Word of mouth. Bulletin Birds. A message on your personal HUD. However you heard about it, you've received a message about a Certain Someone looking for Certain People with Certain Skills. If you can figure out the riddle in the invite (and of course you can, how else would you have turned up there?), you find yourself standing in front of the kind of tavern in Harmuth you might not normally step foot in. The kind with drinks your tongue is too poor to taste, with the kind of patrons you can't afford to be caught looking at.
It’s called… well, you’re not sure. The plain white building stands alone in its own very small and lush park, trees surround it on all sides, covered in a phosphorescent moss that glows gently in this twilight hour. There are no windows; the only entrance and exit appears to be the door you stand in front of. There’s a digital sign above the door, but when you look at it, the words seem to blur together, as though you’re trying to read something in a dream.
The passphrase for the week is “the Hontri hunt in pairs”; uttering this causes the door to open, and lets you past the bouncers, into the thick fog of upper class socializing.
You were instructed to look for a man in the shadows. The entire tavern is absolutely drenched in them, so almost everyone in the tavern is ‘in the shadows’. As you make your way past full tables, you make awkward eye contact with more than a few patrons. Just as you’re about to turn around and go back the way you came, you catch the gaze of a man sitting by himself in a large corner booth. And as he is literally cloaked in shadows, all you can see are his eyes, and those are glowing a vibrant green.
The booth has room enough for ten people, easily. He’s the furthest away from either entrance to the seats, and all that sits in front of him is a tall glass full of something opaque, something that steams. He takes a long drink, but when he sets the glass down, it’s filled with the same amount of liquid as before he picked it up.
“Step closer,” he says, “let me get a good look at you.” He squints so hard that you nearly lose sight of his eyes entirely in the shadows. “You’re alive, and that’s as good a start as any. What’s your name?” He addresses you all as though you are but one person before him.
Harbill shifts to the left and closer to the wall from the small group that stands before the shadowy, albeit creepy, individual addressing them.
You sure are bossy, sending us invites to such a -fine- establishment as this. Not even a bit of drit on the floorboards. He scuffs his dirty boot against said floorboards to add some drit.
Harbill gives those assembled a once over and says I think it is only fair since I traveled all the way from Shallamas to be here, that you tell us who you are first.
The shadowy figure squints once before breaking into a wide smile. And you know he's smiling because now all you see are eyes and too-white teeth. Harbill, and anyone looking at Harbill's wanton display of not giving a shit, notice that the floorboards appear to be sucking up anything shaken off his boots.
"And you see why that's the case." The figure leans back in his booth. "Happens to anything you drop down there and don't pick up immediately. Speak with the big fella by the door to retrieve anything you drop that you'd like to see again."
He pauses to take another drink that doesn't seem to disappear from the glass, even though at this range, you're certain you hear the sounds of something being swallowed.
"If you think you are part of the first group of strangers to respond to these invitations, you would be mistaken. You came here so that I could see for myself whether or not you were up to the task I have to give. And I've already turned away so many hopefuls. Who doesn't love a mystery? Or the offer of rewards?"
Another drink.
"But if it will make you feel better... you can call me Tayne. And if you're not content with knowing only that, you are welcome to turn around and take the same way out and get back to whatever you had going on in Shallamas." There's a particular emphasis on Shallamas.
A misty memory of a figure lurks outside the streamlined white building, hovering near the sheer pane nearest the front doorway. Her silhouette can be seen filling a silver canteen with strange, rune-like markings from the sleek water fountain near the glowing, mossy building.
Once her drinking vessel is filled and dripping with water, the figure steps inside the harsh lined frame of the door, and more strange markings are visible radiating light from beneath the skin on her face. The markings look similar to those on the canteen.
She looks around the room for who she was told to meet here, a few darts of glances pass over her as she steps into the din of high-class drunken conversation and murmurs, the smooth, cool pump of beats in the background, and the energy of an adventure waiting to begin. She sees the green-eyed man in the back booth, his body is hidden on the leatherforme corner platform spot like a black cat twitching the shape of a tail underneath a holobush.
