>Let's angle toward the university first, and get the big disappointments out of the way.
>Keep an eye out for sign posts or indications of hospitals or clinics, as well.
>You decide to make the Academy your first stop and turn right, keeping an eye out for any signs of hospital or clinics along the way.
>While Neu's instructions are quite adaquately detailed, they fail to instill a proper sense of distance. The road seems to simply go on and on, curving very gently inward without a visible change in its arc for block after block. The shops continue similarly unbroken, with everything from ice cream parlors to locksmiths to toy makers to perveyors of needlessly frilly hats for the overly rich. Institutions of the healing arts don't seem to be especially forthcoming in this area, though the smorgasbord of mercantalism is punctuated by the ocasional civil building, here and there.
>You also do a little inconspicuous people-watching as you walk. More than a few of them are garbed in finery that would draw conspicious attention back home, but which seems to barely earn a glance in this environment. You also spot several people wearing brightly colored tabards that mirror the designs of the House banners you saw on your way into the city. Most of these are given a polite degree of space along the road, though the attitude of the crowd seems closer to indifference than deference; you suppose the routines of daily life grow automatic, no matter what they are.
>Honestly, as much as it would irk you to admit, the scene is just a little overwhelming. There's simply so
much. So many people, so many buildings, so much
money. And that little buzz in the back of your head might just give you a headache before you can grow accustomed to it. And you know full well that you haven't come close to seeing the best the city has to offer. For a few moments, you almost forget that you're here on a mission. Almost.
>Eventually you spot a fabric boutique that marks the next turn Neu's instructions indicate. You follow them left, stepping onto a substancially narrower and less busy road. The bustle of the commercial district dies off somewhat as you pass into a residential area.
>The architecture takes on a different character here, though with many unifying features that give continuity to the buildings before them. You suspect these are relatively modest dwellings, though few in Braston would compete. Property size is only slightly more ample, but their diminuative gardens are manicured with care and ornamented with elegant floral arrangements or the ocassional small statue. You follow the road for a time before taking another left and then a right, up a gentle hill. The houses grow larger and further apart, with increasing expanses of tended green seperating building from road. Some even have small walls surrounding their property, made of brick in pale whites and dusty reds, capped by ornamented finials - not all of them in great taste, if you're frank. You suppose money doesn't exactly buy design sense, even if it can sure help it along.
>In the distance ahead, you spot a stone tower rising stolidly above the surrounding buildings, its surface ringed with subdued scrollwork and engravings of magical symbols. At its top is a ring of geometric crystals set as finials, each one a different color. A short while later, a second smaller tower comes into view and then a third of a very different design, square and made of columned brick capped with a metal roof in dark verdigris. It bears a large clock whose face you can't quite read at this angle.
>Before long, the road you've been following merges with a wider boulevard flanked by rows of mature elms and maples. Their foliage casts large pools of shade upon the road, broken here and there by thin shafts of light. Up ahead, you see a long wall built of large stone blocks, finely-hewn but with a natural texture to their face. It is taller than you are, and capped with a thinner layer of lighter stone. Though both its height and the considerable tree cover prevent you from seeing much of what's on the other side, the trio of towers is most definitely in that direction. The wall itself runs for a very sizeable distance - longer than you can currently see from this angle. As you follow Neu's directions, you find yourself walking alongside it, and then approaching a pair of large wrought iron gates set in the wall and currently standing open. An intricate design is worked into the metal, resembling an elaborate spell circle inscribed with multiple smaller geometric designs. Inlaid in one of the stonework pillars that flank the gate is a plaque of dark stone in which are etched the words '
Grand Academy of Val Razua'.
