Cassomir...heart of the Taldan Empire's navy.. To hear most, heart of all naval activity on the Inner Sea. I've never seen so many shipyards laying in so many keels at once. I hear tell that they launch a capital class ship every week just about, year round. Guess it's a tribute to the amount of pirates and conflicts in the Inner Sea that they haven't put themselves out of work yet. I wondered at first how they managed to get enough wood for all those ships, then I realized that the trip up the Sellen is likely more complicated than I originally thought it would be.
I have to admit that a city sandwiched between a swamp and a harbor doesn't have the loveliest fragrance I've ever encountered. I never really understood why people can't seem to catch on that what they dump in the harbor in the morning comes back with the evening tide..guess some people are just slower than others. Whatever the case, the smell of salt air is a welcome change when the breeze comes in. There was a convenient altar to Gozreh right on the docks when I disembarked, so I made a final offering and bid the God of the Sea farewell. I'm not particularly sad not to be sailing any more, I don't like being cooped up on the ship for so long as I have been. Still, I've made good time so I can't complain.
The next leg of the journey is a long one, and I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to go about it. Travel up the Sellen is fairly normal, but that doesn't mean that it's easy. I think I'd prefer to not be on a boat the entire time, not much chance to learn anything about where I'm headed that way, and talking to the same river boatmen for the length of the journey would get pretty old.
I've settled in at The Inn of the Rusted Rudder, kind of a strange name but who am I to judge. I've gone ahead and paid for two more nights, give me some time to stock up here in town and see if I can't feel things out about the road ahead of me. currently I'm leaning towards taking a boat up to Bellis, near the Kyonin-Andoran border, then going by foot or horseback from Bellis up to Kallas Lake. To get where I'm headed, I'll need to go up the West Sellen, and it should be fairly easy to find a boat from one of the towns near Kallas. I'm definitely sure I want to stick to the west bank of the Sellen, I hear Galt's pretty awful on the best of days, and don't want to find out first hand.
Interesting mix of folks staying in the Inn here, a lot of travelers and chat in the tavern was more than a few talking about the road north as well. Only one that really stuck out was a somewhat down at the heels looking dwarf with the sigil of Torag on his shield. Not sure if it's cultural homage or religious fervor, seemed a nice enough fellow but it's always hard to really get a dwarf talking without buying him drinks, and I was running a bit light on coin.
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