A Snowy Rat's Nest II (Solo) (Graded)

[Soren Kvistson]

Vhalar 87, 719 following A Snowy Rat's Nest

Location: Arne's Old Playhouse

Soren watched as the children scattered for a brief moment, before they realized what it was they'd just heard. Several of them came to full stops, though two others disappeared through other doors. Soren slowly walked his way up the aisle of sets, removing his coat, gently laying it over the back of a chair, setting his hat atop it. As he walked, he let his eyes wander from each child in turn, glaring at them as he unbuttoned the cuffs of his shirt and rolled the sleeves up his forearms. He stopped in front of the biggest one, who stared at him with absolute fire in his eyes.

Soren held up the bag of coins from his boot, "Answer my questions, do as I say, and this is yours. All of you, come here. Now." Slowly the children who'd stayed behind edged closer to him. They all stayed out of reach, except for the large boy who still glared at him. And they were all curious about the coins. Soren looked down at the leader, a hard, stern glare, "Which one of you pickpocketed me?" He jingled the coin pouch to emphasis the prize.

For a long while none spoke, when a smaller boy piped up, "Katya. But she left." Soren turned toward the small one, pulling a gold from the bag. He smiled down at the boy, "What's your name?" The kid looked down at his feet awkwardly, "Gerald." The moment he finished saying that, the bag of coins was swung down hard, striking Gerald into the side of the face, throwing him to the ground.

"Rule one Gerald, do not be disloyal to your people."

The child started to cry in the heap on the floor, as the rest looked on with shocked eyes. Soren tossed the gold coin down toward Gerald, aiming it so it was right before his face, "But you followed rule two, which is do not lie to me."

Soren looked back toward the leader now, whose fiery eyes looked a bit shaken now. "You had a good plan, but the snow gave you away. It was careless." With a swing, Soren struck the leader boy across the jaw with the bag of coins. He didn't fall, but he did cry out, his hand instantly going to the wound. "You can do better, and will, if you want my coin." Soren flipped a coin at the leader, who caught it with his free hand.

"Find those that ran and bring them back here. I have a deal for all of you, and until I have all of you, the gold," he shook the bag, "is cut off." Soren turned and sat in one of the front row seats, pulling a flask from his other boot, "Well? I don't wish to wait long." He unscrewed the metal cap and drank a swig of the whiskey within. He watched as the children ran off, the leader begrudgingly walking behind them. He suspected he would not wait long.

He looked up at the stage, imagining a show there. He raised his flask to the actors and smiled, taking another drink.

[Soren Kvistson]

He didn't have to wait long, seeing the entire lot of children appearing through the doors, the missing ones out front, leading the way, cautiously. One girl, Katya, he assumed, dark of hair and eyes and skin, maybe twelve arcs old, and one boy, about the same age, with a pair of cracked glasses and a large jagged scar along the side of his temple. They both wore the gazes of people who had grown up too fast for their age, not like the others.

"You two, come here."

Both walked up to him, coming in closer than the others had dared to do, "Why did you run?"

Katya spoke with a thick accent, one he recognized. The tongue he and Navyri shared, "To no be caught." The boy nodded in agreement. Interesting. Soren looked at the boy, "Why don't you speak?" One of the little ones moved to speak, but the boy held up his hand, silencing them. He then opened his mouth, showing a nub, his tongue having been cut out.

"Speaking lies?" The boy shook his head, his mouth now closed. "Speaking truth?" The boy nodded. Soren looked back at Katya, speaking Gravokian now, "Are you a daughter of shadows?"

"Yes," without an ounce of regret or lack of confidence in her voice. A proud Naer.

"Why is the large boy the leader?"

"He threatens the little ones. We cannot watch them all the time."

Soren looked over at the large boy, who was still clearly angry. He closed his eyes, nodding, sighing. "Boy, do you threaten to hurt the little ones?"

He saw the boy's temper flare instantly, "No! She lies! She only speaks in lies!" Soren held up a hand, silencing him. He looked back at Katya, seeing no change in her expression. He looked at the mute boy, seeing nothing there as well. Eyes falling on the small children, he saw them shirking away from the larger boy, looking at the other two for guidance.

