This really goes against everything you tend to believe in, but maybe due to a combination of several bad things you’ve experienced lately, you’re still hoping that MAYBE somehow doing something half way “decent” that the gods or fate or whatever will reward you in some way. (Even though you don’t really believe in a lot of that anyway)

First thing you do is calm the little girl down and ask her name since this will be a whole lot easier if you know what to call her.

“Mara.” She says.
“Okay, first question. Do you know where you mom might have went or where she goes to look for work?” you ask.
“I dunno, mostly the taverns?” the little girl asks.
“…that really narrows it down…(sigh) alright, I guess I can just try the closest ones in the area. I’ll also need a physical description of her.”
“She’s real pretty. She has a flower name too, Violet. Her hair is black like mine and she…um…her chest is sort of large.”

Well you weren’t expecting her to give that description of her mom, but you suppose it does help narrow things down a bit more.

“Okay, that helps a little…hey wait a minute. Did you ask Virgil to help?” you ask.
“The friendly old priest that smells funny? Yeah, I went to his room, but he wouldn’t move no matter how much I pushed him. He just kept snoring.” Mara replies.
“Well this is important, and I’ll go wake him up. He’s supposed to be doing good deeds anyway. In the meantime you just stay here and Elana will keep you company.”
“Will you come back with her?”
“I promise that I’ll come back.” Is all you can say to her before you bid her goodbye.

Of course before you leave, you head to where Virgil sleeps in this church. Sure enough he’s snoring soundly. Not excessively loud, but he’s definitely flat out. You don’t bother with the pushing or yelling to wake him up; you just drag him out of bed by his crusty feet.

He wakes up just before he hits the floor.

“Hey what the…OW! Shit! You?! What the fuck are you dragging me out of bed for?!” Virgil exclaims.

You actually sort of smile since that’s more along the line of the old Virgil that you were familiar with.

“Aren’t you supposed to be cutting down on the vulgarities now that you’re all holy again? You’ve woke me up plenty of times in the past banging on my door, so consider this payback. Besides, a little girl needs help and you’re supposed to be doing this sort of shit anyway.” You say.
“Little girl? What’s going on?”

You explain the situation to Virgil, who slowly starts becoming more alert. As you explain, he seems to remember Violet quite well. (Or her tits at least)

“Yes, yes, I know who you’re talking about. I’m not sure what to say though. Violet is a prostitute or at least she was trying to get out of that life for the sake of her daughter as far as I know. I mean I know she was trying to get a job as a waitress with little success, but if she’s disappeared during the night, she might have sadly gone back to her old ways and strayed from Joachim’s path.” Virgil remarks.

Raven haired beauty with big tits and worked as a whore, now you’re wondering how the hell you never noticed her before.

“Well let’s try the taverns first I guess.” You say.
“Why am I going with you?” Virgil asks.
“Because isn’t it your damn job to help the downtrodden and innocent? Besides, you being an ex-drunk, I figure that you know where ALL the closest taverns are. Also the militia is on my ass constantly, and if they catch me walking around at night, they’ll probably just beat my head in and throw me in jail. I figure if I’m walking around with a priest I shouldn’t get harassed as much. Not like you have anything better to do anyway.”
“Um…yeah, but…you’re talking about going to several taverns…I’m just not sure I should be around that much temptation.”
“Oh for…just come on! If you start getting thirsty, I’ll slap you in the back of the head to remind you of Joachim’s light or something.”

Virgil reluctantly agrees to help, and soon the pair of you are off to go tavern hopping, but not in the good way.

You go to several taverns and while a couple people say they remember seeing her or even interacting with her, they tell you they haven’t seen her today. Virgil meanwhile looks longingly at every mug, glass and bottle containing alcohol. It isn’t excessively hard to pull him away, but it’s obviously a struggle.

“I beseech you, no more taverns! The temptation is getting to me and it’s taking all my faith in Joachim to give me strength to resist!” Virgil begs.
“Okay, okay…(sigh) might as well give up anyway. We’ve covered a lot more ground than I thought we were and still haven’t found shit. I guess we can start trying to brothels.” You say.
“Um, I don’t think so.”
“What? Are the whores going to be too much temptation too? I thought your weakness was the booze, not the women.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just I doubt very seriously that she’s working in one of the Klyton brothels. At least none of the legal ones. If she was back to whoring, she’d be doing it illegally and who knows where.”
“I don’t understand, Mara said her mom was pretty and you even seemed to confirm that. Wouldn’t she be good enough of one of those places? She a Yellow Devil addict or something?”
“No, nothing like that. In fact she used to work at Madam Moonlight’s place, but she did something that severely pissed off Moonlight. I dunno what, but it was bad enough to get her fired and Moonlight apparently pulled strings at every other sanctioned brothel to not hire her.”
“Hm, I guess that makes sense, I’ve seen Moonlight get pissed at unruly customers and makes them sorry they got out of line. Guess the same goes for her employees. Still surprised I’ve never bumped into this woman before. Well I’m out of ideas, I mean we can’t realistically go to every inn or back alley, to look for her.”
“I think the only thing that can be done is to go back. Sometimes we must just place faith in Joachim that he will influence events to a positive end. I’m sure the girl’s mother will come back, she may already be back for all we know.”
“Yeah maybe…”

You suddenly remember something terrible.

“SHIT!” you exclaim.
“What?” Virgil asks.
“In all the rush to help the girl, I left all my shit at the church and I didn’t even bother to hide it before I left! My savings!”
“I doubt very seriously that anyone is going to ransack your belongings and steal what you have. All of those folks are Joachim fearing and righteous.”
“Oh? Then what am I doing there then?”
“Erm…well on the other hand it would be quite amusing if Joachim balanced things by taking away your wealth.”
“What the hell? Why are you condoning theft just because it’s me?!”
“I’m not, but I’m just saying there would be a kind of justice if it did occur, considering your own profession…speaking of which…Brother Thadius has expressed concerns about you continuing to sleep in the church. I’ve tried to assure him that you’re looking for real work, but I think we both know that isn’t true and I hate lying to the man. I’m already under scrutiny for…”
“I can’t discuss this right now, I gotta go!”

You run off to leave Virgil behind and race back to the church.

Unfortunately along the way you nearly bump straight into two militiamen who happen to be patrolling. They see you running and jump to their own conclusions.

“HALT!” one of them shouts.

You haven’t done anything wrong and you don’t even have anything stolen on you since you left all your stuff at the church. Legally they can’t really do anything to you…however that’s never stopped the militia from severely fucking with you before.
> You run
You immediately make a break for it and the militia is soon in pursuit and shouting for any of their fellows within earshot to help them.

It’s actually easier than usual to lose the militia since the darkness is more your friend. After a short chase, a few turns down side streets and backtracks later and you’ve lost them.

Then you turn a corner and get an unexpected elbow in the face. You stagger back and fall on your ass. Before you can get up though, two militia men have grabbed you.

“See? Told you, this one isn’t half as clever as he thinks he is. He’s been doing the same tricks to elude us for the past week, well not this time. Anticipated your ass didn’t we?” one of the militia sneers.
“Whatever…you still don’t have anything on me. I didn’t steal shit tonight.”
“Silent! We’re going to find out soon.”

While the two men are roughly searching you, another one comes running up to them.

“Hey! What the hell are you two doing? You’re supposed to be down in the sewers helping with taking out those Talon bastards. The captain’s been looking all over for you and he’s pissed!” he remarks.
“What? We got assigned street patrol duty tonight!”
“Well you’ve got new orders then, come on let’s go. Who’s this one?”
“This is the sneak thief who ratted on the Talons in the first place to save his own hide. Claims he doesn’t have anything stolen on him, but I KNOW he’s been up to something!”
“Well knock him out and quickly throw him in a cell because we need to get into the sewers before the shit goes down. He can be dealt with later.”

And with those words, you get smashed in the back of the head causing you to go unconscious.

When you wake up, you find yourself lying on the dirty smelly floor of a jail cell. Nearby another man sits on a bench with his attention draw towards you now that you’re awake.

“You okay there friend? When they brought you in last night I thought they were dragging in a corpse. Your head was bloody and you were flat out.” He says.

You groggily sit up and rub the back of your head which now has dried blood on it. (and so does the floor you just got off of) They really clobbered you a good one. Now you’re just wondering if you’re heading for deeper shit soon.

