✭Eidlen secures the last of the faintly glowing iron-and-glass cylinders to the slime-slick wall. You look at the contraptions, unable to determine whether they're magical in origin or mechancal. Could be they're both.✭
[[(continue)|2]]''Eidlen:'' And four corners makes a square. That ought to do it—assumin' I recall that old spellslinger's instructions rightly. Wait, wait—forgot something.
[[_continue)|4a]]
''Tess:'' Seven hells, we really didn't think this through, did we?
[[(continue)|6]]✭Eidlen digs a flat stone disc the size of his palm from a pouch at his hip. Atop the disc's surface, an engraved glyph pulses, its pale glow casting a short curtain of light.✭
[[(continue)|7]]''Tess:'' Daeff’s bearded cock, Eid. You know what you’re holding there?
[[(continue)|8]]✭Eidlen's eyebrows leap up in an exaggerated look of puzzlement.✭
[[(continue)|9]]''Eidlen:'' A little stand for a flaggard, I think. Or something of the sort.
[[(continue)|10]]''Tess:'' Try something a tad more dangerous, you dolt. What your dainty human hands have there is a Mesh relic.
[[1. ✭Runic Mesh? Ask if she's sure.✭|11a]]
[[2. ✭Remind her that "Mesh" is just a scarier word for "magic."✭|11b]]✭Tess glowers at you, eyes like irons in a forge.✭
[[(continue)|12a]]✭Tess glowers at you, eyes like irons in a forge.✭
[[(continue)|12b]]''Tess:'' Remind me again why I agreed to travel with you? Is it 'cause I know Mesh when I see it? Sense it—whatever. Point being, unless I've been earning my cut by selling you lies, I'm telling you—that's a Mesh rune.
[[1. ✭It doesn't seem likely Drumfir would send you down here to fail. Tell Eidlen to do whatever he needs to do.✭|13a]]
[[2. ✭Regardless of whether Mesh is real or not, every inch of your intuition wants to put your back to this.✭|13b]]''Tess:'' Just 'cause we deal in trinkets doesn't mean there isn't something grander out there. Doesn't mean it has to be treasure, though.
[[1. ✭It doesn't seem likely Drumfir would send you down here to fail. Tell Eidlen to do whatever he needs to do.✭|13a]]
[[2. ✭Regardless of whether Mesh is real or not, every inch of your intuition wants to put your back to this.✭|13b]]''Eidlen:'' You can't be serious. We're //right there//. Fine. Go. Not me—I'm staying. It's worth a little risk not to have to retread the last two weeks of our godsdamned lives.
[[(continue)|Bail2a]]✭Eidlen slides the stone disc across the floor toward the wall. Instead of bouncing off the stonework, however, it //passes through// as if the wall were an illusion. As soon as it does, a matching glyph flares to life within the frame of the four Mesh relics. Suddenly, impossibly, the stonework starts to stretch //inward//—like the shattered remains of a stained glass mosaic streaking toward some infinite beyond. Then the wall is gone. Instead, across the frayed edges of reality the portal cut away from the wall, you see its other side. You see the vault.✭
[[(continue)|19]]✭You step through the portal. Before you is a sword, buried blade-down in a black plinth. The weapon is bound by chains that loop around its hilt and lash it to the plinth below, as though containing the sword itself is a struggle, and were it not for these bindings it might otherwise fly free.✭
[[(continue)|23]]''Tess:'' Daeff's bottom braid, of //course// it is...
[[(continue)|24]]''Eidlen:'' Is there //any// part of your god's crotch you people don't use when cursing? What has your tits in a twist?
[[(continue)|25]]''Tess:'' That sigil on the hilt right there? That's the first thing anyone with an interest in Mesh is taught to stay away from if they spot it. That's the mark of the Djopae.
[[(continue)|27]]''Zona:'' I think we should reconsider dealings with people wanting Djopae artifacts. I think we maybe take a harder look at where we've wandered.
[[(continue)|30]]''Eidlen:'' Sure thing, Zone. I look around and you know what I see? More gold than the four of us combined have ever laid eyes on. Who cares //what// it can do? All that matters is what it can do //for us//. Hot meals. A roof over our heads. New boots! Drumfir's old wizard bones can keep our trinkets. That right there is a small fortune—even after the Company takes its cut!
[[(continue)|31]]''Zona:'' Think about this, Eid. //Both// of you. Really think. Djopae were demons. Demons bring death. Always. There is acceptable risk, and there is stupid decision.
[[1. ✭This is why you came to the Shatterlands—to find something of value, to earn a new life. If you don't seize that now, then when?✭|Take It]]
[[2. ✭Zona's right. You might need the money, but it won't buy you much of a life.✭|Leave It]]
[[3. ✭Tess is rather quiet. Ask what she thinks.✭|Tess]]''Tess:'' I don’t know. Took us weeks just to scrounge what that addle-brained mage took from us. Won't last long on what we’ve got left. But Zona’s right—nothing good’s ever come from gettin' anywhere near anything that has to do with the Djopae. It’s your call, boss.