I got your invitation. I am Yurtictzyck. She offers her hand to the darkness.
Tayne looks up at Yurtictzyck for just a moment before extending his own hand. "The pleasure is mine, Yurtictzyck." He shakes her hand firmly.
As soon as Tayne's hand touches yours, you feel the brief sensation of pins and needles before the tavern disappears from around you.
You find yourself standing in the ruins of a temple, in an area you do not recognize. Tayne is sitting on a mossy rock in front of you. In front of him is a canvas, and he occasionally glances up at you, then returns his gaze to the painting.
If you try to speak to him, you find that although you feel your throat vibrating as though you are producing sound, nothing actually leaves your lips.
He nods once, then turns the painting around to show you. It's an exact replica of your face, but the runes on the painting appear to be moving the same way they do on your skin. You hear whispers of words when the runes change on the painting, but they are lost to your memory as soon as you hear them.
"Most interesting," he says. You find yourself standing in the tavern again, feeling as though hours may have passed, when in fact, no time has passed at all.
"Most interesting," he says, a smile on his face once more.
The heavily armored individual moves with poise through the crowded tavern and stops in front of the green eyed man. A woman's voice projects with authority through the helm.
"Minerva. Your message made mention of needing certain skills, but what quest do you have in mind for making use of them? I will not pledge myself to any work with questionable intent."
Tayne leads forward and appears to be resting his chin on his hands. "Well, Minerva..." he pauses for just a moment too long,
Tayne looks at you and you get a distinct impression that you're standing in front of him naked. When you look down, you see you're still fully clothed and armored, but you also know he sees past all that.
You're still in the tavern, but everyone around you has faded away into indistinct blurs with faces you can't quite make out.
"Your presence here will make things interesting, I think." He says, standing up and moving through the table as though it's not there. He walks around you in a circle, sizing you up, before sitting once more in the booth. "There are not many of your kind left, Lady Glaive. Not in this World."
When he sits, everything around you returns to its proper focus.
"once I've taken my measure of you all, I will be happy to share the task with you."
Harbill watches all the glad-handing and crosses his arms under his ratty brown cloak. His face, as pallid and expressionless as a death mask, turns from one person to the next during the introductions. A slight scoff can be heard when Minerva mentions "questionable intent".
Well since you are all so friendly, I suppose I'll stick around. What is it you want from us Tayne? More importantly, what is this reward you are offering?
Well since you are all so friendly, I suppose I'll stick around. What is it you want from us Tayne? More importantly, what is this reward you are offering?
Tayne smiles broadly once more. "Can't tell you that without a name. It's really the only requirement to this whole thing. I promise, once we get through all the pleasantries, you'll have all the information you need."
You can call me Gustav.
You can only imagine Tayne is raising an eyebrow, since you can't see his eyebrows. He raises a glass towards Harbill in a toast. "Very well, Gustav."
You find yourself in the City of Echoes itself, leaning against a filthy alley wall opposite of Tayne, who still appears to be cloaked in shadows. Various echoes of people walking through the alley appear, but no living people do.
Smoke drifts lazily up from the lit end of some sweet smelling herb he's puffing on.
"One might say 'Automaton'. One might say 'Widdershins." He says. He spaces it out just enough that the intent is obviously not to trigger the shutdown. Just to let you know he knows. "You're stubborn. Stubborn gets the job done." He nods once, stubbing out his cigaroll on the side of the building, then popping it into his mouth to chew.
Just as quickly, with only the faintest hint of a transition, you're back in the tavern.
A young wizard closes her eyes and inhales a deep breath. She exhales slowly and looks straight to focus on what she was asked.
"I'm Snow. I received a message."
A blink is all that registers on Harbill as he steps back from sudden appearance of Snow behind him. He shifts to keep his back to the wall and his eyes flick between those gathered, but linger longest on Tayne. You all notice his crossed arms don't cover the gloved hands gripping hilts of some sort.
