Old Bram Barreljaw – "the pub's sage"
"Listen here, lad—don't let them highborn scholars fool you. I've lived through three gate openings, and I'll tell you exactly what they are. Gates ain't just rips in the world. No, no. They're breaths, see? This world… she's alive. And every so often, she exhales, and that exhale tears holes into other places. Other worlds breathe back, and that's why monsters spill out.
The mages say it's 'wrong mana effect.' Pah. I say it's the work of the Great Sleeper, older than gods, older than kings. Folks think the gates bring monsters. I say they're warnings. Each gate is an eyelid twitch. A shiver. You wait- one day the Sleeper's gonna wake proper, and then you'll wish we only had monsters comin' through."
He takes a sip.
"Anyway, that's the truth of it. Don't ask questions unless you can handle nightmares."
Dullen Spearshin – "the witness"
"Oh, you wanna know about gates? Heh. You're talkin' to the right man. I figured it out, see. Gates ain't accidents. They're trials. Tests from the old gods -they open a door, toss beasts at us, and watch who survives. Entertainment, eh, like watchin' dogs fight. Except we're the dogs"
He leans forward like he's revealing forbidden wisdom.
"You know why the big gates are getting bigger? 'Cause we're passing their tests. Too many survivors. Kingdom's gettin' strong. So the gods make the gates nastier, see? They don't want us being lazy."
He shrugs.
"'Course, could be you think I'm wrong. But I ain't ever wrong."
Fallow Quicktongue –"man with sources"
"Aye, I know about gates. More than most. I've got… connections. Trusted folk. Important folk. Anyway, here's what they don't tell you: gates don't just open. They choose where to open. Always in places where something awful happened. Wars, plagues, curses- dark places attract dark worlds, see? Monsters smell misery like wolves smell blood."
He glances around before continuing.
"And here's the real secret: gates ain't random worlds. They're all one big broken world, shattered long ago by some forgotten god. Now the pieces drift, leaking beasts till the day the pieces fit again."
He nods like this is obvious.
"So drink up. If another gate opens near here… means somethin' terrible happened long before we were born. Then I'll call my cousin, he good at purification"