Well, the time had finally come. Szeth felt that he had spent enough time in Magnolia. It seemed that work was beginning to dry up, and as the days went by he found that he was beginning to hate everything about the city. The smell, the sounds, the people, everything. In the first place, he didn't even know how he ended up here, and was just winging it for the time being. On to better things, or at least he hoped. Szeth packed up his bag with all of the personal belongings in his possession. This really didn't amount to much more than his signature white robe, the cash that he had saved up and some food rations for the road. He spent a small amount of time wondering where it was that he would actually go to. He knew to the south lay Hargeon, but Szeth didn't much care for the sea, and port towns always tended to be full of unsavory degenerates. To the east lay Crocus, but since he was leaving Magnolia to escape the city, it seemed a little bit counter productive to go to an even larger one. Farther east than that lay Oak. A smaller town with a nice countryside. That would do.

First Szeth made his way to the train station, hoping to catch a cheap train across the country. As he walked through the place, he felt a tad foolish. He noticed that the place was derelict and all but abandoned. Small chance of finding a train to catch here. It seemed it would be a long walk down the road this time. No shortcuts. He headed down the main street, exiting the city and began to walk the large winding road that ran across the country, and would eventually come to Oak. He bid one last bitter goodbye to Magnolia and was on his way.

...

As Szeth arrived in Oak, he knew that he had made the right choice. The air did not smell like homeless people and filth, and the noise was quite tolerable. The first order of business would be to find suitable lodgings. Something modest, but nothing too run down. The next thing would be to find some more work, and hopefully some not quite so boring as what he had been putting up with for the past weeks. Either way, the change of environment was refreshing, and Szeth was feeling rather optimistic.

[WC 405]