Soren slapped his thighs, standing up. He walked over to one part of the stage, finding a broken piece of wood there. He picked it up, walking back over to the large boy, smiling at him. They boy looked scared, until Soren offered him one end the wood. The fear turned to glee, having convinced the older man of what he said. He reached out for the jagged piece of wood. Soren slapped the wood down on his hand, then with his free hand, grabbed the young man by the hair, slamming his face into the woodwork on the front of the stage. There was a crunch and the boy began to sob. Soren kept the boy on his feet by his curly hair, the point of the wood at his throat.

"You're out. You will take the money I give you, and you will leave this place forever. If you're seen here again, if any of these children ever see you again, I will personally cut off your hands and feet and feed them to you. Do you understand me, boy?"

Through his sobs and the blood flooding from his broken nose, the boy managed to nod. Soren let go of him, letting him land in a heap. Soren tossed the ten golds down at him, as previously agreed upon. The boy grabbed them, and ran. Soren wiped the oil from the boy's hair onto one of the old seats, then returned to his own, crossing his legs.

"Let's talk business."

[Soren Kvistson]

Katya waved the other kids over, and the sat in a semicircle around Soren, while the mute stood against the stage, watching. "Why do you live here, instead of one of the orphanages? They'd take you in, give you a bed, food."

Katya spoke in her heavy accent, "It ours. It beautiful and ours. We take care for it and it care for us."

Soren nodded, "What about Old Man Arne? And his niece?"

Katya smiled, "They are nice. She bring us food sometimes, when she can. He tell stories, when his mind let him. He forget where he is sometimes."

Soren nodded, "Is he here now?"

Katya nodded, "He live in office all time. No leave. He write. We visit him, see if alive."

Soren nodded, this was all good information. He'd have to talk to this Arne, and probably his niece. "Do you all wish to keep living here?"

All around there were head nods. "Have any of you ever seen a play? A show?" There were mostly shakes of the head, but Katya and the mute both nodded. Katya spoke, "Ben mother do show in Rynmere."

"Well, I must be honest with you lot. I am considering purchasing this building. Restoring it, bringing it back to life. But that will be a lot of work to do." He looked at each of them in turn, "If I buy this building, I will keep you all here, warm and fed, if, and only if, you prove yourselves useful to me. I understand why you steal, you need to survive. But each of you must start thinking... bigger. You need to think beyond your next meal. Do you understand?"

There were some tentative headnods, and several confused looks.

"Tell me, what is it all of you want to do?"

The little ones piped up first, "Princess!"

"I wanna be beautiful!"

"I want to play with swords!"

"I want to make dresses!"

Soren looked over at Katya, "I want run playhouse."

He looked at Ben, glancing at Katya, nodding in agreement.

Soren tossed the bag of coins into the center of the children, though no one moved to take it. "Good. You all work for me now. Katya and Ben are your new leaders, after me. You will listen to them and do what they say. Katya and Ben, you are equals in this. You will work together on everything. Do you understand?"

There were head nods all around again, "Good. Do you want anything specific from me in all this? Now's the time to negotiate, for I will not change the terms after this."

Katya looked at him, determination in her eyes, "Yes. All us get own rooms. You teach read. You no hurt us without betray. And cake on birthtrial."

Soren stood up, looking down at Katya. He smiled and nodded his head once, sticking his hand out. She shook it, then Ben came over and shook it as well. "We have an agreement. I have rules though, and all of us, myself included will abide by them."

He looked around at them all, "Rule one, you do not betray anyone here. You do not talk about them to other people, you say nothing about them. Betraying them puts everyone in danger. Rule two, you do not lie to each other, nor to me. Trust is the only way business works. Rule three, you watch each other's backs, and mine."

He nodded, "Ben, please take the little ones to go get some warm food and some new clothes with those coins there. Katya and I will go speak to Old Man Arne." The mute boy nodded, and began gathering up the children. Soren put away his flask, grabbing his coat and hat. He looked to Katya, "Shall we?"

[Abra]

Soren

Rewards

Knowledges:

Skill:

Leadership: Not tolerating disloyalty
Leadership: Not tolerating lying
Negotiation: Punishing disloyalty
Negotiation: Rewarding loyalty
Negotiation: Rewarding skill
Negotiation: Starting a negotiation with a gift of coin

Loot:
Injuries:
Wealth:
Renown: 5 don’t mess with this guy

EXP: 10

Feedback

I didn’t think the last thread would have a follow up but here we are. Good idea of turning the thieves against each other and even teaching them some life lessons. As usual you did a good job with the dialogue which fleshed out the NPCs. Enjoy your rewards