Warren leads Venci through a badly maintained market district resembling a cowboy-era slum. Cardboard shelters and improvised forts crowd the kiosk row, while liquor stains shine across broken pavement.
Kiosk Workers
Fresh wears, clean deals, best prices! You there, take a look before you pass!
The kiosk workers repeatedly intercept pedestrians with sales pitches, but Warren keeps his broad shoulders angled forward and threads them through many market intersections without stopping.
Beneath a cardboarded kiosk, a tan Asian man, a gaunt young adult man in a torn gray hoodie and dark work pants with a wide face and dirty hair lies sprawled on newspapers, fully passed out in his own drool beside a spilled bottle of booze.
Warren
That is our first client. If he is breathing, he is not telling us whether he stayed clean.
A damaged client registry terminal blinks beside the kiosk, its cracked display showing recent access activity tied to Kadab's network. The last entry remains partly unreadable.
Warren
We can wake him, check the terminal, or leave him breathing and learn what the registry still remembers.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the client is still clean
“I let Warren deal with his client, he resent being in his business”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +1)
Venci steps aside and lets Warren approach the sprawled client. The gang’s needs pull at him, urging involvement, but he keeps his hands away and gives his uncle the space requested.
Venci
The registry can wait. Warren has this.
The resentment remains a hard pressure beneath Venci’s composure, a refusal to be drawn deeper into Warren’s business. He holds still, breathing evenly, while Warren kneels beside the client.
Warren
Stay there, nephew. I will find out what he knows without making a scene.
Warren checks the client’s breathing, then lifts his coat sleeve over his hand and searches the man’s pockets with practiced caution. Venci does not interfere.
Warren retrieves a stained access card and turns to the damaged terminal. Its cracked display accepts the card, revealing the client’s last entry and a partial Kadab-linked authorization trail.