The Four Stags was a large house; by the looks of it a small farming house that by time had expanded room by room, and was now 2 stories high with lots of small tower-like projections and balconies. The outer walls on the ground floor were made of white plaster and dark tar-treated wood, while the upper floor was newer, lighter and mainly consisted of oak and ash planks. The inside was narrow-spaced, with oak plank walls and broad axe-chipped ash planks for floor. It was not 1 large room, but rather a bunch of 5 smaller rooms connected together. A small spiral wooden staircase led up to the second floor.

The tavern was crowded, and there was a constant smell of warm ale in the air. The crowd was loud, some tried to talk, while others bragged and sang along with the bards tunes. There were 3 bards in total, all located in the biggest room (the one in the middle) next to the bar, 1 sang and played the lute, while another played violin and the last were playing a shawm while hitting a small drum with his right foot. Right now they were playing the song of the famous rebel Signam, whose guerilla warfare in the early days of the last decade sparked the secession from the empire.

"Oh good sir Signam,
hot blood and iron will,
for good and joy, man and home,
he is fighting still.

Quick as the flash he moved,
his tongue uttered thunder.
Oh see how the legioneres crumble
in awe of him their will he sunder..."

The crowd itself was a colorful bunch of people. Most were pale-skinned humans, even if there were some dark-skins as well. The dark-skins had a good reputation up here; it was said that they came from the dark southern corners of the Empire, and wished nothing more than to see it fall. They came here to fight for what they thought was right, regardless of family, title and land; this of course giving them a high level of respect from the leaders of the secessionists. But in the tavern were also many elves, a small bunch of halflings and one or two dwarves. The elves got along good with the humans, but the halflings kept to themselves; and judging by their drunk and awkward behavior no one was particularly interested in joining them either. The dwarves (by a closer look there were indeed 2 of them) seemed to have found eachother, and by the looks of it were carrying out a low and whispered conversation not meant for the ears of others. Just outside the tavern was a bunch of drunk gnolls, whose rowdy and violent behaviour had led to them being thrown outside in the rain by the city guard to cool off. Some of them were now fighting, while others had collapsed and laid there resting in the mud.

In a corner of the room, for herself by a small table, sat a female elf (judging by the shape of her body), somewhat cloaked to avoid the looks of the other guests. She was aware that earthlings generally was afraid of people like her, and even though this had been the most open-minded land she had visited so far she still could feel the uncomfortableness from people around her. It made her feel kind of awkward, and therefore stayed a little hidden.

Just as the bards started on the next verse, the door was opened and a moist, chilly wind blew into the otherwise warm tavern. Half of the crowd didnt seem to notice, but the other half did the regular head-turn move to see what now had come into the room. Dusk first didnt see anything, but as she stretched a bit she saw a small humanoid figure, dressed in a weather-resistant cloak similar to the one she carried herself. The little creature let the hood fall down and thereby exposed its head, whish was scaley and lizard-like. Dusk had seen creatures like these before, they were called Kobolds and were generally a non-hostile people. The little kobold took a step into the room and the heavy wooden door blew shut by the wind behind her.