The group crossed the wooden platform at the inn's entrance, the drafty planks creaking like a door that hadn't been oiled in years. The once bright bonfire on the stone platform not far away had also extinguished, with no one paying it any heed, leaving only a mess.
Climbing the steps, the boiler inside the main door emitted a dim red glow through the grating, wheezing and clanking. A dwarf goblin listlessly stood by the crystal mine, hugging its knees, nodding off.
The utility automaton was still there, but its head was drooping. It no longer shook its rusty arms to greet every guest entering the inn; it remained motionless, a crack on the record crystal.
No one knew when the automaton had broken, but no one cared. Tianlan looked at the hollow shell, feeling a sudden sadness, "The last time I came, it wasn't like this." She murmured to herself.
But their last visit had been over a year ago.
