Challenge #04449-L065: City of Lights in the Dark

In this village, there were no such thing as "low born" and "high born". There were no such thing as "dark" and "light' except for "Were the candles lit so we can read?" In this place, dark elves, kobolds, and hellkin lived peacefully along with humans and other "light" races. Needless to say, adventuring parties learn quickly that discrimination, here, is absolutely forbidden. -- Lessons

[AN: The ability to see in the dark has its limits in Alfarell. People who have it can see hues of grey and shapes. Reading requires light enough to see colour, and twilight situations completely mess them up. Therefore, all libraries have enough light to read with]

There's a name for settlements like Haven Hollow. Places where the exiles make a space of their own of relative safety. They're called Unwelcome Towns. They're towns almost entirely populated by the Unwelcome People.

Hellkin, halfbreds, Dark Elves, Deep D'varuv... Kobolds and Gobelliin and Harukh, oh my. If there's Humans there, it's a safe bet they were born there[1] or "stolen fair and square" from a situation in which they'd have otherwise died. Places like this generally have one threat - Adventurers.

So very many of the "good folk"[2] mistake an Unwelcome Town for a den of evil.

After all, it's full of the types that "good folk" considered to be evil at worst and simply 'wrong' at best. A high concentration of them had to be a hive of scum and villainy.

Adventurers went charging in with visions of being heroes for eliminating a pit of evil. They also screeched to a shocked halt when they saw Humans and Hellkin working together in a kitchen, serving food to any number of Unwelcome folk. They were baffled by the clean streets, the abundance of colour, and the welcome folk bustling in the streets alongside the Unwelcome.

They were completely confounded by this town being no more or less evil than any other city in the sunlight.

There was a small halfbred Harukh with a tray of charmed orbs. "Hi, lightsiders. C'n I sell you an orb? Light to see wherever you go." They demonstrated, activating the runes on the sphere and holding on to the cord attached to it as it floated up. "You can even pick your favourite colour."

The child was talking to them as if they were any other passer-by. They weren't even using the common Everdark term for those from the surface lands.

There were small Hellkin running around with light orbs tied to their wrists. Just like any other child in the surface lands might possess any novelty floating toy. In fact, other children were doing the same.

There were Gobelliin tumblers, Kobold bards, the almost mandatory Hellkin fire-eater entertaining people in the town square. There was an overburdened donkey, a Dragonbred strongman, and a barker promising that the strongman would lift the animal if he had "two coppers more".

It was all so... normal. Well. Apart from the actual content of the town.

The Cleric bought an orb and tied it to their right pauldron. "I don't sense any evil, here," he said. "Not the sort we usually eliminate, anyway. This is just... another town. Like all the others."

"Except it's overloaded with Unwelcome People and hidden underground. People who hide places underground have to be up to something," argued the Fighter. "There's so many evil species here."

The team Wizard sighed, possibly for the millionth time, "There are no evil species, just evil individuals. I was alive during some centuries in which Elves like myself were considered Unwelcome."

"That was four hundred years ago," argued the Fighter. "The Xenophobia Wars are over."

"I dearly want to educate you properly, but you don't have a century to learn," grumbled the Wizard. "Just keep your weapons sheathed and behave yourselves."

The team Bard said, "Why are you looking at me when you say that?"

"Precedent."

[1] Hellkin can sometimes make an entirely Human child. This fact is often overlooked on purpose by the people seeking to oppress them.

[2] AKA not the Unwelcome People.

[Photo by Kristijan Nikodinovski on Unsplash]

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