The Equinox Hotel

Lenny entered the building, Roy presumably in tow behind him. Making his way over to an unoccupied clerk. Although the entrance was fairly busy, there were enough clerks to ensure a lack of lines.

Creatures of all varieties moved through the room, many holding the keys to their rooms. A Dragonborn could be seen speaking in a whisper to a troll while over on the other side of the room a minotaur seemed to be playing poker with a cyclops. None of the various monsters and creatures in the room seemed to find any of this out of the ordinary.

“I’ll help make sure this clerk here gives you a good deal, you can do the initial bargaining, though.”

Lenny lowered his voice in an almost conspiratorial tone as he said this to Roy.

“Oh that’s right, you don’t know anything about this place do you?”

Lenny had forgotten that Roy was completely clueless about The Steelscape, he had thought the boy had some idea of what this was, but apparently not.

“Well, you see, The Steelscape acts as a refuge for monsters and other nonhumanoid creatures that might be persecuted or hated on the overworld. That’s why ninety percent of the population isn’t human, although, in terms of a single race, humans are still probably the largest even if you don’t see many walking around.”

At the mention of Equinox, Lenny would nod sagely before speaking. At least, he tried to appear sagely, considering his appearance it probably failed to have the desired effect.

“Equinox refers to Equinox Industries, the largest company down here. They own nearly all the major shops and lead in nearly all the major industries in The Steelscape. They also serve as the government around here, but the laws are generally pretty loose and they don’t do much to interfere with other businesses.”

A quizzical look would appear on Lenny’s face for a moment as if he was trying to remember the answer to Roy’s question.

“Well, although they dabble in a whole host of businesses, their primary ones are mining, metalworking, and potion making. They make a lot of money from those three and I suppose you could count their labs as a business…”

Trundling over to the nearby bar that was in The Equinox Hotel, Lenny would pass the man a few silver coins and return to Roy with a glass of something in his hand.

“You should try something from the bar over there, they get the drinks here directly from Equinox Brewery. They’re quite tasty I’d say!”

The bartender turned around, eying Roy up and down as he requested some tea. At first, Roy might think him a human, but then he would notice the rather long fangs extending from the man's mouth. It seemed Roy had run into another Vampire.

“Tea you say? Well, I suppose we have some tea, not a particularly popular item but if you’re sure you want some…”

Looking rather bored, the bartender turns his back to Roy and begins preparing the tea. After a few minutes, he would return to the counter, placing a steaming cup on it. The liquid inside was an orangish color.

“Peach tea, I can add some more sugar or milk to it if you want. That’ll be 3 silver. Unless you plan to get a room here, if you do you can get four free drinks per day.”

The bartender would nod and pour some milk and sugar in the tea, mixing it with a spoon before handing the cup to Roy.

“Rooms are fifty silver per night. You can pay here if you like. The room number is on the key and there are signs showing what floor your room number is on.”

Assuming Roy wished to pay at the bar for the room, the bartender would pull a key from a shelf behind him, handing it to Roy.

“You seem a bit skittish, you new to The Steelscape?”

Seeming to just notice something, the bartender leaned in towards Roy, sniffing the air slightly.

“Oh, you’re a vampire too aren’t you? There are quite a few of us down here. We even have our own district in the city.”

“Well, it is true that it was only recently opened to the world at large. Before now things were kept much quieter and not many new people arrived other than refugees. Now that will be changing, though, I suspect more of the citizens from here to travel elsewhere.”

The bartender surveyed Roy’s tenseness with curiosity. Why was the young vampire so jumpy about meeting another vampire? Had he just been turned perhaps and still considered himself a human?

“How long have you been a vampire? You seem quite rather startled by seeing another vampire. Did you have a bad experience with other vampires or something?”

“Ah, I see… Well, you’ll soon get used to being one I suspect. In vampire years you’re only a babe. In a few more decades I’m sure you’ll feel more sure of yourself.”

With that, the bartender turned around went off to serve another customer, a rather small troll who was only a little over five feet in height.

Lenny would walk over to Roy, continuing to smile for no apparent reason.

“How’s your tea, my young friend? I’ve never had any, but it smells pretty good, maybe I ought to try some once. Well, I’m up to my room, my room is number 453 if you need me.”

With that, Lenny would make his way over to one of the magic lifts and the attendant would activate it, causing the lift to begin rising at a fairly decent speed.

Ravven moved through the crowd in the entrance room of the hotel, making his way over to the bar. He had been in the Steelscape for about three months now, the demon inside him forcing him to make his way here. Although he had initially hated living here, after getting used to it, he found it not as bad as he had expected.

Although he would still occasionally steal from shops, he mainly did errand running and message delivery for various people in The Steelscape. He was currently saving up enough to get his own house down here, but for now, he was living in this hotel.

As he approached the bar, he noticed the outline of someone who looked familiar. Was that really his cousin Roy down here? It couldn’t be, could it?

Hesitantly walking up behind Roy, he would tap him on the shoulder.

“Is that you Roy…?”

Upon Roy confirming his identity, Ravven would embrace him enthusiastically, he hadn’t seen anyone that could be considered “friendly” in quite some time. He didn’t seem disturbed by Roy’s vampire fangs in the slightest, perhaps partly due to living in The Steelscape.

“I’ve been living down here for a couple of months now. I went down here initially because the demon took control for a time and the next thing I knew I was down here. Overall though I’m keeping the demon under control and it can rarely influence me these days.”

Glancing around at his surroundings for a moment, Ravven appeared to be checking for something before he continued speaking.

“Although I didn’t like it down here initially, I’ve gotten a bit more used to it now. It’s not as bad as it looks, to be honest, and I’ve managed to get a number of errand jobs which make me a decent wage.”

At the mention of food, Ravven would nod.

“I’d appreciate that, I’ve been trying to save my money to get myself a place. Since you’re offering to get me food, would you like to stay with me in my room here, it’d be cheaper that way!”