“So, what are you in here for?” the man asks.
“Misunderstanding.” You respond
“Hah, that’s an understatement I’ll bet. Still, those militia bastards will find any excuse to bust someone’s skull open. They got me in here for drunk and disorderly conduct. I’d only had a few drinks and some asshole got in my face so I punched him. Next thing I knew I was getting hauled in here by a couple of militia dicks who just happened to be heading into that tavern for a quick drink. Just my fucking bad luck right?”
“Hm, that’s rough.” You say as you start to get up off the floor and use the cell bars as leverage.
“I’ll say. But then my luck never has been the best. I think Yag must be perpetually rolling snake eyes for me. I’m probably going to be in more trouble when I get out of here. I was supposed to meet up with my buddies last night. Bah, I guess I’ll just have to deal with the consequences, whatever they may be.”

As your overly talkative cellmate goes on about his unlucky lot in life, you are more concerned with your own. You are surprised to soon see Captain Branik himself walk down the hallway with a ring of keys in hand. This could be good or bad.

“Ah, you’re up. Apologies about the overzealousness of my men last night, but then again they did have to make sure you weren’t up to your usual criminal activity. Especially not when we had a whole ring of criminals to round up and eliminate. You’ll be happy to know that I found all your information to be very helpful. The raid was a complete success.” Branik says.
“What’s going on now?” you ask.
“The raid on the Crimson Talon hideout. We went in and laid waste to the place and the criminal scum within it.”
“Wait, you destroyed the Talons last night? As in they’re all dead?” your cellmate asks, eavesdropping on the conversation.
“Oh yes. They all violently resist arrest and there was nothing else to be done, though I imagine most of their crimes would have just gotten them the hanging cages or execution anyway. Probably for the best. Saves time and paperwork.”

Captain Branik chuckles at his last remark and unlocks your cell door.

“Wow. They were the biggest criminal organization in Klyton and had been around for decades. And now they’re all just gone. Guess Yag finally rolled snake eyes for them.” Your cellmate remarks.
“Are you SURE they’re ALL gone?” you ask Branik, still thinking about the potential repercussions of snitching on them.
“Worry not snitchy, they’re all fucking dead. We’re very thorough when it comes to cleaning out the filth. Speaking of cleaning out the filth, I suppose you’re free to go now and I’d advise you to leave the city. Consider this your payment for helping out the Klyton militia.”
“Great. Always my pleasure to help out the men of the law.” You remark leaving the cell.
“You’re free to go too, drunky, and you better learn how behave yourself in the future or else you’ll get a stiffer penalty than just getting thrown in a nice cell to dry out in!” Branik says.

You waste no time in leaving the militia barracks and start pondering your next move. You need to get back to the church to make sure if any of your shit is still there. You fully expect to find that your savings has been ransacked in your absence, but either way from there, you’re leaving this fucking city.

As you’re walking and thinking a familiar voice pipes up next to you.

“Man, I’m surprised they let either one of us out of there. The militia are usually reluctant to ever let anyone leave their cells unless it’s to go into a hanging cage or a hangman’s rope.” Your former cellmate says.
“Uh huh.” You remark.
“So, back there, captain asshole said that you gave them information about the Crimson Talons to take them down? Man, that took some big balls to do! There’s no way I could ever do something like that! I’d be way too concerned about one of them killing me for snitching.”
“Yeah well, they’re all dead now. No more worries.”
“True. You know what else takes big balls though?”
“What?!” you respond exasperated and wondering why this dickhead is still talking to you.

You get your answer and quick stab to the side of your neck.

“Shanking a snitch bitch in broad daylight only a few steps away from the militia barracks!” he says and runs off before your body even falls to the ground.

Your last moments as you bleed out and gurgle up blood are the sight of slack jawed onlookers watching you die and the shouting of others calling for the militia.


You can’t believe that you’re actually leaning towards being the “responsible” one here.

“Look, I get that this is all very exciting for you seeing as you’ve lived a sheltered rich life and all…”
“I am not rich or sheltered! My father has to bust his ass making my tuition payments!”
“…yeah…in any case. I’ve been to this town before and its reputation is well earned. There are people here that make the dregs of Klyton look like priests of Joachim and if you run afoul of them, it isn’t going to be good for you.”
“Pfft, I can handle trouble.” Kelium says and flexes his muscles a bit and pulls a sword out of his bag.
“Yeah, maybe you could handle one person, but the problem is these sort don’t travel alone, they ALWAYS travel in packs and I can honestly say that YOU are not going to handle five or even three by yourself.”
“Well wouldn’t you help me? I mean isn’t that why you’re here?”
“Your job or assignment is to get some monster crab eggs. MY job is to help you in that task. My job is NOT however looking after your ass while you look for fun or trouble. Now I suggest you get some rest which is what I’m going to do because giant snail monsters that spit poison sound like they need full attention.”

You fully expect Kelium to argue some more with you, but he doesn’t. You also expect him to just leave the room by himself, but he doesn’t do that either thankfully. He just says he thought you were going to be fun and starts reading through some of his papers.

Feeling a little pleased with yourself, you lay down on your bed and attempt to get to sleep before Kelium genuinely starts to get tired again, because if he starts snoring there is no way you’re going to get any sleep.

Much later, you groggily wake up and find that your speech was less effective than you thought.

Kelium is not in your room. In fact, it doesn’t even look like his bed has been slept in. You just shake your head and groan.

“Stupid fucker probably got himself enslaved or his throat cut.” you mutter, as you get yourself prepared to go look for this idiot.

The first stop you make is Yvette’s room.

“Hey Yvette.” You say knocking on the door.
“Um…yes?” she answers, but not opening the door.
“Is Kelium in there?”
“No, why would he be? What are you implying?”
“…what? Nothing! I’m just asking because he’s gone, and it doesn’t look like he’s slept in his bed either. I’m guessing he took off to have fun in the middle of the night.”
“Oh dear. Um…well hold on, I have to get ready. I’ll be out soon.” Yvette says.

You half wonder if Kelium is in there and he’s climbing out of a window. If that is the case, it’s going to be real obvious if he and Yvette slept together last night. You aren’t sure why Yvette would bother hiding it though; it isn’t like you really give a shit.

As it turns out however, that isn’t the case at all and you don’t even have far to go to find Kelium.

You find him just outside the Sea Dog, stripped nearly naked and lying unconscious by the street.

“Well, at least that’s one less thing to worry about.” You say to yourself and begin the undesirable task of dragging his ass back inside. It’s sometime at this point, Kelium begins to rouse from his unconsciousness.

In between the name-calling and laughter by the locals, you manage to get him back to the room where Yvette joins you both.

Kelium has a wicked hang over, but manages to explain what he remembers. He says that after you fell asleep he went out to explore the town and soon found himself in a card game at some place that he can’t remember the name of. He claims he was winning and also says that someone must have drugged his drink and robbed him of everything.

“I told you not to go out. You’re just lucky that getting robbed blind was all that happened to you.” You say.
“Yeah, yeah, fuck. You sound like some old bitch. Shit. My head. Alright fine. Just let me get my spare clothes, and we can go get these fucking eggs.” Kelium says.
“Wait, we’re going now? Are you in condition to do this? Maybe we should wait a day.” Yvette asks.
“I’ll be fucking fine! Besides, I just lost all my money. We can’t afford to stay here another night. We need to get these eggs today and then get the fuck outta this shitty town.”

You don’t even ask HOW you’re supposed to get back to Klyton if he’s lost all his money. Though you’ve brought a little with you, so you suppose you’ll be footing the carriage bill. Like Yvette, you aren’t sure if Kelium is in the best condition to go do this, but you’re certainly not going to be paying for more time at the inn either, so if he thinks he’s good to go, then you are too. Besides, you’re going to be happy when this is over with and you’re questioning why you ever decided to do this again.

“Adventurous…I should have that drunk Virgil check me for demonic possession.” You mutter.

After Kelium gets dressed and gathers his supplies (Which at least he’s carrying), the three of you set off on your journey to get these eggs. Unfortunately, its not just a simple matter of sticking to the coast and finding them along the shore, Kelium says you’ll probably have to go into a cave seeing as they like to lay their eggs some place dark, wet and safe.

“Um, we have to enter a cave?” Yvette asks.
“Yeah, what’s the big deal?” Kelium asks.

What Yvette doesn’t answer right away, you step in.

“I think Yvette is a bit uncomfortable with small spaces, especially dark ones crawling with monsters.” You say.
“Huh? Well that’s just tough because she signed up for this task voluntarily. Nobody held a flintlock to her head. Besides, it’s most likely a big open cave given how large blueshell creptians are.” Kelium remarks.
“Oh, well that changes everything.”

