The Lyon hunter headquarters breathes like a tired animal, all dim lamps, wet coats, and the stink of old paper. Daniel steps into the lobby, sword at his side, as veterans crowd the central desk in a low, grim knot.
Whispers move through them, words like outskirts, limbes, and another sighting. A clerk behind the desk keeps his eyes down, shuffling files with hands that do not quite stop trembling.
The Grey Hunter
You there. New badge. Tell me you are not walking in here blind.
One hunter turns fully. He is broad, older, his rain-dark coat marked by old ash and sharper things. His stare drags over Daniel's gear, measuring, dismissive, tired.
The Grey Hunter
The shadows at the city edge have taken souls from the limbes. If you came for a first mission, you picked a bad hour.
Daniel
The file stack on the desk has been moved recently.
The clerk finally slides one folder to the edge of the desk, but he does not push it across. The veterans fall quiet, waiting to see whether Daniel reaches for it.
The Grey Hunter
So, novice. Are you truly prepared to go where the dark is calling?
✓ Quest Accepted
Earn the veteran hunters' acknowledgment
“Que voulez vous dire par arrachez les âmes de nos membres ? Les ombres ne s'en prennent pas au âme des humains. Ils ne font qu'attaquer les chasseurs”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +0)
Daniel
Que voulez-vous dire par arracher les âmes de nos membres ? Les ombres ne s'en prennent pas seulement aux chasseurs.
The Grey Hunter’s stare tightens. He does not answer at once, because he is weighing Daniel, not the question.
The Grey Hunter
Then you are less blind than you sounded.
The Grey Hunter
Yes, they take hunters, but they do not stop there. They wear a face, slip inside the fear they find, and the soul goes first.
The clerk flinches and finally nudges the folder across the desk, as if the words themselves have made the paper heavier.
The Grey Hunter
If you mean to stand in Lyon, novice, you need more than steel. You need to listen when the dark starts speaking in familiar voices.
The Clerk
He is right. And, for the record, your question was the first sensible thing said in this room all evening.
Quest Complete
Earn the veteran hunters' acknowledgment
“Tres bien compter sur moi. J'irais ou vous me direz d'aller”
SUCCESS (Superb Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Daniel
Très bien. Comptez sur moi. J’irai où vous me direz d’aller.
The Grey Hunter
Good. Then you understand the first rule. You do not get to choose the dark. You only choose whether you meet it standing.
The Clerk
At least he said it plainly. That is more than most first-timers manage.
The Grey Hunter takes the folder from the desk and taps it once against his palm, satisfied.
The Grey Hunter
There. That is the voice I needed to hear.
The clerk lets out a breath and turns the top page toward Daniel, the mission finally no longer a test in the air between them.
The Clerk
Sign here, and I will file you properly. After that, the contract is yours.
✓ Quest Accepted
Sign the mission contract
“Et maintenant ? Ou dois- je aller ?”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +0)
Daniel takes the pen, and the lobby goes quiet enough to hear rain ticking on the glass. The Grey Hunter watches without blinking, while the clerk steadies the page with a shaking hand.
Daniel
Et maintenant... où dois-je aller ?
The Grey Hunter
To the old service stair below Croix-Rousse. Three knocks, then show the seal to the iron door. If it does not open, leave at once.
The Clerk
He is actually giving the route. Thank God.
Daniel signs. The clerk snatches the pen back with visible relief, but a smear of ink stains Daniel’s thumb and the edge of the contract.
The Grey Hunter
Good. Now the veterans know you are not here to wander. Bring back proof, and we stop calling it a novice errand.
He slides the folder toward Daniel at last. The wet windows catch a dark reflection behind his shoulder, gone when Daniel looks up.
Quest Complete
Sign the mission contract