Year 35

Talking to two Syndicate representatives isn’t exactly what you want to be doing right now, but this day was coming one way or another.

The well-dressed man with a thin mustache is Percy and has been the more talkative of the two. The other by the name of Toz is some sort of greenskin halfbreed also well dressed. Probably of orc heritage since he’s much bigger than Warts was. He also doesn’t talk much and mainly just stands around looking intimidating.

Unsurprisingly the pair of them have shadow magic powers. However you anticipated that which why you had Grayhaze enchant something that would at least even up the odds. A ring. Not quite an anti-magic field, but something to dull the shadow magic around you.

Probably wouldn’t be enough to stop them if they really wanted to kill you, but along with all your more mundane security, it’s enough to give them pause if they tried. However if that were the intent, you probably wouldn’t be having a conversation at all.

“I have to say, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when the Syndicate sent me here, but I am a little impressed with what your organization has accomplished in such a short amount of time. You certainly have not just carved out this little island for yourself, but much of sea paths on this side of the world. You’re practically like your own nation.” Percy remarks.
“Never thought about it that way, but I suppose you might be right. I also suppose I should be wondering if the Delantium Kingdom will be declaring war on me to put an outpost here.” You say with a mild chuckle.
“I believe they have their hands quite full still with Nichan, though I hear you’re starting to have more trouble with Hessla nowadays. I imagine you would be major competition for their once near monopoly on business for this part of the world.”
“Hm, I guess you could say relations are strained with Hessla, but we offered them a fair deal. Their Governor is the one that decided to be greedy and reject it. His unwillingness to embrace in a positive manner change is what is causing people to do less business there. He probably fears that I’m going to come there with a fleet and take his city like I did with Jicol, but it’s not even the same situation. The Nocturnal League doesn’t seek to expand past our reach. This island is more than enough territory for us.”
“They say it’s a wise man who knows his limitations. Perhaps by making your home in an old temple once dedicated to Fel has resulted in him providing that wisdom. Ah, tis a shame that the Syndicate only just started sending people this way. Reclaiming a lost temple to his great shadow would have been not just a boon to the Syndicate, but to the glory of Fel.”

You always hate how intertwined the Syndicate is with the whole Fel religion. Makes dealing with them always uncertain. Are they interested in profit or are they interested in spreading faith?

“Oh well, the Syndicate’s loss for being too slow when opportunity called I suppose. Doesn’t happen often, but we hope to correct that by hopefully having a working relationship with your organization.” Percy remarks.
“Well I certainly want an amicable relationship with the Syndicate and as I said, I have no intention on expanding into your territory.”
“Yes, so you’ve said. However, your island is becoming very popular in terms of the slave trade. It’s just one of the big reason why Hessla is so angry with you. The Syndicate has never relied on the slave trade as our main source of income, indeed for whatever reason it’s just never been a cornerstone. One of the few things we’re just dabblers in. We’re trying again however, and while Hessla in the past has always been a stubborn partner in such thing in the past, we’re hoping the League’s rising status in this part of the world will be more open in such matters.”
“So basically what you’re saying is instead of you having to deal with independent slavers all the time, you want to just deal with us.”
‘We find that it’s always better to deal with a single reliable source rather than all these unwashed disorganized types. We would of course bring our own ship here for pick up. Also we’ve notice that the drug of choice here on this island is either Green Lotus or that very poor substitute of Blue Dream, Purple Wish. As part of our new arrangement we could provide Blue Dream for you to distribute here. Makes a lot of money, we should know after all.”

And here it is, the Syndicate trying to get their foot just enough in the door.

“Yes, I suppose you’ve given me a lot to think about as far as business is concerned.” You say.
“Oh sure, we understand. We’re going to be in Jicol for awhile so we can sort out details then. Honestly, I’d prefer to stay here in Nightfall closer to the temple, but Toz here is a little on the paranoid side and doesn’t wish to sleep in the heart of… let’s just say, an unproven ally’s home, but I’m sure that will change soon! Besides, Fel’s shadow is everywhere after all and his dark blessing is with his faithful always.” Percy remarks.

At this point Percy says a few more pleasantries and then remarks about looking forward to the meeting with you in a few days. Toz on the other hand just stares at you with the typical hostile greenskin eyes and follows Percy.

After they leave, several of your people escort them out of the room and anyone else left, seems to relax slightly.

“So that’s the average Syndicate member, boss?” Marco asks.
“Not the average. They wouldn’t send their average. They send their more threatening to talk to someone like me. They also sent an extra one, which I guess means I’m really special. Lucky me.” You say.
“So you think we should just kill them?”
“Ideally that would be the safest move in the short term, but not in the long term and if we are going to war with them, I’d like to be sure that it’s necessary. So far they haven’t given any indication that they’re planning anything other than an aggressive business exchange that would have them visiting here on occasion…which granted could lead to problems in the future. In any case, we’ll wait for now.”

You tell Marco to keep everyone extra alert while the Syndicate is visiting and then go see Vera who is down in the slave den as usual. Right now she’s speaking with one of her overseers.

“What the hell have you been doing with these elves, Halford? They look like shit and nobody wants elven bitches that look like shit, they want them to look like they just came out of the fairy kingdom farting rainbows and sunshine.” Vera remarks.
“Apologies Countess, some of the new recruits thought to take advantage of a few of them last night. They’ve already been dealt with, even sold the ringleader this morning.” Halford replies.
“Hrm, well release the rest then, and remind them that these slaves are not their personal fuck toys unless they’re actually going to be paying for them out of pocket. As for these elves, well have them cleaned as much as you can and hopefully some of the buyers aren’t picky about bruises.”

Halford nods and complies with Vera’s orders and as he’s leaving he also nods in respect to you.

“I see you weren’t joking about wanting to be called countess.” you remark.
“Well we do run an entire island, seems perfectly reasonable to declare ourselves the rulers of it.” Vera says.
“True, though interesting you’ve picked a royal title though.”
“Well I don’t know about you, but a title like governor or mayor doesn’t sound nearly as impressive. Besides if you remember I do have royal blood in my veins.”
“Ah yes. Your father may have been the late Baron Varsakken. Still, even if true, you’ve given yourself the title of countess rather than baroness.”
“Well unlike the rest of that Varsakken clan, I’m actually in control of an entire island rather than just a city. I think that calls for a higher title status.”
“Heh, well why not queen then?”
“Too predictable and self-important. I’m still grounded enough to know who and what I am.”
“Well glad to see you’re staying grounded. Where is Kol?”
“He’s studying from that book you got him in my office and Layla is watching him.”

You shake your head especially since this seems very familiar.

“I know you spoke to me about this before, but I’m not convinced having a slave looking after our son is the best idea.”
“Well you said, you had to meet with those ECS assholes and didn’t want Kol around during that. And I couldn’t supervise Kol’s studies. This isn’t like Gertrude, Layla was from some well to do family that Elias’ crew apparently slaughtered on a transport ship. From the moment she was brought here she’s basically been willing to do anything from getting sold as a fuck hole to some rich pervert or something similar.”
“Sort of surprised Elias didn’t use her as a personal fuck hole if he was the one that brought her here.”
“Elias likes dick.”
“Really? Huh, didn’t know that. Well anyway, compliant frightened slave girl or not, I’m wary about this.”
“Fine, if you’re that concerned they’re in the next room, you go speak with them both and get a feel for her. And when I say feel, I don’t mean fucking her.”
“What?”
“Oh relax. I know you aren’t really going to fuck her! She’s a slave after all not royalty like me. She is very pretty though and the image of fucking her is probably going to pass through your mind. I’ll be expecting you to lay it down really good tonight.”
“Uh…okay…”
“In any case, as I said speak with her yourself and if you still don’t think she’s a suitable sitter then we can sell her ass. Anyway tell me about your meeting with the ECS afterwards, I’ll be free soon. Just have to check on one more slave shipment.”

Vera kisses you goodbye and heads off to the next group of cages while you head to her office.

Upon opening the door, you see your son fidgeting in his seat his in front of his spell book. He looks up and over at you before quickly returning to his book. Glad to see he knows that you really want him to focus on his studies.

The girl who you’re guessing is Layla doesn’t look that old. She looks to be in her late teens and is probably from some far off land given her darker complexion and some of her facial features. She’s also still dressed in clothing that doesn’t match her current slave status. (At least for most of them around here)

Vera was right though, she is pretty.

