Isten

Isten is an Antaran city in the northwest of the Antaran Empire in Betrayal in Antara. It is first visited in Chapter 4.

Geography
Isten is northwest of the Ciaga Pass, separated from southern cities by the Glassrock Mountains. North of the city is the Isten Amphitheater.

Inn: Backstage Club

 * Amenities: Meat Pies, Wine, Roast Chicken. No rooms.
 * If the party beats Lord Lighton at cards, they receive tickets to the Amphitheater.

Shop: Falcon's Perch

 * Sells: Leather Armor; Yelloweye; Oil; Fishing Rods; Rope; Animal Pelts.
 * Buys: Armorer's Hammers; Whetstones; Shovels; Rope; Bowstrings; Lockpicks; other small goods.

Entertainment: the Isten Amphitheater

 * Currently playing Academy of Broken Hearts. Admission requires Tickets to be presented at the box-office hut in front of the theater.
 * Tickets for the night are sold out, purchased and distributed to friends by Lord Lighton. One set can be found in a bead chest south of Isten; a second set can be won from Lighton at the Inn. Only one set is needed to access the performance.

Worship
Isten has a Temple of Senaedrin which serves all the cities in the northwest region of the Empire.


 * Sister Senena awaits the letters carried by the dead priest on the road south of town. She also sends help when the party later reports a difficult childbirth in Everton.


 * Services: Healing.

Residents

 * At the Inn, Lord Lighton awaits a really good game of cards.


 * A long-nosed, short-sighted woman knitting on her porch looks familiar to the party; she mentions her cat and her sister in Waterfork. She gossips about Lord Lighton's doings: "balls, parties, casino nights at the club," and the invitation-only special performance at the Amphitheater. Her own invitation is locked up safely in a chest given to her by Lord Axton; she doubts the thieves who stole the chest (which is near the path south of town) have the wit to open it. She doesn't think much of the Shepherds, but has heard that Maria Liana's son joined them. (The tickets can be retrieved from the chest, but cannot be given back to their owner.)


 * A Jaeger with a gleaming pin of office looks down his nose at the travelers and, before they can introduce themselves, calls his wife Melinda to feed the "peasants at the door." He gives them 1 Leg of Lamb, tells them to use the back door next time, and shuts them out, amusing Aren immensely. (The house has no back door.)


 * Jaeger Ben Stafford, a younger and more disheveled noble, is writing a treatise on the Antaran political system: The Shira: Its Structure and Inner Workings, with such sections as "" Policies regarding bribes and services rendered. Favors... Dealings and double-dealings... Triple-dealings... Diplomacy, negotiating tactics, and blackmail." Reading it raises the party's Haggling stat, though Stafford quotes famous geologist John Moraine to compare the writing process to the progress of a glacier: "just one eternal grind." William is impressed at the expose, which Stafford intends to publish anonymously if he can find someone to print it. At this stage of the game, the party is unaware that a lord in Torlith is putting out a contract for his death.


 * The mage Darvostan boasts of his ability to influence a target's mind to respond favorably to his clients, a talent which wears off after a while but can be very strategically effective; he's usually "busy dawn to dusk when the Shira is in session." Aren, though uneasy, asks for a magic lesson, and Darvostan charges 200 burlas... and then influences Aren to negotiate it up to 400. If the party pays, Aren can raise his Spellcasting stat in the areas of Cause, Charm, and Magic.


 * Isten has two Empty Houses. Items in the first one are: 3x Essence of Wind; a Whetstone; 3x Rations; 31 burlas. In the second one: an Armorer's Hammer; 6x Rope; 21 burlas.