“Gold, the chief currency among Terre’s population, was among many of the… ‘gifts’ discovered within the crystal cities found across the planet. Impossible to counterfeit, gold does not exist as a physical currency. Instead, one must merely be ‘given’ payment in gold in order to begin owning an intrinsic count somehow bound to each person. We are unsure where the first gold ‘coin’ came from, only that every society exposed to a crystal city uses it.”— The Crystal Cities: Where did they come from?

The Ruined City of Araedi. Day 02.

“Are you sure we want to buy any of the buildings out here?” Weaver asked as they walked into the northern section of the city.

And to his point, the roads and buildings in this section of the city grew progressively worse as they moved away from Araedi’s heart. Entire towers sat knocked over or leaning against each other like a kid’s building blocks left ignored.

“Sure the area’s a little rough, but I know you’ll like it. I’ve already started thinking about how we can decorate it,” Sinnamon answered.

The building Sinnamon had purchased dominated the area with its black and red granite with white marble accents. It had suffered much the same as the surrounding structures; deep cracks ran up the walls to a large section of collapsed roof that had taken the top couple floors with it. But it wore its damage almost with pride, as if to tell the world, you threw your worst at me, yet I still stand.

A tall serethi woman in a maroon and white set of robes stood near the main entrance to the tower. She gave a friendly wave as they approached.

“Hello, my name is Malikela. I will be handling your purchase today. You are Sinnamon Roll, yes?”

“I am,” Sinnamon Roll answered.

“Are you sure this is safe to live in?” Weaver asked.

Malikela gave a laugh. “You likely won’t find anywhere safer outside Araedi’s walls. You know of this city-state’s history, no?”

Sinnamon knew only some of the lore surrounding Araedi. The city had been under siege some hundreds of years before the game was set after the magic barrier surrounding it had been disabled. The barrier had been restored sometime later and it preserved the city in its present state, unchanged since that war. Sinnamon said as much to the woman.

“I take it you don’t know how the barrier was disabled, no? One of the council members, a man named Lohk, found an item of power that allowed him to move between city-states the same as you Guardians.

“Back then, Castera and Rielle were much smaller villages, only recently come over from across the ocean. Lohk believed they’d pose a threat and wanted to unite the city-states against them.

“He had considerable support within Araedi and fielded a large army. But not from the other city-states. They joined forces with Rielle and Castera and attacked Araedi, causing all this you see around us today.”

Sinnamon listened with rapt attention. When Malikela paused, Sinnamon asked, “So how did the barriers get turned back on?”

Malikela shook her head. “No one knows. A small force of soldiers entered the city, disabled the barrier to allow the siege, and then the barrier came back on. The fighting paused when everyone realized Araedi wasn’t sending any more soldiers. When the combined forces against Lohk entered the city, they found her completely empty. Some believe Lohk teleported himself and his followers out of the city when he understood he’d lost. Though no one’s found any trace of him in the five hundred years since.”

“You sure know a lot about this city’s history,” Weaver said.

“Yes, outside of my duties, I am a historian. I volunteered specifically to help the owners of this building because of the implications of its name. I hope to yield insights into Araedi’s forgotten past.”

“Then I hope we fight something,” Weaver said. He glanced at Sinnamon. “Ready if you are.”

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“One more question. How did the building get its name? If no one’s been inside it in hundreds of years, why call it an archive?”

“We have some documents from the days of the war that suggest what some of the buildings were used for. A couple hospitals, administrative buildings, homes, and things of that nature. Much like our city today, without the neighborhoods spanning up the many towers. It appears Lohk used this one as a means of storing and recording stolen war loot.”

Stolen war loot? Of course we bought that kind of place, Sinnamon thought. Well, at least it meant they would likely find something interesting inside.

But there was something else that tickled the back of her mind. Why wait so long to let players buy these buildings? If the Serethi were the ones holding onto them this entire time, why wait? Presumably whoever had written Annwyn Online’s patch notes had to know this already. Perhaps that might be the link they were looking for.

Malikela produced a small white stone from her bag and handed it to Sinnamon. “A recent finding in Delphianna’s archives led us to believe whatever magic allows you guardians to travel between cities might also allow you to dispel the barriers sealing these towers. You Guardians disappeared before we could test that. When you returned, Queen Sorah asked us to begin dispensing them.”

A cute way to phrase “selling” them, Sinnamon mused. So the queen of the Serethi, or at least someone near her might know more. Sinnamon held the crystal up to the Archival’s main doors.

You have found: Focus Crystal of the Archive of Araedi

Description: This Focus Crystal grants its Guardian owner complete control of this building. They may set restrictions as to who may enter as well as allow those within it personalized control over the building as well.

The shimmering black void that should have been the doorway pulsed as Sinnamon moved the crystal towards it. A prompt appeared asking if she wanted to open the door and she selected “yes”. The black curtain disappeared, leaving two wooden doors, each carved with the head of a dragon looking back at her.

Sinnamon opened the door and gasped. A massive skeletal dragon stood in the center of an expensive entry way, wings outstretched in a presence that commanded the attention of the entire room. Its mouth was agape, as though breathing fire.

The walls were lined with glass-fronted cabinets and shelves full of books and various items one would expect to find on display in a museum. Someone had taken great care to label the artifacts on display with metal-inscribed signs.

Archival indeed. Sinnamon turned to Malikela, whose mouth nearly touched the floor. “Bet you didn’t expect to find anything like this, huh?”

Malikela stammered as she spoke. “No, I… You are free to change the look of the building as you please, but I ask that you give Araedi time to catalogue and purchase anything you do not wish to keep.”

Sinnamon didn’t get the feeling it was up to Malikela if the city could or would buy anything here. Not that she would have let them, she intended to keep everything exactly as they found it.

As a bit of a history buff herself, it was the right thing to do. “We’re going to continue looking around, feel free to do the same without us.”

Malikela mouthed a silent “thank you” as she dove into the expansive library under one of the sets of stairs to their left.

Sinnamon and Weaver walked up the stairs winding up the left side of the dragon display. They led to a mezzanine which held a large common room with several doors leading off it. Sinnamon went into the first room and found a simple kitchen and bedroom. A studio apartment!

Weaver stood in the doorway, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Sinnamon walked over to him. “What’s up?”

“Room’s too big. This wall should be way closer. Look, it goes right past the door out here. But inside, no door.”

Sinnamon walked to where Weaver was standing and sure enough, she saw what he meant. The door to the right of theirs led to its own room, which equally overlapped with the space the left room was taking. Whoever had designed this building apparently only considered the laws of physics to be a suggestion.

“It makes me think of the same magic in our bags of holding,” Weaver mused as he entered the room. He fell on the bed with a loud poof. “Oh, my god.”

“What?”

“You have to try this bed, it’s amazing.”

Sinnamon dropped into the bed beside Weaver and let out a sigh. Neither too firm nor too soft, it was perfect.

Weaver turned on his side to look at her. “What do you think?”

“I think I might never leave this bed. Cancel all our plans.”

“You know the rest of our party might be upset about that.”

“Give them their own rooms with their own beds. They won't wanna leave them either.”

Weaver chuckled. “I take it we’re keeping the building, then?”

“Hell yes we are.”