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[pneumatik]

Prelude

Plavin

Othric pulled his heavy robes tight around him and huddled back around the building corner. Winter was no time to hanging around outside in Gate Pass, so it was difficult for him to stay inconspicuous for long. Othric's plan was to use the weather to his advantage. It was ingenious, if he did say so himself. As a cleric of Boccob and general academic, he prided himself on solving problems with his brains, and not with his brawn like all the thickheaded brutes in the city. He realized that with all the cold weather, no one else would be spending a lot of time outside to observe him. Every window was tightly shuttered, and doors were kept shut, so no one inside could see him, either. He used a map work out a route he could walk that would always keep him in sight of the door to Plavin's place.

You see, he had a message for Plavin. As a priest, Othric knew a lot of people. A number of them were students at Gabal's school. Some of those students were also in the resistance. From them, he heard about plans to fight the Scourge when it arrived. Part of those plans involved getting help from the Lyceum. Planer travel was being blocked, so they couldn't send a message or teleport there. Othric's research led him to suspect that Leska's Inqusitors were behind it. He couldn't figure out exactly how they were doing it.

Othric's ruminating over the nature of the planer blockage was interrupted by Plaving walking out of his home. Othric stepped back out into the wind and quickly closed with Plavin. “Walk with me. Quickly,” he said. “Gate Pass needs your help. I know you're not truly a magic user, but the Scourge won't be so astute in either their observations or categorization. If you are still here when the Scourge arrives, I suspect you will not survive.”

“The gates at either end of the city are closed,” Othric said as he walked, “But with the help of others, you may be able to escape. The resistance is assembling a team to escort a courier into the Shining Lands. I understand you're an affiliate of the resistance. If all of you collaborate, you may be able to escape. Meet them at the Poison Apple shortly before the bells ring in the new year. Use the door in the alley. It will not be a, um, 'cakewalk', but I implore you to act on this opportunity.” Othric turned and started walking back to the temple of Boccob.