210. South

Based on your brief glimpse of the map, you decide to head south to the nearest coast. Even with mounts, it looks to be a journey of several weeks.

Rethi warns that Utaru who travel farther than the Southtap seldom return, and never in their right mind. But, she acknowledges, your group may be the best chance Deeproot has to get real information about the lands she refers to as the Undertap. Hendli is even more curious, exhorting you to agree to return with as much detail as possible about the people, and especially the politics.

Each tells a half-dozen conflicting anecdotes about the Undertap: it’s populated by criminals fleeing the truth uncovered by the Scythes, or its original inhabitants have all been slaughtered by bands of outcast Tenakth, or it is populated entirely by Stalkers and even more exotic machines which are all invisible to human eye and kill without warning.

Hendli moves to the back curtain, digs through bins, and returns with a half-dozen carved boar tusks, each bearing intricate designs which repeat the same broken triangular shape. Adri accepts them as Hendli explains to the rest of you that the chits are markers given out by Executors and accepted as readily in Deeproot as shards or any other currency. They would enable the group to get enough supplies to get at least as far as the Southtap. He warns, however, that the markers do not go as far as they used to, especially in return for weapons or armor, and encourages you to worry about food and travel supplies first.

Any number of odd day-jobs or multi-day work barters can be found within the city, if you would like to gain some additional shards or trades.

Narrators wishing to get a feel for what’s ahead may want to read through entry 825. When your group is ready to head out, begin your journey south with entry 211.