyways and have not emerged after a day. The adventurers, naturally, are called to find them. The two of them are trapped within a tower by a pack of wild feral dogs which have taken up the alleyways as their territory. If the adventurers can get to them before they die of thirst or such, they would be fine. The only problem is that the dogs were afraid to venture up the tower…
- Though the alleyway is deserted and most of the buildings are abandoned and derelict, some still live there. They are those who do like the privacy while being close to the city. Yet the inhabitants are usually eccentrics, wizards, maybe the occasional necromancer and not to mention that thieves and assassins use those deserted homes as safe-houses and dens. Those who have no business there should better steer clear of that alleyway.
- Ethnic cleansing is a part of the aftermath of a conquest, like it or not. When this city was conquered the previous time, a certain ethnic group living in that neighborhood was all mercilessly killed. However, there lived among them a witch, and she called down a hex upon the city as she died. That neighborhood became haunted, the cries of the innocent dead echoing throughout the twisted alleyways at night such that no one could stay there. Those who wander in occasionally will find the corpses of other wanderer huddle in corners. Unless one have nerves of steel, the haunted ones would usually scare the person senselessly, such that he loses all his bearing and eventually lose his will to find his way out.
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