The Guesthouse at Deluzion Break


The Guesthouse is perched on the side of a cliff rising 400 feet from the sea.  It is just below the top, built on terraces hugging the cliff face where a narrow canyon cuts into it- the canyon is Deluzion Break.

  The lower half is a jumble of broken rock, ledges, clefts, and great plates and spurs of stone jutting out from the mass of the cliff.  A switchback path snakes upwards through it, cutting through some of it, ending in a broad ledge.  From there,  a wooden scaffold built into the split in the rock frames a staircase and a hoistway.  This rises into a structure at the top of the cliff.  Not ON top of the cliff, built along the side of it, right at the split.

Built onto ledges and crevices both natural and not, there are six stories of rambling structure- balconies, windows, stairs, catwalks and terraces. The uppermost story rises above the top of the cliff, the rest is built beneath it.  A wooden bridge crosses the gap in the cliff, and there is more structure on the other side.

There is a sign at the base of the gap in the cliff, at the end of the dock.   It says “Deluzion Point Guest House” and there are two arrows.  One points to the switchback path.  The other, straight up.  The sign is decorated with painted flowers.. drawn very, very small.

The Guesthouse has three shops built into it, which open into the main hall and also onto the main balcony, which serves as the entrance, with stairs and a ramp up to the cliff top, and stairs and the hoist-way downwards.

The first wave of characters to reach Deluzion Break are familiar with these- the others will quickly get to know them.

1)  The Barber Shop.   Thon the Barber is a permanent resident, and is often hanging around the Commons or the front terrace when no one is in his small shop.  Otherwise, he’s often doing small chores for the Last Chants- sometimes he goes to Stonebell with his pet llama.   He's here about half the time, and that's when the barber shop is open.  He's an elderly man but still fit and active, and is a native of Stonebell, and an old friend of Arcto.

Thon does his simple, basic, customary work.  Anyone wanting fancy hair styles should ask the Fairies.  They are talented, and often do this just for the fun of it, but the customer should be prepared to accept Fairy aesthetics.


2) “Goods, Trinkets, Gifts and Confections”

There is a changeable assortment of items here.  Woolen goods are common.  Hats, sweaters, gloves, socks, and other things.  There are usually some basic amulets, and peculiar looking jewelry, much of it involving very colorful and brightly polished metal, twisted into little ribbons and medallions.  Many look like they could double as fishing lures in a pinch.  There are also a variety of candies, many made with that fascinating and valuable product of the Jungle Elves far to the north- chocolate.

The shop belongs to Zynobia, who seems to be either a relative or close friend of Arcto.  Zynobia is an old human woman, and looks large and well fed.  Perhaps a bit too well fed.  and she wears a variety of trinkets and totems.  But perhaps she only wants to look like a mage.  The look certainly seems to shout out “I have magic!” Zynobia has a young assistant, who might be a granddaughter, niece or something like that.  The girl is Mia, and she spends a lot of time studying, and in Zynobia's eyes too much time socializing.


3)  "All Manner of Fixes and Repairs Herein”.

Beroozh the Fixit Dwarf and her apprentice Lozzle are here about half the time, traveling back and forth from the nearby Dwarf settlement.  They are both female Dwarves.  In the shop, they repair a wide variety of items, and when they are not in there is a “just leave it with a note” honor system.  They also act as ambassadors for the nearby Dwarves.  Lozzle is extremely Official in her ways- even if she is present, she asks that you fill out a "please repair my..." note.  Beroozh is not so demanding, and Lozzle seems confused by this.  "But you said they always leave a note explaining what it is they want fixed!"

The rest of the gang at Deluzion Guesthouse consist of Arcto and family.

The owner, or perhaps patriarch, of the Inn at Deluzion Break is Arcto, a tall, thin, elderly man.  His look would say “wizard” were it not for the aura of calmness about him.  Old wizards often look as if the most dramatic event of all time is about to happen, Arcto gives the impression that nothing dramatic will ever happen.  Although he’s clearly top of the ladder, here, he doesn’t seem to give many orders.  He’s only around occasionally, and when he’s not, no one will ever go to fetch him, no matter who says “I must speak to Arcto!”.  Cornelia is Arcto’s wife.  She is frail, quiet and slow, and not in great shape.  She’s usually around somewhere in the background, more of a listener than a talker.

Merne is the daughter of Arcto and Cornelia.  She is the true energy running the Inn at Deluzion Break.    Cooking, cleaning, handing out other assignments- very busy. She is somewhere in her early forties, and manages just about everything with her three children and a flock of Faeries.  Iris and Violet are her twin teenage girls. A few years younger is their brother, Vincentas.  He is less helpful than his older sisters.  The girls- and their mother- spend a lot of effort getting him to perform useful work.

Wizards, the Southlands, and the Temple of Azuth

(At least, as Arcto might explain it.)

The Southlands is sparsely inhabited, and for that reason there is less of everything here than one might find in the more civilized Old Country, except for wilderness.  Fewer and smaller cities, and of course fewer wizards and fewer temples.

The best known and most important Temple of Azuth here is on the northeastern tip, a land of rugged rainforests, Cape Fortune.  This is the also the home of the Southlands' most important school of magic.  Not a coincidence, they are closely connected, though not the same thing.  Call them intertwined things.  The top clerics also serve as staff at the school, but not the top staff.

Arcto does not trust the place.  "They place a great deal of emphasis on how the students will pay for their lessons.  Possibly more emphasis on that than on how much the students actually learn.  It does seem to pay off well for those in charge.  There is no one head of the school, there are three masters sharing the role, but one of the masters is a Warlock and I have always been suspicious of him.  Still, they have turned out many decent, honest, wizards."

The Honoans have a temple in Nakatiwi, with a considerably more respectable wizard, but no school with it.  Just the temple.  The Greenwood Elves have at least one temple but I've not seen it.  Further south, there is one in Fenwyck, and that has a school, although quite secondary to Cape Fortune.  There are a few temples in Ushalka, where wizards get a lot of respect, but in a peculiar way- we are seen as precious tools of the nobility.  Wizards on their own there are rare- more or less, everyone belongs to somebody,  That's all that I know of, so, pretty few and far between.

Comparisons of climates of places in the Southland to the Real World, to help with player visualization:

Lighttree:  Miami, Florida, USA

Honoa:  Various places in the Caribbean, such as Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica

Fidelis:  Fuzhou, China

Cape Fortune:  Panama City, Panama

Mountain Elf Kingdom:  Yunnan to Tibet, China