“Um, you’re the Count right?” Layla utters.
“Count? Oh. Right, Vera, Countess, whatever. No, unlike my wife, I see no need for formal titles. You’re my son’s new sitter from what she’s told me.”
“Yes, I have been doing my best in seeing to it that Kol here is practicing his…erm, shadow magic.”
“Can I play with my shadow creatures dad?” Kol asks.
“Has it been three hours yet?”
“I don’t know…”
“You know that it hasn’t. You have to learn other magic, not just the shadow stuff even if you find it easier. Layla, has he been practicing?” you ask, while Kol goes back to his book.
“Um, yes I think so.”
“You think so? Either he has or hasn’t.”
“Erm, I just mean I don’t know much about this magic stuff. I’ve just been making sure he’s been reading this book. I did see him create a small ball of light briefly though.”
“Hm, okay. So Layla, do you have any other family? I mean besides the ones that those pirates killed?”
“Yes, I have an uncle back in Harazan.”
“Where the hell is that?”
“Far to the south and west.”
“He rich?”
“I imagine he is now. He’s wanted my father’s business and fortune for years. With everyone dead, and me stuck here, he’s next in line to get everything.”
“I’m guessing he won’t be looking for you anytime soon.”
“…no…” Layla says looking downward.
“So tell me Layla, what is your plan?”
“My plan?”
“Yes, I mean surely you’re not content on being a slave. Who would be? And I can tell even in your less than perfect condition, you obviously came from wealth. You certainly look more royal than my wife. You’re probably at least of noble birth. In any case, you are definitely not cut out to be a slave of any kind.”
“What you say is partly true I suppose. I very much would not like to be a slave, but I fear I have little choice in the matter. I was raised…not sheltered, but very much protected. I don’t have many skills that would be of practical use. I suppose its of some blessing that the pirate captain who spared me saw me as fetching a good price rather than to be something passed around by his crew.”
“Hm, Yag certainly threw a seven for you.”
“Your wife probably would have sold me until I noticed how she was struggling with looking after your son while conducting her business. I quickly begged to help her by explaining I looked after my own little brother many times. I’m still not sure how I convinced her, but here we are.”
“Yes, here we are.”
“If you’re concerned that I’m plotting to escape, I’m not sure how I could without you knowing and I do not believe I’d make it very far. I fear that this is my life now and can only hope that you and your wife are merciful masters.”
“You’re surprisingly resigned and calm about all this.”
“I have already mourned over my family and continue to do so in the night when I cry myself to sleep. However, it is said that Ahamed has a reason for every event. I am hoping that I might see and understand this one and from there gain greater wisdom. My own family owned a few slaves for basic tasks, perhaps I am to learn how they felt.”
“Ahamed?”
“Yes, he who burns brighter than the sun and shows the way of peace.”
“Oh, a god.”
“The only true god.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that one before, just not that particular one. Great. Well at least you aren’t a Felian I guess.”
“Did you say Fel?”
“Felian, followers of Fel, god of shadows.”
“Are you a worshipper of this…god?”
“No. I just said I was glad that you weren’t, why the hell would I be?”
“Oh, because your son was telling me before you came in that this Fel was speaking with him and…”

Your eyes immediately widen and your whole body tenses up.

“WHAT?!” you exclaim causing Layla to cringe in her chair, but your attention is towards Kol. You immediately start interrogating the boy and her.

After five minutes Kol and Layla are both in tears from your demanding questioning, however you have learned a few things.

Apparently Kol’s medallion has been coming off in the middle the night and for the past week Fel has been speaking to Kol. Not to a great extent, but he’s definitely been visiting your son and remarking about how great shadow magic is compared to all other forms of magic. He’s also been trying to convince Kol of keeping the medallion off as soon as he goes to sleep.

However the most alarming part is Fel asking your son if he would like to go be with Felians as he could see to it that they treat him very well. He even mentions possibly having agents that would come get him.

Now you’re wondering if this means Percy and the other one are here to take away your son…or is Fel referring to other agents that he hasn’t sent yet?

Kol was apparently afraid to tell you or Vera this since he thought you’d both be angry, but he opened up to Layla since she seemed nice. Meanwhile your mind is racing on how to handle all this.
> You gather more information first
Again, if you’re going to move to make war on the ECS, you’re going to be absolutely sure. Also you’ve now just upset your son and while this is very serious, you might need to employ less aggressive tactics.

“Alright, alright, Kol. I’m not mad. Calm down. In fact, you calm down as well, you’re not getting sold anytime soon Layla.” You say addressing the both of them.

The pair of the them begin to calm down and cease crying while you’re coming up with a risky idea.

“Dad, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you or mom. I’ll make sure the medallion is around my neck good.” Kol says.
“Actually might be time to get you a ring, however maybe not right away. Tell me more about Fel son. How is he exactly towards you? Does he scare you?” you ask.
“Um, he’s kinda scary. I’ve never seen him. It’s just like…I dunno…a voice. It’s loud, but it’s like whispery. I don’t know if he means to be scary though.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s not mean to me. He just talks to me. It’s just really dark and his voice is creepy and that’s scary. He says he wants to be my friend.”
“Hmm, do you talk to him back?”
“Yes, I asked him if he had a mom and dad, but he just laughed and said a god has no parents. I asked him if he had any friends, and he said he just had followers in places like this temple, but said they weren’t nearly as amusing as you and mom.”
“Amusing? Why does Fel find us so amusing?”
“Um, he said he thinks what you did with the temple is a lot more fun than his other temples because of all those people you put in cages.”
“I see. Glad we could entertain I guess.”
“Fel also says that he wishes he could speak to me more often.”
“And I’ll just bet he wants you to go to sleep without the medallion. Tell you what, when you go to sleep tonight don’t wear the medallion.”
“Really?”
“Yes, you have my permission, however, and this is very important. When you talk to Fel tonight, I want you to ask him who is going to take you away so you know what they look like.”
“But dad I don’t want to go away! I want to stay here with you and mom! Honest!”
“Yes, I know son and I won’t let anyone take you away. But this is just pretend and I want you to ask Fel anyway okay?”
“Okay.”
“Kol, I think that’s been enough studying for today, you can go play. Don’t forget to put away your spell book though.”

Kol nods and runs off with his book.

“Hope I know what the hell I’m doing.” You mutter to yourself before turning your attention to Layla who is still sitting quietly and wondering what you’re going to do next.

“I trust you know to keep your mouth shut about this.” You say to Layla.
“Yes, of course! Who would I even tell? I don’t even understand what exactly is going on.” Layla remarks.
“I dunno, you might talk casually with your fellow slaves.”
“I’m not exactly friends with anyone here. Ever since your wife had me looking after your son, she keeps me isolated from the rest of the slaves. If anything they probably dislike me more for having better living conditions. Sir, I swear to Ahmed I will not say anything you say or do if you don’t wish it. My situation is very dire compared to my previous life, but I certainly don’t want it to get any worse by angering you or your wife.”
“Hm, well see that you continue with that line of thinking. In any case, you can go tell my wife that I want to talk with her and that you’ll do as a sitter for Kol when needed. At least until further notice.”
“Very well.” Layla remarks obediently and leaves.

You wait for Vera still pondering your decision. When Vera arrives and you explain everything, she of course has her own strong opinions on it.

“What?! After everything you said and did to prevent Fel from contacting Kol, you’re now saying it’s perfectly fine?” Vera remarks.
“No! That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying…gah…look it’s already happening and unfortunately it’s probably going to happen from time to time anyway. Even if I get that enchanted ring for Kol, I can almost guarantee he’s going to take it off at some point when we aren’t around. Maybe he’ll be curious, maybe he’ll be pissed and do it to spite us. I’m already envisioning what a problem he’s going to potentially be when he gets older what with his magic abilities. I’m just thinking that MAYBE restricting him too much is an exercise in failure. I know it obviously was with my parents.” You say.
“Okay, I get what you mean on that, but this plan of yours still seems pretty dangerous. Not only are we risking war with the ECS, the Felians, but the god itself.”
“Might as well go big. If Kol is going to speak with Fel, we might as well try to use it to our benefit. According to Kol, Fel finds what we’ve done with the temple to be amusing, so we can’t be completely on his bad side. Look, I’m going to speak with Kol again before he goes to bed and really, this isn’t going to be a regular thing. If Kol gets the information he needs, then the enchanted medallion or ring when I get it is going right back on the next time he sleeps.”

Vera has a bit of apprehension in the eyes, but as usual she tend to side with your decision, which is good since you don’t need to be second guessing yourself anymore than you already are in your head.

Later that night when Kol goes to bed, you and Vera both speak with him and say generally positive things to him. You also go on about the plan and to remember that no matter what Fel says, he will never love Kol as much as you and Vera will.

This seems to put the Kol at ease and he goes to sleep fairly quickly. You and Vera however definitely don’t that night. The pair of you can’t sleep so you both engage in the usual intimate pastime, but after that fails to completely distract you, you both go check on Kol, who is actually sleeping pretty soundly.

The pair of you watch over him for some time, though eventually you start getting a little restless and tell Vera you’re going to get some work accomplished. Vera however, insists on staying with Kol.

When morning arrives, you’re still awake and you check on Kol, and find that Vera has fallen asleep in a chair next to Kol, who is still sleeping. Your arrival wakes her up though.

“Wha? You’re back. How long was I asleep?” Vera asks rubbing her eyes.
“I dunno, this is the first time I’ve checked on you both.

You son wakes up hearing both your voices.

“Mom? Dad? What are you both doing in my room?” he asks.

You immediately ask him how did he sleep and about his dreams. Naturally the boy is still groggy, but he soon answers your questions since he thankfully remembers his conversation with Fel who did indeed visit him.

Kol tells you that he asked Fel about being taken away by Fel’s agents, to which he asked further questions if he was sure that was what he wanted and why. Kol tells you he didn’t really know how to answer other than “I don’t know”

You grimace a bit, thinking that this plan of yours probably didn’t work, but apparently Fel indulged the boy anyway explaining the benefits of such a thing, oddly he also explained the benefits of staying here too. Then he told Kol that if he was really serious, he should contact a well dressed man with a thin mustache and he will be able to get him off the island before anyone figures it out since he knows what to do already.

The description already sounds like Percy.

“Kol, is that the only agent that Fel described to you? Didn’t say anything about an orc?” you ask.
“No dad. Just the man.” Kol says.
“That’s odd. Wouldn’t he have sent both of them?” Vera remarks.
“Have no idea. I can’t know the mind of a god. For all we know he could be lying about everything.” You say.
“Should we really start second guessing ourselves? I mean wasn’t the whole plan to learn this information and act on it?”
“Yes, but…argh…this is really…fuck it, let’s do this. I want those two summoned back here and tell them I’m ready to talk about a deal. I also want you to take Kol away from here and go to the armory or something with several of our best and wait until this is over.”
“Do you really think you need to handle this directly? I mean we’ve got several people; surely it would be just a simple matter of having one of them sneakily pop them in the back of the head with a single shot. Or shit, we could just send a bunch of people to overwhelm them right now where they’re staying. I mean it just seems safer for all of us.”

