Walking to the gateway under the Harbormaster's office, you note the size of the building. It is enormous! The gateway arch is almost twenty feet tall, which is absurdly large, even for use by, say, mounted knights! The harbormaster gave each of you a chit to prove that you have paid the docking fee, and all you have to do is show that to the guards at the gateway. You walk under a masonry-arch tunnel for about a hundred feet and find yourself at the top of a sloping road, leading down the mountains towards a city you can see in the distance. You suspect it is about three miles away. Nearest the valley, the road is dusted with a fine layer of salt-laden sand. It is rather odd, and you're not sure why the sand would have salt particles in it, but there you go. As a result, the mountains up here are mostly barren save for some very hardy scrub bushes and grasses with a blue-green tint to them.
But a mile down, you cross over a fast-running stream on a well-made (but seemingly ancient) stone bridge and everything changes. The mountains - and the road - open up into a lusher glade. Most of the trees are pretty normal - larch, birch, and a few willows close to the stream. But the closer to the city you get, those trees give way to fruit trees. Apples of at least five varieties, and several kinds of cherry trees grow in neat orchards to either side of the path. They are fenced in, but at one point a tree stands right next to the path, and a notice pinned to it reads that travelers are allowed to take fruit from this tree should they wish. Amber-colored apples pull the boughs low and fallen fruit litters the road.
Speaking of which, while the road was just hard-packed earth and stone higher in the mountain, at this point it is a proper stone road. Neatly cut and shaped blocks of tawny stone are interlocked together with a very slight crown in the center of the path. Wheels ruts are worn into the stone, and you suspect this road - though well-maintained - is not new.
Beyond the orchards, after about an hour of walking, you come to another bridge. This one is taller, and much stronger. Cut blocks of a whitish stone, tinted green-grey from moss and age form this bridge, a tall, wide span that crosses a deep river canyon. The water flows slowly past you almost eighty feet below you. Beyond that bridge lies Kithmali City.
From here, atop the bridge's arch, all you can see is the city wall. Tall, imposing, cut from the same stone as the bridge, it lies a mere twenty yards from the bridge. Guards at the gateway are checking people as they enter and leave. There are four of them: two human, one knollosi, and one that appears to be a humanoid lioness? They are all clad the same, in silvered scale armor with broad-rimmed helmets. Each carries a crossbow, and a rack of halberds is tucked into an alcove just inside the gate arch. They note your peace-bonds, examine your docking chits, and permit you inside.
