You see that the Opry Compound is huge, its reinforced buildings and manicured grounds stretching on for acres. Built on the bones of a pre-Rifts structure, the Compound is a unique mixture of beautiful, green landscaping and functional MDC fortifications.
He turns and leads any who follow into the largest building, giving a nod to the guards and waving you onward.
"I am Guisce. Veritas has been waiting for you since he heard you were in the city. Had you delayed another day, he would have been gone."
Armed guards are sprinkled throughout the crowd and at strategic points, but their presence is more subtle than it was outside. Guisce does not seem at ease, however, and though you cannot see his face behind his mask, his body language makes it clear that he is tense. Occasionally, one or more of the mercenaries will begin to head toward your group, only to realize who your guide is and back away. As you go further into the compound, you notice a growing number of armed men and women who "just happen" to be traveling casually in the same direction as the party.
After a time, he leads you across a wooden bridge to the other side of the stream, and then down a side hallway to a concealed bank of elevators. "Inside, quickly," Guisce commands. Once you are all in, he punches a button and inserts a keycard into the elevator panel, and the doors whir shut. The elevator is silent as you all travel up, and it is impossible to tell how many floors you go before it comes to a stop.
"Wait a moment," Guisce tells you when the doors open again, before disappearing down the hall. It takes only a few tense minutes before he returns, this time with his blade drawn. "Quickly, we must go now!"
He takes off at a run, not so fast that you can't keep up, but not slow enough that you can walk, either. You pass the corpses of a Grackle Tooth and a D'norr in the hall on your way, their bodies showing deep lacerations and electrical burns. You also see the severed hand and forearm of a human, but no body.
Guisce ushers you into suite and locks the door behind you. "Veritas! Door!" he calls, and you hear a word of power spoken from the other room. A glowing yellow barrier appears over the door and extends along the entire wall of the room.
Once the glowing force field is in place, Guisce moves to stand near the window, which (naturally) has its shades drawn. "The window?" he asks the still unseen occupant.
A portly man with a jovial face rounds the corner in a wheelchair and gives you all a wide smile. "Ah, the legionnaires I was told to expect. So glad you made it, friends! Hm? Oh, what's that Guisce? Yes, yes, the window is quite fine. They cannot see us in here, and it would take a Colossus to force their way into this room. Honestly, you can relax for five minutes, or the stress is going to kill you."
Guisce gives a "harrumph" from behind his mask and takes up a position behind the man in the wheelchair, who continues, "I am Veritas, as I am sure you no doubt have already surmised. You have already met Guisce who, despite his rather grumpy demeanor, is a rather nice fellow. You will have to excuse him; being my bodyguard has become a lot more complicated with all of these "True Federation" people running about the city, and we are very nearly out of time here in Nashville. Which is a shame, because the music district is one of the best I have seen, and I have seen many."
He holds up his hands in a placating gesture, "Now, don't mistake me. I can certainly get you to the Swamp, no problem. I just cannot guarantee where in the Swamp you will arrive, and as you no doubt know, it is a bit of a treacherous place. You must be on your guard."
Indicating his bodyguard, he continues, "Guisce informs me that there was just an attempt on one or more of your lives, though it is possible the bounty hunters he encountered in the hallway were looking for me. That seems unlikely, given their relatively low power levels, but one can never be sure. People do strange things for money, after all! In any case, I'm afraid I can't stay here very much longer. If you are ready to go, we can leave presently. I understand you have some transportation parked outside of town, which we can certainly go pick up first. Wouldn't want to drop you in a bog with nothing but your boots and the clothes on your back!"
What's Next?
Feel free to ask any questions your character may have and role play a bit here. Veritas will be happy to port you to your vehicles and then open a Rift for all of you down to the Swamp. If you would rather take a different path to the Swamp, you are more than welcome to do that, too.
If something in the above narrative jumps out at you and you think "no way would my character have gone along with that!", feel free to describe what he or she did instead in your post. As long as at least one of you gets to meet with Veritas, the story holds up just fine.
Once the party has made up its mind, we will move the story forward to the next locale.