An errand…
Back home sewer alligators were a myth. Apparently in Talazen they were a nuisance. Siria had explained the quest. She thought serving the city would be a good way to build experience and get to know more of this world and its people. I wanted to know more about these damn Gods that saw fit to drag people out of their worlds and into danger but if some great evil was coming for me I also wanted to be prepared to kick its ass. Thankfully Siria hadn’t insisted I go up against the alligator alone.
In the front hall of the Palladium Rise she introduced me to my team, a pair of gnomes. Inside I could sense that Lo’Kryn didn’t know anything about these two so it was interesting she teamed me up with them. Their matching darkly tanned skin, brown eyes, and chestnut hair marked them as related.
“This is Ceylas and Cambrin,” Siria said, introducing the two.
“We’re twins,” Ceylas said. “My brother is the most clever guy in all of Essaedris.” I knew from Lo’Kryn’s memories that Essaedris was the name of this world.
I looked down at the two rock gnomes. There didn’t seem to be much to them. In fact, Ceylas looked so tiny I wondered if she’d be able to lift one of the daggers at her hip let alone a sword. Of course, you can’t judge too soon. Jax, my shadow rogue, had been pretty scrawny at first level but his dexterity was through the roof and even then his daggers had been pretty deadly.
“Rogue?” I asked.
She lifted a shoulder. “Eh,” she said, with a shrug, “ a little of this, a little of that.”
“And you?” I asked, turning to Cambrin. He had a javelin strapped to his back but what really caught my eye was the boomerang at his hip.
He tilted his head as if considering me before he answered. “My sister and I are tinkerers. Intelligence and Lore are the greatest weapons given us by the gods.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m not sure how they’d fare against a ‘gator.”
“Alligators lack basic intelligence and are easily fooled. Simple strategy, traps, and cunning is all we require to complete the task laid before us. We are well equipped for this quest.”
I still wasn’t so sure. I mean I didn’t even have more than a stick and my fists so going up against an alligator sounded like a terrible idea, even with these two gnomes. Maybe especially with these two since I had no idea what they really brought to the table in terms of skill and fighting ability. Although, if Steve Irwin could tackle a croc bare-handed maybe I could too. Well, not me, but Lo’Kryn, maybe.
Siria turned to us and handed me a piece of parchment. “This writ is from the city and grants your party access to the city sewer system. Speak to the guards at the southern watergate. They will know more about the situation.
I nodded, tucking the page into a leather pouch on my hip. “What about gear?” I asked.
Siria waved a hand to someone behind me. I glanced back to see Hayvik approaching. “I took the liberty of having Hayvik fetch your pack from your room.”
Hayvik passed it to me. “Ask for me later and I can show you the way to your quarters.”
The offer was kind but I found myself shaking my head because I could sense the route in Lo’Kryn’s memories. “Actually,” I told Hayvik, “I think I remember the way.”
He glanced at Siria who nodded. They both excused themselves, leaving me and the twins in the hall. I shouldered the haversack, feeling its familiar light weight. The straps had been fashioned to produce a snug fit with a cord against one shoulder that clipped into place so it could be released in a smooth movement but not otherwise hinder the agility of my motion in combat. I reached unerringly into a side pocket I knew held wraps I used to dress my knuckles. I started winding them around my wrists and fingers.
“You look all set,” Ceylas said, eyeing the pack as if curious what else it might hold.
“Yep, ready.” I wondered how much of the city Lo’Kryn knew. Despite having lived here for ten years it didn’t seem like he’d explored much. He’d originally come to the Palladium Rise from a small town to the north and seemed intimidated by larger cities. It was odd to feel the man’s hesitation in my gut because I was cool with big cities. There was no way this one could compare to the one’s back home.
Before I could admit I didn’t know where to go, Cambrin unfolded a large parchment across the nearest research bench. He spread a sheer oversheet over the top of the ink-sketch. “I took the liberty of inscribing a map of the city and what is recorded in relation to the sewer system beneath.”
The penmanship was impressive and the sheer overlay fit the city map marking a series of underground passages that wove beneath the city, guiding refuse through a system of drains that lead to an ocean outflow. The linework was fastidiously crafted and the layout of the city and the sewer system were carefully marked and notated. The sewers were a maze of crisscrossing ducts that wove under the city. They were surprisingly orderly. I don’t know what I’d expected but it wasn’t this measured and systematic construction.
“Damn man, that’s awesome.”
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Cambrin pointed to a large, temple-style building. “This is the Palladium Rise, we follow this route to the guard checkpoint at the southern watergate,” he explained, tracing a path through the district to one of the nearby bridge intersections. I nodded, understanding, and he rolled the maps. Ceylas tucked them into a round case strapped to Cambrin’s backpack.
As we stepped out together into the noonday sun the city bustled around us. I had a brief moment of surrealism as the difference between my own sense of normal clashed with Lo’Kryn’s. Horses and carts wound these streets with stall vendors shouting wares on the corners. Both strange and mundane beasts roamed and the people were a diverse and eclectic mix of short and tall, brutish and petit, animalistic and entirely ordinary. It seemed like chaos but in a very different way than I was used to. And to Lo’Kryn, other than the enormity of the city compared to his hometown, nothing seemed strange at all.
Cambrin and Ceylas had also both stopped briefly, but they glanced at me now as if wondering what was holding me up.
“Sorry,” I said, looking for any excuse that wasn’t the truth. “I’m still not used to how busy it gets here.” That explanation was reasonable enough. It’s not like I could say to them ‘I’m from another world and this is all weird as shit.’
