"Sewers?" said Torrent, "Gate Pass has them, of course, but I can't say I know anything about them. I wouldn't know how to get in, and more importantly, I wouldn't know how to get out. This area has all kinds of rocky caverns... I think it's as likely they drain down into the earth rather than lead out of the city in any way.
"Rumor has it the idiots on the council are going to invite whatever inquisitors want to come into the city to try to appease them and stave off any attack, but it hasn't gotten quite that bad yet... I think the delegation that's already here is required to have pretty extensive papers. There's surely some halflings and gnomes in the nation, but I don't know if any of them are part of that group; they are a pretty small minority. And we don't want to get out on the Ragesia side, anyway.
"I don't want to reject anything outright. They're all ideas to think about."
She turned to the priest when he spoke. "I get the impression that some members of our group are keen to leave, regardless. I know I'd like to stand and fight... But formidable though I'm sure we all are, we're not about to turn the tide here by ourselves and this task may be the more important. Perhaps the defenders of Gate Pass will be successful, but we're going to start working on liberating the city--if it never falls, well, I suppose we were overcautious."
She raised an eyebrow. "Although I have to say, I think you're less likely to be captured by leaving the city than staying here. Although tonight, at least, should be more exciting.
"Right then. Our objective. I studied briefly at a magic academy to the south, called Lyceum. They're good people, and when word reached them about Ragesia's 'Scourge' they sent messages saying that anyone fleeing Ragesia can come to them. They want to help us, and the Resistance wants their help. We need to get a message to them.
"Normally, this'd be a simple job for a teleporting courier, but... that seems to not be an option. Something strange is interfering with planar magic. The last courier to arrive in Gate Pass didn't arrive alive--she showed up burnt to a crisp. So it has to go overland, and that's where we come in.
"We're actually meeting a spy from Lyceum tonight. He's a gnome called Rivereye Badgerface who works in Coalt--in Leska's palace as a servant. Of course, all of their servants have to submit to a spell, I think it's called something like a Geez or a Gees? It makes it so they can never speak or write about anything they overhear. So the only information he's actually able to pass is something already written down he manages to get his hands on.
"He's got something now. Something important and something that scares him, that he wants to pass on. The Resistance leaders think it's pretty vital that this intelligence gets to Lyceum. It's supposedly heavily encoded and probably very technically magical, so it'll do a lot more good there than here.
Torrent drained her glass. "So, the mission I'm recruiting for is to get our hands on that case, get it out of the city and away from the Scourge, and get it to the Lyceum. Worst case, you get out and we part ways a few days down the road. Best case, the group can all head to Lyceum together and start helping to gather an army to storm back here.
"The appointment with Rivereye is scheduled for one hour past midnight, so we've got to be prepared to act fast. Are you all in? Are you ready for this?"