"So you did, Snow, and how glad it makes me to have such a radiant beauty before me!" Tayne winks one bright green eye.
After Tayne winks at you, you look around and realize that you've disappeared from the inside of the tavern.
You're standing inside a beautiful garden, where a gentle snow falls and all of the flowers are visible underneath a thin layer of ice. Tayne stands before you and taps a finger against his lips, still completely hidden in shadows.
"Always happy to have more Nanos on the job. They're always in these kinds of situations for the right reasons." He winks once more, and you are back in the tavern as though no time has passed at all.
I move closer to the table sizing up this figure claiming to be Tayne.
"I promise I didn't summon you here to bite you." He flashes his too-white teeth once more when he sees the look on Darcheulio's face.
"My name is Darcheulio. But what good is my name for such a task that seems like you could easily handle yourself?"
"A very good question, Darcheulio." He says, nodding sagely in response.
"We're not so different, you and I." Tayne says, kneeling down to pick a mushroom from the ground. "Though I can't say eating one of these was a particularly good idea."
He presses the mushroom against his nose and inhales deeply, as though he's smelling a flower. He tosses the mushroom to you, but right before it hits your hands, you reappear in the tavern.
"But I can't spill all my secrets on our first date. Suffice to say that the task requires more than a single person, no matter how fabulous the person may be." He leans back and spreads his hands. "Besides, I enjoy bringing people together, and I especially enjoy introducing people to this fine establishment." He echoes Harbill's earlier words.
A small humanoid-like creature made of shadow appears on the table sharing the same green eyes as Tayne. The green eyes lock on to Tayne's.
"Hey," the creature squeaks out, "It wasn't ... not ... a bad idea either." The creature starts pacing back and forth on the table moving it's dark but cute feet in a hurried manner. The creature stops immediately then asks Tayne, "Are we done with the pleasantries or are we still missing an invited guest?"
Watching from the corner of the bar Kaile listened for a few moments more, before deciding what he finally wanted to do. He'd come all this way looking for a new start, but seeing the man he had been described to meet had given him pause.
So he had waited...watching...falling into old habits and slowly nursing a drink that held no joy in it. One by one the others had arrived, bits of information and introductions making his ear. Finally, as the last one approached and made his introductions, he settled his mind. The first measure of the man had given him pause, but the eclectic group that had answered had left him curious.
Stepping away from the bar, he silently made his way to stand behind the others...all the while without taking his eyes off the man in the darkness.
He spoke just loud enough for all of them to hear, but only looked at the man who had called them together, "I am Kaile Raine..."
And ignoring any reactions at his sudden interjection, his eyes narrowed at their host as he continued in an even, slightly emotionless, tone "...whats the mission?"
Once Kaile mentions his name, the shadow figure on the table disappears in a puff of smoke.
Tayne peers down at the little replica of himself, then looks up to Darcheulio, and breaks into hearty laughter. "Oh very good! It's too bad I can't keep him."
He gestures to Kaile as the last man joins the group. "With Kaile here, the last member of my final batch of invites is present." Tayne's eyes look almost comically downcast when the shadow replica disappears from the table.
When Tayne finishes speaking, you find yourself in a crowded city, high up in a spiral tower with no visible means to have reached the top. From this height, however, you can see the city spread out around you in all directions, and the countryside beyond that. There's a floating pyramid in the distance that appears to have lightning crackling at the base of it.
"I hope your eyes still work, Arcitan." Tayne says, voice serious as he surveys the land around them. "There's a lot to see where you're going."
You reappear in the tavern with a slight sense of vertigo as you've rushed from such a high place to such a grounded and crowded location.
Tayne claps his hands together, and you notice they actually don't make any sound when they hit. "Well, the good news is that I've decided you're all exactly who I was hoping would walk through that door tonight. So let's get down to business."
He slaps a small numenera on the table. It emits a blinding flash of violet light, and leaves a very strong scent of ozone in your nostrils. After the spots have cleared from your eyes, you realize you're in a very obvious bubble of silence, as you no longer hear anything outside of the people in this group around the table.
