The Ornamental Entrance

The ornamental entrance is a bustling, busy trade centre.  It's pretty cosmopolitan and packed with people of all kinds.  It's the show-piece of the Gora delve; I find it thrilling and spectacular in equal measure, and I feel so at home here, yet I also feel I should have come here much more often.

The main entrance hall is lined with pillars, the tops of which reach an arched ceiling.  The chamber ceiling is pretty high thirty feet at the peak - as a youngster I often wondered how the arched shapes were made.  I've since learned how the techniques work, but it has made it no less thrilling to look upon.  The tops of the pillars are leafed in gold, and when the sun sets to the west it shines in through the entrance and falls upon the tops of the pillars nearest the huge entranceway and a golden fire spreads over the threshold.  At each side of the main entrance are two larger columns like the pillars inside.  These stand forty feet high and are thirty feet across.  They're actually a trick to make the entrance look larger, the opening is only twenty five feet or so high, and the ceiling rises into the room.  The pillars are carved on the outside of the mountain to make the entrance look larger.

Inside, the pillars run six abreast, from the entrance deep into the chamber beyond.  It's a huge chamber, and towards the back of this is a market area.  Goods are traded here, people coming in with supplies for the delve and people wanting to buy the output of the mines meet and exchange gold.  The trading can become loud and frantic at times, and is a spectacle that has to be seen.

At the back of the huge entrance hallway there are dozens of inns set into the back walls and down the numerous corridors that lead off the main hall.  They do a brisk trade here with all the visitors.  Most are reasonably priced and provide a reasonable service to the buyers and sellers, some are aimed at Dzarraf, some at the taller races.  But, as always where there are lots of traders gathering, there are some inns catering to the more well off among them.  What is also apparent is that the more expensive the inn is, the bigger its rooms are and the fewer number of guests they can house.  Elenhugh has negotiated for us to stay in a suite in one of the most exclusive inns.  I've always wanted to stay in a place like this here; whenever I've visited in my official capacity in the last few years I've been granted board in one of the standard places that has a contract directly with the delve.  They were never anything like this one, though.  Inside it is wonderfully quiet, and so comfortable.  We've dropped by many of the market stalls and purchased food supplies and other bits and pieces for the journey, so we can be away again first thing in the morning.

As we approached this place, I felt no nerves about once more being out of the under-land.  I only truly recognised this as we dropped our packs in the inn this evening.  It could be that I was so excited about seeing the ornamental entrance again, but I believe I have overcome my fear of the outside.