Elandra smiles and nods graciously at Krikit's commendation of the tea, and then hesitates a moment before answering his questions. "Well... as I said, the castle is owned by Emenukaris, the town's self-imposed Lord. He's a bad blood, up to his neck in Fiendish politics. Ummm... fiends being nasty creatures best described as the physical manifestations of the idea of Evil. No offence," she adds quickly to Vaerhia, her embarrassed flush returning. "And as for an astral carrack... well, that ship you fell out of was an astral carrack. It's just a ship - errr... you do know what one of those is? - basically just a ship, except instead of sailing through water it sails through the Astral plane. Which is where things start to get complicated I guess... ummm... the Astral plane is basically a big nothingness that links everything else. That's not a definition to satisfy any greybeard worth his salt, but it should give you an idea anyway. Most cutters who go there are on their way somewhere else. Since it's got links to pretty much everywhere, it's an easy way of getting from plane to plane."