You travel a bit longer until you start climbing up a small hill. Kelium occasionally looks at the ground and tries to find signs of creptians. He seems to know what he’s doing, despite his condition, though at this point you’re more on the look out of other potential bad types like say bandits or something similar. Meanwhile Yvette looks like she’s expecting trouble everywhere since she’s looking around constantly.

“Yvette, calm yourself. Out of the three of us, you’ve probably got the most power here to deal with anything.” You say.
“I dunno what you think I can do. I know. I’m not some high mage like in the old stories. As I told you, I’m just starting out and I haven’t even been out of the city before.”
“Hm, so you can’t just summon a ball of flame or shoot lighting?”
“Um…well not what you’re probably thinking. I mean maybe I could conjure a small palm sized ball of flame. Not sure if that would take down a Blueshell Creptian though, and it takes all my focus just to do it.”
“Better than nothing I suppose.”

Suddenly you hear Kelium yelling about something. You were so busy speaking with Yvette you didn’t even notice Kelium disappeared…again.

“HEY COME HELP ME! SHIT!” Kelium shouts.

You and Yvette run over to the other side of the hill you were on and see Kelium with his sword in hand and scrambling for cover behind a rock. You also see what you can only guess is a blueshell creptian. It looks exactly how you pictured. A big snail, with big crab like claws and a blue shell.

Nearby the creptian you see a large sloping hole in the ground, you can only imagine that’s where it has made its home.

“HEY! MOVE IN MAN! ATTACK!” You hear Kelium shout as a glob of blueshell spit hits the rock he’s hiding behind.

You pull out your flintlock and fire at the blueshell and find that the shot doesn’t even penetrate its hard shell. In fact it doesn’t even turn its attention to you, so far it’s just slowly crawling over to Kelium’s position.

“Yvette, can you cast some sort of light spell or cause something to glow?” you ask.
“Yeah, but how is that going to help?” Yvette says.
“It’ll help me search that cave for the eggs while it’s distracted.”
“Wait, you’re going in there alone? What happens if there’s another one in there?”
“Well, I’ll be running out of there really quick I guess. You just try to distract that blueshell and when I get the eggs we can all get the hell out of here.”
“I dunno, I think maybe we should try to work together to kill the blueshell, then deal with the cave.”
“And I don’t think we’re going to be able to, or at least not with what we got. Look, I’m going to be as quick as I can. All you have to do is stay away from that thing and find some cover. It doesn’t move that fast.”
“I dunno…”

Obviously Yvette has some doubt about this plan and if she does there’s a chance she could panic, but you really don’t have confidence in her plan either especially since it means you’d have to get closer or at least aim for a place that isn’t armor plated.
> You work together
Yvette could be right about another one being in the cave. Even something only half the size as the one you’re seeing now wouldn’t be good to run into in a cramped area. Plus you’d rather keep one of Gossey’s assistant safe this time since it seems like Yvette will just run off without everyone helping.

“Alright, I’m going to try to give that overgrown snail a big hole in its body, in the meantime, you need to start trying every spell you can to kill that thing!” you say.

Still keeping a good distance, you move into a better position where you might actually be able to hit the thing in a soft fleshy area.

You get behind a tree and reload your flintlock as you hear the crackling of lightning and Kelium still shouting for assistance. You fire again at the creature, but once again fail to make any real impact, as it seems to instinctively block your shot with one of its armor plated claws.

Yvette is still casting her little fireballs at it, but that’s not having much effect, you yell at her to try something else. However, you’re going to have to get closer unfortunately.

You run towards a closer large tree and see Kelium stupidly getting up to move towards you.

“NO! Stay the fuck do…” you start to say and then you’re suddenly hit in the side of the head with something half solid, half liquid. You were so busy paying attention to Kelium and making noise, that the creptian spit in your direction and got a solid hit.

The translucent goo now covering half your head is extremely poisonous and takes effect immediately.

You collapse to the ground and begin to feel your whole body seizing up. You attempt to grab your anti-venom in your pack, but it wouldn’t do any good even if you weren’t practically paralyzed since the poison has already been absorbed into your brain.

The pain is great but mercifully short before you die.


Tempting, but you might as well stick with it out a little while longer. Oddly part of you doesn’t want to dishonor the agreement with Dr. Gossey even if her assistant is a bitch.

Elana doesn’t make many more complaints fortunately and when she does it’s mostly at the driver anyway, though you can imagine you’ll soon be on the receiving end completely.

By the time you reach Hessla, night is starting to fall. Elana orders the carriage to stop and then asks the driver where is the best place to stay in the town. The driver suggests the Cozy Krak Inn. He mentions that it is fairly expensive though that usually means it’s never completely filled, but Elana tells him she isn’t worried about the price.

The carriage makes its way through Hessla, which is definitely not how you expected it look. You imagined pirates and vagabonds of all types getting into fights and drinking in the streets, but just like the driver said, it isn’t actually all that bad.

When you get to the Cozy Krak Inn, you see a large decorated building, which wouldn’t be out of place in the richer areas of Klyton. It’s actually a little more creative looking since it has a whole sea theme complete with some wall murals of sailors battling a giant squid and the inn sign also being in the shape of a squid.

“Ugh, how gauche. I suppose it will have to do.” Elana remarks and gets out of the carriage. You step off from the top.

“I’m going to go in and getting the room, you grab the supplies from the carriage.”
“Wait a minute. I’m just supposed to be here for protection. I didn’t hear anything about being your porter. Besides, doesn’t a place like this usually have someone to do that?”
“Maybe, but I’m telling YOU to do it. I’m not risking having the locals run off with valuable equipment and you’re getting paid to protect EVERYTHING, so do your job and look out for the stuff!” Elana remarks and doesn’t even give you a chance to retort before she’s entered the inn.

You just stand there speechless for a moment.

“Um…there’s a cart over there which should help you get it in all one trip.” The driver points out in an attempt to be sympathetic to your plight.
“Thanks.” You grumble and begin to unload the carriage.

You should have just hijacked it.

After you’re done unloading everything, the driver mentions that if you’re looking for a place to unwind, the Sultry Siren is a good location. He then bids you good night and takes his leave.

You enter the inn and find that it resembles more of a mansion than any inn you’ve ever seen. No creaky wooden floors, dim lighting or drunken louts sitting at a nearby bar. You see a desk where Elana is talking with someone and a couple of mean looking men holding poleaxes standing just inside the doorway.

You arrive just in time for Elana to finish bitching at the desk clerk and start bitching at you instead.

She first goes on to complain that there is no lift so she has to walk to her room on the top floor like a commoner. This is even worse news for you since now you have to lug everything up several flights of stairs.

After getting to the room, she complains that it doesn’t match anything she’s used to in Klyton and goes on about how inferior it is. You almost feel like saying you live in a place run by a cranky old man and how your closest neighbors consist of a drunken priest and a whore.

Trying to make the best of this, you remain upbeat.

“Well, we aren’t going to be here long hopefully. Let’s just try to get some rest.” You say.
“What are you doing?” Elana says.
“I’m just laying down.”
“Not on the bed you’re not!”
“But there are TWO beds and I’m not going to try anything!”
“Pfft. I’m not worried about that.” Elana says and then brandishes a small ornate pistol. Smaller than other ones you’ve seen actually, but you still don’t want to risk getting shot by it and move out of the way when she thoughtlessly points it at you.

“Will you stop waving that thing around?” you say.
“I told Dr. Gossey I didn’t need an escort and could take care of myself.” Elana remarks.
“Yeah, okay you’re not a woman to be messed with, got it. But I don’t see why I have to sleep on the floor when there are two beds.”
“The floor? You’re not sleeping on the floor either. This is MY room. You want a room here, you pay for it yourself!”
“…What? Are you serious? Dr. Gossey said this trip was paid for!”
“Maybe for me, never said anything about you. Your payment is AFTER the job is done. In fact, shouldn’t you just be standing guard outside my door?”

You have no words. You just don’t. You thought dealing with the lowlifes that hang around the Welcome Mat was a chore, but it still pales in comparison to this. If this wasn’t a paying job, there is no way you’d deal with this.

However, since it is, you don’t say anything and just grab a chair in the room and exit.

Placing the chair nearby, you sit down and make a mental note about never working a real job ever again. The kicker is, you still have a bunch of over grown rats to acquire. Still, you agreed to this so you continue to make the effort and sit outside like a loser.

