“Well I think that just about covers all the Gods still openly worshipped among men today, but there are a few that I don’t really know much about that a few still worship. There is Gompidil worshipped by some Gnomes as the god of inventiveness. Though most every gnome, that I have heard of who worshipped Gompidil, and invented something truly amazing, died shortly after unveiling his creation. Then there is Ishanya a Goddess believed to be the Goddess of lost souls, though some called her the Goddess of hope a long time ago. It was said that she sometimes gifted her worshippers with either great magics, or great speed and strength. Warriors who followed her, and had her blessing fought with unimaginable fury and unbelievable speed. They were once called berserkers, though it is widely thought that no more exist. Followers of Hers who possessed the gift of magic were said to hold the powers of life and death within their hands, killing with a word, reviving a fallen comrade with another. Most people today think these are just old legends though as not a single person with her blessing has been seen in hundreds of years if even the histories aren’t mistaken. I think there is still a temple for her somewhere in the older part of Valdadore though.
That leaves Dazilen, the patron god of thieves and assassins. Good luck finding his temples as they are all very well hidden. His blessings to my knowledge haven't even been revealed to anyone outside his worship, perhaps those gifted by him are sworn to secrecy though no one even knows if he is a real god, or really gives his blessing to any of his followers without even a shred of proof. There I think that does it, at least as best as I can answer your question. I’m sure there are a couple I am forgetting, probably even some I haven’t heard of considering the Orc, Ogres, Trolls all retain some of their old gods as do the Elves, Centaurs and Minotaurs.”
Seth and Garret both simply stared at Ashton in disbelief. Not because they didn’t believe his words, but because his words were so hard to digest. They had heard mention of many of the gods through stories from travelers at the inn in the past, even heard tales of all the other races of men that walked Thurr. But what completely caught them off guard is the fact that they had written them off mostly as simple stories. Tall tales created to fetch the imagination of young children to keep them from wandering off into the woods, or go out playing in the dark at night. Being that as far as they knew, James and their mother had never served the Kingdom, not out of any fear or any misguided feelings toward the Kingdom, but simply they were raised so far from the Kingdom he hadn’t even known about The Choosing until he and the twins’ mother had moved to Vineleaf shortly before the boys’ birth. The twins knew Dwarves and Elves were real, even Orcs and Goblins, but centaurs, Ogres, trolls, and Minotaurs too. It was a bit much. Next Ashton would be telling them that dragons and Unicorns were real too. It took a few minutes for the twins to regain their composure and realize that they had stopped walking to listen, then a moment longer to close their mouths, still open in disbelief.
After they had been walking again for several hours Garret peered off into the distance, and seeing something the others hadn’t yet noticed said;
“Good we made it.” As if stating it to himself and then continued with. “Look out through the trees you can see roofs.”
Sure enough the others noted, past the trees and a few rolling fields beyond they could indeed see the roofs of Stone Haven. They picked up their pace. It was not long before they broke through the last of the trees into the open fields surrounding the small town.
Evening was upon the trio as they passed through the rolling fields at a quickened pace, every step bringing them closer to the town..
Stone Haven had once been a stone quarry. Not just any quarry, it was the quarry mined to build the city of Valdadore itself. Here the Glorian River meandered close enough to the large deposit of granite, where the stone could be cut, then sent on rafts down the river to where the city was built. No longer was this the case however. The stone, all mined out, was a distant memory of the inhabitants of the small town. It was nearly five generations ago that the Capitol city was erected. Now the town thrived much like Vineleaf, relying on travelers to buy goods, rent rooms, pay for female company, or have a drink at the tavern. It was a shell of a town, with people constantly moving away, and more constantly moving in to take their place. More or less Stone Haven was just a stepping stone for people trying to move closer to or farther from Valdadore.
The trio came upon the first homes just as the sun began to set upon the western horizon. The houses here were monstrous, foreboding structures. Made of the dark stone that was once the reason for the towns existence, packed closely together, the town had a feeling of unwelcome. Stone Haven appeared to be built in rings, cut down the center with one main road. It appeared the first inhabitants here had built the inner most ring, and those coming to mine for the Kingdom continued to build out from the original dwellings, starting a new ring when the previous one was full. It seemed a thoughtful design really, everyone had easy access to the innermost parts of the town, where surely the market stalls, stores, and inn would be. The boys each thought their own version of this conclusion as they made their way down a narrow alley, working their way to the main road that ran east to west through the town. Most of the buildings in the outermost ring were boarded up, some of them in disrepair. Occasionally the trio would catch sight of a person rounding a corner, or darting down a side street, but with the fading light it was hard to make out what the people here looked like. So the boys marched on straight towards the center of town each hoping their assumptions were correct and they would find people here. Sure as the sun would shine tomorrow, the closer they neared the towns center the louder the atmosphere became. They could hear haughty laughter, music playing, and the occasional garbled yell of someone obviously drunk. Ahead on the right side of the road was a Tavern very brightly lit, and its stone walls were gaudily painted in a bright orange color, just past that was an inn. The inn had the bare stone walls that most of the town shared. It was a long sprawling building that upon further investigation revealed it was actually once several buildings that had been conjoined with stone hallways adding to its rooms. Across the street from the Tavern sat a large three story building, it was dimly lit, and smelled of incents. The windows were all curtained in red, and the boys discovered that this was where the music came from. Approaching the broad doorway the trio was quick to discover a sign beside the door proclaiming the building to be a brothel. Next to the brothel, across the street from the inn were several small buildings and stalls, this is where the traders would set up their wares to sell, however at this hour they had all packed up and gone home.
The boys all stood in the middle of the road looking around, if not somewhat nervously, than at least undecided. Garret’s eyes kept flickering to the brothel, and Seth couldn’t help but to slug him in the shoulder and laugh at him. Ashton caught the meaning and laughed as well. They stood there a minute longer surveying their surroundings deciding independently if it would be safe to stay within the town, or safer to continue through town and find a place to shelter out the night then return in the morning.
“Seems safe enough.” Seth was saying almost to himself then added for everyone’s benefit. “If the inside walls are stone too, one of us could sleep against the door to be sure no one comes in while we sleep.”