The Scalvoris Sapphire Inn, Almund
116th Ashan, 720
Part 1 - 2
116th Ashan, 720
Part 1 - 2
All sorts of shady people could be found gathered at the Scalvoris Sapphire Inn: pirates, pimps, petty thieves, and everything in between. It was unofficially known as the go-to place for dodgy dealings. Even this late at night, everywhere you looked there was some group or other with their heads together, whispering in hushed tones and shooting sly glances at anyone who came close.
It was at one of these tables that Tio and Morgana waited: the latter flicking through the pages of a book, while the former had his eyes closed in a look of peaceful concentration. Morgana had the hood of a black cloak pulled up over her head and grey rags wrapped around the lower half of her face, leaving only her eyes visible. Tio meanwhile wore an elaborate golden skull mask, with his duplicity suit morphed into a thick black fur-collared coat. Ostentatious for sure, but necessary in order to hide his identity. It wouldn’t do well for a politician to be seen making shady deals, but at the same time Tio couldn’t resist the impulse to show off a bit.
“They should be here by now. What do you think is taking them so long?” Morgana sighed impatiently.
“Relax kiddo, they’ll come. They can’t afford not to.” Tio explained, a slight smile gracing his lips. His eyes drifted to the door. “In fact I do believe they’re here now.”
The door rattled open and three people stepped in. From the distance between them it was clear that they didn’t know each other, and when they saw him waving to them like an old friend they all approached cautiously and took seats across the table.
The first, a tall biqaj man with a short brown beard and dressed in ragged sailor’s clothes, eyed him and Morgana warily. “You’re the two who sent the notes right? What’s with the masks?”
“We value our anonymity, that’s all. I promise we mean you no offence.” Tio replied calmly. He gestured to Morgana. “My name is Mercury, and this is Hecate. As my notes explained, we’re looking for partners in a… less than legal enterprise.”
The second person, a pretty aukari woman with an easy smile but unusually sharp glint in her eyes, eyed him coolly. “And what makes you think we’d be interested in something like that?”
“Because we are quite similar.”
“Bullshit.” The third person, a short human woman with spiky hair and a line of tattoos running up her arm, scoffed. “Ya don’t see any of us runnin’ around hidin’ our faces. We ain’t alike.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Tio chuckled. He looked over to the biqaj. “You, James, used to be a quartermaster on a merchant ship right? A rather skilled quartermaster at that. Yet one day your ship is attacked mid-journey, you hop ashore and refuse to set foot anywhere near the sea since. What happened?”
James scowled and looked down at the table, but didn’t say a thing.
“Then we have Kyari,” Tio continued, turning to the aukari woman, “who fled from Sirothelle a year ago under cover of night. Never once since then have you stepped out of your apartment when the sun is up.”
Kyari shot him a small, tight smile, but also remained silent.
Tio turned back to the tattooed woman. “And finally the infamous con artist Cobra, who’s fortune disappeared overnight when she suddenly found herself unable to lie or go back on her word.”
Cobra grit her teeth and fixed him with a furious glare.
“You’ve all known the good life, back when society accepted you.” Tio continued undaunted. “You had pride, purpose and wealth. Then one day you crossed paths with an Immortal who didn’t like the way you lived, and saw fit to curse you for it. Suddenly you fell through the cracks in society. Suddenly you were forced to leave you old homes and jobs behind. Suddenly the people who once respected you shunned you, and down you fell until you landed here,” he spread his arms out, “drinking with petty crooks in a dingy tavern.”
Cobra slammed a fist down on the table. “You mockin’ me, assface!”
“Quite the opposite. I respect you.” Tio replied. “Even when your old lives fell apart you kept fighting. You carried on despite your curses, and fought to survive no matter how far into the muck of low society you sank. That takes strength.”
Kyari hummed. “You speak as if you can relate.”
“Because I can. Delroth hates me enough to have cursed me thrice.” He gestured to his mask. “How do you imagine a god of vanity punishes those he dislikes?”
"Ya mean ya fuck ugly? Ha! Called it!” Cobra grinned, leaning back in her seat and kicking her feet up on the table.
James however looked up at him, for once without distrust in his expression. Instead there was a hint of sympathy. “So we’re all the same then? Five wretched souls all drinking to our misery together. Is that why you called us here?”