Eventually enough time passes and you start feeling tired or at least bored enough that you’d rather be doing something else. You briefly think about finding another place to stay or even going to the Sultry Siren like the driver suggested, but you really don’t feel like dealing with the stairs again or spending your money. You then wonder if maybe you shouldn’t take this opportunity to break into some of the other rooms.

As you’re pondering potential criminal activity, you spot a group of five rough looking men walking down the corridor. They don’t look the sort who would stay here.

“Is this the room?” one of them says.
“No, it’s further up the hall.” Another remarks.
“What? Where that guy in the hood is sitting?”
“Yeah, I believe so.”
“What the fuck, Metzger. I thought you said this was an easy one.”
“There’s just one guy there and he’s smaller than all of us. You really think he’s going to give us trouble? Metzger says.
“What if he’s some highly skilled assassin? I mean he’s got a hooded cloak and all…”
“By Dolak’s barnacle encrusted balls, if you were any dumber…(Sigh) Just because someone is wearing a hooded cloak don’t make them a highly skilled assassin. Besides, assassins kill people not sit outside hallways like guard dogs.” Metzger remarks.

At this point these five men are nearby you, yet are still talking like you aren’t here. You feel like you should stand up at this point.

“I can’t help but notice you lot seem to be talking about me.” You say.
“Yeah, and what if we are?” Metzger asks.
“Well, I suppose I might need to show off my assassin skills.”
“Hah! You’re no assassin and even if you are, you’re too damn young to have been at it for very long, let alone skilled enough to take on five of us. My guess is, you’re that rich bitch’s escort or something. Not sure why she’d take a little thing like you though as a guard. Guess being rich doesn’t mean being smart which is evident by the very fact she’s staying here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nobody stays at the Cozy Krak Inn, or rather no right thinking Hessla native does, unless they want to be taken as a fucking slave. Fucking clueless visitors.” Metzger laughs.

Well this isn’t good.

“So you guys are all slavers huh?” you ask.
“Yeah, and since I’m in a generous mood I’m going to LET you walk away from this, because Yrid said you weren’t the target.” Metzger remarks.
“Who’s Yrid?”
“The guy who drove you here. Sheesh, didn’t you even bother to ask his name? In fact you weren’t even supposed to be here, he said you’d probably be at the Sultry Siren fucking a whore or getting drunk given how much your boss was bitching at you.”
“Trust me, I’m starting to think that was a better idea right now.”
“Hah, got that right. So, I trust you’re stepping aside then…” Metger says and starts advancing with his buddies.

This is a really difficult situation. As much as Elana has been a complete bitch to you, you aren’t sure if her getting sold into slavery isn’t disproportionate retribution.
> You buy some time
You have to try.

“Okay. Okay. Hold on guys. I get it and I won’t try to stop you…but uh…” you say trailing off
“But what?” Metzger asks.
“Well she’s not quite as defenseless as you think. She’s sleeping with not just one, but two pistols in there. Not to mention she’s a crack shot with them.”
“Bullshit.”
“I’m fucking serious. You think I’m some bodyguard when all I really am is her glorified porter. I don’t think you’re aware of all the bitching I have to hear on a regular basis.”
“So what are you saying exactly?”
“I’m saying let ME go in there and get her. If you lot go barging in, she’s going to shoot at least two of you in the head before you subdue her. If I go in, she’ll bitch me, but I can get in close enough and knock her ass out before she can do shit. Tired of working for her ass anyway, it’ll be my damn pleasure to turn her over to you personally.”
“So let me get this straight, you hate your employer so much that you’re willing to risk getting shot just to turn her over to a bunch of slavers?”
“Yes.”
“Hmmm….”

Metzger looks up and places his hand under his chin as if thinking really hard about this. Your mind races with ideas of what you’re going to do as soon as you enter Elana’s room and how much time you’re going to have to slip out of a window before Metzger and his crew break down the door when you hastily barricade it.

That last minute planning is all for naught when you suddenly feel a fist to your face, knocking you on your ass. Before you can even get up, Metzger signals to his men to quickly subdue and shackle you.

“How stupid do you think I am boy? You go in there and warn her and make all of our jobs harder than it needs to be. Fuck that. I gave you a chance to leave and you chose to be a hero. Well, hope whoever buys your ass likes fucking heroes, because I anticipate you’ll fetch a good price to some of those degenerates.”

Metzger’s men waste no time in relieving you of all your weapons and anything of value, then they put a bag over your head and knock you out.

By the time you come too, you’re practically naked and shackled to two other miserable looking souls in a long line of other hopeless and depressed looking individuals. From what you can tell, you’re probably on a ship. You don’t see Elana, but you can only imagine that they got her too.

When you ask one of the other captives where you’re going, nobody has a clue or they just don’t answer at all.

Wherever you’re going though, it’s going to be a long way from here and an even longer time before you’ll be able to make an escape, assuming you ever get the chance.

This is a horrible situation and one you definitely never saw in your future. All you wish is that you were back home with your family. You stifle some of your crying and try to remember that you need to remain strong if you ever hope to get out of this one day.

Your life may not be over yet, but your life as a rogue certainly is.


Chapter 2B: The More Things Change

Year 17

“Yeah, yeah, here’s the rent.” You say handing over a few silvers to Trobart.

The innkeeper takes the silver and gives you a scornful look.

“Bout fucking time! You’re always late! And don’t think I don’t know how you get this!” Trobart says.
“Of course you know how I get this, but it doesn’t stop you from taking the money anyway, you mean old bastard.” You answer.
“Watch yer, fuckin’ tongue! One word from me, and the militia would take your ass in quick!”
“Pfft, yeah right. You call the militia and they’d probably shut this whole place down. You’re selling booze without a license in the basement and one of your rooms is being used by an unlicensed whore.”
“Fuck you cunt face!” Trobart shouts and stomps off. You just shake your head at the old man’s misplaced anger.

You head to your room with no more distractions, and then wearily sit on your shitty straw mattress and count what’s left of your ill-gotten loot. Enough to eat for a few days.

Granted this hasn’t been the best month, but you swear you thought you’d be doing a lot better than this by now. This city unfortunately though is proving a lot more vigilant than you’d like. You certainly aren’t in Teckleville anymore.

What’s really not helping is the Crimson Talons running around carelessly committing clumsy burglaries and heists and bringing the militia down even harder on everything.

You’re sort of glad you didn’t join up with them now, because at this rate, the militia is probably going to track them down and execute the lot of them.

Still, that doesn’t solve your current problem.

Part of you wonders if maybe you should just move on from this city, but you really loathe the idea of travelling again and you aren’t sure where you’d go. Hessla maybe?

While you’re pondering your possible future here, you get a knock on the door.

“Heeeeey youngster! (hic!) You got any spare….coppers fer the faith?”

Great, it’s that drunken priest that has a room across from you. You thought the men of Joachim were supposed to be into purity and restraint. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think Joachim was the god of alcohol and hopeless drunks based on this guy’s behavior and actions.

“No and I told you to stop bothering me Virgil! Don’t you have a collection box you can pilfer booze money from?” you shout.
“Yeah…but no…but I got some (hic) news…” Virgil answers.
“Yeah, I already know about Joachim’s blessed light. You tried to tell me about it the first time I came here and you nearly threw up on me in the process.”
“I did? Geez, sorry son…but this is different! (hic) Some…somebody…”
“Somebody what?”
“Somebody was lookin’ fer ya.”

Well that peaked your interest.

“Oh?” you answer.
“Yeah…(hic).”
“Hold on.” You say and go answer the door.

No sooner have you opened the door when the odor of Virgil hits you full force. You immediately cover your nose and mouth.

“Shit, Virgil. When the hell was the last time you washed? You fucking smell worse than a troll’s ass. Granted I’ve never smelled a troll’s ass, but I think it’s a safe bet you smell worse than one.” You say.
“Guess again. Hahahahahahaha! (hic) So can ya spare a copper?”
“Maybe, so what’s all this about someone looking for me?”
“Oh, that. Yeah, this big guy. I mean not like ogre big, but just human big ya know? Old guy too. (hic) I mean not as old as that asshole who own this place, but probably around my age.”
“Well that’s still fucking old then, aren’t you like seventy?”
“Fuck you. I’ll have you know I’m in my forties…I think…yeah…”
“Okay, so big guy in his forties was looking for me. What did he want?”

Of course NOW Virgil decides to be uncooperative.

“No! No! Fuck you, I’m not tellin’ you shit now. (hic) Who…who…what do you think I am some kinda asshole fer you to abuse? Callin’ me seventy fuckin’ years old. I oughta kick yer ass in the name of Joachim! Yer lucky I’m a man of faith…(hic)”

At this point Virgil mumbles and stumbles away, bumps into the door to his room and then after a few tries he finally gets it open and slams it behind him.