Vera might have a point, though part of you finds this pretty personal enough that you’d rather take care of this directly.

“I…I don’t want to leave you guys. I want to stay here.” Your son suddenly says.
“You will son. You win.” You answer reassuringly. “We’re not taking any chances with them somehow escaping, I want to see this done right. I’m going to have enough people with me that the odds are going to be heavily in my favor though.”

Vera reluctantly agrees to your plan, though she says she’d prefer to just ambush the pair of them.

You set things in motion and have some of your people go fetch the ECS reps. You aren’t exactly sure how this is going to play out, but you put on extra body armor and armed yourself with a couple extra blades and pistols and have Marco and everyone that’s going to be with you do likewise.

Honestly, you aren’t sure how good your ring is going to be, but you hope it’s good enough to keep you alive. If nothing else, they aren’t surviving this.

Time passes and eventually Percy and Toz arrive. Percy looks as jovial as he has since he got here, while Toz looks about as grim serious as he always has. You still aren’t sure what to do about him. Fel didn’t mention him, but you can’t imagine that you aren’t going to have to kill him as well.

Looks like you’ll be going to war with the ECS and you’ll be firing the first shot. Really wish you could have avoided this, but that’s no other way.

Percy looks at his surroundings and with a smile he begins to speak.

“I’m getting the impression, you don’t want to talk about a deal with the Syndicate after all.” Percy says, which causes Toz to immediately stand a little straighter and the rest of your people to put their hands to their weapons.

You don’t even bother to make the pretense and pull your pistol immediately and point it at Percy. Percy doesn’t seem bothered though and even puts his hand on Toz to keep him from attacking.

“You realize you’re killing yourself right? And I don’t mean starting a war with the Syndicate, because you aren’t going to live to see that anyway. Even with your advantage and weak anti-magic ring, I…WE have more than enough power and skill to overcome what’s just in this room. True, we probably won’t survive, but we’ll do enough damage to this entire place that when our absence is noticed, the Syndicate WILL assume the worst and send people to mop up what’s left. Terrible way to do business.” Percy says.
“That’s a possibility I considered long before you ever showed up. However, this isn’t business. This is personal.” You remark.
“Oh? Interesting. Have I offended you directly in some way? Perhaps Toz here has? I know he’s a little on the impersonal side, but…”
“Cut the shit. You’re here to steal my son. You know about him and you’re here to take him to back to your main temple. Not happening.”

Percy seems surprised to hear you accuse him of this, but he soon returns to his smiling self. Toz on the other hand is showing a stone face looking like he really wants to get on with the fighting.

“Alright. Well, I can see this IS personal. On both sides. I mean I can’t very well disobey a direct order from my god can I? I can only guess you must have found this out from your son who is also in contact with our shadowy lord. I wouldn’t expect a godless heathen like you to understand, but if Fel is speaking to the boy then that only PROVES that he’s destined for greatness! Think of it, your son is one of Fel’s chosen! Surely you want what’s best for your son. No harm would come to him.” Percy says.
“You seriously expect me to just hand him over?” you ask.
“Yes! Because it’s your ONLY logical move. I am willing to forget all this as…an over protective parent outburst. Completely understandable. I will even work out a better deal between you and the Syndicate. Your son will no doubt rise in the ranks of our order. Just think, YOU will have a powerful ally on the inside, close to the Temple of Fel in the years to come. If you ever have trouble with the Syndicate, you will able to get support from our order to smooth anything over. It seems like a winning situation for all of us.”
“Perhaps, but that’s still not happening.”

Finished with talking, you open fire and nearly instantly you feel like everything is slowing down in front of you. You see your first bullet actually hanging in the air and then Percy moving to the left. What torchlight there was in the room, goes out completely.

You begin swearing and shouting orders, desperately trying to adjust your eyes to the darkness. You already hear noises of men being killed and unfortunately they sound like yours.

All you can make out is a bunch of dark figures struggling with each other.

You suppose you could just fire blindly and hope you get them or maybe try to retreat out the exit where there is more light.
> You fire
You’re probably going to hit some of your own people, but oh well.

You fire the remainder of your shots and from the sound of things you probably hit at least a couple people. The problem is you can’t be sure who so you take this opportunity to head towards the nearest exit and at least get to a better lit area.

The entire temple to on alert anyway, so you should be getting reinforcements soon. While your ring might not seem like it’s helping, you’re actually moving at your own speed rather than suffering from whatever slow effects that were cast.

Unfortunately for you, not fast enough as you feel several sharp objects go into your back before you even make it out the room. You fall to the floor face first and then attempt to crawl towards the better-lit corridor, but the last thing you hear is Percy whispering

“Could have settled this a lot easier, but take solace that your bad choices will not affect your son.”

Then he slits your throat.


Again, if you’re going to move to make war on the ECS, you’re going to be absolutely sure. Also you’ve now just upset your son and while this is very serious, you might need to employ less aggressive tactics.

“Alright, alright, Kol. I’m not mad. Calm down. In fact, you calm down as well, you’re not getting sold anytime soon Layla.” You say addressing the both of them.

The pair of the them begin to calm down and cease crying while you’re coming up with a risky idea.

“Dad, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you or mom. I’ll make sure the medallion is around my neck good.” Kol says.
“Actually might be time to get you a ring, however maybe not right away. Tell me more about Fel son. How is he exactly towards you? Does he scare you?” you ask.
“Um, he’s kinda scary. I’ve never seen him. It’s just like…I dunno…a voice. It’s loud, but it’s like whispery. I don’t know if he means to be scary though.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s not mean to me. He just talks to me. It’s just really dark and his voice is creepy and that’s scary. He says he wants to be my friend.”
“Hmm, do you talk to him back?”
“Yes, I asked him if he had a mom and dad, but he just laughed and said a god has no parents. I asked him if he had any friends, and he said he just had followers in places like this temple, but said they weren’t nearly as amusing as you and mom.”
“Amusing? Why does Fel find us so amusing?”
“Um, he said he thinks what you did with the temple is a lot more fun than his other temples because of all those people you put in cages.”
“I see. Glad we could entertain I guess.”
“Fel also says that he wishes he could speak to me more often.”
“And I’ll just bet he wants you to go to sleep without the medallion. Tell you what, when you go to sleep tonight don’t wear the medallion.”
“Really?”
“Yes, you have my permission, however, and this is very important. When you talk to Fel tonight, I want you to ask him who is going to take you away so you know what they look like.”
“But dad I don’t want to go away! I want to stay here with you and mom! Honest!”
“Yes, I know son and I won’t let anyone take you away. But this is just pretend and I want you to ask Fel anyway okay?”
“Okay.”
“Kol, I think that’s been enough studying for today, you can go play. Don’t forget to put away your spell book though.”

Kol nods and runs off with his book.

“Hope I know what the hell I’m doing.” You mutter to yourself before turning your attention to Layla who is still sitting quietly and wondering what you’re going to do next.

“I trust you know to keep your mouth shut about this.” You say to Layla.
“Yes, of course! Who would I even tell? I don’t even understand what exactly is going on.” Layla remarks.
“I dunno, you might talk casually with your fellow slaves.”
“I’m not exactly friends with anyone here. Ever since your wife had me looking after your son, she keeps me isolated from the rest of the slaves. If anything they probably dislike me more for having better living conditions. Sir, I swear to Ahmed I will not say anything you say or do if you don’t wish it. My situation is very dire compared to my previous life, but I certainly don’t want it to get any worse by angering you or your wife.”
“Hm, well see that you continue with that line of thinking. In any case, you can go tell my wife that I want to talk with her and that you’ll do as a sitter for Kol when needed. At least until further notice.”
“Very well.” Layla remarks obediently and leaves.

You wait for Vera still pondering your decision. When Vera arrives and you explain everything, she of course has her own strong opinions on it.

“What?! After everything you said and did to prevent Fel from contacting Kol, you’re now saying it’s perfectly fine?” Vera remarks.
“No! That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying…gah…look it’s already happening and unfortunately it’s probably going to happen from time to time anyway. Even if I get that enchanted ring for Kol, I can almost guarantee he’s going to take it off at some point when we aren’t around. Maybe he’ll be curious, maybe he’ll be pissed and do it to spite us. I’m already envisioning what a problem he’s going to potentially be when he gets older what with his magic abilities. I’m just thinking that MAYBE restricting him too much is an exercise in failure. I know it obviously was with my parents.” You say.
“Okay, I get what you mean on that, but this plan of yours still seems pretty dangerous. Not only are we risking war with the ECS, the Felians, but the god itself.”
“Might as well go big. If Kol is going to speak with Fel, we might as well try to use it to our benefit. According to Kol, Fel finds what we’ve done with the temple to be amusing, so we can’t be completely on his bad side. Look, I’m going to speak with Kol again before he goes to bed and really, this isn’t going to be a regular thing. If Kol gets the information he needs, then the enchanted medallion or ring when I get it is going right back on the next time he sleeps.”

Vera has a bit of apprehension in the eyes, but as usual she tend to side with your decision, which is good since you don’t need to be second guessing yourself anymore than you already are in your head.

