Liedenstorm was not a beautiful city.
It sprawled across the landscape of the ruined earth like a visceral wound incapable of healing— a wretched blot in the form of a mass of wood, stone, steel, and desperate humanity, all pressed within the confines of walls that promised the illusion of safety but delivered only an odd chance of survival.
The outer districts were the worst...
The streets that were barely wide enough for two carts to pass through ran between buildings that leaned against each other for support, their foundations slowly sinking into the mud and refuse that accumulated despite all efforts to clear it.
The smell was oppressive.
That unbearable stench of unwashed bodies, vomit, piss and rotting garbage, combined with the acrid stench of tanning yards and slaughterhouses that no amount of wind could fully disperse was rather... unpleasant.