You suppose you could always ask him again later when he’s feeling less feisty. He will have likely forgotten all about your so-called insult later, of course he probably will have forgotten about the guy looking for you too.

You close the door and think on who he could have been talking about. Your dad? Dad’s not a big guy though and you honestly doubt if he would bother to come look for you.

Maybe it was Tom from the Crimson Talons? You can’t imagine what he’d want to see you directly for though. You’d imagine if he were trying to recruit you again he’d send an underling to invite you to see him. Tom wasn’t a huge guy either; of course given that Virgil is on the short and scrawny side, he probably thinks you’re a big guy too.

Other than those two, you’re drawing a blank. It’s a little concerning that some big guy is looking for you though.

You hear another knock on the door.

“Virgil?” you ask.
“No, it’s Randi. I got some information that you might want to know.” A woman’s voice says

Randi is the red headed whore that lives down the hall. Unusual that she’d seek you out, since she’s snotty with you at the best of times. You guess it’s because you turned down her overly aggressive offer the first time you stepped into this inn.

You answer the door and she’s as scuzzy as ever. You feel like you’re catching something just by standing this close to her.

“Okay, so what’s this information? Because if it’s some big guy that was looking for me, I already know because Virgil told me.” You say.
“Oh? Well did he tell you what this big guy wanted too?” Randi asks.
“No.”
“You’ll want to know then.”
“…Well?”
“Well what?”
“(Sigh) I know you’re not used to hearing this, but spit it out! Tell me what this guy wanted.”
“I’m not your fucking secretary. You want to know, you need to pay, ten silvers.”
“Ten fucking silvers? You don’t charge that much for a blowjob!”
“Yeah well if you want a blowjob, then you can pay half that price, but if you want to know what that guy wanted, it’s ten silvers.”

While you’re wondering who this guy is and why he’s looking for you, you’re not exactly keen on giving away most of your hard earned money to some whore who you’re not even fucking.

“Yeah well go find two dicks to suck then, because you’re not getting ten silver from me.” You say and shut the door on Randi who shouts some obscenities at you from the hallway.

You’ll just remain alert and keep an eye out this guy looking for you. Remain on your guard too, since you still don’t know if this man means you harm or not. Hopefully Virgil can tell you something later. You might have to offer a couple coppers, but it’s far cry from ten silvers.

For now though you decide to get some sleep after your long night of thievery. As your lids get heavier, you think on where you could ply your trade with a little more ease and a lot more loot. The rich areas are well patrolled, the government district is well patrolled, the merchant district is well patrolled, and the poor areas are…still patrolled and the folks don’t have shit.

It suddenly occurs to you that you’ve never really tried the university district of the city. Might be worth a look, after all it should be filled with stupid rich kids not aware of their surroundings and the Talons don’t seem to go running around there, so there might be less heat.

Later…

You wake up midday. After getting yourself ready for today’s endeavors, you knock on Virgil’s door, but there is no answer. He’s either still asleep or he’s out collecting donations for Joachim. Probably the latter considering you didn’t contribute to his booze fund.

You leave the Welcome Mat Inn, though a little more cautiously than usual. Nobody seems to be approaching or giving you suspicious looks though. Still, wishing to keep a low profile, you stick to the back streets as much as possible and eventually when you get to the better part of town, you catch a coach for your remaining trip to the university. By the time you arrive, the day is beginning to end, but you soon find that the university is still fairly active.

After a few hours of just scouting and walking around, it’s much like you figured. A lot of scholarly types with their noses in books and rich kids that do a lot of partying. The dorms have security, but oddly not as much as one might think.

You find that despite being dressed in your lower class clothing, nobody is really giving you a second glance. It might be due to your youth though; you probably just look like a struggling student. Wasn’t like your dad was exactly rich when he attended this place either.

It occurs to you how strange it is to be at the university at all. You never thought you’d ever “attend” your dad’s old place of higher learning. You’re sure at one time he had hopes you would, but it probably wasn’t under these circumstances.

Out of curiosity you pay a visit to the section to where the medical school is located. Seems weird that your father spent so much money and time putting himself through the place while you’re here basically casing it.

You’re not that well versed in the value of medical supplies and drugs, but you figure the Crimson Talons could be willing to fence whatever you bring. Hell, you probably could just sell the stuff yourself. You know more than enough folks in your area that bitch about not being able to afford shit from the local apothecary, let alone proper medicine.

Of course since this is your first time here, you’re still getting used to all the twisting corridors that this university seems to favor. You end up stepping into a class in session a couple times, before stumbling upon an unattended supply room where you pilfer various bottles of pills and liquids.

When you attempt to leave the facility, you go in the direction where you think you came from, but soon find that you made a wrong turn somewhere.

Somehow you manage to find yourself in what you think must be an office area since you see various doors with names on them. (All of them with “Dr.” in front) As you’re passing one, the door opens and you find yourself face to face with an older woman with gray hair.

“Hey. You here about the job?” the woman asks.
“Huh? What?” you answer.
“I put out several announcements around campus for an escort job. Hmmm….you don’t look like a warrior and you’re a little young. You one of those students over from the magic college?”
“Um, no actually, I just got lost. I’m trying to find my way out of this place.”
“Lost? What were you doing here in the first place?”
“Well my father used to go here and I…”
“Wait a minute…you do you look a little familiar. What’s your father’s name?”

You tell this woman your father’s name and she instantly lights up.

“Hah! I knew it. You look a lot like your father. He was in my microbiology class when I used to teach it. Did very well too. How he doing?” the woman asks.
“Oh he’s doing fine uh Miss…umm…” you reply
“Oh I go by Dr. Gossey and nowadays I focus purely on zoology and the biology of the creatures and animals that live in our fascinating world! So are you a student here too and trying to follow in your dad’s footsteps?”
“Something like that I suppose. I’m actually just checking out my options right now. You know, to see what I might be interested in.”
“Good. Good. Glad to see a young person thinking about their future. Hey, would you consider yourself to be an adventurous spirit?”
“I suppose in some ways I am.”
“Well I’ve got a job that needs doing and I don’t have time to do it myself and I’d rather not send my assistant there by herself. You familiar with qweepas?”
“Aren’t they some really ugly oversized rats?”
“In simple terms basically, but they’re much more than that. They’re actually much more intelligent than the average rat. They aren’t even native to the continent, but a lot of them over the years have undoubtedly snuck aboard Hessla pirate ships and now they’re slowly starting to gain a foothold as a pest on the coast. One can only imagine how far they will have spread in another ten years.”
“So what is it that you need exactly?”
“I need someone to go into Hessla or around that area with my assistant and get me some live specimens. About ten should do. Like I said, I’d send my assistant alone, but I know how dangerous Hessla is especially for a single female, so it would be better if someone went with her.”
“So, am I just to be there as hired muscle?”
“Yes, though as I noticed before, you don’t seem to be a physical type…not to say you aren’t well proportioned for a young man your age, it’s just I was hoping to get a taker from the gladiator team or someone of similar intimidating size. I only mentioned this at all to you because for one, I haven’t had anyone else come in as strange as that may be. And two I knew your father. I figured it wouldn’t be polite to not offer his son a chance to earn some money towards his education goals, whatever they may be. You could even get a jump start on potential class credits.”

This is getting a little strange, but you might as well ask.

“So what’s this job pay then?” you ask.
“Thirty gold pieces upon completion.” Dr. Gossey replies.
“And all I have to do is escort your assistant?”
“Yes, and make sure the qweepa specimens get here alive. Those are very important to my research. My assistant will have everything else required for this job and the trip will essentially be completely paid for.”
“Do you need a decision now?”
“Well it would be nice, but I understand if you need to think on it. Hessla isn’t a safe place and knowing your father, I’m sure he wanted better for you and you grew up in a protected environment and are probably less familiar with handling folks with a more criminal mentality.”

Dr. Gossey’s assessment of you nearly makes you laugh.

While this is technically a “real” job, you can’t say you aren’t totally unopposed to performing it. Thirty gold is certainly better than what you’ve done in most weeks since your time here and it would give you a chance to go to Hessla for free. Maybe see if things are potentially more lucrative over there.
> You don't take the job
While the pay seems okay, this doesn’t really seem like your sort of thing. Running around catching rats and escorting some student that lacks common sense on top of it doesn’t sound too fun.

