Beneath The Holy City of Fartuna
The Thieves Guild - Fartuna Branch
“Huh… Thieves Guild in The Holy City. I never would have thought there would be enough thieves for you to form a guild, let alone here.”
I sat on the edge of a dock with my back to the water listening to the singing from the cathedral directly above us talking to Rosie and a man who could only be accurately described as completely nondescript. Average in every conceivable way and impossible to remember besides that.
He was, as Rosie introduced him, the leader of the Holy Cities Thieves Guild. They had met when she had escaped a previous slave master who was going on a pilgrimage to the Holy City. She started to talk about who he was and how he ended up here but as I watched their lips move I began to hear a strange whistling noise that seemed to overcome their voice, I felt the desire to ignore them and look away but I fought it trying to focus on the words only to feel overwhelmed with exhaustion.
Finally after a couple of minutes of my fight I saw the man raise his hand and point to me, I made out the word ‘curse’ from the movement of his lips before he leaned down and introduced himself as “John Doe, Nobody of any Importance.”
I tried to ask what that sensation was but when I attempted to describe it the words just seemed to dissolve from my mind. I could sense, in an instinctual kind of way, that something was in fact missing but when I tried to fill in what that was nothing seemed to form.
Rosie was introducing him, she started to explain who he was, but then… nothing. A blank spot in my mind followed by him offering his hand and introducing himself as “John Doe.”
John seemed to grasp what I was struggling with when he said simply, “A friend once told me that the gods have a petty sense of humor.”
Feeling his words resonate with me I thought of my own fate as a play thing to an Evil God and suddenly things made more sense.
“That they certainly do.” I muttered under my breath before nodding to Rosie. I wondered why she didn’t think of his curse when she tried to introduce him but maybe she thought I would be able to avoid the curse somehow.
If only it were that easy.
“Anyways… We need identification. And I need you to get this damned collar off my neck.”
John didn’t hesitate to reach for the collar which just seemed to dissolve at his touch, without even the slightest fluctuation of magic. “How did you…?” I asked in amazement, before frowning and working to smother my anger as I saw the layers of burns and scars apparent around Rosie’s neck.
Maybe he was using some kind of magic to suppress his emotions or he genuinely wasn’t surprised or caring but John seemed totally un-phased by the scars and simply pulled a silk scarf out of nowhere and gently wrapped it around Rosie’s neck.
Picking up on a hint of intimacy I hadn’t seen before I couldn’t help but tsk in annoyance as this boy tried to hit on my- friend.
“Thanks...” Rosie carefully adjusted the scarf while running her fingers over the scars. I noticed she’d closed her eyes before turning away to hide her expression.
“About the fake id’s?” I asked him on her behalf trying both to move the conversation along and give her some respite from our attention. I wanted to reach out and comfort her but… I’m just an old man, a monster. I have to leave the comfort to the boy. All I can do is give her space.
John looked between us before lowering a hand outreached to Rosie and facing him. I imagine his expression had calmed but none of him was memorable. “I don’t mind helping… Rosie with something like the collar for free but when it comes to guild business you’ll be paying like anyone else. You don’t give me the impression of someone who is very stealthy but there are still uses for bumbling monsters nonetheless.”
I rolled my eyes at his shallow blow and motioned for him to get on with it, much to his chagrin.
“In the city above there is a priest who has been stealing tithes from the church and using his power to import and export narcotics into the city. They were sold almost exclusively to the poor and enslaved so the guards aren’t doing anything about it. That’s where we come in, a friend of the guild has asked us to strip the priest for all he’s worth and if possible publicly oust his crimes in such a way that nobody can deny them. The problem is that he somehow got word of the guild contract and has hired a bunch of high powered guards and upgraded the security on his mansion. I can get my people past the security but as for the guards…”
I sighed seeing this come together. “You need a meat shield.”
He laughed and clapped his hands. “Exactly! Tear up the guards, wreak havoc, ideally turn the mansion into rubble. I can’t imagine how you’ll be able to do that but Rosie did say that your strong and my senses are screaming that I should kill you now so I think your exactly what I need right now.”
I wanted to protest but the thought of consuming more of the Strong and tearing down a tyrant priest made my mouth water. “Will there be any innocents in his mansion?”
He started to talk but Rosie interrupted him. “Yes. There will be.”
He frowned as he looked towards Rosie. “Our informant didn’t say anything about that.”
She looked sad as she rested her hand on his shoulder. “He’s here with us now.”
John froze and looked down at the ground in shame, waving for her to explain.