Later that night when Kol goes to bed, you and Vera both speak with him and say generally positive things to him. You also go on about the plan and to remember that no matter what Fel says, he will never love Kol as much as you and Vera will.

This seems to put the Kol at ease and he goes to sleep fairly quickly. You and Vera however definitely don’t that night. The pair of you can’t sleep so you both engage in the usual intimate pastime, but after that fails to completely distract you, you both go check on Kol, who is actually sleeping pretty soundly.

The pair of you watch over him for some time, though eventually you start getting a little restless and tell Vera you’re going to get some work accomplished. Vera however, insists on staying with Kol.

When morning arrives, you’re still awake and you check on Kol, and find that Vera has fallen asleep in a chair next to Kol, who is still sleeping. Your arrival wakes her up though.

“Wha? You’re back. How long was I asleep?” Vera asks rubbing her eyes.
“I dunno, this is the first time I’ve checked on you both.

You son wakes up hearing both your voices.

“Mom? Dad? What are you both doing in my room?” he asks.

You immediately ask him how did he sleep and about his dreams. Naturally the boy is still groggy, but he soon answers your questions since he thankfully remembers his conversation with Fel who did indeed visit him.

Kol tells you that he asked Fel about being taken away by Fel’s agents, to which he asked further questions if he was sure that was what he wanted and why. Kol tells you he didn’t really know how to answer other than “I don’t know”

You grimace a bit, thinking that this plan of yours probably didn’t work, but apparently Fel indulged the boy anyway explaining the benefits of such a thing, oddly he also explained the benefits of staying here too. Then he told Kol that if he was really serious, he should contact a well dressed man with a thin mustache and he will be able to get him off the island before anyone figures it out since he knows what to do already.

The description already sounds like Percy.

“Kol, is that the only agent that Fel described to you? Didn’t say anything about an orc?” you ask.
“No dad. Just the man.” Kol says.
“That’s odd. Wouldn’t he have sent both of them?” Vera remarks.
“Have no idea. I can’t know the mind of a god. For all we know he could be lying about everything.” You say.
“Should we really start second guessing ourselves? I mean wasn’t the whole plan to learn this information and act on it?”
“Yes, but…argh…this is really…fuck it, let’s do this. I want those two summoned back here and tell them I’m ready to talk about a deal. I also want you to take Kol away from here and go to the armory or something with several of our best and wait until this is over.”
“Do you really think you need to handle this directly? I mean we’ve got several people; surely it would be just a simple matter of having one of them sneakily pop them in the back of the head with a single shot. Or shit, we could just send a bunch of people to overwhelm them right now where they’re staying. I mean it just seems safer for all of us.”

Vera might have a point, though part of you finds this pretty personal enough that you’d rather take care of this directly.

“I…I don’t want to leave you guys. I want to stay here.” Your son suddenly says.
“You will son. You win.” You answer reassuringly. “We’re not taking any chances with them somehow escaping, I want to see this done right. I’m going to have enough people with me that the odds are going to be heavily in my favor though.”

Vera reluctantly agrees to your plan, though she says she’d prefer to just ambush the pair of them.

You set things in motion and have some of your people go fetch the ECS reps. You aren’t exactly sure how this is going to play out, but you put on extra body armor and armed yourself with a couple extra blades and pistols and have Marco and everyone that’s going to be with you do likewise.

Honestly, you aren’t sure how good your ring is going to be, but you hope it’s good enough to keep you alive. If nothing else, they aren’t surviving this.

Time passes and eventually Percy and Toz arrive. Percy looks as jovial as he has since he got here, while Toz looks about as grim serious as he always has. You still aren’t sure what to do about him. Fel didn’t mention him, but you can’t imagine that you aren’t going to have to kill him as well.

Looks like you’ll be going to war with the ECS and you’ll be firing the first shot. Really wish you could have avoided this, but that’s no other way.

Percy looks at his surroundings and with a smile he begins to speak.

“I’m getting the impression, you don’t want to talk about a deal with the Syndicate after all.” Percy says, which causes Toz to immediately stand a little straighter and the rest of your people to put their hands to their weapons.

You don’t even bother to make the pretense and pull your pistol immediately and point it at Percy. Percy doesn’t seem bothered though and even puts his hand on Toz to keep him from attacking.

“You realize you’re killing yourself right? And I don’t mean starting a war with the Syndicate, because you aren’t going to live to see that anyway. Even with your advantage and weak anti-magic ring, I…WE have more than enough power and skill to overcome what’s just in this room. True, we probably won’t survive, but we’ll do enough damage to this entire place that when our absence is noticed, the Syndicate WILL assume the worst and send people to mop up what’s left. Terrible way to do business.” Percy says.
“That’s a possibility I considered long before you ever showed up. However, this isn’t business. This is personal.” You remark.
“Oh? Interesting. Have I offended you directly in some way? Perhaps Toz here has? I know he’s a little on the impersonal side, but…”
“Cut the shit. You’re here to steal my son. You know about him and you’re here to take him to back to your main temple. Not happening.”

Percy seems surprised to hear you accuse him of this, but he soon returns to his smiling self. Toz on the other hand is showing a stone face looking like he really wants to get on with the fighting.

“Alright. Well, I can see this IS personal. On both sides. I mean I can’t very well disobey a direct order from my god can I? I can only guess you must have found this out from your son who is also in contact with our shadowy lord. I wouldn’t expect a godless heathen like you to understand, but if Fel is speaking to the boy then that only PROVES that he’s destined for greatness! Think of it, your son is one of Fel’s chosen! Surely you want what’s best for your son. No harm would come to him.” Percy says.
“You seriously expect me to just hand him over?” you ask.
“Yes! Because it’s your ONLY logical move. I am willing to forget all this as…an over protective parent outburst. Completely understandable. I will even work out a better deal between you and the Syndicate. Your son will no doubt rise in the ranks of our order. Just think, YOU will have a powerful ally on the inside, close to the Temple of Fel in the years to come. If you ever have trouble with the Syndicate, you will able to get support from our order to smooth anything over. It seems like a winning situation for all of us.”
“Perhaps, but that’s still not happening.”

Finished with talking, you open fire and nearly instantly you feel like everything is slowing down in front of you. You see your first bullet actually hanging in the air and then Percy moving to the left. What torchlight there was in the room, goes out completely.

You begin swearing and shouting orders, desperately trying to adjust your eyes to the darkness. You already hear noises of men being killed and unfortunately they sound like yours.

All you can make out is a bunch of dark figures struggling with each other.

You suppose you could just fire blindly and hope you get them or maybe try to retreat out the exit where there is more light.
> You retreat
While your enemies are distracted, you need to get to a better location. The entire temple to on alert anyway, so you should be getting reinforcements soon. While your ring might not seem like it’s helping, you’re actually moving at your own speed rather than suffering from whatever slow effects that were cast.

You run to where you know the closest exit to be and run towards the better-lit corridor. Already several of your people are heading in your direction.

“The fuckers are in there and…SHIT!”

The torches go out leaving you in complete darkness again. You instinctively duck down and sure enough you hear the whizzing of several things, followed by the gurgling of the men near you in the corridor. One of them falls on you as you try to fire blindly in the dark towards the direction behind you.

Other footsteps run off, retreating from your position and you’re about to do the same when you suddenly feel a strong grip on your wrist and slamming your hand against the wall causing you to drop your pistol. You swing at your assailant, who you now can see is Percy, but your punch is blocked and you’re knocked to the floor.

You manage to see the glint of a blade in the darkness and then Percy drops hi knees in your stomach, knocking the air out of you and attempts to stab you. He’s quick, but despite your state of gasping for air you’re just quick enough to grab ahold of the knife-wielding arm from stabbing you in the face, though it’s now just inches from it. You attempt to roll and kick, but all of Percy’s weight is on you.

“Your fucking ring still won’t save you. Could have settled this a lot easier, but take solace that your bad choices will not affect your son. Now…ugh…”

You hear the sound of a sharp object going into flesh, but it isn’t yours. Even in this dark, you can see the dead expression of Percy whose mouth now hangs open slack jawed and dripping blood all over you. His neck is also dripping blood and his body is even heavier on you.

At first you think one of your people saved you, but then the torches suddenly light again and there you see standing over you and Percy’s corpse is Toz in the process of removing his blade from Percy’s neck.

You go for your pistol, but Toz immediately sees this. More of your people arrive at the end of the corridor ready to open fire. Even with shadow magic, he’s bound to get hit without much space to dodge in.

“Call off your men, or this will not end well.” Toz says.
“Maybe not, but I’m not handing over my son to you.” You remark.
“I don’t want him. That’s not why I’m here. Now call off your people, I’ve killed your enemy as you can see.”

You wave a hand down in the direction of your people from your prone position.

“Yeah, why did you do that?” you ask.
“As I said, that’s not why I’m here. I’m here on behalf of the Ebony Claw Syndicate, not the Order of Fel. I was given no instructions by them or their god, and even if I was, my loyalty is always with the Syndicate first. They really do want a deal. Any past animosity you may or may not have had with them has been waved. This is business and everyone involved can make lots of money.” Toz says.
“That’s very pragmatic of the Syndicate, but unusual for the Order of Fel. I mean you guys that are heavily into the shadow magic side of things tend to follow that first.”
“And orcs tend to be brutish thugs that speak in short sentences, but there are exceptions as you can see.”
“Alright, I suppose we can talk more. Just let me get this corpse off of me.”

You verbally order your men to stand down, but approach slowly as you push Percy’s body off of you. Toz stands back and keeps his guard up. Eventually you both return to the original room where you find everyone dead. You also see Marco lying near another body face down.

