DM

Team 3 travels out through the Main Gate and down to the world below. From there, they travel northwest for a day before arriving in the small city of Sunomou shortly after sunset. Great gates of wood and stone greet the group as they gather before the city's main entrance. Two guards are posted outside, but they seem to be little more than civilians with spears and battered metal armor. Both guards give the sky-ninja a wary look, but don't challenge their right to approach or enter the city. A network of very tight alleyways, strong smelling markets, and short stocky homes make up the inside of Sunomou City. Sunomou's massive size is never truly appreciable due to the tight confines of its streets, but the small fraction of the city visible to Team 3 tells a sordid tale. Ladies of the evening stand at every street corner like cuts of meat at market. Many drunks and unsavory looking characters wander through the claustrophobic streets with all the grace of a cow. Restaurants, pubs, and other establishments remain open, but all of them seem to be catering toward more adult tastes based on the scantily clad young women advertising their "services" inside.

The four of you meander through the streets shortly before you arrive at the client's home--well, place of business really, but he happens to live there too. The squat three story inn, dressed in gaudy silver-colored walls and wearing a gaudy golden roof, advertises itself as the "best place to become a man"--whatever that meant. Two burly men are there to greet you at the front door. Each of them has arms thicker than tree trunks, and legs even thicker than that. They lead you inside after confirming that you're the group their boss hired. Regardless of the quality of its customers, or staff if that's what they were, the inn's insides are clean and comfortable. Several round tables lay scattered about the inn's main floor. Some are occupied by lonely men, others by lonely women, still others by businessmen and their "escorts", still others by businesswomen and their "entertainers", and one table even has a man who looks less like a human and more like a wall of beef. The beef wall sits with two well-painted courtesans at his side, and four rough looking gangsters at his back. A scrawny young boy sits opposite from the beef wall, and beside the boy sits a fat and very worried older man. The pair of minotaurs-in-human-shape guide your group to the table, and the worried man furiously rubs the sweat away from his forehead.

The burly man nods toward Maaya and the kids. "So this is what my money buys?"

A flurry of movement has the sweating man get up, bow, sit back down, get back up, move to shake Maaya's hand, then sit back down just to get back up and bow again. He's obviously quite shaken up, and the beef wall explains why soon enough.

"Whatever", he says in a flippant tone, "you don't seem like cattle to me. Get out of here Muro. My benevolence is at an end, and your debt will only grow the longer you stay here."

The thugs behind the speaker move to unseat the worried man--Muro Matsuta--but the merchant gets up before they get to him. He bows deeply to the beef wall of a gangster, then turns toward Team 3.

---

Muro leads your group outside, and explains his predicament on the way. "I-I had to borrow quite a lot from Gonzou in order to pay your village. Please, you have to protect my daughter. She's learning how to dance with Gonzou's blessing, and her skill will save her from..." The older man looks around, then off-handedly motions toward the disturbing, disgusting, and depressing nature of the city around him. "This."

"She should be at home right now. In the mornings she goes to dance class, in the evening she picks up fresh ingredients for our dinner, and at night she usually dances in... In a... Well, a place not unlike the rest of the city." The man wipes his head once more, clearly upset with himself or his predicament.

"She's been taking off work with the threats, but she can't do that forever." He wrings his towel between his hands, and the copious amounts of grime it's collected ooze out between his fingers. He doesn't seem to care though, and just anxiously fiddles with the rag. "Do you have any questions?"

Maaya shrugs, then looks toward the three of you. "Well, it's your mission."