Tio shook his head. “No. I called you here because I’m not happy with the way things are.” He leaned forward, gesturing for them to come closer. “In every corner of the word people like us struggle to get by. The curses are bad enough, but the way people treat those they see as cursed, as if they might catch something from them, is even worse. We are outcasts, and as strong as we may be, nobody can shoulder the weight of the world alone.”
James, Kyari and Cobra looked away uncomfortably, feeling the words hit a little too close to home for comfort.
“But the way I see it we don’t need to be alone.” Tio continued. “Misery loves company after all. We can relate to each other, and because of that I believe we can learn to trust each other. If society won't accept us then I say we make our own one.” His voice grew increasingly eager as his enthusiasm started to break free from his composure. “I want to start a guild for people like us: the cursed, the rejected, the people with nowhere else to go. We’ll make our own laws, and watch each other’s back.”
The three of them looked at each other, faces warring between uncertainty and fascination. “A guild for outcasts huh?” James mused. “I can certainly see the appeal, and it would be nice to have like-minded people to rely on. But providing for people with such a range of unnatural needs would take a lot of coin. How would we finance this?”
“By taking control of the criminal underworld here on Scalvoris. Why should we play by the laws of a society that doesn’t look out for us anyway? We’ll be a thieves guild, and one by one we’ll absorb all the other gangs and criminal enterprises around until we rule the underbelly of this city.”
Kyari laughed disbelievingly. “You intend to become the next big crime lord? The other gangs around here are tough you know.”
Tio grinned wolfishly, his eyes glinting with mischief. “I’m tougher.”
The others looked at him for a moment, trying to work out if he was serious or not. When it became clear that he was being serious however James huffed with amusement. “Well you’ve certainly got a pair of balls on you. Alright then Mercury, say that we accepted where would we begin?”
Tio nodded to Morgana, who took a rolled up parchment out of her pocket and laid it out on the table. On it was the floor plan of a large building and a map of Darbyton.
“This is the office of the Logging Consortium.” Tio began, looking around to double check that nobody else was watching or listening in. “I have very good reason to believe that one of the largest criminal gangs on the island, a group called The Consortium, use the Logging Consortium as a front. Right now the council are looking for evidence connecting these two consortiums together, so that they have an excuse to launch a raid on the Logging Consortium and pillage their treasury. It’ll be the start of a war between the government and The Consortium-...”
“Which will cause a power vacuum within the criminal underworld.” Kyari finished, smirking as she caught on. “And a power vacuum will be the perfect opportunity for an upstart gang to step in and replace them.”
“Bingo.” Tio grinned. “I can make sure whatever evidence we find makes its way into the government’s hands, but first we have to find some. Now even criminal gangs need to keep track of their finances, and if the Logging Consortium is one of their fronts then their ledger should have traces of large amounts of money being moved around at odd times without a good reason. I intend to steal this ledger, and I need your help to do it.”
He pointed to the floor plan. “The ledger should be in the head of the Logging Consortium, Cornel Sherapo’s, office, which is on the third floor. To reach it we’ll need to get through the housing district unseen and up through the first two floors, both of which have guards.They’re brutes, but if they aren’t looking for us they should be fairly easy to sneak past.”
Cobra raised an eyebrow at the plans. “This is pretty detailed. How’d ya get this?”
“We know people in the right places.” Morgana replied mysteriously.
Tio nodded. “One of whom happens to be one of the lumberjacks in the Logging Consortium’s employ. He sold us information on the layout of Darbyton and the first and second floors of the office, but couldn’t discover the layout of the third floor without appearing suspicious.”
“And what, pray tell, is the plan?” James asked.
“I could only tell you that if you agree to join us.”
Kyari and Cobra shared a look, silently asking each other what they were going to do, while James’ eyes bored into Tio's for any sign of deception. Yet when he found none the biqaj smirked.
"Alright, I'm in."
Kyari tilted her head to the side in a gesture of thought. "I suppose there's nothing to stop us abandoning ship if it doesn't work out. Okay, I'll see how this goes. I'm in."
Cobra let out a harsh, barking laugh. "Guess it's just me left them. Fine, I'm in too. Ya better make us all damn rich, ya hear me?"
A wide, wolfish grin spread across Tio's face. "Trust me, one trial soon we'll be raking in so much gold you'll be struggling to find stuff to spend it on."
"I dunno, I'm real good at spendin' money."
The group shared a quick laugh, united by the prospect of a prosperous future. Then Tio gestured for them to lean in even closer. "Okay, here's the plan…"
