The first people into the Map Room did not approach the table.
They remained near the doors and stared.
Max had expected questions about the graveyards, the cities, or the new portal. Instead, the room filled with the silence of people trying to understand the distance between one edge of the model and the other.
A gnome cartographer stood beside a brass scale at the nearest railing.
ONE INCH REPRESENTS TWENTY MILES.
Several adventurers read the sign, looked toward the mountains on the opposite side of the room, and read it again.
More people entered behind them. The upper walkways filled first. Gnomes opened the lower terraces and guided the crowd around the map in one direction so no one became trapped against a railing. The model remained visible from every level.
