Author

Melan (Gabor Lux)   Missions
Author

Briefing

Lay down thy hammer, friend, lay down thy awl
Thy yesteryear trappings are splintered and old
Now rise up thine mace! And sword thusly brandish!
The Builder fuels those who unite against malice.
-- from The New Scripture of the Master Builder

Sometimes living in this city is more trouble than it's worth.
There is a new sherrif in town, and he is waging his own personal
war against crime. Dodging the law is part of the game, but
Sherrif Gorman Truart's changed the rules... His men are on the
hunt for suspicious individuals, and they are asking no questions.
It was only by a hair's breadth that I escaped the ambush they set
for me; this has left me without my usual contacts or a permanent
address... Fortunately, with so many of the smaller wards empty
after the recent calamities, there are vast areas to hide in as
long as you don't venture into districts under guard so often.

Sheriff Truart has enlisted the aid of a separatist sect of the
Hammers called "Mechanists" - every bit as fanatical as Hammerites,
and twice as industrious. They've been supplying the sherrif with
some really nasty contraptions... mechanical eyes that seek out
anyone his spies consider a threat to the safety of the City... Word
has it that there are also plans for a new creation; so deadly
it'll bring every honest thief in the City to his knees.

Fortunately, I found some unlikely allies in these dark times: the
Hammerites, more bitter about the schism in their ranks than the
few small sins I have committed in the eyes of the Builder... and as
their high priest outlined to me in the Old Quarter of all places,
we have certain interests in common. Tonight, the Mechanists are
throwing a posh banquet for the City nobility in their seminary to
win supporters and hold a demonstration of their most recent
invention, a beast of iron invincible and untiring... if they can get
these things into production, I might as well find a new line of work.

I am going to cross their plans by sabotaging the display. The
Hammerites are supplying me with explosive devices I must plant in
each metallic horror I come across. The streets are pretty hot these
days, so I'll take to the rooftops and approach the seminary from
above. If I cut through a building or two, I won't win any popularity
contest, but then they don't call it the thieves' highway for nothing.
Travelling light is a neccessity, since the districts in the area
are full of the city's finest and well protected by security devices...
I must trust the Hammers to deliver a few useful tools as they have
promised - a power station south of the seminary is the supposed
location of the cache. I will start in an old bell tower: one of the
few friends I can still depend on will let me sleep in his attic
for the evening; afterwards, it will be time to make myself useful.

With the cream of the City in attendance at the Mechanist seminary
and the wealthy households in the surrounding area ripe for picking,
I will at last be like a kid in a candy store. And unknown to all
but me and a trusted confidant, there may be yet more: the Mechanists
are said to have in their keeping an old book studded with gemstones and
gold, apparently an ancient Hammer text of some value... If I have the
chance, I will make this book mine, and my new friends need never know...

No point in waiting: it's time to begin.