Forum

[pneumatik]

Prelude

Rashelle

It wasn't a good time to be anti-Ragesian in Gate Pass, especially not if you were in the City Guard. It was clear the city council planned on welcoming the Scourge with open arms, and they were having the Guard lock up all the magic users they could find as a present to their conquerors. The Guard wasn't enforcing this new edict as strictly as they did some others. Most of the time, magic users were safe as long as they didn't do anything too flashy. Some guardsmen would even let you get away with the flashy stuff.

Davyth's platoon was full of those types of guardsmen. Davyth had earned some leeway from his superiors for the quality of his guardsmen, and lately he'd been using it fill his platoon with guardsmen who were still planning on fighting the Scourge when it showed up. He felt bad for them. They were old enough to be competent guardsmen, but too young to understand the political realities of the City Guard. At least under him, they had a chance of having a career when this was all over. Assuming they survived.

Which is why Davyth was talking to Rashelle. “I know you're not a big fan of Leska, Rashelle,” he said. “So I have a special mission for you. There's a magic academy way down south called Lyceum that seems to have taken offense to the Scourge's indiscriminate killing of magic users. They're offering help to anyone fighting the Scourge. The resistance wants Gate Pass to get that help”

“Normally,” Davyth said, “they'd just use magic to send a message. For some reason, that's not working, so they need to send a courier. One of my resistance friends asked me if I could send anyone as an escort. I'm sending you. This isn't official, at least not as far the Guard is concerned. I can't make you go, but if I thought you'd say no you wouldn't be in my platoon.”

“I know you want to fight the Scourge, but this is important,” Davyth said. “We can't hold Gate Pass forever, not without help. That courier needs to get though to Lyceum. The courier's name is Torrent. Meet her at the Poison Apple shortly before midnight on New Year's Eve. Don't worry about missing any fun, with the Scourge knocking on our door I don't think there'll be much partying this year.”