“I appreciate the offer, but I don’t think this is for me.” You say.
“Completely understandable. Well, good luck on whatever it is that you’re deciding to go into, and say hello to your father next time you see him.” Dr. Gossey says.
“I will.” You say and bid her goodbye.

After leaving the medical building you decide to just call it a day at the university. You’ve had an okay haul today and you think the university will be your stomping grounds now.

When you finally get back to the neighborhood, you revert back your cautious ways until you finally enter the Welcome Mat and your room. You manage to make it without being accosted by any of its denizens this time.

The next day you start your routine of heading to the university and then after a productive day you make your way back home.

As you’re heading home in the middle of the night, you suddenly feel uneasy. Like you’re being watched. You look around constantly, but never see anything out of the ordinary. There isn’t anyone following you, though you suppose if they are they’re really good at staying hidden.

Your thoughts go back to the man who was looking for you a few days ago. You still don’t know what that was all about and if this is someone meaning you harm. You’re paranoid for the rest of your way home.

You don’t change your routine too much other than perhaps taking different ways to get to the university and back home. You still feel uneasy at times, but again nothing happens.

However on one of your more mundane trips to get some food, one of the local food merchants who doesn’t normally make much small talk, breaks that habit when you’re looking over the fruit cart.

“Hey, some big guy was looking for you yesterday.” The merchant remarks.
“So I’ve heard. Got a better description than that?” you ask.
“Uh, sort of a bushy beard, but the rest of his face was obviously pretty weathered. Shaved head. Probably in his forties or fifties, but still pretty fit. Carried a pack with him, but no weapons. Well at least none out in the open. Said to tell you that he’d carrying an important message for you from your family and that it’s very urgent that you meet him at the Raggedy Man Inn.”
“Hmmm, and that’s it?”
“As far as I know.”
“Thanks. I’ll just be taking these today.” You say and pay the merchant for your food before leaving.

Just keeps getting weirder. All you know about the Raggedy Man Inn is that it’s in a worse part of Klyton than even you stay at. If this guy is some sort of courier, surely he should know where to find you, especially if this is an urgent message from your family. And you can’t begin to know what that might be if true.

Part of you wants to just head to the Raggedy Man Inn to confront this person once and for all, but all of this sounds so damn suspicious that you can’t imagine going there would do you any good other than getting caught in a trap.

You keep up your usual caution and after about a week passes, nobody is coming up to tell you that some guy is looking for you anymore. You end up wondering if it was some message from your family after all. In any case, you relax slightly and continue with your usual life.

After a month, the whole thing seems to be forgotten by anyone that spoke to you about it. In fact you aren’t even thinking about it as much anymore either. You’re mostly thinking about how you’re really making a killing at the university.

You come home from another successful night and enter your room…

No sooner have you opened the door, when a hand strongly grips your hand and yanks you inside. You feel a foot trip you and you go plunging face first into the floor and hear the door being shut behind you.

“Now hol…” you start to say before you feel a boot kicking you in the side of the head.

“Stop talking, I don’t want to hear your voice. This has to happen.” You hear a voice say.

You manage to roll over and see a muscular older man with a beard standing over you with a very large knife.

This is the man that was looking for you.

“Who…” you start to say again before the man descends on top of your body and punches you in the face with his free hand.

“I said shut up! I thought about this. I thought about the pros and cons for a long time. The right and wrong. And ultimately it all comes back to justice.” The man says.

You never put it together based on the vague descriptions by other people before, but you know who this man is. He’s Klint’s father.

“You took away my son and not only did you escape, but I see you merely plying your criminal ways here too. I could have easily told the Klyton militia about you, but no, I want to perform this justice myself. Not just for my son you murdered, but for ALL those you’ve hurt!”

With those final words, Klint’s father begins stabbing the hell out of you repeatedly with his knife. You scream out several times, but he doesn’t care. In fact he wants to hear your pleas and begging.

By the time the militia is called to check on the noise, Klint’s father stabbed you to death and is covered in your blood. He merely turns his head and says that justice has been served.


You figure it might be best to head somewhere that you can at least get your bearings about what you’re going to do in the long term with your life. Still, it would be best to stay off the road and stick to the wilderness. With a new goal, you head in the direction of Klyton and hoping nobody from Teckleville is tracking you.

You stick to the woods figuring that it will provide you with more cover. You keep alert for possible denizens that lurk in the woods themselves, but besides a lot of birds and a few normal animals, you don’t encounter anything out of the ordinary. You even manage to get a good night’s sleep, well as good as you can get with as paranoid as you are.

Unfortunately the woods eventually begins to thin and if you continue walking the way you are going, you’re going to be in the open plains and if you’re going to march across the open fields, you might as well just walk on the road since you’ll be just as exposed.

Since you’re not exactly in danger of starving or anything and the woods themselves seem fairly safe, you decide to play it cautiously by staying in the woods for the rest of the day and travel in the open at night. Hopefully it won’t be a much longer trek to Klyton.

You take the opportunity to rest up some more and when the only light in the sky is that of the dim moon, that’s when you leave the edge of the woods. The trees around you soon disappear and all that’s left is you in the open countryside and the occasional sounds of nocturnal animals. You walk across the fields for a while, but as the grass starts getting knee high, you start hearing unfamiliar sounds. While you hope it is only a harmless nocturnal animal (or rather several of them judging by the noises) you get concerned that you might be at a disadvantage if it isn’t, so you quickly make your way back towards the road where you have better vision of any potential low to the ground threats.

The road is just as empty as the plains you just left. You continue to keep aware of your surroundings by keeping an ear out for various sounds. You still have this idea that you’re suddenly going to hear Teckleville watchmen on horses galloping on your position.

You continue down the road and once again you see something out of the ordinary. This time though it’s a hanging cage along side the road.

You’ve heard of those before. Klyton apparently uses them when the jails are full and the criminal hasn’t done anything bad enough to deserve outright death. So they get put in these cages until they eventually die of starvation, exposure or someone grants the mercy of killing them. Either way they aren’t the city’s problem anymore. Seems like it would be kinder to kill them immediately.

You walk a little further and you see a few more of them on both sides of the road. Well if there’s anyone inside them, they’re going to be safely locked in a cage.

First couple cages you pass are empty. The next one has a decaying smell as you pass, but nobody is in it. You notice on the other side of the road a couple of the cages have bodies in them, but seeing as they aren’t moving, you can only guess you’re probably walking by corpses.

At least you think you are.

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have any extra water would you?” you suddenly hear one of the slumping figures in the cage say.

Well you may have decided to travel at night, but it would seem you’re encountering more people than you thought.

“Uh, no not really.” You answer.
“That sounded really convincing there son. Come on, if you got any you could spare some. You always got the luxury of grabbing yourself a drink at the first tavern in Klyton…assuming you’re even old enough...I can’t quite see you, but you sound fairly young.” The figure in the cage says.
“I’m not young, I’m a grown man!” you exclaim.
“Oh. Well apologies then. So can you please spare any water, I’m dying of thirst over here.”
“Why should I trust you? You’re in a cage meant for criminals.”
“So? What, do you think I’m going to suddenly attack you or something? Even if I had the strength to grab you from between the bars and choked you out or something, that wouldn’t exactly help my situation now would it? If anything it would just be harder to beg for water from the next person that passed by given that your corpse would be near my cage.”

Strangely that logic makes a bit of sense to you.

“I’m not a violent criminal anyway. I’m just in here because I was a little down on my luck and stole some food. Unfortunately Klyton is pretty overzealous when it comes to their laws.” The man goes on to say.
“So you’re a thief?” you ask.
“Only out of survival.”
“Explains why you got caught. You’re not a professional.” You say.
“Oh? Well more apologies then, I didn’t realize I was speaking to a master fucking thief. Of course if you’re so good, why the hell are you wandering out here in the boonies? Shouldn’t you be stealing the King of Delantium’s jeweled chamber pot or something?”
“Hey, if you’re still expecting me to give you any water you’re doing a piss poor job at convincing me.” You say getting a bit agitated and stepping closer to the cage.

From this distance you get a better visual on the man in the cage. He looks about of average build, and he’s a lot older than you. In fact he looks like he might be around your dad’s age.

Of course he gets a better look at you as well.

