The wind blows through my hair as the sun rises. Past the mountain range they call the High Passes, which divides Izril in half, a fierce breeze blows north, and I wonder if it’s come all the way down from those peaks hidden among the clouds. It blows down past the screaming Goblins trying to kill me and catches an arrow mid-flight.
Tall, gray walls and spearmen and archers in towers that keep an eye out for monsters. This is Celum, or something like that. It’s a city, one of the southernmost in this region before the High Passes. They have a [Mayor], but they don’t pay fealty to any noble family directly, so that makes them a city-state*. And that’s my destination for the moment.
‘…The incursion of the Antinium hives into the southern region of the continent led to the bloody year-long war known as the Antinium Wars, or more specifically, the First Antinium War, in which hundreds of thousands of Antinium soldiers established huge colonies across the western coast where it bordered the High Passes, razing cities and forcing Gnoll tribes to retreat into the lower plains regions.
“Are you kidding? I still want to live. Didn’t you see the location? The High Passes. That’s a death trap for anyone. I might have some levels on you, but you’re right—it’s Couriers or a stupid City Runner.”
“And here’s Liscor. See, we’re the only way through the High Passes. Technically, there’s a route through the mountain range over here…but it’s infested with monsters. And of course the coastal routes to the east and west.”
“See, that’s why Liscor is so important. Without us, any goods have to go by land or sea all the way around the continent or brave the High Passes. And that’s not a good idea.”
“And Antinium, but only in the Hivelands. Right along the northwestern coast below the High Passes, see? There are other species, but there are only three—four, I guess—in Izril.”
She had never been here, not along the High Passes. She had often seen the mountain range, but hither-to this day, she had never been allowed to walk this far north on Izril’s land. It would have taken an army to bring her this far, before. She would have been an enemy, and reaching this spot would have meant a triumph, half a continent taken by force of arms.
Liscor was definitely no trading city like Pallass, the closest Walled City, but it occasionally got high-profile [Merchants] making a journey that essentially locked them into one part of the continent for a year. Unless they took a sea route to mitigate the High Passes issues.
“None of that matters in the High Passes, Garia. The monsters there—you’d need fighting skills or insanely high levels—something above Level 30 probably to get out unscathed. I told Pestrom that when he brought it up and he told me…I guess he didn’t take me seriously.”
“Stenei, don’t let any Runners take that open request. Spread the word to the other Guilds. Anyone who tries to take the High Passes request will die. We need it off the requests board.”
