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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 2483626" data-attributes="member: 3448">The group hurried through the streets of the capital of Tang.  Mahler stopped the group in the shadow of a building some distance from the cathedral.  "Does anyone really know where we are, or how to make it from here to Canberry?"Alistair shook his head, and Dame Brionna said, "Only in vague terms.  Tang is a coastal kingdom, far to the southwest of Canberry.  We're probably about the same distance from Canberry as the City of the Pass is but in an almost the opposite direction.  Unfortunately, I did not study how to return to Canberry from such an unexpected place."While the others discussed where they were, Kit and Delbon gawked at a large troop of soldiers that rapidly marched past, heading towards the cathedral.  Almost all of the soldiers were perhaps three feet tall, although not with the rounded shape of hobbits.  More peculiarly, they were arranged in ranks of three, and each set of three appeared to be identical triplets, completely indistinguishable except for the occasional scar.  Only the officers, who were apparently normal humans, did not move in groups of three.  While the people of Tang are mostly human, they are a strange offshoot from the rest of humanity.  Almost all births in Tang are of threes, who spend their lives largely together and are both smaller and less mentally acute then ordinary humans.  The occasional "Ones" form the aristocracy; while any couple in Tang may have a One as a child, the Ones are educated from birth to fill specific roles in the bureaucracy.  Despite their privileged roles, Ones are pitied by the regular people of Tang, who can only imagine the horrible loneliness involved.Fresh sounds of combat and spells erupted from the Cathedral.  "So, we have only the vaguest idea where we are, and we don't know how to get from here to Canberry.  Meanwhile, there's a high bounty on Mahler, and drow using magic to pursue us." Alistair paused.  "I think it's clear that simply heading northeast and hoping for the best isn't a good idea."Mahler nodded.  "It might be time to take advantage of your status, Alistair.  If we go to the local government, are they likely to help?""Probably.  Tang and Canberry haven't had much contact in the past, but opening up trade would be tremendously valuable to Tang." A stained glass window of the cathedral erupted outwards in a blast of flame and noise.  "Besides, I think that anything that angers the people attacking their cathedral will seem like a good thing to the Ones.""Let's head to the palace, then, and hope."</blockquote>

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