Before the crossing
East Pollen - April 18, 2594
A Compelled Exchange
- Isolde Pax and Konrad Jager watch in silence as Dexter, a seasoned Dexter, and Purifier Harlem engage in a cryptic trade.
- The supposed transaction closes, and Dexter, now clutching a rare Kievan artefact, confronts a young Cossack woman who shouts in a desperate voice: “But I don’t want Nikopol rates, I wish to sell it in the Protectorate”
- Naively, Konrad interjects. What follows is chaos—a scuffle that ends with Isolde sprawled in the dirt, her nose shattered. Dexter vanishes into the shadows, the artefact secure in his grip.
The Clique’s Mission in Nikopol
Commando Prime Klaus assembles his loyal Clique, his words heavy with purpose and veiled warnings. The mission unfolds:
- Unearth any connections the enigmatic city may have to Vasco’s mystery—a ghost haunting Spitalian politics.
- Probe Nikopol’s underbelly, seeking to smuggle Kievan artefacts through the Storskis rail, their path destined for the Protectorate’s coffers.
- Twist the city’s leadership into vassals of the Protectorate—or, failing that, identify and nurture a new power that bends more easily to the Protectorate’s will.
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