“Damn Marco.” You say and go over to him.
“I trust you realize that I was just defending myself during the chaos.” Toz says.
“Yes, we’ve already established all that. But still, he was a valued employee. Improved much since the first time I met him…wait a minute…he’s breathing.”

You quickly turn Marco over and he’s moaning about being in pain, which is probably true since his face has a hole in it where you guess he was stabbed. Fortunately it just missed his eye and the blade went into his upper cheek instead.

“Boss…ugh…dying…” he utters spitting up a little blood.
“You are not fucking dying. This isn’t a fatal wound you sissy. Get up and get yourself patched up.” You say and start motioning him to get up.
“K…ooogh…hurts…”

Marco slowly gets up holding the side of his face and is helped by a couple others out the room.

You turn your attention to Toz.

“Let’s get on with this deal which I hope you know isn’t going to be the same one that Percy first proposed when you both first got here, however it’ll still be good for the Syndicate.”

After only an hour of discussion you and Toz come to an acceptable deal. You don’t think Toz wanted to stay any longer than he needed to since he says he’ll be leaving right away.

You can’t help but ask though…

“Won’t the Order of Fel be pissed at you and in general?” you say.
“I don’t see why. Percy died on the way here when the ship was attacked by mermaids and he jumped overboard when hearing their deadly song.”
“Hm, well I suppose that’s one way to explain away everything. Will it work?”
“The Syndicate won’t care as long as the this deal is pleasing to them which it should be. As for the Order, well the goals and the Syndicate’s goals clash at times. It’s an ongoing struggle, but I believe with this deal, your son will not be whisked away in the middle of the night or something similar.” Toz replies.
“I’ll be on guard nonetheless.”
“Well that’s wise anyway. Though Percy never even told me this plan. I only learned about it the moment it was revealed in this room. I do not even believe the Order gave this command as Percy claimed he heard it directly from Fel himself. Though your words indicated that Fel spoke to your son as well. I cannot know why a god would give one a command, but only to sabotage it. Seems contradictory, but I’ve never pretended to be the most fanatical follower. I worship purely for the extra power that the god gives me for whatever reason and use that power to support the Syndicate.”

Toz at this point bids you goodbye and soon you go find Vera in the armory where she waits with several of your best fighters and your son. The pair of them are pretty happy to see you, even if Kol doesn’t quite know everything that’s going on.

“You okay dad?” Kol asks coming up to you.
“Yes, I’m fine son. And you don’t need to worry anymore either.” You reply and give him a pat on the head.

Vera approaches you.

“I heard fighting and wanted to help, but you insisted I stay here.” Vera says.
“Yeah, glad you listened, it got a little closer than I thought it would, but it’s all worked out now.” You answer.
“You sure?”
“Well you can never be completely sure about these things, but we’ll keep our guard up as usual and keep an extra special eye on Kol just in case. Maybe Grayhaze has something for that. We need to go to her anyway and get a ring enchanted to block out Fel again.”
“You don’t think that we’ve angered a god by thwarting his plans?”
“Well from what I can tell, Fel’s plans mainly consist of him amusing himself. That was probably satisfied today from what I’ve heard of him. Anyway, can’t rage against the gods, just can only hope they don’t fuck you up too much. Still a pain in the ass though.”
“Sometimes I wonder if maybe our lives got more complicated after we left Holgard.”
“Perhaps in some ways, but its all been worth it. No point in wondering what if. In fact, given where I was mentally before we actually got together, I’m glad this is where choices led me.”

You give Vera an embrace and a kiss, which she returns.
With today’s crisis averted, everyone soon goes back to their routines, though you take the rest of day off to spend time with your family.

It’ll be a brief break, but at least a pleasant one and given the life you’ve chosen it’s best you cherish those when you can.

Long gone are the days of being a simple rogue. You’ve risen to a station even you never imagined.


Year 34

“I gotta say Marco, I was skeptical when you first brought the idea to me and going by the story you’re telling me, I’d say I was completely right. Fortunately for you Yag smiles on fools and it worked out anyway.” You remark.
“Yeah…I suppose so.” Marco says standing before you looking completely disheveled.
“What I don’t understand is why you came so clean with everything. I mean given the haul you brought in, I wasn’t even going to bother asking you too many in depth questions.”
“Uh, yeah I know, but I was afraid if you thought everything went completely well, you would have sent us out again.”
“Hm, I suppose that was a bit of forward thinking on your part then, because you’re probably right. Guess this is one of those rare cases where honesty was the best policy after all. Well I guess you and your little friends have finally gotten your pirate dreams out of your heads now.”
“Yeah, it sucks. Months out at sea, nothing to do. Rationing food and water. And the worst is getting lost. As I said, it was a good thing that merchant ship came when it did, our boat was starting to sink.”
“Certainly an unconventional way of taking over a ship. Signaling for help legitimately, being invited aboard as an act of mercy and then when you were feeling slightly better, you just held them all at gunpoint. Still, not only did you bring back an entire new ship intact, you brought back most of the crew as slaves, as well as all the loot. Not sure what we’re going to do with crates of scrolls with Nichan writing all over them, but I’m sure someone is going to have an interest in this stuff. Always a market for something.”

Marco just nods silently, he’s obviously just glad you aren’t punishing him and he’s back on dry land. You didn’t think much of Marco and his “gang” when you first met them, and to be honest you still don’t, but you suppose they’ve come a long way since those days or at least the ones that have survived have.

“Alright Marco, I guess you and what’s left of your group friends can go take some time or whatever for the next couple days. Don’t go too far though, never know when some extra bodies might be needed.” You say.
“Thanks boss.” Marco replies and takes his leave.

With Marco’s shit out of the way, you go about inspecting the latest expansions around the temple, which is now starting to resemble a “town hall” since there are separate buildings popping up all around it. These aren’t just criminal types either opening up brothels or gambling centers. You’ve actually got a some ex-Jicol citizens opening up legitimate businesses since Jicol is on the downturn and they’ve lost their homes and businesses in that city thanks to the flooding disaster that the city STILL hasn’t completely recovered from.

Doesn’t really hurt to have cooks, blacksmiths and the like around so you’ve assured that they will not be harassed as long as they pay the usual “protection tax.” While it’s not exactly a proper town, already people are starting to give it the name of Nightfall. You imagine the name is related to the Nocturnal League’s name as well as the deity that the temple was once dedicated to.

Speaking of Fel, you’ve been checking to make sure Kol hasn’t been having any odd dreams or anything. So far so good, and Grayhaze’s medallion is obviously working. He still casts his little shadow tricks every now and then, but again nothing major. You figure in another couple years he’ll be ready to start learning from Grayhaze’s book proper.

As for you, the only concerns you’ve been having, as of late is the Ebony Claw Syndicate and to a lesser extent, the Jicol government.

The ECS is always a looming threat in the back of your mind. You know there is going to be a reckoning with them soon and it’s probably going to initially come in the form of intimidation first.

So far they haven’t even contacted you, though you imagine when they do it’s probably going to be in the form of several shadow magic trained assassins. If they’re feeling benevolent, they’ll try to intimidate you first into paying them a cut of your profits and then get rid of you later.

You suppose you could be big enough and out of the way enough that a take over might be considered costly for them and not worth it, but you can’t help but believe that they’ll try anyway.

Your more immediate concern however is the Mayor of Jicol who has implemented draconian measures in rebuilding Jicol due to the fact that people were starting to leave the city and even coming to Nightfall. He’s completely shut the gates to the city and not allowing anyone in or out unless it’s by ship and even then it’s only legitimate trade as Jicol has now banned all pirates and the like from using their harbor anymore. In fact if they come within a certain range of the city, they’ll be fired upon.

This has put a bit of a crimp in your own businesses a bit. Your own “habor” isn’t nearly big enough to accommodate all the visitors you might get. You’re trying to expand, but there is so much else to do. Not to mention slaver ships and pirates now have to sail all the way around the island to dock at Nightfall so they don’t get fired on now. It’s a pain in the ass for everyone involved.

Getting Grayhaze’s supplies to her is also a concern, you’ll need to get those to her somehow and with the city locked down, the only option is to somehow sneak in which means either digging a tunnel and risking another flood, or taking a small boat and trying row around to one of the open areas where the sea and the city have no barrier, but that would be incredibly risky given the heightened security. Using swimmers would probably be less risky, but not much better.

It was suggested a few times in the past that the League should just try to take over Jicol, but honestly it’s not like that would have been really feasible or cost effective to even attempt. However, it’s starting to look like you might have to do something though.

You envision that it would be possible to have your people sneak in during the night and employ hit and run assassination tactics against the Jicol Watch, and ultimately open the gates to let the rest of your people in.

Still, your numbers still aren’t overwhelming enough to make the potential victory to not be costly. This isn’t even counting the small fortress that the mayor of Jicol never leaves which again isn’t a problem to get into, but who know what the hell is in store for you inside.

Even if you take Jicol, you’re still left with its naval forces. Who knows if they’ll just surrender or not.

Any plan to attack Jicol is going to come at a cost. Since you aren’t sure what to do, you ask the only person you trust about all this.