"I'd like you to retrieve a package for me."
He waits for a few moments, taking another sip from the glass in front of him.
"Well, technically it's not for me, but... it's for someone important enough and rich enough that they don't have a name as far as you're concerned." He plows ahead without further dramatic showing. "This package is located in Kordech, deep below the city's graveyard. I'll be sending you there with a numenera you can activate to find the exact crypt you'll need to enter." He pulls out another small metallic sphere and sets it on the table. "Once activated, you'll have an hour to find the crypt. If you don't, you'll need to find another way to reach the package."
He pushes the device towards no one in particular; simply away from himself.
"Once you have the package, you'll need to bring it back to me at the Harmuth docks. I'll be found on a vessel named Ysldren, where in exchange for this package, I will give you each a numenera of your choice from my very extensive collection, or an equivalent in shin." He smiles broadly once more. "All in?"
"Is there a time limit on when this package needs to be delivered. Or can we take our sweet, sweet time?"
"Is there a time limit on when this package needs to be delivered. Or can we take our sweet, sweet time?"
"There is no time limit. Kordech is a good, oh... 400 miles away. Take what time you need. See the sights. Enjoy yourselves. The package will be there waiting."
Who else is looking for this package? Better yet, who else knows that we are looking for it?
Harbill finishes the questions with releasing his hands from the hilts under his cloak and a wary eye on the other patrons outside the silence field.
Who else is looking for this package? Better yet, who else knows that we are looking for it?
Tayne shrugs. "No one, to my knowledge. Which means if someone is looking, they're inconsequential to us both. The only person outside of this bubble who knows you're looking for it is the buyer." Another, longer, sip of his drink.
"Given the general knowledge, location, and purpose of this item... it's fairly well understood that no one in their right mind would attempt to steal it and transport it."
"What is the package if you don't mind me asking? Can you at least tell us how heavy it is? Will this ... package ... be difficult to transport?"
"What is the package if you don't mind me asking? Can you at least tell us how heavy it is? Will this ... package ... be difficult to transport?"
At this, Tayne taps the spot where you're pretty sure his nose would be, then points to Darcheulio. "Of course I don't mind you asking! I may have revoked my offer if one of you didn't ask. How would you have known what you were looking for, elsewise?"
He looks around the group as though seeing it for the first time. "Why are you all standing? You're welcome to sit, have a drink, before you head out." He shifts his legs under the table. "The package is a slave. A female slave, to be precise. So she will be about as heavy as..." he squints and appears to be sizing Snow up. "About as heavy as her, if I remember correctly. And she won't be difficult to transport... unless you let her wake up. I suggest you do not."
Minerva shuffles around, her armor clinking around. She looks around the group unsure of this traveling party.
"I delcare my alligance to this cause. I must ask who is this buyer?"
"I delcare my alligance to this cause. I must ask who is this buyer?"
He makes a 'hmm' sound in response. "That, I'm afraid, is one of the few things I will not tell you." He leans forward. "You're more than welcome to do your own sleuthing, once you get out there." He gestures vaguely towards the entrance and exit of the tavern. "But I operate by the strict policy that I would never share a buyer's information."
So let me get this straight. You want us to sneak into a tomb, recover a sleeping slave, and return it here, but anyone who knows of the slave would think is daft to attempt?
I'm not opposed to a bit of skulduggery, but this begs the question of who we are taking this slave from? I like to know who is going to throw shins around to get their property back from us.
Harbill leaves the question of what causes a perpetually sleeping slave hanging, unasked.
So let me get this straight. You want us to sneak into a tomb, recover a sleeping slave, and return it here, but anyone who knows of the slave would think is daft to attempt?
I'm not opposed to a bit of skulduggery, but this begs the question of who we are taking this slave from? I like to know who is going to throw shins around to get their property back from us.
