Feb 13, 2023 8:34 pm
Know, O prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars - Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west.
Hither came Nekhbet of Farsun, descendent of ancient Acheron, Tydeus, vengeful mercenary of distant Corinthia, Nekhbet of Farsun, descendent of ancient Acheron, Valeria, stoic priestess of Mitra from Zingara, and Yunet, daughter of a merchant family and alchemist from Stygia, each with mammoth melancholies as well as melodious mirths, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under their sandaled feet.
Brought to the city of Messantia by the merchant Publio of Argos. Each of you have been offered ten gold up front, with another fifteen for the group afterwards, to retrieve an artefact belonging to the temple of Mitra which found its way into the hands of the scholar Antaeus who has recently gone missing. As such, you have arrived near Antaeus' mansion in the northern portion of the Noble District.
The neighborhood is sleepy and quiet, with stone-carved lanterns at chest-height upon many corners, and few passersby on the streets. Few businesses are in this part of town, and those that are do not stay open past dark, so the only pedestrians are those who live in the Noble District, or their servants. As with many of Messantia’s neighborhoods, the distant din of the sea echoes across the city, accompanied by the cool and salty tang of a middling sea breeze.
Footsteps echo on tightly spaced cobblestones, echoing in the quiet of these streets. Inside many of the manses and villas, lights shine from upper-floor windows, veiled by curtains of fine cloth, or shuttered behind ornate carven-ivory screens. The occasional laugh of a courtesan or roar of laughter is indistinct, but faintly heard.
OOC:
You all can determine if you knew each other previously or if you only came together due to Publio's request. You can have researched about the situation beforehand, but I don't want to assume what you may have tried to learn. :) You can post that or anything else in your first post if you like.