[[1. ✭This is why you came to the Shatterlands—to find something of value, to earn a new life. If you don't seize that now, then when?✭|Take It]]
[[2. ✭Zona's right. You might need the money, but it won't buy you much of a life.✭|Leave It]]
[[3. ✭Take it to Drumfir. Do the job, let him deal with the risk.✭|Do the Job]]''Eidlen:'' See, what you did there is think rationally. All this Mage Wars and Mesh lore is just that: stories. Horseshit we sell to kids as history so they won't stick their noses near anything that smells strange.
[[(continue)|E1]]''Zona:'' This is smart. This way, we keep our lives. We keep our freedom.
[[(continue)|Z1]]''Tess:'' Won't have to keep this thing too near for too long. We just get it to Drumfir, get our haul back, and then get the hells away from this whole situation.
[[(continue)|T1]]''Eidlen:'' Hmph. We're damned fools to not lay our hands on as fine of a find as that. But whatever. So long as we make //some// money. Didn't come out this way to make //none//.
[[(continue)|T2]]''Zona:'' No. I can't agree to this. Tess is right—it is your call. But there are two paths before you, and only along one of them will I walk by your side.
[[(continue)|T4]]''Zona:'' Djopae is bad. This will only bring the Knights, the mage hunters. It's Reach-touched madness. It's a life no money can make worth living.
[[(continue)|T5]]✭Zona pins you with her gaze, your eyes locked. Countless possibilities go unexplored between you. Instead, the space is filled only with the weight of silence. Zona lets it linger, lets it hang between you.✭
[[(continue)|T6]]Thanks for playing the demo!
To unlock the full quest, please hire this candidate.''Eidlen:'' Freedom to do what, exactly, Zone? Is killing some long-dead culture's garbage and selling it to idiots much of a life? There's always another problem. Always another fight. At least with that sword we won't have to deal with 'em on an empty stomach.
[[(continue)|Z2]]''Tess:'' Would be nice not to live job by job...
[[(continue)|E2]]''Eidlen:'' Enjoy retreading the last two weeks of your godsdamned lives again //just to get by//. I'll spare you somethin' generous if I happen across you on the streets. Wouldn't want to forget my humble origins.
[[1(continue)|Z3]]''Zona:'' No. I can't agree to this. Tess is right—it is your call. But there are two paths before you, and only along one of them will I walk by your side.
[[1. (continue)|E3]]''Zona:'' Djopae is bad. This will only bring the Knights, the mage hunters. It's Reach-touched madness. This is the life that sword brings. Not riches. Only ruin.
[[(continue)|E4]]✭Zona pins you with her gaze, your eyes locked. Countless possibilities go unexplored between you. Instead, the space is filled only with the weight of silence. Zona lets it linger, lets it hang between you.✭
[[(continue)|E5]]✭Zona and Tess each spare Eidlen a sympathetic glance, but in silent solidarity follow you back the way you came. And while you don't know what trouble this decision will bring, you walk with confidence knowing that any such trouble will be considerably more manageable that whatever waits on the other side of that wall.✭
[[(end)|End]]✭Zona and Tess each spare Eidlen a sympathetic glance, but in silent solidarity follow you back the way you came. And while you don't know what trouble this decision will bring, you walk with confidence knowing that any such trouble will be considerably more manageable that whatever trouble awaits whoever frees that sword.✭
[[(end)|End]]''Zona:'' Stay safe out there, okay? ✭She claps you on the shoulder as she passes, then winds her way slowly back out until she's out of sight.✭
[[(end)|End]]''Zona:'' Stay safe out there, okay? ✭She claps you on the shoulder as she passes, then winds her way slowly back out until she's out of sight.✭
[[(end)|End]]''Phaedrana''—a lush world rich with life. But it wasn't always this way. When first forged in the endless void, Phaedrana was a blighted ruin. It was a place plagued by demons and death. Until, that is, a great cataclysm shook the world, bringing a devastation that history would lazily remember as the Mage Wars. Much was lost, but the gods—the Seven Echoes—managed to chase the devils out and weave the world back together.
Then they vanished, leaving behind three legacies: the work of beauty that is Phaedrana now; the Eyrevur Vestiges; and Mesh, the source of magic.
Strewn across the western sea is a chain of islands dubbed the Shatterlands, where ruins and remnants Phaedrana's long forgotten past still linger. But while the civilisation itself may no longer inhabit the archipelago, some of their magic and mechanical wonders still wander the lands.
[[(continue)|Intro2]]That's where the Veil Company comes in. Formed to deal with these dangers, the Veil Company employs specialized mercenaries to clear the Shatterlands of active magic threats and recover useful Mesh relics.
You are one of these Nullifiers. While exploring the Shatterlands with your three companions—Eidlen the demolitions expert, Zona the scout, and Tess the magic expert—you encountered an old wizard named Drumfir.
Drumfir promises to point you in the direction of truly valuable Mesh relics—but only if you retrieve something for him. And so, after agreeing to his terms, you break into heavily guarded outpost and make your way to an underground vault where Drumfir's misplaced property is said to be...
[[(continue)|Start]]