Teal

Teal. A: Allie Renee. B: boy with knife. C: children playing counting game. Ba: bakery. BC: Brian Castere's house. K: buried key.

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

Geography

Teal lies between the forest east of Isten and the northwestern canyon system. Northward, the road leads to Elona and thence to Burlen. A graveyard lies just south of the city, on the west side of the road. Further south, the road forks east to Everton or leads further south to branch east towards the Pass and Isten or west towards Old Chuno.

The city was recently shaken by the untimely death of a popular resident, Brian Castere.

A coach runs from Teal to Isten (300 burlas), Burlen (400 burlas), and Korus Landing (270 burlas).

Commerce

Inn: The Watering Hole

• Amenities: Bread, Leg of Lamb; no rooms.
• Disappointed that the apple brandy isn't heated against the chilly climate, Aren Cordelaine uses magic to warm his drink. The squinty-eyed man sharing their table asks if he knows fellow mage Brian Castere, and then asks for advice on where they'd hide something important from marauding Mehrats, leaving when William Escobar says he certainly wouldn't leave it in his home as that's the first place a stranger would look.

Shop: Straight and True

• The only Archery shop in the Northwest.
• Sells: Grrrlf Bow, Long Bow, Arrows, Grrrlf Arrows, Corrosive Arrows, Enchanted Arrows, Flaming Arrows, Bowstrings, Beeswax.
• Buys: all Bows and Arrows.

Residents:

Brother Alexi.

Allie Renee.

The boy with the knife.

• In a house just north of the graveyard, children are sitting in a line playing a common counting game with pebbles. The party is glad the town's recent events haven't dampened their spirits.

• A man at the Inn complains that the town has lately been overrun with "people who don't know how to walk proper," for example the fellow asking all the questions about Brian Castere even though the poor man has only just died.

• At Brian Castere's house, the party meets Alexi, a Brother of Kor sent from the monastery south of Burlen to officiate at Castere's funeral. He explains that Castere, a popular man in the prime of life, was fatally thrown from a horse. Alexi is staying at the house to prevent further break-ins, at least until after tomorrow's funeral. After spending a night outside Teal, the party can search the house, finding 1 Torch and an angry letter to Castere from "GF". The house is an Empty House after that.

• Three-year-old Allie Renee is dressed in black, sad that Castere won't come back and show her more magic. Her father mournfully explains his best friend Castere's use of minor magics and describes him as a "gentle, sweet man". Aren conjures some colorful lights to show her there's still magic in the world. In Chapter 7, Allie Renee is frightened of Raal at first, but comes to enjoy his company so much that she begs him to stay and live with her family.

• The baker has spent the day baking loaves for the funeral party. He doubts any of the town's shops will be open today; the whole town is in mourning. He describes Castere as friendly, kind to children, a good neighbor, but seldom home because of his trading business. In Chapter 7, Kaelyn can visit the bakery and discover that even so much as the scent of baked grain products is enough to make Raal nauseous.

• A tearful boy tells the party he's polishing his top-secret knife extra shiny for Brian's funeral. It's secret because he was once following Castere's wagon on the road west and a crate of swords fell out the back; Castere, who supposedly dealt only in cloths and linen, gave the boy the knife as a reminder of a promise not to tell anyone in town about the swords. The boy wishes he could kill the horse that threw Castere; William ponders that the horse may not be to blame after all.

• In the graveyard, Castere's grave is a fresh plot with a newly-chiseled headstone. William comments that it doesn't sound like the residents knew him too well. After the party spends a night away from Teal, they can return to find flowers strewn around the desecrated grave and broken coffin. Investigating, William finds a map on Castere's body, marking the site of something buried west of the road south from Teal. William and Aren restore the grave before leaving. (Returning later in the game, even with other characters, results in a replay of the grave's restoration.) Once this is done, the party can find the Red Key by using a shovel on a shallow dirt mound south of Teal, a step closer to solving the mystery of Castere's death.

  

  Dirt mound south of the graveyard, it's small and easy to miss.

Trivia

• The miner of Quigley Castle in Aliero recounts several digs in the region, including finding rutile in Teal (as well as Camille).