“Heh. You barely have any stubble on your face! I knew you were just a kid! Something about you though…you look strangely familiar.” The man remarks.
“I don’t think so, I’ve never been to Klyton.” You say.
“No, you don’t look like you have. You look more like someone from a small town…say you wouldn’t be from Teckleville would you? That is the closest town around here.”
“…um no why?” you say and then silently cursing yourself that your lie didn’t come out natural.
“I’ll take that slight pause as a yes and you really need to work on your attempts at misdirection and lying. What sort of thief are you?”
“Better one than you obviously, you can’t even pick the easy lock on your cage.”
“Yeah, yeah, so Teckleville huh? Hmm….wait a minute!”

The man suddenly asks if you know a doctor from Teckleville, and then goes into a description somewhat matching your dad, even mentions him by name. Does this man know your father?

Since you seem to be messing up on your lies right now, you just go ahead and confirm his suspicions.

“The gods are truly merciful this night! I knew your father! You look a lot like him when he was young. My name’s Tom and I used to go to school with your father!”
“You mean in the university?”
“No, I used to go to primary and high school with him. I was one of his friends during childhood. I mean sure we drifted apart obviously, even more so when I dropped out altogether, but me and him were always alright with each other! I heard he moved to Teckleville years ago and had a family. Didn’t know his son was a thief though…how the hell did that happen?”
“Long story.”
“Hm, I’ll bet…so you were saying this big ass lock on my cage looked easy?”
“Yeah, I’ve picked more complex merchant lockboxes.” You say confidently.

At this point Tom stops slouching and begins to move towards you as much as he can in his cage.

“That’s good…that’s good….so hey instead of water, how about you set me free?”
“What? Why should I do that?”
“Oh come on! I was a friend of your father’s! Surely he’s mentioned all the fond memories of us playing smash sphere after school.”
“Well, actually my father doesn’t speak much about Klyton or the past at all. He prefers to forget it. Says it was mostly stressful.”
“Oh....well hey how about this deal then? You’ve never been to Klyton, so how about in exchange for my freedom I give you some basic information on some of the neighborhoods and potential places you could easily go burgle. I mean obviously I’m rubbish at it, but if you’re as good as you say you are, they should be easy for you.

You might have less of a problem with releasing him if you could somehow confirm he is who he says he is. Tom certainly seems to know bits about your father that would be hard to know by some complete stranger. Your father never said anything about former childhood friends though, or if he did you weren’t paying attention.
> You leave Tom
Even if he is a childhood friend of your father, you just don’t trust Tom enough to set him free.

“Look, I got my own problems right now and I can’t be taking on someone else’s, so I’m saying goodbye to you.”
“Wait! Okay, I get it, I get it. You don’t trust me, but can’t you at least give me that water?” Tom asks.
“And I told you I don’t have it to spare! Look, I’m going, maybe the next person will be more generous.” You say.
“Fine. I can see you’re nothing like your dad. He would have at least given me the water.” Tom mutters and then mumbles some swears as you leave.

You continue along the road and fortunately you don’t have any more late night encounters.

Eventually Klyton is in sight and you quicken your pace, anxious to get to your destination.

When you get to the city gates, you find them to be heavily guarded and you’re stopped.

“Halt, you don’t look like a merchant or anyone else that has a real job. In fact you look a bit suspicious sneaking about the city at this time of night.” One of the guards says.
“Sneaking around? But I’m going through the main gate!” you say.
“You giving me lip boy? I’m asking the questions here! We don’t need anymore scum like you in this city!” the guard says and pushes you.

You’re smart enough not to start a fight with an armored guard, but you’re starting to wonder if you’re going to even get in the city.

Fortunately, not all the guards are power drunk assholes and one steps forward to pull the asshole one back a bit.

“Oh for fuck’s sake Clyde, calm down and leave the boy alone. Judging by the look of him he’s just a snot nosed kid. Probably ran away from home or something. Hey, kid you got any money on you?”

While you normally wouldn’t announce such things, you figure they want a bribe to leave you alone.

“Um, yeah…look I don’t have much, but you can have what I…” you start to say.
“What? No, we’re not trying to shake you down. This isn’t Holgard son. I just wanted to know so I can tell you which inn you should probably check in at. Seeing as you said you don’t have much, I’d recommend the Welcome Mat, which isn’t that far from the main gate, you really can’t miss it.. The place is cheap and pretty safe. If you still can’t afford their low prices, they’ll probably have some tasks you can do to earn a place on their flop room floor at least.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks.”
“No problem, but I’m going to warn you once now. I certainly HOPE if you’re sticking around the city, that you have every intention of being a productive citizens. Because if you don’t, well…let’s just say we don’t take kindly to crime around here. I trust you saw all those cages down the road.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Hm, well that’ll be where you’re heading if you have ill intent in this city. And that’s if you’re lucky.”
“Yes, I certainly understand sir.” You say.
“Very well, off you go son.”

You start to walk towards the city entrance, when Clyde can’t resist talking more shit at you.

“Remember what we said! You fuck up and I’m gonna fuck YOU up! You hear me you little shit? I’ll be on your ass! I’ll be on you ALL fucking night and day!”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it.” You say.

While some of the other guards are chuckling and Clyde’s buddy is telling him to cease his almost rape like threats, Clyde isn’t even paying attention anymore, he HATES your dismissive tone and all he’s feeling is disrespect to his authority.

“You fucking little scumbag bitch! Fucking dismiss me will you?” Clyde mutters and before you know it he’s punched you hard with his gauntlet-encased fist. You drop like a sack of potatoes.

“NO Clyde! STOP! Shit! Get Clyde off of him!” Clyde’s buddy shouts to everyone, as Clyde is kicking your head in.

Eventually they get Clyde off of you, but it’s too late. He’s stomped your head into mush. You can’t even see anymore and you’re already losing your hearing.

You think you hear someone shout for a medic, but by then everything goes black.


You wake up fairly early, but then you didn’t really sleep much to begin with. This was more of a brief rest anyway.

After a quick check to see if anyone is in the area, you get out of your bloody clothes and change into some new ones. You might not be properly clean, but it’s better than you were.

You then check your supplies, which aren’t much. You’ve got a few coins, but you aren’t excessively worried about that since food and water are more important out here in the wilderness. You’ve got a little food and water, but it isn’t going to last long. The only weapon you have currently is your dagger.

Part of you is only just now starting to feel the various negative emotions involving your parents and Annah. You can only imagine the shitstorm they’re facing because of your actions. You just hope that they don’t suffer the consequences of what you did.

Then there’s Annah. You feel like you should be feeling a lot sadder about her, maybe even crying a bit, but maybe you got all those emotions out of your system when you killed Klint.

Still seems a bit surreal that you killed someone. Not just anyone, but someone you knew since childhood, even if you didn’t like him.

You definitely don’t feel bad about it and while that can be due to several understandable factors, you can’t help but wonder if you could do it again under different circumstances.

You may have to, especially now, though your mind certainly went to a dark place during that time.

Whatever the near future holds, you’ll have to deal with it when it happens. Right now you have to make a decision on where you’re going to go because you’re not exactly hot on the idea of staying out here in the wilderness.

Your first thought is to head west to the city-state of Klyton. It’s certainly the closest city and it’s the direction you ran from Teckleville anyway. The problem is if anyone from Teckleville is still searching for you, that’s going to be the first place they look.

Still, Klyton is the only place you really have any basic knowledge about thanks to your parents both being originally from there. Your father never really spoke too much about it, just saying that the only thing worthwhile that he got there was your mother and he was glad when they finally moved to Teckleville to be closer to your grandmother at the time.

Your mother on the other hand didn’t speak so ill of the place, which is surprising since she grew up in a lower class area than your father did. She even said that sometimes she missed the times when she worked at the inn where she met your father in the first place. Of course her knowledge about the city is bound to be a bit out of date.

Also, while Klyton has no jurisdiction over Teckleville, it has been known to apprehend wanted criminals from elsewhere trying to hide out there. Not to mention the place in general has a fairly good reputation (And they want to keep it that way) as far as its own security goes.

The Delantium Kingdom to the east isn’t really high on your choice list. For one thing, you’d have to backtrack around Teckleville to go in that direction. From what you’ve overheard, the kingdom has been slowly trying to expand again which sounds a lot like more soldier types running around and that’s the last thing you need. Still, the kingdom is a big place and they can’t possibly be everywhere. Sivak is the closest major city there.

The only other nearby bastion of major civilization you can think of that’s close is another city state by the name of Holgard. It’s to the south and in terms of existence, it’s only a little older than you are.

It was founded by a noble from the Delantium Kingdom. Originally it was most likely supposed to be some sort of outpost or colony for the DK. But whatever the original intent, the noble soon set himself up as absolute ruler with no ties to the kingdom at all.

