Chapter 3: The Sunken City

Marlowe descends to Arslan with a decade of peltasts, planning a low-profile approach: he will enter the city with Switch, Lieutenant Prisca Greenlaw, and Ilex while Ghen and the troops hold back to avoid looking overtly military. The shuttle lands amid steam and grime in a city cobbled from grounded starships after the Cielcin attack.

They move through the crowded, ad hoc streets beneath the looming Murakami supercarrier. Advertising holographs, cable cars, and Chantry prayer calls underscore Arslan’s uneasy mix of commerce and desperation. Greenlaw frets over visibility, while Marlowe notes the city’s perilous, improvised character.

At a plaza by the Murakami, Karim “Crim” Garone greets them and explains that Samir, a local fixer who survived the sack of Suren, will meet them in a few hours. In private, Crim shares that the Painted Man seems to have prospered since Imperial control collapsed, likely dealing arms beyond what the Imperium once allowed.

Later, in a smoke-choked jubala den, they meet Samir: a cautious, unsettling broker who forbids speaking the Painted Man’s name aloud, citing Chantry eyes and urban prefects loyal to an interim Consul, Zhivay. He confirms the Painted Man handles wares including atomics, far beyond what Samir alone can provide.

Samir probes Marlowe’s origins and infers his palatine background and Imperial ties. Despite mutual distrust and Greenlaw’s tension, the business interests align. Samir, mindful of surveillance yet tempted by profit, agrees to take them to the Painted Man, advancing Marlowe’s hunt.