Reprise! Act 1!

[Ginnezumusha]

Ginn already got this answer before.

"Ok, so can you tell me how to get to the Union hall?"

[Carthrat]

"You must head to x400 y322 to reach the Entrance of the Union Hall," replies the mage, his booming voice reverberating throughout the town.

[Ginnezumusha]

"Telling me coordinates on a non-existant map isn't going to help me.  You're going to have to be more specific, on a landmark level."

[Carthrat]

The mage raises a finger that crackles with potent magical energy.

"YOU MUST GO.. that way and around the corner. You can't miss it."

[Ginnezumusha]

Ginn heads north for a bit, then east till he reaches the large, building marked "Union Hall"

Walking in Ginn found the receptionist.

"Scuze me, do you have a map of the surrounding area or of this world?"

[Carthrat]

The receptionist blinks. "A map? Well.. no, not really. I could contact the cartographers guild and see if they could produce one for you," he replies, pondering..

<->

Meanwhile, Ryoma reaches the town gate to the sight of a guard, wearing chainmail and marching back and forth with a sword in hand. When he spots Ryoma, he turns and faces him, speaking.. "'cuse me, traveller, but if you want to enter the city, you'll need to either produce a Union pass or buy one on the spot."

As he speaks, a low hum can be heard by Ryoma, coming from all directions at once..

[Bean Bandit]

Ryoma blinked at the man impeding his progress, and frowned. He wasn't in a very good mood.

"How much?"

Well, he might be angry, but there was no sense in starting needless fights.

[Carthrat]

"Five gold," replies the guard. "And your name."

[Bean Bandit]

Ryoma frowned even deeper. "Show me one of these passes, and explain why I need them." he ordered.

[Carthrat]

The guard shrugs, and produces a small piece of parchment with an intricate drawing of some kind of military parade on the top, the words 'Union Pass' written in big curly letters underneath it, and a line on the bottom, marked 'Applicant'.

"Passes are required to make sure that those within the workforce are properly represented by the Union. Even if one is presently unemployed or travelling, this pass is still required mainly to ensure that they are under the Union's jurisdiction while within the town, and thus are subject to union laws while within. I should note that having a pass also gifts one the *protection* of the Union laws, and not having a pass while within the city can make life exceedingly problematic.

Actually, people don't normally need a pass to enter. Between you and me, I think they're just overreacting a little to some traveller, but hey, this is my job."

[Bean Bandit]

Ryoma takes the pass and examines it, surreptiously looking around for the source of the humming.

[Carthrat]

The Union Pass felt fairly new; the parchment fresh and unlikely to break. The ink was black, and one side was unmarked. There were crease lines on it, indicating that it was folded up. There wasn't really anything special about it, apart from perhaps the depiction of a military parade.

The picture was well-drawn; at the head a column of men, an important looking man carrying a sickle was leading his troops forward, all of which were holding hammers at an upright position. They were also marching. There was a backdrop of various 'tradesmen' workplaces; a carpenters home, a blacksmiths forge, and a stable.

Ryoma can't really 'see' any direct source of the humming, but that forest was really giving off bad vibes. His instinct tells him that something is about to happen..

<->

As a mage (of sorts), Relm was attuned to certain energies of the world like non-mages weren't, and she noticed a strange buildup of energies coming from the South...

<->

Ginn was just one of those people who'd been everywhere and seen it all; and one thing he got from all of that was a sixth sense for when weird shit was about to happen. And it was going off like an alarm bell.
<->

Carthrat noticed something positively strange.

"It's a Tuesday and the butchers is shut? Dammit, I'm hungry.."

[Bean Bandit]

Ryoma folded up the pass, and put it into his shirt pocket. Frowning, he reached into his duffel and withdrew a small, almost comically so, jeweled dagger, inlaid with gold.

"I don't carry the money used here. That will have to do." He replied shortly.

"What's that humming?"

[Carthrat]

"Humming? Probably your ears, sir. You'll have to wait here while I get this dagger appraised," the guard replies.

Abruptly, the humming stopped. In its place, the ground started to tremble slightly.

[Bean Bandit]

"My ears don't hum." Ryoma snapped, unaffected by the trembling earth. "And if you need me again, you find me. I don't have the luxury of waiting on tiny bureaucratic decisons."

He frowned at the ground, waiting for it to either do something more, or stop entirely. "It's not as if I'd be difficult to find in such a tiny villiage anyhow."