“I don’t know.” Vera says.
“Great, I was hoping for some enlightenment on this situation.” You remark.
“Well I mean you’ve explained the pros and cons of everything and I more or less agree with everything, including not being sure of what the best approach is.”
“Well in any case, I gotta get the supplies to Grayhaze. Last thing I need is to piss off an old witch on top of everything.”
“Sneaking in the city shouldn’t be an issue should it?”
“Eh, it’s going to be a pain in the ass, but it can be done. It’s also possible that this is going to just be temporary and even if it isn’t, it probably won’t hurt our business too much and we’ll survive.”
“Yeah, but…wait a minute. What about that merchant ship that Marco just brought in?”
“What about it?”
“Couldn’t we use it to get into the Jicol harbor?”
“Maybe once, and then they’d probably execute everyone on board. Our people aren’t exactly the most subtle, if you were thinking about having them masquerade as merchants.”
“I dunno, Marco managed to do it and he’s an idiot.”
“Marco and his crew were also genuinely in danger at the time so it was a lot more believable that they needed help.”
“Well why don’t we do that?”
“Do what?”
“Put the ship in danger?”
“What are you suggesting then?”
“I’m saying we hire some pirates to attack our ship as it approaches Jicol. Naturally the Jicol navy is going to go into action and our ship safely gets in the harbor while they’re distracted.”
“And then?”
“Well then our people come screaming out of it and start wreaking havoc in the city.”
“Hm, certainly a different idea I had about infiltrating the city which involved sending a few to scale the walls or swim around and attack silently over the course of a few days.”
“Could work too. I mean if we did attack, we probably should go all the way with it so employing both tactics would be best. Also if we were going this route, with hiring pirates to provide back up, I think I can convince one I know Zamed, to lead.”
“Hm. I know who you’re talking about. Never trusted him.”
“Well he’s a pirate, of course he’s not trust worthy, but he’s had the most experience with doing privateer work for the Delantium Kingdom, so he’d probably be able to organize a small group of ships to harass our enemies effectively. Of course it would be very expensive to secure their reliability.”
“I dunno. I mean the plan with the merchant ship sounds okay, but I’m not sure if I want to pay out any more coin for pirate assistance. Also I don’t see them lasting too long against the Jicol navy and that seems like a waste.”
“Well you wouldn’t pay them all of it obviously and you could promise them some of the spoils. Either one of two things is going to happen. Either none of them survive and you won’t have to pay them or some of them survive which means they turned out to be a better investment after all and you still probably won’t have to pay much since I can’t imagine there will be that many survivors.”

Well there’s a couple ways you could go if you did decide to take over Jicol, though maybe the best solution is to just leave it be.
> You attack Jicol without assistance
You think you need to keep this all in the family so to speak. No need to hire a bunch of pirates who might not be reliable anyway.

“We’re doing this ourselves. I don’t want to rely on outside help, also we can get this plan underway a lot quicker with just us involved.” You say.
“Well if you think that’s best.” Vera remarks.
“I think it is. Guess I better inform Marco that his days at sea aren’t quite finished yet since he’ll be the one to take the merchant ship seeing as he’s got the most experience with it and nobody else here is much of a sailor.”
“Neither is Marco apparently from what you mentioned on his attempt to be a pirate.”
“Hm, I’m confident that he’ll have at least enough experience to pull this off, since that’s not going to be the hard part anyway, it’s getting off the ship and out of the harbor area alive as soon as he enters it.”

Later when you inform Marco, (who was just starting to enjoy his time off) he is indeed not happy about hearing what his latest task is going to be, but you don’t need him to be happy about it, just compliant. Which of course he is. He does carouse extra harder though for the remainder of the time off you’ve given him though.

You inform the rest of the League of your plan and assign your most skilled to start finding ways (or making ways) of sneaking into the city now. You tell them not to engage anyone and to keep a low profile while they’re scouting the security and such. You then tell them you want a report on everything within the next few days.

A month passes and Marco and his crew are about as ready as they’re going to be and your spies that have been sneaking in and out of Jicol, have made steps in opening the gates along with just creating as much havoc for ground forces as possible during the actual attack.

As far as your involvement, you’re going to take a lesson from the last time you led one of these attacks. Meaning you’re not going to put yourself on the front lines and going to stay at a camp a mile away from Jicol’s gates.

The day of the attack within the first hour you wait anxiously for a report. With any luck Marco’s crew will manage to make it off their ship before they’re all slaughtered.

In another couple hours, a runner finally comes to you with news that your people have opened the gates and fighting is going on all over the city. Marco and his crew successfully entered the harbor and managed to fool the Jicol Watch long enough to break through and start joining the attack on the city.

No sooner has this runner given you this information when a loud explosion is heard along with a visible black cloud in the distance of the city, you surmise that Marco’s merchant ship that was also full of explosives was set off in the harbor.

A few days pass and the fighting is still going on and it’s not going well. The Jicol forces have managed to maintain a stalemate. Marco has apparently died in the fighting as well.

You’re still at the camp, not having set foot in the city yet and you’re starting to wonder if this was a good idea. You might have to hire pirates and mercenaries to finish this job if things continue to go this way.

Suddenly you hear several loud explosions, but this time coming from the direction of Nightfall! You immediately start running back in that direction and bump into one of your people along the way.

“Boss! Boss! Jicol has mounted a counter attack! They’re blasting us with cannons from their ships and we can’t do shit about it!” he says.
“Are their no pirates docked in our harbor?”
“No, and the one slaver ship was sunk during the initial volley.”
“Why the fuck wasn’t I informed soon…”

More explosions are heard and now you’re seeing chunks of stone flying overhead.

“Shit!” you say and push your underling aside and continue to run towards Nightfall.

When you arrive, you find several dead bodies and people running about in panic. Some of your men ask you for further instructions, but you’re not even paying attention, you’re just looking at the temple, which is half in ruins. You don’t see Vera or Kol and you’re sure they would be out of the temple by now.

You run towards the temple even though some are telling you not to go in since its being targeted, but you don’t listen or care.

You run through the increasingly unstable temple which is already starting to collapse from weakened structure in an attempt to find your wife and child.

And you do, but no longer alive. You find the pair of them not far apart from each other. Their broken bodies are partially covered by several large stones, which you assume killed them instantly.

You collapse in despair and begin to weep, ignoring the several new explosions causing more of the temple to crumble around you. You brought all of this on them.

While you probably could get out in time, you don’t bother, choosing to die along side your family in the same manner they died.


Year 32

“Okay, we’re heading out to finish these assholes for good. You stay here and keep things running here as you do.” You say.
“Oh sure, keep me at home, to look after the kids while you go out and have fun.” Vera says.
“Well, it’s important that you know your place as a woman. Speaking of kids, where’s Kol?”
“Gertrude is currently looking after him.”
“I swear I don’t really like you leaving our son with her.”
“He’s fine and she’s been nothing but helpful. I mean hell, she’s probably one of the few people I’d trust with him.”
“Dangerous to go around trusting the lot we associate with, but something about her bothers me.”
“You didn’t even know who the hell she was until she was promoted to midwife and babysitter. Which is amazing since she’s one of our older members that stuck with us since Holgard.”
“Alright, alright, if you trust her then I guess that’s good enough for me.”
“No it isn’t.”
“Yeah, probably not, but I don’t have time to worry about it right now.”
“Why are you even going on this task? You said you had people in Jicol located at the docks to make sure he didn’t try to get away and there are more than enough people to attack where the JCR are making their headquarters.”
“I want to make sure everything goes right. I can’t just sit around barking orders while getting old and fat. That’s how crime bosses assassinated. I need to keep in practice and my skills sharp.”
“Hm, I suppose that makes sense, but I’d say you’re not really in any danger of being perceived as weak by any of our underlings right now.”
“And I intend to keep it that way.”
“I’d prefer it if you took less risks, besides if anyone was going to challenge your position you’d be dead before you even knew what was going on since I’d just poison your food and the shit would be over with.”
“Poison? Really? I would have thought if it was going to be you, you’d probably stab me while in the middle of sex.”
“Mm, too risky. Besides, that would just be foreplay not murder.”
“Well let’s not do that either.”
“You’re always so reserved. But if you’re really insisting on going, be careful and don’t lead the charge.”

Vera has been overly concerned with your safety ever since she had Kol. You suppose you get why she is now due to you being the father of her child and all, but sometimes it’s a bit too much.

“I’ll be fine Vera, stop fussing!” you exclaim.
“You sure you’re not also going out of revenge?” Vera asks.
“Revenge?”
“Yeah, Revenge tends make people a little reckless and I mean this has been sort of personal since you learned who the leader of JCR is.”
“Mm, I mean it certainly was unexpected when I found out. Perhaps less unexpected when he wouldn’t even hear me out, but I can’t say this is out of revenge. I imagine he would be more motivated by revenge than I would, hence why he stuck around to fight. I’d say if anything I’m more motivated by tying up an old loose end that doesn’t come back to bite us in the ass in the future.”
“I suppose that makes sense. Okay then, apologies for my fussing as you put it..”

You kiss Vera goodbye and say one more thing before leaving.

“Gotta say though when Sneaks ran away all those years ago, I never expected it was to Jicol.”

You head to Jicol to go meet Marco and the rest. Along the way you think about how history is sort of repeating itself here. A larger criminal organization crushing a smaller one. The only difference is you’re the leader of the larger one this time.

You have to wonder why Sneaks didn’t just take off like he did last time. Unless he really is that pissed at you, which you assume he is, otherwise he wouldn’t have bothered with all this and you would have easily taken over long before now.

When you get to the simple home that the JCR was using as a main headquarters, you find that your people are currently arguing with some of the Jicol Watch. Great.

“Keep talking to me like that you little shit, and I’ll just run all of your assess in. I still remember you and your gang of hooligans breaking several windows and punching old people in the face a couple years ago!” one of the guards says.
“Yeah well things are different now and YOU don’t tell us what to do anymore!” Marco exclaims.

