[Realm: Álfheimr]
[Location: Rumpelstadt]
Rumpelstadt lay deep within a hollow valley, shrouded by black hills and forests. The trees were crooked, their bark dark and flaking, and the air was filled with the smell of soot.
A narrow river wound through the heart of the valley, its waters muddied with gray sediment from the old mines upstream.
Every rooftop was filmed with coal dust; every chimney spat dark vapor that climbed into a sky already heavy with clouds. The sun rarely reached Rumpelstadt anymore—only a dull light. Crows perched on the crooked spires, watching the miners shuffle to work, their faces slack and weary.
The streets were just as crooked, slick with rain. Wooden signs hung above doors, their paint blistered and the few merchants in the square smiled in that brittle way people do when anxiousness has become routine.