"Listen, I would love to drink and answer questions all night, but..." he drums his fingers against the tabletop. Another motion without sound from the shadowy man. "The slave's current owner is Aulifex. Usually found in his tower of the same name that stands in the middle of Kordech."
Although you didn't see when it happened, the never-emptied drink is missing from the table.
Alright, I'm in. After I get paid that is.
Alright, I'm in. After I get paid that is.
He chuckles in response. "Do they often pay you before the work gets done in Shallamas?" He shakes his head, but at the same time, produces six tiny pouches, and pushes them across the table.
"But I'll be dusted if I don't show my guests a little shin. You'll get the rest when the job is finished."
Grabbing his his own pouch from the table Kaile hefts it a little before putting it away with his other money. Leaning back he decides to let one of the others take the device provided.
Thinking over the mission the idea of slavery causes him to grit his teeth a little. Men should be free to choose their own path in life, but then if that WAS their choice...so be it. Their target being asleep however makes him question whether there was ever a choice given to her.
Taking another sip from his drink he leans back in the chair he'd taken at Tayne's invitation: 400 Miles is a long way to transport anyone, asleep or awake...especially if that someone is missed. Do you have any guess as to how long we'll have before her master notices her absence?
Looking over the others and then back to their host he continues: That is of course under the assumption we retrieve her without arousing their notice to begin with.
Tayne nods in response to Kaile's question. "It is a rather long way, isn't it? I can't give you any estimate for how long it might take someone like the Aulifex to notice her absence. It could be he notices as soon as you find her, it could be he doesn't ever notice." He holds a finger up, as though to stave off any protests. "It also could be that he won't care. I guess that would be up to you all to persuade him, were it to go down that way." He shrugs. "People like the Aulifex tend to be full of surprises."
Harbill leans over the table, scooping up his pouch, reviewing the contents to be sure, and then picks up the orb. A light whirring and a few clicks can be heard as he stares intently at it. For those with sharp eyes, it looks like a dim light glimmers from his eyes. Not outlining them, but actually radiating from behind the eyeballs.
He whispers to the orb, And what do you do, my beauty?
Tayne watches Harbill appraisingly, but says nothing.
When all of you are done asking questions and being skeptical, Tayne dismisses you all with a wave and a wink. He doesn't seem inclined to leave his booth, though you're not sure what else he's doing, since his drink is gone and no one joins him once you leave.
He doesn't deactivate the bubble of silence, so the transition from his table to the normal ruckus of the bar is a little jarring.
You exit the tavern without so much as a nod from the bouncers, and find yourselves standing in a warm Harmuth night. You catch faint whiffs of the paper mills that dot the land outside city limits, and foot traffic is light in this sector of the city.
Avenues are lit by globes filled with a gently pulsing white light, all mimicking little moons hanging delicately from synthwood poles.
"Any ideas on transportation? Otherwise I'm gonna look around the city for options since I don't want to walk all the way there."
If none of you have traveled South over land, I wouldn't suggest it. There isn't much between here and Kordech by way of roads. I should know, I came up here from Shallamas.
Harbill looks at the others for any spark of recognition at his mention of the city of thieves and vice.
I would suggest we seek passage on a ship and head down through Keford. The road from there East will run us close to Kordech. Much less drit on our boots and the likelihood of bandits is lessened on the open sea.
Harbill sets off with a determined stride towards the docks to find some transport. He takes careful note of any outside the group who appears to be following them.
Darcheulio says to the group excitedly, "Before I came to the tavern, I heard about this numenera that acted as way stations for fast travel. Anybody want to join me in asking around? We might be able to glean some info about it. At the very least we might be able to find someone heading down to Kordech."
Harbill pulls up short before going to the docks and turns to Darcheulio I think any numenera that allows for travel like that would be jealously guarded if it works, not to mention expensive. Feel free to check up on it though. Just meet down at the docks around dusk so we can figure out or best path forward.
Minerva turns in the direction of the Gullyweed. She shifts in her armor as she physically and mentally prepares herself for what may lie inside.
Just meet down at the docks around dusk so we can figure out or best path forward.