You smack Marco upside the head when you arrive.

“Yeah, but I do. Now shut the fuck up Marco, and what’s the problem here?” you ask.
“The problem is, your little crime war was supposed to be kept to a dull fucking roar and for the past couple months you lot have been murdering each other in the streets and scaring the shit out of the civvies! You also got gangs of thugs like these loitering around. Now I know we have an agreement that will keep most of the scum out of this city for good, but the mayor is getting very weary of this conflict and is wondering if he shouldn’t just have all parties involved executed.” The watchman captain says.
“The same mayor that allows pirates and the like to use his docks? Please, the mayor is no fucking Joachimite saint. We moved all of our shit out of Jicol and now we’re doing the job that YOU lot couldn’t. We’re almost done with finishing off these assholes, we just need to clean out this place and get their leader.”
“And we’re here to see it gets done thoroughly because this needs to be finished TODAY.”

The watchman captain at this point signals to his platoon that all draw their weapons and then turns back to you as if daring you to argue.

“Fine. If you want to help, I’m not going to stop you, but stay out of our way.”
“Oh I wouldn’t worry about that, because you lot will be taking the lead anyway. Not about to have you bunch sneaking about behind us.”

Marco starts to say something, but you stop him.

“But boss…” Marco says.
“Shut up Marco. Alright, let’s finish these fuckers for good.” You say to your people and motion to enter the place.

No sooner has one of your people stepped into the front door and they nearly get beheaded by a swinging axe trap. Unfortunately, they still get skewered by the spear trap when they ducked and dodged to the left.

You shake your head.

“For fuck’s sake people, this place is going to have traps up the ass, keep alert!” you shout.

For at least the next hour, you search the house disarming traps and uncovering secret doors. You don’t find anyone though. Meanwhile the Jicol Watch is still standing in the front room getting impatient.

“Well?” the captain remarks.
“Well what?” you answer.
“I thought you said the leader was here and so far this place is empty.”
“Yeah well I imagine there’s a hidden trapdoor that we haven’t uncovered yet. They’re probably either hiding underground, or maybe even escaped through a tunnel.”
“Underground tunnel? There isn’t much they could dig without risking hitting water and flooding said tunnels. In case you didn’t realize, we’re on a fucking island.”
“I’m aware, but that doesn’t mean they still didn’t do it. Besides all that, the leader has experience with underground dwellings that are half submerged in water.”

Before you can have any further discussion, Marco comes back to you.

“Hey boss, we found a trapdoor, looks like it goes down into a cellar. Um, we also lost Orin. Got a bunch of spikes in the face when he opened the trap door.”
“Idiot. Anyway, see? I told you there was going to be a trapdoor.” You say.
“Hm, well you’re still leading the way.” The Watchman captain says.

After a few more of your people check out the immediate room below, you descend down the ladder. You give a quick look and see that this room wasn’t dug out recently. It was actually part of the original house since it actually has solid walls and a solid floor.

However, to your left, is where you start to see the construction. You examine the entrance of the dug out tunnel in an attempt to detect any traps but find nothing.

Your people go a little further and soon discover that there are tunnels going in several different directions.

“Well, have to hand it to you Sneaks, you didn’t just sit on your hands. You literally dug in deep to make it difficult to root the last of you fuckers out.” You think to yourself.

Given the extensive amount of tunnels, you’re actually surprised he didn’t end up flooding Jicol with a misplaced dig like the Watchman captain was talking about.

You briefly go down one of the tunnels and soon find that you’re ankle deep in water.

This is going to be a mess hunting Sneaks and whoever else down here. In fact, you’re starting to wonder if Vera was right and you shouldn’t even bother being here. Especially with the Jicol Watch being involved as well.
> You finish the job
You’re here now, you might as well finish it. Besides, it would be best if you saw to eliminating Sneaks because you sure as hell don’t want him escaping somehow to give you grief later.

You tell your people to extra careful for traps and to keep alert, you then proceed to hunt down the last of the JCR.

Things go very slowly, but initially at least people aren’t getting themselves killed. Trouble comes when you actually come up against the remnants of the JCR who have made several cubbyholes and the like to launch ambush attacks. Not to mention you’re practically waist deep in water now and as far as the Jicol Watch is concerned, there is no sign of them. Apparently they’ve all just decided to stay up top and let you take the beating.

On top of all that, you still haven’t found Sneaks. With only you, Marco and a couple others left, you’re finally done.

“Fuck this Marco, we’re going back. This has been a fool’s errand and we’re done with it.” You say.
“But Boss, what about…” Marco starts to say before a loud explosion from one of the corridors suddenly interrupts him.

You soon look on in horror as a surge of water starts coming at you. You don’t even have time to run. More explosions are heard and then the water hits you hard. You struggle to swim as the torrent takes you, but with now water seemingly rising and pouring in from everywhere, you can’t even find an air pocket.

Several minutes pass and you eventually can’t hold your breath any longer giving into a watery death.


Whatever Vera has done to you, you’re not going to torture her anymore. What’s done is done and there is no need in drawing this out.

You put away your pistol and crouch down besides Vera who is still upset and probably expecting you to kill her.

“Vera…Vera…shhhhh…calm down…” you say.

Vera still doesn’t look in your direction still crying. You run your hand briefly over her hair and then move in closer to hug her.

Vera immediately hugs you back, you feel her squeeze you as if her life depended on it.

“Don’t let go…don’t let go…just hold me forever…” she says in between the tears.
“I got you Vera.” You say.
“(sob) I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“I know.”

Vera mumbles more things about how she wishes you both could do everything all over. She then feels something against the side of her head.

She moves her head back enough and looks at you with tears in her eyes.

“I love you…” she says.

You pull the trigger, blowing Vera’s brains out the other side of her head onto the wall and also getting blood on you in the process.

You sit with Vera’s body for a moment saddened that this was necessary at all. You wipe your own eyes and eventually stand up and compose yourself.

You get some of your people to dispose of Vera’s body making some comment that she was an enemy to Holgard. (Not that they were going to question you anyway)

And that’s it. There’s nothing more to it. You’d like to forget about this dark day as soon as possible, but you know that’s going to take a bit of time.

To get your mind off it, you focus on your other problem, which is the curse you’re still dealing with. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for that, things might have been different with Vera in the first place.

Since Heather doesn’t seem to be very helpful right now, you go back to wondering if you should seek help from other magic types which again makes you consider sending someone to ask around Klyton or the magic University in Delantium.

You already got an agent that reports on Klyton so that’s no problem. Delantium however is another story since Percy just said the ECS killed everyone you sent there. While you don’t want to piss off the ECS severely, you also don’t like being told where you can’t go.

You decide to hold off on sending anyone to Delantium until you get word back from your agent in Klyton. Based on his report, you can make your decision to risk sending some to Delantium or not.

A month passes and eventually you get word from your agent in Klyton. She mentions that the Klyton magic school is barely better than the one in Holgard and the only main difference is they have a nicer looking school and tend to be more “scholarly” as opposed to “battle ready.”

Your agent says that they were interested in based on the sealed letter you had her deliver to them. However it would require you to take a trip to Klyton. A bit unusual for you considering you haven’t left Holgard in…well since you got here nearly twenty years ago.

You imagine you could get the time to leave though if you wanted.

This brings you back to pondering if you should still send an agent to the Delantium magic university. Chances are, if they’re interested they’re going to just ask you to do what the robes in Klyton want you to do. Namely go there yourself and that’s probably even going to be even more dangerous than just sending an agent there.
> You just head to Klyton
After all you’ve been through, maybe some time away from Holgard is exactly what you need right now. Plus you’re not exactly anxious to go pissing off the Ebony Claw Syndicate again after they basically left you off with a warning.

So you write a letter back to the Klyton magic university and explain that you’ll be heading that way as soon as possible. You also write a letter to your agent there saying that you want her to meet you and make arrangements for when you arrive next week.

You then pack a few things and give notice to the baroness that you’re leaving for Klyton making something up about rumors that her brother Peter is potentially working with the Klyton government in order to form his next invasion.

Being the paranoid sort she is, she’s perfectly fine with you going there personally to check things out. Of course as you predicted, you still have to stick around a bit to take care of some of your current business.

After a few days of taking care of your mundane tasks you catch the next carriage out of Klyton and you’re soon on your way.

The trip to Klyton is uneventful, but it gives you plenty of time to think and even appreciate the countryside somewhat. You haven’t left the city in so long, you almost forgot what wilderness looked like.

A lot of the wooded area that used to surround Holgard is gone now thanks to years of Ludmilla expanding the roads and building the fleet to protect the city. Just as well as Warts runs his trading post now as he won’t get many offers as a guide anymore.

By nightfall, the woods disappear completely and become more open field. It’s at this point you drift in and out of sleep a bit. You see a few random homes and eventually you see the city. Much like Holgard, great walls surround it and the tops of tall structures can be seen looming above, though such structures already look fancier than any in Holgard.

When you’re within the gates it’s dawn and you can see that the city is a lot cleaner and organized looking than Holgard. Granted since you’ve risen in status, Holgard has gotten a bit better about this, but this is definitely a city that has never undergone the same struggles Holgard ever has.

Also unlike Holgard there are a lot more carriages not only going in and out of the city, but also within it. Public transportation was never a high priority in Holgard for various reasons, you’re wondering though if it should start.

Your parents differed on speaking about their old home to you and your sister. Your mother sometimes would talk about fond memories in Klyton, but your father not so much. As far as he was concerned the best thing about the city was meeting your mother.

