Garret had been an initiate of the Veiled Alliance for sometime but had only met a few fellow agents of the cause. In was in the early spring of the year before the rains had come that he received a coded message to meet another member near the lower markets in Buma-Tu. He made his way through the ragged crowds that were both shopping and selling lesser goods. It was a massive open air rummage sale of used and cheap manufacture items. Scaled monkeys sold as pets raised a ruckus from cages; the animals nervous from the crowds and the sand fleas in their pelts. It was such a pet vendor that he met according to his vague instructions. The man was horribly scarred by facial burns and had only empty eye sockets to watch the crowds. Despite the lack of the eyes, Garret felt the man was carefully observing him.
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Garret met the man and spent the afternoon helping him clean cages and hold up cages to the customers. This was quite what Garret expected out of this meeting but he kept his hard feelings to himself. Once the market closed down the scarred man had Garret load the unsold scaled monkeys onto a cart. Garret pulled the cart through the squalid streets of the lower city until they came to small adobe brick dwelling crammed among so many just like it. Inside the scarred man carefully placed the monkey cages on the shelves. They ate a simple but tasty meal of beans and flat bread with a rare toast of sweet water.
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The scarred man stood and wiped the crumbs from his lap. “Come, we go to business now.” Beneath the rugs they sat on was revealed a concealed tunnel entrance. Garret was blindfolded and the scarred man led him through miles of cramped tunnels without any light. The smell of incense grew thick in the air and Garret felt the space around him widen. Still blindfolded he heard a strange indescribable voice whisper close to his ear.
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“Time is coming we must pay our dues and restore the order of things. It is not quite lost just yet. It can all be undone and allowed to heal. But, these are not the words of prophets. These things do not come to past simply because we believe they will. We must act and make it so. “
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“Right now in Marlone a great secret is being brought back from the past. It has been protected as long as it could be … but now we must carry the burden forward. Our hopes are here in our hands in the Sea Above.”
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“You have been marked by destiny. There are things your soul was made to do. And we will see if you can fulfill that destiny. Go to Marlone through the runes and aid those who have awoken the secret. Trust in yourself and them or all is lost. You must take the box and bring it to the Iron Riders. Among them is someone who can open it and can be trusted to do what must be done. Their enemies are our enemies. The Night is stirring after centuries of silence. What was once a mere shadow of evil is gaining a new body to strike out at all of creation. The Dark Skies and priests are only part of what they are or can become. “
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“Come back to Buma-tu or head north into the Savage Mountains either way will lead you to the elusive Iron Riders. But, cities and roads are thick with enemies and watchful eyes.”
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“Go now pup, go and do not fail. It has been a long time since I have seen the likes of you or the others who now stand bloody in Marlone.”
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Garret is led blindly through more tunnels. Eventually he feels fresh air on his face and the blind is pulled from his face. He is standing on a hill far outside of Buma-tu. He can see the lights of the Sorcerer-King’s city on the horizon blinking in the blowing sands. He is in a circle of stone with strange empty slots in all eight directions of the compass. A hooded figure is placing a runed stone in one corner that faces the Northwest.
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The hooded figure speaks, “It is a one way trip I fear adept. We cannot risk to leave the Ley portals open at all times. Once you are gone I will remove the Marlone stone.”
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The hooded figure taps the stone with a staff and Garret feels the world swoon for a moment. When he regains his senses he is standing on a hill overlooking a Dead Sea and the ruins of some great city. He realizes a small coded message has been put in his pocket. It offers simple instructions to reach the secret tunnels where the Veiled Alliance operate in Marlone.
Garret would follow his destiny to Marlone and become a member of the Keepers of Lir, who carried the Secret back to the Iron Riders and then to Buma-Tu. Once in Buma-Tu, Garret was relieved of his burden and asked to travel with the Veiled Alliance as they fled that city to await for a sign from the Keepers that the way was clear to visit The Throne of Lir. In the meantime Garret has returned to his scholar duties and spends his time studying artifacts and ancient text that may aid The New Dawn.