For whatever reason, the DK hasn’t taken any action against him, whether that’s because the cost wouldn’t be worth it, they’ve got more important things to deal with or they’re simply glad to have him gone is unknown. The third possibility isn’t entirely out of the question either, since you’ve overheard travelling merchants say that Baron Varsakken is a very unlikable man and it’s amazing he hasn’t suffered any assassination attempts. His children are apparently little better.

Still, you’ve also heard the place is filled with corruption so it would probably be a better place to do your work than Klyton.
> You holgard
From what little you know of Holgard, it sounds more like a city you could thrive in. The first problem is going to be getting there though. Holgard is still located in a wilder region of the land so road maintenance isn’t always an option due to marauding monsters or bandits. In fact it might not even be safe to stay on the road.

In any case it’s a ways there, so you get on with it.

Your couple of days of travel are uneventful. Just you and an empty road. When night falls you always get off the road and attempt to find a safe place to sleep in the trees nearby. Though you never really sleep easily and are constantly waking up at various sounds.

Third day is a little different as you hear the clopping of horses behind you. At first you get concerned that someone from Teckleville is galloping your way, but a quick glance shows it’s just a merchant caravan. A fairly big one too since you see several men on horseback along with a carriage and large wagon behind it.

An idea comes to you and you wait for the caravan to reach your location. It gets a little closer and then stops completely. A couple of the men on horseback speak to someone in the carriage and then both of those men ride out to meet you. Both of them are carrying crossbows and wearing full plate mail. No insignia though so they’re probably mercenaries.

“Hey you! What are you doing?” one asks.
“I was waiting for your caravan.” You answer.
“Yeah? For what purpose?”
“Depends. What are you guys selling?”
“Nothing to the likes of you. You don’t look like you could afford it anyway.”
“I can’t even look?”
“No. In fact you’re acting really fucking suspicious just waiting around on the road like this. I’m warning you right now that if this some sort of ambush tactic, you and your bandit buddies are far from equipped to take us on. And I can guarantee YOU are going to be the first one to die.” One mercenary says as he points his crossbow at you.

You slightly raise your arms a bit.

“Hold on! I’m no bandit! I’m just a traveller a bit down on his luck. I know this road is dangerous, I was just wondering maybe if I could travel with you guys, you’re going to Holgard right?”
“No, we’re hired to protect that caravan, not baby sit every stranger along the way.”
“You wouldn’t be baby sitting me! I know how to fight, its just safety in numbers. I mean if we run into any trouble I’ll even help. I’m not asking to get paid either.”

The mercenaries both glance at each other and don’t look too enticed by your offer, but fortunately they aren’t entirely calling the shots.

“Hold on, we’ll have to ask the boss first.” One says and then they both gallop back to the carriage. You don’t wait long before they return.

“Okay son, the boss says you can travel with us, in fact he says you can ride with him in the carriage.” The mercenary says.
“Wow, really? Well I wasn’t expecting that. Awfully nice of him.”
“Yeah…nice. (snort)” the merc says with a slight grin. The other merc chuckles a bit as well and you follow the pair of them back.

The closer you get to the carriage; you see that it’s pretty ornate looking. Obviously the merchant who owns this one is very wealthy. When you finally enter the carriage it’s even more luxurious inside. Soft fur lines the seat, the curtains covering the windows are silk and the carriage floor and ceiling are gold plated. A perfumed smell also fills interior.

And to your left, is where you see the owner sitting. He’s a grossly fat berk dressed in fancy colorful clothing and a couple of jeweled rings on his fingers. He smiles in your direction denoting friendliness, but he’s looking at you in a way that…well you aren’t used to.

“Well hello my dear boy. When they told me there was a young boy out on this ghastly road by himself, I knew I had to provide help. However, their description of you doesn’t do you justice. You are certainly are very fit and firm looking.” He says staring you up and down.

Now you know why the mercs were smirking earlier.

You sit down across from him and he tells his driver to get on their way before turning his attention completely to you.

“So, what a fine lad like you doing on this road by himself? Don’t you know there are bandits and worse about?” the merchant asks.
“Yeah, but it’s the only way I know to Holgard.” You say
“Well still. A boy like you should be careful. These bandits are terrible brutes. They don’t just rob people, they usually kill them too. Sometimes they do even worse things. Why I shudder to think what they’d do to a handsome lad like yourself. You’d find yourself stripped, beaten and violated several times over before they finally slit your throat…and then perhaps violated repeatedly again…I mean who could stop them if they caught you all alone?”
“Nobody I guess.”
“Exactly. But we needn’t dwell on such morbid situations now. You are safe with me and I shall make sure no harm will come to your…body…”

The merchant licks his lips as he stares at you and it is at this moment you think you now have a general idea of how your sister and Annah must have felt when they had merchants fawning all over them.

Fortunately, the merchant doesn’t press whatever unnatural lust he has for you and proceeds to just speak about himself. He mentions his name Graham Oren famous wine merchant (Or at least he thinks he’s famous) and that he’s coming from the Delantium Kingdom to do a bit of business in Holgard. You’re a little disappointed since you were hoping to rip the caravan off in some way, but knowing he’s just hauling wine casks makes stealing those large wooden things a little difficult to do.

He goes on to say that normally he wouldn’t bother to travel to the doomed city, but sometimes an in person presence is required to appease certain clients.

“Doomed city? Why do you say that?” you ask.
“I’m guessing you don’t keep up on politics, m’boy, but then why would someone like you really need to, but yes the city is doomed. The Baron’s days are numbered. Honestly it must only be by Yag’s luck that he’s survived as long as he has.”
“Is the Delantium Kingdom coming to take back the city?”

Graham looks a little impressed by your basic knowledge of the political landscape.

“Well…it would seem you are just full of surprises and here I was thinking you were just another pretty face. But to answer your question, I do believe they have their sights on it, but not necessarily through force. Something about annexing it peacefully so they don’t have to waste the manpower. Probably through the help of one of his children, but given how treacherous they all are, that’s not necessarily a certainty. Still, whether they take it or not, the Baron himself is going to be out of the picture soon. There is a growing discontent in the air by every faction and everyone that has an agenda there. He can’t possibly keep control for much longer.”

Well that’s a bit of interesting information about the city, though a bit concerning. You wonder if you’re going to find yourself in the middle of a citywide revolt when you get to Holgard.

While you’re pondering that possibility, Graham begins speaking again.

“But enough about these things. Let us talk more about you…” Graham says leaning his girth towards you and being bold enough now to put his hand on your leg, which you immediately pull away.

“Look, I don’t like being fucking touched and I’m not fucking interested.”
“Oh come on, don’t be like that. You knew what you were getting into when you entered this carriage.” Graham remarks and tries to touch your leg again.
“I’m serious, don’t do that again.”
“Or what? You’ll leave? What if I don’t let you?” Graham remarks and then reveals a decorative and strange looking pistol with multiple barrels. Firearms aren’t common and you’ve only ever seen your grandfather’s old non-working troll gun hanging up in your house, but it’s obvious that this fat bastard is rich enough to have some sort of custom made one.

It’s enough to make you freeze up, but you maintain a cool head and don’t panic.

“That’s right little lamb, you’re going to stay right here and…”

Suddenly a lot of noise and shouting can be heard from outside and one of the mercs rides up to the window.

“Sir! Stay inside! We’re being attacked!” he shouts

This is enough time to distract Graham and allowing you to act.
> You run out of the carriage
Only having escape in your mind, you attempt to rush out of the carriage, unfortunately you’re not quite quick enough opening up the door and Graham fires his pistol at you.

You feel a hot burn on the right side of your head before you tumble out of the carriage. It takes you a moment to actually realize you haven’t suffered a fatal wound, but only a “graze” that’s taken off your right ear and skin.

Your vision is blurry, you feel dizzy, your head is in pain and ringing and the rest of your body isn’t doing much better since you fell pretty hard and twisted your ankle. To top it all off there is a skirmish going on around you.

You barely manage to stand yourself up and you nearly fall over several times as you hold your head and try to get out danger. Blood covers one side of your face and you can still feel some of it dripping from the hole where your ear used to be.

With a muted ring still going on in your head, you don’t hear the sound of a run away horse galloping your way. You’re trampled by the beast and feel the full weight of its hooves stepping on you and crushing some of your ribs in the process.

Now nearly crippled, you don’t even have the strength to get up again, but it hardly matters since one bandit who was sneaking about and trying to avoid the heavier fighting notices that you’re still breathing.

He of course has no problem in finishing off a target that can’t fight back.