Listen to the Beggar. Listen carefully
“When you first stepped in, you must have seen the map of Urtagh nailed to the front wall. It is the only map known and permitted in this wretched land. But…” The beggar leans closer, his voice dropping to a rasp. “Some say that even there, right out on this front wall, secrets lie dormant. Hard to find, they say. Perhaps… but look there, my good man. Do you see the words of claiming the knowledge, on the wall? Right beneath the image of our kneeling princess? Look closely at those words. Study them carefully. A clever mind will surely unravel that little secret. I found it myself on my third visit, back when I was just a boy fetching ale for my father.”
He leans in closer still, the smell of stale beer and dust thick around him. His eyes suddenly clear, losing the milky haze of a drunkard. “Remember, this first tale costs you nothing. But this old throat has grown parched from the dust and the telling. If you wish to hear the other stories I keep hidden, you must provide a little lubricant. A copper for the fine Ale they serve in this pit. For nothing makes a forgotten chronicle flow and unfold quite like a heavy mug of good Ale. The secrets of this world, you must uncover yourself, but a beggar’s well-oiled tales might just point you in the right direction.
“Farewell, my friend, farewell. I must go spin more yarns of Urtagh. But heed this warning: in this place, in Urtagh nothing is what it seems. The sky is not always the sky, the water is not always water… and a beggar is not always just a beggar.
You will understand my words when you manage to fully learn the fate of the highborn Amanda, the one with the strange, foreign surname. The one brought here from the fallen land of Gajah. For she is the spark. She is the beginning, and she will be the architect of this world’s end. Mark my words well. I know this to be true…”
The old beggar is visibly exhausted by his own words. A heavy mug of cold Ale would surely revive his bones. You can simply turn your back and walk away into the dust. Or you can purchase a single link of his chain, allowing the old man to wet his dry throat with Ale and weave the next chapter of his tale.