Wei
You make your way east across the city. Tamchim's elf, Sungyeol, trails you at a distance. There's no curfew in the Opal City, so people are still about. This late, citizens are still pursuing various carnal pleasures. You pass several palanquins trailing opium smoke, headed to or from places of debauchery. Merchants peddle their wares, or make for the city gates to wait for morning trade or travel. Here and there, other sights catch your attention: two sages deep in scholarly debate in the doorway of a library; a monk burning incense in front of a shrine overgrown with thorny weeds; a cook leans out of a second-storey window and hands two bowls of noodles to a man on stilts, who crosses the street to a balcony where diners await. At length, the East Water Gate comes into view. A child leads train of mules laden with bushels of garlic past you. How do you intend to find Rong Hua in this crowd?
Iko and Feng
You separate from Wei and make for the Lower East Quarter. Tamchim's other elf, Dae-Won, follows. This is a bad neighborhood. The maze of narrow, twisting alleys smells of piss and vomit. Mumin hurry their cockroach herds through, making only a minimum effort at cleanup. Even rats go about their business hurriedly here. Talk of a brewing gang war has the denizens of these warrens even more on edge than usual. You turn a corner, and three shadows detach themselves from the front of a boarded-up building. "You must be lost," says the leader of the bandits. Glancing behind, you see Dae-Won being similarly accosted by two other figures. What do you do?
Rong Hua
The Hiptites are growing increasingly insistent in their offers of roasted dog meat, and a warm brown drink whose aroma seems to awaken the senses. One of the men uses a stick to scratch in the dirt. Directions to somewhere? There's no telling. This could be a dead end. Then, from within a linen tent on the other side of the camels, a funereal voice, "Hady! 'ana 'uhawil altarkiz!" The laborers sush each other, and you can hear the voice in the tent muttering, "Camel-brained fools! I'm trying to concentrate here."
What do you do?
Meng
"No benefit, you say? I'm certain I would be handsomely rewarded for turning in the corpse of one of the two thieving, murderous villains who somehow turned half the Guong's crab-man guards, stormed the estate, stole a valuable artefact, and slit lady Guong's throat." Zhao Xun sneers, showing unsettlingly immaculate teeth. "Then again, a monk in my debt. Now that is tempting. I may accept if you tell me where to find your friend."
What do you do?
