>>5419621>"Guard, please walk in front until we reach the palanquin. Call it a hunch."The guard, though a little taken aback, nods his head, and begins to lead the way. The official smiles, passing the situation off as a gaffe. You reckon he will not attach any importance to the moment.
Having left the dining hall and passed through a doorway at its far end, you now follow the guard left instead of right, and once you pass a small room of unknown purpose, you emerge into an even more spacious hall. The guard leads you onward, turning right, and you have just enough time to spy your throne off to the left, on a wide dais covered in mottled carpets, surrounded by braziers and columns.
All the while, the official continues his spiel, rattling off the various other sanctuaries your royal entourage will visit. Everything is planned out until the tenth watch, when a banquet will be held in this palace, in the dining hall you've just left. You struggle to imagine the place filled to the brim with people after seeing it so spaciously empty, and your stomach knots at the thought of all the interactions you will have to face, blind as a bat.
Then, a shaft of light. You turn the corner, and emerge out onto a wide open space. The heat hits you like a wave, along with all the sounds of city life. What seems at first to be an endless sea of brown homes and roofs stretches out farther than you can see in the sun's bright glare. Your mind swims, your breath catches in your throat, and as you shield your eyes desperately after the gloom of those sealed chambers you can just barely make out your palanquin waiting for you at the foot of the steps.
>Stop for a moment to collect yourself.>Do not hesitate now, press on! [roll 1d100] 