After wandering down the walkways for a short time and asking for directions more than once, they soon found themselves inside a wooden building intended for foot traffic into the city. Autumn had to close her eyes more than once as she glanced down and saw the void below through the cracks between the planks of the floor.
A counter lined one wall, and at the far end from the entrance was a set of stairs that led upwards. Eli stopped at the counter to state their business, claiming to be a worker from The Flopping Fish here to procure supplies. The man behind the counter, a rather small man with tiny pointed ears and round features whom Iris guessed was a gnome, seemed unconcerned and waved them through. Eli turned back to the others, shrugged, and led them up the stairs.
"You'd think security would be tighter after how the guards at the front gate acted," Autumn said.
"Never complain about someone not doing their job if it benefits you," Victoria said.
The wood stairs soon transitioned to stone, as did the walls. The stairway doubled back on itself multiple times as they crisscrossed their way up the crudely carved stairs through the rock. For most of them, their level 20-something stats made it a rather easy trek, while Iris skipped most of the stairs with her teleport ability. Finally, they rounded a corner and saw sunlight at the top of the next flight of stairs. The others picked up their pace in anticipation, while Iris blipped past them and rushed to the top with glee.
She appeared on a busy wooden sidewalk, with people pushing past her in both directions and scowling or shouting as they bumped into her. She broke free of the crowd and stepped out into a stone road with two lanes of wheel ruts. She quickly blipped out of the way of an oncoming cart pulled by a pair of mules, but found herself in front of another one. She blipped again, apologizing profusely as she appeared on the sidewalk and startled several people.
With exasperated breath, she looked around for an empty place to go. She spotted a flat, wooden awning above a storefront, and blipped to it. She sighed heavily as she gazed down at the business below. The road was heavily slanted with the tilt of the rock on which the city rested, and she could see the city descend down to her right and rise up to her left. The sidewalks were level wooden platforms, which stepped down after almost every building to keep up with the slant of the road.
There was a clear delineation between the ground buildings, which looked much like you'd expect from city construction besides being somewhat poorly built and made of characteristically reddish wood, and the buildings which had clearly been constructed atop them after the fact. These were much more haphazard in design and placement, with more than a few being supported by awkward beams that pierced the roof of the building below or jutted down into the sidewalk. Some were larger than the buildings below them, extending out over the sidewalk and neighboring buildings. Down the length of the road, countless rope bridges connected upper level buildings across the gap.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Iris spotted the rest of her group emerging onto the crowded sidewalk, their faces filled with as much wonder as her own. She blipped down beside them, once again apologizing when an unsuspecting passerby bumped into her as she appeared.
"This place is incredible!" She said, almost shouting so they could hear her over the ruckus of the busy street.
"It's certainly unique," Victoria said.
"Oh, we can get into a lot of trouble here," Autumn said with a smile, to which Iris smiled back.
Eli ignored them, pulling out a pamphlet which he unfolded into a map.
"Where do we go from here?" Titus asked.
"Somewhere less crowded. We should be somewhere in the market district," Eli said, scanning the map, "there's a courtyard nearby, I think it's that way."
He nodded down the sloping street.
"I'll check it out," Iris said, "you guys catch up."
Eli started to say something, but she was already gone.
Iris blipped up to one of the rope bridges, which swayed beneath her as she appeared.
"Whoa," she said, grabbing the ropes to steady herself.
She spotted the next rope bridge, waited until it was empty, then blipped again. It was stop and go, but still much faster than navigating the hectic sidewalks below. Soon she saw a wide alleyway between two buildings, with a sign above that depicted a fountain surrounded by trees, and an arrow pointing down the alley.
She turned to spot her party in the crowd below, then waited until they grew near. A stranger walked across the bridge where she waited, and she nodded awkwardly as they passed. The stranger gave her an odd look, but nodded back. As the party approached below her, she called out and pointed.
"It's this way!"
Titus noticed her and held up a thumb, then directed the others in that direction. They waited for an opportunity to cross the road, quickly darted across, and then finally broke out of the crowds as they left the main sidewalk. Iris blipped down beside them in the alley.
Calling it an alley was a bit of a misnomer, Iris thought, it was almost as wide as the road itself, but was entirely dedicated to foot traffic. Instead of cramped sidewalks with tightly packed streams of people, here there were fewer people with more space. The ground beneath them was actually a wooden deck, built level like the sidewalks. Most of the buildings on either side were open air storefronts or cafes with outdoor seating. Hanging plants adorned many of the buildings, a few islands of dirt were spaced out to house large shrubs and bushes. Music spilled out from one of the cafes and filled the air with whimsy.
"I love it here," Iris said, "there's so much going on!"
"There's too much going on," Eli said, with a grumpy look on his face.
"Lighten up," Victoria said, "we're in the city! There's supposed to be too much going on."
"Let's go in there!" Autumn pointed to a shop that seemed to sell almost exclusively crystals and rocks.
"Oooohh," Victoria cooed as she spotted it.
Eli sighed, "okay, the courtyard is just up there," he pointed down the walkway, "that's where we'll meet up. Take an hour or two to explore but don't spend all your money. We can meet up in the courtyard and get an early lunch, by then I'll have a plan of business for the rest of the day."
"Yes sir," Autumn said sternly with an exaggerated salute, before running off.
Victoria gave him a slightly guilty look, then rushed off after her. He sighed again.
"Okay, Iris--" he stopped as he turned around and saw that she was gone. He looked at Titus, who shrugged.