Welcome Conferral

 Welcome Conferral                                      NW     -      -
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  A warm golden-orange glow from a few bronze lamps and wall sconces
suffuses the entire area.  There are a number comfortable seats and informal
floor futons, with current editions of a few Alyrian publications scattered
about for leisurely perusal of articles therein.  The floor itself gives
slightly, cushioning footfalls, and the molded walls are graced with
tasteful tapestries.  The vaulted ceiling adds spatial height, its rafters
draped with garlands of foliage and sprays of pleasantly scented flowers
from the nearby garden.  Fantastic glass sculptures and baubles of unique
shapes and sizes refract the glow into prismatic shards of light.  The most
prominent of these is a sizable orb that wavers in the center of the room,
suspended or supported you can't quite tell.  Occasionally, its transparency
shifts and fills with swirling water or clouds, other times blackening with
ash or rocks.  Somehow this elemental augury hangs in the balance.  You
suspect its energy is the real source of the room's illumination and wonder
if it serves any other purpose.