Exploring Switzland and a Syndicate

As I make my leave I get some strange looks from the customers but I ignore them. That fight with Barney wasn't enough for me so I decide to wander around the town of Switzland for a while, and hopefully stumble upon a slum with some thugs or something that i can beat the shit out of while not getting too much attention or trouble. The city is actually pretty nice, which seriously surprises me, this is a city meant for mercenaries and adventurers but yet the city is lively. The market is flowing with fresh fruits and vegetables, the craftsmen corner is full of smithies, apothecaries, and enchanters, the...entertainment...district is very lively. It might be because everyone here is used to it since they've maintained this lifestyle for centuries but the shadow of war that used to linger over everyone's heads back at Xorynth is nowhere to be seen here. In fact, it almost seemed like it is more lively than usual. Then it hit me like frisbee in the face. This is a city designed for mercenaries, of course wartime is when this city is more active. What a fucking idiot I am.  I toss a copper to a merchant as I pick up an apple and take a bite of it. Nice and juicy, no signs of any kind of preservation, almost like it just came off the orchard a day ago. I get a nod and a "thank you" and I go about my day.

I decide to take a walk through the craftsmen corner just to see what kind armor and weapons are typically used in war and I must admit, I am not surprised. I see axes, swords, claymores. great axes, shields, heavy plate armor, light leather armor, some chain armor, typical things. I like the plate armor, but it's too limiting to my mobility. Most people complain about weight, but since I'm good with body strengthening I barely feel it. But with leather armor there just isn't enough protection. One of these days I want to head to the Dwarven Conglomerate up in the mountains of the north and secure a nice set of heavy armor with plenty of mobility. Maybe even make it out of Xorynthium just to spit in the face of my father even more. I can imagine the look of rage in his face as I use the sacred metal to make armors and weapons used to slaughter his entire bloodline. I look affectionately at my cleavers, Slasher and Ripper, like how a parent would look at their child. I whisper to them

[Soon.]

It might be I'm growing insane but I feel like they even quivered in excitement as I told them that. I then remember enchanting and think to myself: I would love to learn how to do that. Most enchanters refuse to touch necromancy, but I am sure that there is plenty of enchantments that would benefit the art of necromancy greatly. For instance the storage of souls has always been a pain in the ass. Most store souls in crystals or gems, but after too many souls are used or stored they just can't take anymore and explode under the massive amount of energy. Not to mention if you don't collect the souls soon after they die, they dissipate, and if you don't use them soon after they are collected, they atrophy and become unusable. There are so many flaws that can easily be fixed with enchanting, but no one touches necromancy since it's taboo. Weaklings. Even the dead have their uses but no one uses them since "it's evil to use the souls of the dead" or whatever.

And so I move on to the Enchanters to see what's for sale here and if any will be taking apprentices since it would be a nice way to pass the days while I wait. However one thing stops me before I can wander into a store. I can hear an argument going on behind a nearby store and it sounds like it's going to get violent, so I decide to see what's happening. I come close enough to be able to see everything but I hide my presence so I can see without getting harassed. It seems like someone who looks like they could be Barney's brother is intimidating this poor merchant.

[Where's the protection money? You know its due around this time, it would be a shame if you didn't pay and some rough thugs came in and smashed your valuable merchandise you know?]

The merchant looks like your stereotypical wizard, long grey beard, bald, wrinkles, all the stops pulled out. 

[Just give me a few more days, the customers are coming in more and more as the battle draws closer and I should have enough money. Please I beg you!]

Protection racket. The most common way of getting money for measly street thugs. Rather disappointing really. If they were to put their brains together they could do something. Drug trades, slave trafficking, all kinds of illegal activities bring in plenty of coin, but instead they do something simple and stupid like this. What would happen if they fuck with the wrong person and everything comes falling down on their heads? Idiots. If you're going to be a criminal, at least be smart about it. 

The muscle bound dude seems to buy it. 

[I'll be back in two days. If you don't have enough money by then more than merchandise will be broken, understand?]

[Of course sir! The money will be here]

The thug smiles smugly and walks off like he owns the world. I hear the merchant heave a sigh of relief and see him start shaking as he mutters to himself about making the money. I begin to wonder if this is a solo act or a group thing, so I begin to stalk the unsuspecting hoodlum. He makes his way into the slums area, and what I see is to be expected, but it's still surprising since being a prince, I've never experienced this scenery firsthand. Children are clothed in rags, men are day drinking and strung out from drugs, women are whoring themselves, and a genuine, honest to gods beast brothel can be both seen and heard.

Beast people are not treated well in the world. Most look upon them with a sense of mock superiority and arrogance since it is well known the beast tribes live in small villages, hunting and farming, and live a fairly primitive life style. However, while the men retain their animalistic features while still being bipedal, the females are much more humanoid looking, with the only tell tale signs being their eyes, ears, tails, and claws. Most female beastmen are rather attractive since they tend to be relatively fit and exceedingly feminine in physique, so it wouldn't be wrong to say that while most people despise the beast tribes, they do fetishsize the females and as such slaver groups came about. The men become combat or labor slaves and the women become household or sex slaves. Despite the bias shown against beast people, they are not stupid, they have human like intelligence, but due to their philosophy of "living with the land" they live more primitively and as such become looked upon. 

