"I," says the perimeter guard, dropping down neatly from the tree, "am going to run and get that passed on. You are going to head into the city, report in to the militia, and not cause any trouble."

Karis scowls at him, but doesn't object, and he sprints off to deliver his warning.

Pelape doesn't know her way around. She'll follow Karis in.

They meet a pretty solid thorny hedge shortly after the guard, and have to make their way along it to a minor road that passes through; beyond the hedge is a carefully trimmed killing field with a fairly short watchtower presiding over it, but nobody seems interested in shooting them and the Thorn (with a white sash, on which is stitched a black lantern) on the entry door of the watchtower looks bored.

The shapes of the City of Seren loom out of the gathering darkness before them, mostly wood-and-canvas structures on the outskirts, then behind them awaits a jumbled mess of ruined stone walls.

Karis stops at the watchtower.

"Perimeter guard told me to check in with the militia. Cold Sun attack on the road to First Voice. He's already run off to, uh, probably assemble a fast patrol and try to get them before they get there."

"Uh, am I meant to do something? Do you, like, have business in Seren? Is there anything else I should know?"

Karis shrugs.

"I don't think we have immediate needs beyond being in a safe place, thank you."

"Right, well, it's Seren after dark so you might get a drunken knife fight or two but they'll generally keep it to willing participants so we don't have to break it up too enthusiastically."

"Oh, if anyone does check, I'd like people to know that Karis Foundhome did in fact check in as requested." She turns back to Pelape. "I don't have all that much coin on me, would you rather have a good dinner and sleep in a common room or get a private room? We can snag something off a street cart, we won't go hungry. I can go hit up Verys tomorrow, but he won't appreciate us banging on his door at this hour."

"Street food is probably fine."

"Let's go see if the inn I know is still there and has at least one proper room free, then we'll get something to eat and ask around for another place if it wasn't."

Seren is a huge city by local standards, there are thousands of people who live here and a similar number just passing through.

None of the reclaimed and rebuilt buildings are more than about three stories tall apart from occasional towers and watch platforms; structures generally advance from basically tents on the outskirts, to wood and canvas taking advantage of ruined walls to prop them up, to nicer wooden constructions, to proper stone sections added to the ruins as they get further in, some of which is very white and smooth - an oddly clean white given the amount of wood smoke.

The dominant smell is wood smoke rather than anything more unpleasant, although the streets are muddy tracks until they get right into the city centre (which has cobblestones) and the prevelance of ox carts means there are some dung heaps around. 

At least one of which is being harvested by enterprising children, using a long knife to scrape it into a bucket.

There are in fact quite a few unaccompanied kids about, although toddlers and young kids are generally accompanied.

Pelape rigidly avoids the dung heaps even though she is pretty sure it is all animal waste. Takes note of the demographics of this tiny village and its architecture to distract herself.

There are lots of interesting people here! There are people with antlers and ram's horns and people who look like their skin is kind of dead? And people with scales and feathers and some who look an awful lot like fish.

Most of them are wearing the same kind of colour scheme, practical clothes (although sometimes beautifully embroidered) in browns and greens and the occasional blood red, but a few people stand out in black and white, or riotous flame colours, or pastel layered robes.

The locals skew quite young - there are a few older people here and there, especially amongst the foreign looking individuals, but most look barely out of adolescence.

The streets are lit quite well, with a mix of flaming torches in sconces and strings of glowing crystals.

Eventually Karis turns off into one of the mostly wood construction streets and heads into a building with a sign depicting a beheaded spider creature and the text "The Ettercap's Belly". It appears to be a somewhat raucous tavern. There is a lot of drinking, singing, and general carousing occurring.

She tries not to stare and fails frequently - even if there are fish people why are they on land??

Weird name for an inn.

Karis heads over to the bar. "Got any rooms left?" 

"Every bugger has come to town with the Cold Sun nonsense going on, you can kip down by the fire once the party's died down?" 

"Do you know if anyone's got space?" 

"I'd try the swanky end of town if you've got the coin, it's going to be rammed anywhere reasonably priced but mostly it's Stridings that have decided not to be out and about and most of them are kind of broke."

"Thanks!" 

Karis turns back to Pelape. "Not looking good.

Oh, wait, that's Allegra's go bag you're wearing - we might be able to sell something out of that and get you a posh room?"

"I'm not too fancy to lie on the floor if we're strapped for cash, especially if we might need it later."

Karis returns to the bar. "We'll take two common places, any chance we can set up in the corridor rather than waiting?" 

"If you don't mind the noise, it gets a bit cold, and the establishment has no responsibility for drunk idiots tripping over you later."

"Right. What's on for food?" 

"Venison stew with bilberries, cheese toast, rosemary pottage, either of you vitalists?"

Karis glances at Pelape to check.

"What is a vitalist?"

"Oh, they just mean do you have any weird food requirements," explains Karis.

"Well, I'm another species so on general conservatism I guess I should avoid any ingredients I haven't heard of in case they're likelier to poison me than ones I have. I don't know what pottage or bilberries are but cheese toast sounds extremely normal."

"Pottage is, like, split peas and lentils and stuff boiled down to a porridge? And bilberries are little blue berries, they're delicious. We can ask for ingredients if that'd help, or you can just get cheese toast..."

Karis suddenly looks kind of intensely miserable, as if her attempts to distract herself from the situation are failing.

"I do know what peas and lentils are, I'd love some of that and the toast, and maybe I'll try a bilberry some other time." She looks sympathetically at Karis but doesn't gauge that she should be going for an arm pat or anything.

"That's one stew and one toast and pottage, then."

Karis hands over a couple of small dark coloured coins and gestures for Pelape to follow her to one side of the bar, where shortly a young guy with gills and barbels deposits two steaming bowls with wooden spoons, one of which with toasted bread propped on top.

"It'll probably be easier to find a spot upstairs, if you carry the spear I can get both bowls?" offers Karis.

"...sure." Pelape takes the spear and holds it very carefully point down and steps with diligent attention.

"Uh, keep the point up please, I don't want you to scuff it on the ground," Karis warns her when she turns it point down. "If you're not used to it, it's easiest if you lean it on your shoulder with the point towards the ceiling?"