The Ensorcelled City

     The Unifier built a splendid city in the midst of the realm to serve as his seat of power. Four marvelous palaces stood at the four cardinal extremities. In the north was the Water Palace, warmed in the winter by hot springs, the water of which ran through pipes beneath the tiled floors. The Palace of the Arcing Arrow was built upon a low series of hills on the southern edge of the city. It was open to the wind, to cool it in the summer months. At the very crest of the hill was the Pavilion of Fireflies. The Bronze Palace in the west and the Palace of Secret Thunder in the east were both famed in their own rights. But in the center of the city, surrounded by a wall and only accessible by magic gates from each of the four palaces, was a secret garden of white flowers and dark but glossy leaves. In the center was a pool in which the moon could always be seen, whether She were in the sky or no.

    Over the years the king's descendants added to the wealth and extravagance of the place, and they grew in pride and decadence. The last king's hedonism and cruelty knew no bounds, and he was spurred on to greater depravity by his concubine, a mysterious woman known as Daji. Their outrages grew so great that at last the nobles rebelled, spurred on by the lords of the western marches. Breaking the king's forces in a chariot charge, the rebels marched upon the throne city. But when they reached the valley they found that a wall of thick mist surrounded the capital. Anyone going in found himself after a few steps returning to the spot he had just left, with no memory of having turned around. All attempts to enter the city were stymied, and so the conquerors established a series of sentry posts around the perimeter and left.

    Thus the Ensorcelled City has stood inaccessible for hundreds of years, and no man may say what remains within it. But with the hazards and changes of war, the watch on the borders of the mist was disrupted. The lands in which it lay came under the control of the Shan's dogmen allies. They report that shadowy figures can be seen moving in the mist, and they occasionally find strange corpses of indiscernible shape left at the edge of the fog. It is possible that whatever power held the city is beginning to loosen its grip, but why and for what purpose remains to be seen. Certainly only the very brave or the very foolish would dare to find some way to venture into the cursed town.