Makes you wonder though how things might have been different if you’d run to Klyton instead of Holgard. In any case, you’re not here to sight see; you’re here in the hopes that your condition can get cured or dispelled or whatever they have to do.

You exit the carriage and your agent is soon there to greet you.

“Hello sir. Your trip was without trouble I trust?” she asks.
“It was.” You answer.
“Good to hear. I have you booked at the Galloping Mare Inn. It’s one of the better places in this city.”
“That’s fine. Just as long as it isn’t infested with vermin. I’d rather get a bit of rest without potentially getting bitten. (Yawn) So how far is it…apologies what’s your name again?”
“I’m Claire, and it’s not far sir, we can take a carriage to there quicker. It’s also fairly close to the university so when you’re rested I can take you over there.”

You nod and soon the pair of you are in another carriage and heading over to your inn. You arrive at the Galloping Mare where Claire leads you to your room and you immediately head over to the bed and get some rest. You figure you won’t sleep too long since you already slept a little on the ride to Klyton.

You wake up in a few hours and fortunately its still light outside. Probably afternoon by now though. After preparing yourself, you leave your room and find Claire downstairs having a drink with some merchant type. When she sees you approach she excuses herself and immediately goes to see you.

“You’re awake sir, are you ready to go?” Claire asks.
“Yes, who was that?” you ask.
“Oh just one of my contacts for information sir. I can give you a full report of what’s been going on here after you’ve completed your business with the wizards if you like.”
“Sure, might as well. Okay let’s go.”

Doesn’t take long for you to get there and soon you’re at your dad’s old place of higher learning. You never thought you’d ever be here.

Claire then takes you to the magic school area of the campus and that’s where you part ways with her. She tells you she’ll be back at the inn.

You step inside one of the magic university buildings and expect to be stopped or “greeted” much like how you were in Holgard by Heather’s underlings. Instead you encounter nobody and walk down several empty corridors almost wondering if the place has been abandoned.

Eventually you see some old guy in a robe and figure he must be someone of importance. You call out and he slowly turns to you and making motions with his hands.

“Hold on! Hold on! I’m not here to do anything sinister! I’m the director of Holgard security and I’m here about a curse. I have one on me. I sent two letters to this place and my agent gave them both to your people. I was told you agreed to meet me and could help.”
“Hm, must have been High Mage Thomas. He tends to like to speak for the rest of us whether we want him too or not. The man for some reason believes magic should mainly be used for altruistic reasons. The man might as well be a Joachimite Priest if he’s going to believe such nonsense.” The grumpy wizard says, but puts down his hands.
“Isn’t this a school? Where is everyone?”
“It is a school, but I’m not sure what you were expecting. Magic isn’t exactly a common force in the world that it used to be so you’re not going to find with place overflowing with people. If it were, things would be severely different in this city. Not to mention the government isn’t exactly the most keen on supporting it. If it wasn’t for one of our own on the Klyton Council, I dare say this place would have been shutdown entirely.”
“That’s rather short sighted, wizards can be useful allies in case of an attack.”
“Hm, well glad to see you have some sense at least from a pragmatic standpoint, which is more than can be said for those fools on the Klyton Council. Though there’s currently a man running for a spot on there. He seems to be more in favor of relaxing the magic restrictions in this city. I might actually vote for him. Anyway you said had a curse or some such bother?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I guess since you’re here, might as well take a look at you. Indeed I’m currently the only one here to do so. Come with me.”

The old wizard motions you to follow him and mentions that his name is Ahmed. When you ask where are all the other wizards, he says that most of the staff are at some conference and as for any students, the few that they do have are currently out performing their field assignments for classes so they wouldn’t really be lingering around here.

“I’m sure there are a couple of other staff actually around, but probably locked up in their labs either performing experiments or reading. That’s how it usually is for us nowadays though. Seems like we’re all just studying magic rather than actually using it for any real purpose.”
“But you said you send the students on field assignments.”
“And depending on the wizard, even that could be fairly easy. Personally I send them to at least bring down a beast of some sort, but many staff member have gotten so complacent they usually just tell them to go hunt down various plants. Honestly it’ll probably be the most excitement they’ll ever get if they stay in Klyton. And if they do stay, they’ll probably become staff and they’ll send their students on some piss easy task, because hey that’s what they had to do so why break the cycle? Feh, it’s really fucking pathetic of what this institution has become.”

Ahmed sounds really bitter. Makes you wonder why he’s still here

Soon you enter a small lab and he motions you to sit in a chair and asks you to tell him exactly about your condition and how it’s affecting you and how you acquired it.

You go into your story about Tanya and most of what that entails. While you’re speaking Ahmed occasionally holds up a glowing magic object to you and mumbles a few incantations. He just ignores you whenever you ask what he’s doing and finally he speaks.

“You don’t have a curse on you.” Ahmed says.
“What?” you say.
“I detect no curses. Infernal or otherwise.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’d take that as an insult if I actually thought you knew what you were questioning. However, yes I am quite sure.”
Well maybe it’s not a curse, maybe it’s a magic disease like demon crotch rot or something.”
“Trust me, if THAT was your problem, you wouldn’t even be here right now.”
“But…but all those girls. They all died.”
“Yeah, well shit happens. Look, I can’t explain that since I wasn’t there. All I can tell you is you don’t have any curses on you. As for the girls, well it sounds like you weren’t exactly going with the most morally upstanding ones and violent death is usually a common one amongst the lower class and lesser born. I’d chalk it up to bad coincidence.”

Well this is a bizarre outcome. You almost can’t believe it.

“However, there IS something.” Ahmed adds.
“Shit, I knew it.” You respond.
“Well calm down it’s not actually bad, or at least not actively bad.”
“What is it?”
“Your relationship with a succubus is extremely unusual and while she didn’t curse you, she DID leave a mark on you. Now most of the time when this happens, the victim usually dies after the succubus finally tires of them and kills them personally or in a much rarer case, the victim falls into a deep depression and commits suicide after an extended period time of separation because the succubus has abandoned them.”
“So is that going to happen to me?”
“Well, you’ve already lived much longer than someone marked by a succubus. Now I imagine in your case it helped immensely that you developed a loving relationship with this Tanya before she fully changed, but I’m sure you still feel the loss correct?”
“It is still there from time to time. Yes.”
“Mm. Well I wouldn’t want to assume that you’re going to be fine just because you’ve severely beaten the odds. You’re still marked and who knows what that could do if it ever really kicked in. However, we can purge that from you. If we did you probably wouldn’t feel as bad and a great weight would be lifted.”
“That can be done? Wait, do I have to have sex with some girl in a circle while you perform the ritual to summon Tanya?”
“What?! No! Where did you get that idea? We don’t need to summon anything, but it’s still going to take a little prep work on my end first. I would like you to come back here in a couple days and see me if possible.”

You think about it at first wondering if you should go through with it. Then you think that that’s pretty much why you came here in the first place and it would be good to finally rid yourself of all of Tanya’s “presence” even if you were fond of her. Plus now this sounds even less risky than it did before.

“Sure. Might as well have a clean slate.”
“Good, glad to hear it. Okay, you can leave now, I should start preparing.”

You part ways with Ahmed and feeling slightly more upbeat you rush out of the magic school and head back to the inn where you find Claire speaking with a couple people.

“Claire! Where’s the nearest brothel in this city?!” you ask.
“Um, a couple blocks south of here sir. The Fancy Tickler” Claire responds.
“Thanks!”

Before she can even respond back, you’re gone and already on your way. When you get to the Fancy Tickler, you immediately start throwing coin around so that the ladies can start throwing their pussy your way.

You spend practically the whole night at the place.

Then the next day you do it all over again. It truly is a wonderful thing to be free!

Third day in Klyton and you figure Ahmed should have his shit together by now and you’re ready to get this taken care of completely.

You enter the magic school which is still relatively empty and head to Ahmed’s lab. When you arrive, you see Ahmed speaking with a very well dress man with a goatee. They both turn towards you.

“I’m here. What’s going on and who is this?” you ask.
“This is Mr. Reynolds. I believe I mentioned him the last time we spoke. He’s running for a spot on the Klyton Council.” Ahmed says.
“Oh.”

Mr. Reynolds begins to move closer towards you, studying you even.

“You…you look very familiar. Almost like someone I once did business with…tell me someone in your family ever own an inn here?” Mr. Reynolds asks.
“Um…yeah my grandparents, though my dad also worked there.” You say.
“Hah! Yes! That’s where you looked familiar. I loaned your grandfather money which your father ended up paying off. Well, this is a nice coincidence, or perhaps fate?”

Searching your memory, you remember in one of your mother’s stories about the inn she mentioned a Mr. Reynolds before. You never knew much detail though since you never really paid much attention.

Mr. Reynolds flashes a smile at you, which really puts you at unease. In fact you’re starting to smell something not unlike brimstone. And that smell can only mean one thing.

“Fuck! Infernal!” you shout and before you can even get your pistol out, Ahmed’s already cast a spell that’s frozen you in place.

Mr. Reynolds sniffs the air around you a bit and then speaks.

“Yes, this one certain does have a tether to the infernal realm and I can certain use such a thing for the upcoming election, though hardly need the entire body, just the heart will do.”

You look on helplessly as Mr. Reynolds slowly puts his hand into your chest and pulls out your still beating heart. He then thanks Ahmed for this and says he will definitely honor his agreement to push magic as a greater force in this city.

As for you, your body slumps lifelessly to the floor and will play no more role in world events whatever those may be.