Quoted By:
Once your bowl is empty, you take your leave to finish dressing yourself and prepare for the muster. You don a chain mail hauberk and fasten a red surcoat over it, that proudly displays the golden heron of Taneth. You pull leather boots over your chausses and you secure a nasal helmet on your head, by fastening the strap beneath your chin. Not only is this uniform uncomfortably warm and heavy, but it's barbaric and inelegant. The only dignity that you are allowed is the blade that hangs by your hip, but even your sword is a straight thing wrought from dull, pitted iron. Every morning, you must remind yourself that this degradation is worth suffering, if it means you get to sleep beneath a roof and wake up to a warm meal every morning.
By the time that the bell sounds, you have already arrived in the courtyard for the muster. Radan stands beside you and within a minute, you are joined by Janos as well. By the time that everyone has assembled, there are over fifty guardsmen of the Imperial Guild of Bailiffs standing ready in the yard, surrounded by the austere and ancient battlements of the Vault. Before all of you stands Chief Inspector Hahnin, a tall and wiry Redguard with a well-groomed moustache. Though he shares your uniform, he somehow makes it look good – maybe it's just because he wears it with pride.
One by one, he cites a patrol and the section of the city that they will be assigned for the day. Once a patrol has received their assignment, they simply salute and depart. However, when it comes to you and the men who follow you, he lingers for a moment.
“Sergeant Naruq at-Azah – split shift. Waterfront until second bell, Tavan Gate for the remainder.”
Your heart sinks. Within the walls of Taneth, there is never much trouble at all. Unfortunately, both of these patrol routes take you outside of the city's fortifications. It's unlikely to be dangerous, but it's far more likely to be troublesome – the outer limits of Taneth are where most of the city's incidents occur. Nevertheless, you give the Chief Inspector a smart salute before you march towards the gate that leads out of the Vault and into the city proper, with Janos and Radan trailing behind you.