“He says that the guards arrested him last night and beat him unconscious, when he woke up he was in the Priests mansion. I’ll let him explain from there.” Her mouth started to form dozens of different words but no noise came out, after a moment a black mist seemed to bubble out from around her like dry ice hitting the ground. After a moment her form seemed to take on a spectral exo-skeleton of a naked middle aged man with a body covered in scars and an eye patch over his right eye.
“Sup, Boss.” He lightly nodded his head in respect to John, crossing his arms so his spectral muscles bulged.
John let out an annoyed groan, while still grinning slightly at the familiar sight of his friend and subordinate. “It’s good to see you, Frank. Though I can’t say I’m happy to see your habit persists even in the afterlife.” He grumbled the rest of his comment under his breath just slightly too low for me to make out, aside from the mention of Rosie’s name.
“Mmhmm. I messed up. Sorry, Boss.” I got the impression that he wasn’t the kind of person to favor speaking a lot. “Boss Lady said to tell you what happened.” As he spoke he seemed to wrap himself in a fur piece coat that looked like different animal pelts hastily sewn together. HIs face also grew a long, mangy beard. And he began to reek of sweat, piss, and beer. He was every inch, a downtrodden, impoverished, peasant that you would pass on the street and never take a second look at.
John flinched for a second at the ghost's spectral transformation but quickly recovered a cold expression and nodded at Frank to explain.
“I was watching the mansion like you asked. Begging on the corner and keeping track of who came in and out. I thought nobody had really noticed but early in the morning the guards started running down the entire street, capturing and imprisoning ALL of the beggars. It was the usual after that. They’d torture and beat us. Then come in and be our friends. I didn’t break but that was enough, Should’ve been smarter. Given fake answers.” He kept his head low with shame and I wondered what kind of friendship these two had. I wish I could see John’s expressions to get just a bit of what he was feeling.
“You have nothing to apologize for, Frank. Just tell me about the inside of the mansion and go to sleep.” John’s voice seemed to shake from emotion one second to being totally monotone the next, as if his will was colliding with another within him.
Frank’s eyes were quivering with tears and he was mouthing his thanks. After a stirring moment he coughed and shook his head, calming himself. “I didn’t see the mercs but heard some of the guards getting orders to keep them out of the basement.” He shivered in disgust as he described the scene carefully. “The basement is where they keep the drugs but it's also where they are making new drugs.”
John stood up in surprise. “You're positive about this Frank? How come we never heard of it?”
Frank nodded severely. “I recognized the ritual signs across the room. I think they’re using the other drugs to induce the right mindset for whatever they’re making. There were over a hundred homeless, beggars, and just regular people from the slums all packed together in the room stone out of their mind. It was so tight there wasn’t even room to walk without stepping on people. They don’t eat or drink they just… it’s not even sex more like… rutting. Like animals. I can’t imagine much of their human mind is even left if they were in that condition.”
His spectral form was shivering and blinking like it could disappear at any second, he looked down at his hands and quickened his speech. “You need to make sure those drugs are destroyed and the people freed. I know… I know we’re not a charity boss but… what was happening there wasn’t humane. It was so… so wrong.”
John closed his eyes and nodded seriously. “I promise Frank. We’ll make sure of it.”
Frank started to thank him but before he could say anymore he flickered out of existence leaving just Rosie standing in place with her eyes rolled back and a shell-shocked expression left on her face. Before John could react I quickly ran over and wrapped my arms around her as her body started to fall backwards onto the wet cement floor.
I started calling her name but Frank told me it wasn’t worth it. “She’s frozen from overusing her magic. You’ll just have to give her time to wake back up.”
I glared at him with as much heat as I could muster in the moment which surprisingly wasn’t very much.
He ignored my glare without even a flicker of emotion. “Old Man, I’ve known her for a lot longer than you have. If I thought there was any danger involved I would be doing something about it but right now we have other concerns don’t we? You both have a mission you're working towards and you won’t be making any progress on that until you get those ID’s. You heard what we have to do from Frank, now can you do it?”
I felt the monster within me as I thought of the people abducted from the slums to fuel this mad priest's ritual but much to my surprise I didn’t feel any hunger within me. I felt anger, and a burning of sympathetic pain in my gut but no hunger.
“Yea… We can do it. Be a distraction for your guild and remove any threats without harming the innocents inside. No problem.”
He nodded in satisfaction as he wiped away the tears at the edges of his eyes and muttered a soft prayer for Frank’s soul.
“Then get ready. We leave as soon as Rosie wakes up.”
