Big Bang Burger Bar

In the lands of the Hurri and the Assiri the sun doesn't rise till Winter has left, so it was dark when the messenger came. A silent white-grey owl, like a ghost on the wind and bearing a tiny golden scrollcase in it's powerful taloned grasp. The creature was as tall as a child and ancient. It reguarded Rustram with inscruitable eyes in the dark.

The golden scroll-case contained a single roll of fine parchment, a message from his people. It was breif and without pre-amble. There is, it said, an outpost of the Empire to the south, at the border of the Lands of winter night and those that the sun yet shone upon. There lay, hidden beneath the village an old entryway to the Golden Way, the great Kings-Road of the Akkilids. It had been generations since it had been used, or needed, but something had happened. The lords of this small, unimportant village had stopped communicating altogether with the rest of the empire, no word in some time. When a small force was to be sent through to investigate, the Gate was found to be in some-way sealed or damaged.

All they require of Rustram, one last task on behalf of his homeland, is that he make the short journey and investigate. Simply this, and nothing more...

Rustam Cursed Why now he thought and why me, after all he was certain that in all the many myriads who where in the service of the great king there would be others and better able  to investigate a damaged way station on the royal road.  Still this message seemed to have come from the Magi themselves and after the great king himself they where the greatest authority in the Empire.

The pale, ghostly owl reguarded Rustram inscruitably.
[You are free to cover any preperations you are making, or any knowledge checks etc you'd like to make. Rustram should know enough about the region that it would almost certainly only take a few days to a week to make the trip. With any luck, he'll be back inside the fortnight.]