Weaving - Elsewhere in the City

This weaving is a series of scenes that all occur simultaneously with the start of Godkiller Chapter Summary - 17 - Fight Dirty

Today is the first of three tournaments. A worthwhile event, drawing the eyes and attention of all who can afford it. Food, shouting, betting and bludgeoning. A competition you wouldn’t want to miss. Though not all could make it this day. While the audience of our heroes drones with cheers and boos, elsewhere in the city a deal is struck. 

An unremarkable trade on its own, but one of many attributed to a greater purpose. A purpose that could turn Tenzentak on its very head. Across the room, a one-tusked orc groans in pain. He grips his wounded leg, split stitches seeping blood that grows crystals, and kills the moss on cobblestones. He interrupts the tense meeting, shouting at his meek accomplice to bring him another dose.

Elsewhere in the city, plans are remade. Poisons mixed, favors called, dates set, and officials paid off. There would be another opportunity. Lord Renaull may have survived, but the game is far from over.

Elsewhere in the city, pickaxes are swung. Exhausting work. Cracking stone and chasing ore. Downtrodden risking their lives for scraps. Heavy breaths of acrid, toxic air pulled through wet handkerchiefs fill the lungs of exhausted laborers. Their painful monotony is broken only by the periodic, terrible shaking of the walls. Miners holding still as statues, wondering if this will be where it ends.

Elsewhere in the city, Gilligan’s lift receives its routine maintenance. With the tournament in full swing, few are seeking its passage today. Cables replaced, cogs greased, and seats shined. The fixture is so known and well-used by passengers and attendants, that it has taken on a personality of its own. She seems to creek with satisfaction on this blissful sunny spring afternoon.

Elsewhere in the city, an old head-butler enters a disreputable tavern. His face cloaked by a deep hood. He asks the intimidating barkeep if there are any “skilled farmers looking for work”. After a pregnant pause, he adds that there is a “heard of pesky livestock that desperately needs tending to”. The barkeep chuckles at the phrase this man was given. It marks him as an inexperienced noble. The fortunate assassins he hires squeeze House Rozwald for every penny it’s worth.

Elsewhere in the city, the train rolls into Tenzentak Station. The doubled guard checks every single disembarking passenger before they are admitted into the city. The same is repeated for the departing. The air is sharp with nervous tension at the authoritarian atmosphere, and buzzing excitement for the coming festival.

Elsewhere in the city the blacksmith and the butcher stand a safe distance from The Haunted Lumberjack. They gossip and debate about the outsiders who were seen squatting within. The comings-and-goings of this group, who have been speculated as up-to-no-good, have quickly become the talk-of-the-town within their quiet village.

Elsewhere in the city, four machines wear disguises. Today they will make a statement. Not the full display, but an introduction for what’s to come. The chime of a wineglass before a toast, the lights dimming before a show, the tuning of an instrument before a song. An action that says “Look at me, for something is about to happen”.