Ceylas nodded but turned away without saying anything. She lead the way through the streets, prancing along. As I watched her move away, curious about who she was and what she brought to the party, I felt the tinkle of a dice rolling in my mind. I swiftly focused inward, catching the result as it settled in the corner of my mind. Damn. (Insight: 1+2=3) Terrible roll. And for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what to make of Ceylas. She seemed carefree and light-footed but kept glancing back as if not sure we were staying with her.
Cambrin kept to my side. As we approached an unadorned stone building with a metal grate Cambrin leaned in to me. “When we engage with the guards you should let my sister do the talking. She has a way with words.”
I tilted my head, curious again. “Bard?” I asked, wondering exactly what their skill sets entailed.
He shook his head, “She is many things.” Damn if that wasn’t some cryptic bullshit. I didn’t take it as confirmation but it wasn’t exactly a refusal either.
By the time we’d caught up, Ceylas had already started talking to the pair of townsguards that stood sentry in front of a large, iron portcullis. Both guards were looking Ceylas up and down with wary gazes.
“They sent you?” one asked. He was a brawny human with a stout nose full of bristling nose hairs. He ran a hand over the ragged mop of dirty blonde hair on his head as he looked down at Ceylas.
“Yes, my companions and I are more than capable. Now, step aside and let us pass.”
The other guard, a silver-furred cat-like humanoid hissed at Ceylas. “You must present a writ of passage or we are not permitted to allow one to pass into the watergate system.” As she spoke the cat-like woman, Lo’Kryn’s memories called her species a felinine, gave a wandering gaze over Ceylas and then glanced back at Cambrin and me. “You are of the Palladium Rise?” she asked, identifying the colours we wore.
“Indeed,” Ceylas said. She turned to me and clicked her fingers, “Monk guy, where’s the paper Siria gave you? The writ?”
I wanted to correct the whole ‘monk guy’ name she’d given me but hesitated because I’d been about to tell her my name was Nik then wondered if maybe I’m supposed to use Lo’Kryn. Both names felt right, but Ceylas clicked her fingers again and gestured impatiently, so I shrugged and reached into my belt pouch. I handed the felinine guard the page. “We’ve been sent by the Palladium Rise to deal with the alligator,” I told the guards.
The cat-woman browsed the parchment before handing it back. She glanced at her companion, nodding her head. He reached forward, clicking a key in the lock at the side of the metal gates and then pulled on the crank chain to wind it open. “More fools to ya,” he said as he waved us inside.
I folded the writ before tucking it away again and glanced at both guards. “Do you know much about what we’ll find inside?”
The male guard’s gaze scanned me as if sizing me up. Then he glanced again at Ceylas and Cambrin before nodding. “Rats,” he said, the word firm and brusk. “Lots and lots of rats.”
“And aquatics, blood suckers, maggots, maybe more deadly than that too,” the felinine added, her tongue flickered from her mouth on some of the letters as she purred the words.
“And the alligator?” I asked.
“Right,” the male said. “He’s a nasty brute. Didn’t see him myself but Carter right crapped himself trying to get away from it. Lost an arm, full at the shoulder. He was half bled to death by the time they pulled him out; screaming like a crazy man.”
The felinine purred, then added, “Many, many teeths,” she hissed. “And a scar over his left eye. Easily three of your size,” she pointed at me rather than either of the gnomes which gave me pause. I don’t remember Steve Irwin fighting anything near that big, or that nasty sounding.
“Where will we find it?” Cambrin asked. I could see the cogs of his mind working as he considered the information we were being given.
The felinine lifted a shoulder. The gesture was careless as if the issue concerned her very little. “The beast is known to move around. The system is its home. All gates to the city are secure, however, so there is no escape for him.”
“What about the outflow?” I asked, wondering where the sewer gave out. Usually these kinds of things would empty into either a treatment plant or a major ocean overflow.
The male guard nodded his head. “Locked up tight too. It’s a huge metal grate on the south east channel. Opens out to the Dramis Sea. Sometimes, when it’s stormy, the sea waters get so choppy they push back in the channel. The gator doesn’t seem to like that.”
Now that was interesting. I wondered what it might mean and was going to ask when Ceylas groaned, tapping her foot as she stood at the entrance. “Can we just go? We’re wasting daylight.”
Cambrin shook his head. “That will matter little once we enter the system. There will be no sun when we go below.”
Ceylas shot him a frustrated look. “It matters to my stomach. I want to be done by dinnertime.”
I had no idea how extensive the sewer system might really be. Even the map hadn’t given me much sense of how long it could take us to find an alligator amongst the maze of channels. We could end up spending days lost down there as we hunted it. I didn’t want to voice that to Ceylas, however. She seemed kind of uptight and I had no idea how she’d take the news.
“Let’s get inside,” I said, instead. Ceylas stepped with a splosh into the puddle of water just beyond the iron grate. Cambrin and I stepped in beside her. We gazed down the short, steep set of stairs that lead to a wooden door below. All three of us jumped as the iron portcullis behind us clanged closed. The guard turned the key in the lock. “Hey,” I cried, reaching back through the bars.
“Calm,” the felinine hissed, raising a paw. “Show your writ at any exit and the guards there will release you.” I swallowed, not at all reassured now that we’d been locked inside. Lo’Kryn’s anxiety bubbled with my own.
Cambrin placed a hand on my arm. "Come, we will do this together.”
I swallowed and nodded, turning with him to face the darkening depths of the city’s sewer system.