As I follow the man, he knocks upon a door, once, twice, thrice, and twice again. This piques my interest. This isn''t a common thugging act, this is something more thought out, to have a code. A slit in the door opens, and a masked figure can be seen looking through to confirm who it is, and the slit promptly closes and the door opens. The man walks inside and the door closes. I can't open it myself since they wouldn't recognize me, but a plan comes to mind, and I sit and wait. Hours go by, the sun sets, and I see someone leave. I begin to follow this person, rather slim and slightly on the tall side. perfect for what I need. I wait until he walks into a secluded alley and as I round the corner, a knife comes flying at where my face would have been had I taken one step further.

[Who the hell are you and why are you following me?]

[There's no peaceful way to do this is there?]

I say as I rush towards the man, he takes out a rapier that I didn't see before and begins trying to poke the shit out of me. 'Fast as fuck man, does he ever slow the fuck down?" I think to myself. I can barely even see the rapier he's thrusting in and out. I take a step back and trip on a rock and fall down, my stomach and throat exposed to the man.

[Look at you, you can't even move, and when you do you trip like an idiot. Tell me who you are and who you're looking for.]

[Sure thing. Idiot.]

He has a look of confusion as the rock I tripped on enters my hand, leaves my hand, and hits him in the face. He staggers back and I take a Slasher and Ripper out and charge towards him. He freaks out, and tries thrusting once more, but this time I'm prepared and use Slasher in my right hand to hit the rapier with enough force it shakes violently and the man's wrist cramps up from the vibration. I use Ripper to cleave between his neck and shoulder, and headbutt him with enough force that he dislodges Ripper and hits the ground, his eyes roll back into his head. Another flawless victory for the headbutt of steel. While he's still unconscious i quickly heal him and sew up the flesh, muscles, and veins that were severed when I cut him to prevent him from dying. I cut some of his pants off to tie his hands and feet together. Once again I sit and wait.

A minute or two later he wakes up and as any normal person would do, freaks the fuck out. One would think he was having a seizure from how much he's wriggling on the ground like a worm. 

[Oi, if you scream I'm cutting your throat and and healing it before you die, understand?]

muffled noises of understanding

[Alright here we go.]

I rip out his gag and the first thing I hear causes me to laugh so hard my sides hurt

[Please I'll give you anything just don't kill me!]

[Don't worry, if you answer my questions I won't kill you. First question, what's your name?]

[Andrew]

[Ok Andrew, how did you know I was following you?

[Your ability to hide your presence may fool most people, but genuine magic users will notice a spell being used by a novice.]

[Are you mocking me Andrew?]

[NO SIR! JUST STATING A FACT SIR!]

[Ok I believe you, now tell me, what's behind that door?]

[It's our home]

[Who's home?]

[To me and some guys who run some protection rackets, some scary guys found our boss one day and roughed him up, and said that he's going to get half of the cut from now on or he'll kill us.]

[Oh? Do you happen to know who he is?]

[I don't know any names, but he said he's the Consigliere of one the Dons of the Five Families of the Syndicate, the one the rules Switzland]

[The Five Families Syndicate? Why the Consigliere himself?]

[No idea sir. He just came one day and did the deed.]

This is interesting, here I thought these guys were some brain dead deadbeats, but they got some connections.

[When are you supposed to report back and what are you supposed to report?]

[I was simply going to the bar. I'm supposed to go back in the morning.]

[I see. Thank you for your information.]

[I can go now right?]

[Well of course, as soon as I'm done doing what I need to do]

I grin and walk closer with Slasher in my hand and wave it in front of his face.

[I thought you said youi weren't going to kill me?]

[You're right. I'm not going to kill you, I didn't say I wouldn't be hurting you]

He tries to scream, and just like I promised, I cut his throat, knocked him out, and healed him. My word is my bond after all. Now begins the gruesome work. I use Slasher in one hand and a healing spell prepared in the other, and ever so carefully begin carving away his face. I do my best to not do any visible damage and slowly heal him as more and more flesh gets peeled away. Eventually I have an entire face, and proceed to plaster it over my mask and face, a face mask, the stuff of nightmares. I use a little illusory magic to make it look seamless and wait out the night. 

Morning comes, and I head over to the base. I knock once, twice, thrice, and twice again. The same masked man appears through the slit. 

[Hey Andrew, good night at the bar?]

[Nah, I actually didn't go, felt a little tired and went straight to sleep.]

[Yeah I feel that man, more merchants to go after these days since the battle is coming up and some of them get a little feisty.]

[I got a good feeling though. After the battle how about you and me hit the Beast Brothel? On me of course.]

[You'll pay for booze too right?]

[Well of course, I'd be a poor friend if I didn't right?]

