The North Station

From Changeling Venue

The North Station

Toronto’s busiest Goblin Market is the North Station. It is a long concrete train platform with two sets of tracks on either side. Following the length of the platform twin pairs of soot-covered pillars, carved to look like pine trunks, vault upwards presumably holding up the ceiling—it is too dark and misty that high up to tell for certain from the ground level. There is no natural light here; the station is always wrapped in steam, smoke, and the sounds and smells of unseen trains, making gazing off into the distance difficult. The only thing known about the four train tracks is that they lead further off into the hedge. No one has ever come back following the tracks away from the North Station; however, several Changelings lost in the hedge near Toronto have successfully found tracks that led back to the North Station.

The platform serves as a frequent Goblin Market, and the primary competition for any other that should see fit to start one. No Lost has ever been able to asses when and where the train might come in, but the peddlers and other denizens always assure that it is "right on time" when it arrives. The station is undeniably part of the Hedge, and it's sense of supply and demand is often based on emotion, not stock. Brightly dressed merchants clip electric lights, or hang lanterns from the pillars to display their wares. The market is a hurly-burly of chaos, colour and languages, a noted contrast from its stark gothic surroundings. Shoppers and visitors alike are advised to hang on tightly to their bags to avoid thieves and pick-pockets, who are often there even when the market is not. A set of mirrors, set in window frames overlooks the front end of the station, from a second level; some hobgoblins say that the Station-master’s office is behind those mirrors—but hobgoblins will say anything.

There are three known entrances to the North Station. Walk clockwise around the tallest pine-tree on the belt-line trail and you descend into a bramble of roots and pine boughs: continue following the main trunk and you arrive at the fourth set of pillars on the platform. Going off the North end of the Summerhill subway platform, on the east-side and you will see the beginning of a trail of white gravel; following that trail through the warren of tunnels will lead you to the North Station. And finally a door underneath the one time rail-bridge over Yonge Street takes you to a warren of slime coated caves, that gently heave in time to a very slow and laboured breathing; following the spatter of oil, ink and wax on the left wall will lead to a second door, that exits immediately under the mirrors.

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