T.A.O.R.U.
Four years.
It has been four years to the day since the Day of Mourning. Argentus looks out over the Hilt, at the sun coming up over the waters surrounding the city of Sharn. Stray bits of fog cling to the waves far below him, not unlike the dead gray mists of the Mournland.
Thinking back to where he was that day, Argentus leaves the Dancing Shadows District in Middle Tavick's Landing. He is on his way up to the Sovereign Towers District in Middle Central Plateau.
Every morning Argentus visits a small pastry shop there run by an older couple from his homeland, Thrane. Brumby's Bakeries its called. For almost nine months his routine has been the same. At eight bells, he would leave the room rented to him at the Second Purge, an inn also run by ex-pats from Thrane. He would then make the climb up the towers to the shop just down the street from the Temple of the Silver Flame in Sharn, the Cathedral of the Cleansing Flame.
His last orders were to be at the shop from the ninth bell until the eleventh bell every morning, to await word.
And so every day he goes and waits.
As is his custom every morning when he comes to Brumby's, Argentus carefully counts three copper crowns onto the counter before taking a seat by the door. Just because he wasn't subject to the whims of a digestive system didn't mean he couldn't support the Thranish couple. He settles in for what will likely be a long day.
It is a beautiful day. The sky is blue, and the City of Towers is alive. People move about on errands, visiting friends, chattering away. You watch it all, observing everything that you can.
After a half of an hour, several students from the University, clearly having just come from some rally of some sort, begin to have an altercation in the center of the square with a local man, mid-forties, who seems upset by their signs they carry. You see one, no longer held up, but carried at a young half-elf's side - 'Herstory - just as important as history'.
Argentus considers the conflict impassively, then calls out to whoever in the bakery is working closest to him.
"There appears to be an incident developing. Should someone call for the Watch?"
The daughter of the shopkeep looks where you are indicating at the commotion in the street, then turns and heads inside presumably to tell her father or mother what's going on.
"Some souls are just tortured - " to the left of you, a smooth, clear male voice at a table just around the corner of the building says so you can hear it. "- by what, who knows, and maybe they themselves don’t know."
You know this phrase. It was a challenge phrase, used to identify you to a stranger and identify their presence as an ally of Thrane. It demanded a rejoinder.
"Without pain," Argentus responds after a long moment, "without sacrifice, we would have nothing."
The code is a phrase he knows well. It is a reference to one of Brother Ignatious's favorite sermons. As the metal must be thrust into the flames of the forge to be cleansed of its impurities, so must the soul of each believer be cleansed in the fires of hardship and strife--a sermon which invariably ended with the reminder that Argentus would have to serve with more devotion than most, since he had less to sacrifice than a follower of the Flame with a true soul.
A gnome stands and comes around the corner to where you sit. Small, his features are sharp, with chiseled cheekbones. His hair is pulled back from his face, and he wears quality-made functional clothes, nothing fancy or outlandish, rarer for a gnome. You catch the glimpse of a tattoo or mark on his hand as he places the package on the table before striding away purposefully.
You stare down at the oiled cloth tied with a bit of twine placed in front of you, no larger than an egg, as the shopkeeper exits the bakery in your peripheral vision, heading out towards the commotion in front of his business. The sounds of the city seem to fade away, leaving you with the package, as your months of waiting for direction come to an end.
Tempting though it is to tear open the package right there at the table, Argentus forces himself to remain calm. He scoops up the package carefully. For a moment, he considers putting it in his belt pouch, but decides he'd rather keep it in hand until he makes it back to his rooms. He leaves an additional three crowns on the table, and leaves the bakery.
You head back to the Second Purge. You can't be sure, but you feel as if you are being watched or perhaps even followed, but you do not see anyone when you look. A gang of shifter's turn and talk to each other a little too conspicuously when you pass, all while keeping their eyes trained on you. A female human, looking like she comes from out in the Eldeen Reaches, actually runs into a child that was walking behind you. She seemed so intent on you, that she lost track of her surroundings. As you move through Tavick's market a loud bang emanates from your right, but it appears a shopkeeper just dropped a heavy sack out of a second-story window onto a stack of palates below.
You continue on, your senses trained on all of your surroundings, looking for the slightest hint of trouble, and you make it back to the Second Purge without incident, and find yourself alone in your room with the package.
Relieved that the nerve-jangling but thankfully uneventful trip home is over, Argentus closes and locks the door, then hurriedly unwraps the package.
You sit into the creaky chair in your room, unwrapping the package on the table in from of you.
A small shard falls out onto the table. A rosy crystal, with crimson swirls in its depths, it is no larger than the end of your finger.
Picking it up in your palm, it begins to glow slightly, and a voice speaks to you, inside your head. It is distorted, disguised, a bit created, not unlike your own voice.
"Argentus. The Silver Flame needs you. A heretical member of the staff at Morgrave University has come across some information on the history of the Church of the Silver Flame in Sharn, and you are to retrieve that information, verify its authenticity and acquire any proof, using whatever means necessary. Avoid tangles with the local law, as that would delay our cause, and ally with help to achieve your goals if necessary."
"The man was killed a few days ago in the University District. Find him, find where he kept the information, find out what the information was, and retrieve the relevant information or items. A Messenger awaits you at the Sivis Enclave in Dragon Towers in the Middle Central Plateau. Use it to contact me once you have acquired completed your mission."
"May the Flame Light your soul,"
"I."
Argentus mulls the situation over. Collecting information about the dead is a task that requires tact and guile, and both are things he struggles with.
Argentus stands, his decision made. The Flame will guide his words. He leaves the crystal in his dresser and makes his way towards the University District.
By early evening you make it up to the University District. Built around Morgrave University, and all of the industries that support it, the district was home to students, professors, and staff of the university, bookstores, guildhalls...all of them focused on learning, and on earning.
Located on Dalannan Tower on the Upper Menthis Plateau, the five towers of the University - named after the Five Nations - encircle Lareth Hall, at the top of the tower.
Argentus considers the problem of where to begin for some time. Some kind of eating or drinking establishment would be logical, but a Warforged alone in a tavern, asking questions, was bound to be more conspicuous than he wanted to be. What he needed, really, was a companion of some sort to go with him to these places, so that he wasn't alone, so he could blend in better--but he didn't really have friends in the city, and it wasn't as if he could rent one for the evening...
Except, he realizes, he almost certainly can. He mulls the idea over briefly, then, with a mixture of resignation and distaste, he sets out to find a prostitute.