[Ha, well said. Let me open the door and you can go report to the boss man.]

The door opens and I'm let inside. Suddenly I'm hit with a wave of nostalgia as we enter a sewer. Memories of the Undead Phoenix invade my mind and I have to repress the anger building.

I walk along the sewer and eventually enter a door that looks like where the boss would be. Lo and behold the same thug I saw yesterday threatening the wizard man is sitting in a chair with a cigar in his mouth. 

[Hey Andy, how'd the bar treat ya?]

[The name is Andrew boss]

[The fuck you say to me?]

[Sorry, got a bit of a hangover and feeling a little pissed, you know how it is right?]

[Yea, fair enough. any-]

Suddenly a voice peaking from hysteria is heard.

[HE STOLE MY FACE, THE FUCKING BASTARD STOLE MY FACE! HELP ME! IT BURNS! IT BUUUUURNNNNSS!]

The guy at the door could be heard freaking out over a faceless man with all the muscles exposed. Everytime he said something the muscles could be seen moving. It was gross. The guy at the door started vomiting. The boss had a confused look on his face as the whole thing was going on. 

[Well, guess the jig is up]

I undo the illusion and remove the face of Andrew. The boss gets red in the face but also tries his best to not vomit as well. I guess people aren't used to seeing the face of a man peeling off a face only to reveal a skull mask and a grin.

[WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!]

[You my friend, can call me Sisyphus, and what would your name be?]

[You came all the way here, stole the face of one of my men, and don't even know my name?]

[That's right]

[My name is Boulder and-]

I couldn't help myself and laughed at the totally fitting name

[What the fuck are you laughing at?]

[I'm laughing at your accurate name. Also, would you like to retract your rude behaviour, I was after all, wearing the face of one of your men. I would have no qualms about wearing yours.]

Boulder suddenly lost all the red in his face and grew several shades of pale at once. 

[I don't know who you are but if you think tha-]

[One. I told you my name is Sisyphus]

I grab Boulder by his head and shove it into his desk. The cigar gets smashed and I can hear as the cigar burns into his face.

[And two, I hold the power here. You will do as I say. Understood?]

I lift his head and I see his nose is smashed in and he has a new scar on his cheek from the cigar. He still doesn't get the message and tried to take a swing at me. I take the shot but in exchange I used a minimal amount of body strengthening and smash his face with my fist. I do it once more for good measure and he finally seems to take the hint.

[OK OK WHAT DO YOU WANT]

[Look Boulder, I've watched you and seen the inefficiencies of your little rag tag group of gaggle fucks and I'm here to make a deal. Make me the leader of your crew, and in exchange your people will see power, money, and women, I will see a way to do the more...unscrupulous deeds, and the world will see the emergence of the Sixth Family, or perhaps that Sixth Family will wipe out the others and just become the First Family. What do you say? If all this sounds worth it then lets make a deal, all you want in life just for the price of your soul, all the money you can fold power that you can hold, I'll put you in control, but only if you're down to roll.]

I can see him thinking about it, weighing the pros and cons, and seems like he made a decision.

[Before I answer, what would happen if I were to decline?]

[I kill you and your men, resurrect them as zombies, and have them pretend to still be under the thumbs of the Five Families while I enact my plan anyway.]

[A necromancer huh? Makes sense, you're scary as shit man. Alright, we have a deal. Might as well tell the boys]

[Is everyone here?]

[yeah, everyone comes here in the morning.]

[Well then, lets go say hello.]

Me and Boulder walk on down, with me getting looks and Boulder telling everyone to meet in the warehouse. We get to the warehouse, and everyone seems to be pretty pissed, looks like a hangover. I can see skinless Andrew huddled in the corner crying over the pain of having the air in contact with his exposed muscles. Boulder gets everyone's attention

[GOOOOD MOOOORRNIIIING SUNSHINES! TODAY WE HAVE A SPECIAL GUEST. SAY HELLO TO MR. SISYPHUS]

Mumbled hellos can be heard.

[Hello everyone, As you heard, my name is Sisyphus, and as of today, I will be your new boss. Before I answer any questions, let me clear something up. I will be splitting this crew into multiple groups. I have seen your inefficiencies with my own eyes and as of today, we're going to be putting in some serious work. We will be handling different trades, so that way we can make more money and connections, and therefore have more power. The divisions will be: Mercenary, Drug, Smuggling, Gambling, and Slaves. I know we don't have enough money or connections to intrude on some of these markets so as such we'll be starting small with Mercenary and Gambling. These two will be small time things, but they will give us enormous profits if done right. I see we have about 30 people here, so we'll be splitting in half currently. I plan on personally going into the upcoming battle, and half of you will be coming with me, and we will make a name for ourselves there. We will become the new family, the Sixth Family, with my guidance, and you all will have enough money and women that you get sick counting them. Under my name, Sisyphus, I will show you all what it means to be successful. Just like how all organizations have a name, this one must too. I shall name our small but soon to be large group: Deimos!]