William and his group followed Nite through Shaderest and it impressed him how a small group like this branch of the foundation could make the town seem heavily populated. People milled about like normal, William wondered why some people moved around in their cloaked and masked black garb through alleys and rooftops whilst others moved around the street with common clothing.
“Nite, why are some people masked and others aren’t I assumed you guys kept your identities hidden,” William asked, noting his companions inch slightly nearer to ‘overhear’ the reply.
“We keep our black attire on when working or tasked with a mission. Outside of that, we live fairly normal lives. Still, every person you see is trained to kill and kill well. Some of us however, are trained in politics, agriculture, engineering, and so on, in addition to the more bloody skill set. Sometimes we need people working in those other environments.”
“That’s interesting. I guess swapping in your own politicians or other officials make operations run smoother?”
“Exactly. The team I’m grabbing are three of our best, and they are often found together.”
“Oh? They close?”
“Brothers. We’re nearly there. You’ll see them for yourself any moment.”
Stacey picked that moment to speak.
“When you say brothers, I can’t help but picture three way bickering. It very much seems like siblings bicker often.”
Stacey’s glance flicked between William and Jane. The two saw what Stacey was getting at. William was about to reply, but Jane beat him to it.
“We don’t bicker that often. When we do, It’s because I’ know I’m right.”
“The both of you literally bickered the other day,” Stacey replied, seeming to enjoy her friend’s denial.
William had noticed that Stacey had started to be a little more free in her behavior recently, and he loved it. She used to be somewhat shy, but had come out of her shell for the most part now.
“Siblings do bicker often, me and Jane included. She has a habit of not admitting when I’m right,” William said, grinning at Jane who stared back daggers in reply.
Jane didn’t say anything back and William was a little sad she saw the bait he laid out.
Suddenly a loud and gruff male voice boomed from around the corner they were heading towards.
“TWO PAIR MOTHERFUCKERS! PAY UP!”
A slightly smoother voice replied, no less loud, but less hoarse.
“WE HAVE THE SAME MOTHER, DUMBASS!”
Nite let out a quiet laugh and said, “It Sees Stacey is on the money with her assessment. Let’s see how much money the others lost.”
“This’ll be interesting.” William mused, taking Stacey’s hand as the two shared a warm gaze for a fleeting moment, before they turned the corner.
As the group reached their target, William took in the sight. A muscular guy stood proud, with what looked like playing card’s that were made of wood in his hands gloating and grinning. Before the man, two others sat with similar facial features of defined cheekbones and jawline, along with flatter noses and smaller lobed ears. The two others were less muscular, but the resemblance was still there. One was bespectacled and had a buzz cut hairstyle. The last brother had no glasses, but had shoulder length hair and a scar running from his lower left ear down his jaw.
“Gambling again boys?” Nite said, loud enough for them to hear over their bickering.
“Winning again you mean, Nite,” The burly brother said.
“Only because this moron went all in,” Spectacles replied, pointing to Scarface.
“I can only handle so much of his gloating,” Scarface refuted, pointing at the bigger brother.
“Ain’t my fault you two aren’t as smart as me,” Burly brother said, his cockiness dripping from his voice.
“We had the same starting amount. Going all in immediately is stupid. Either we just fold and nothing happens or we also go all in.”
Nite picked this point to stop the tomfoolery.
“You’re all idiots. The three of you went all in instead of letting Tarn here waste his hand. Seriously, who goes all in straight away? Also, Tarn, why did you go all in with two pair? That’s not even that good a hand. Feel free to throw your money away however you want though, Its just stupid the way you three do it. Also, you three are coming on a mission.”
“We just got back though, Nite. Gram and Wilt here could still be keeping some money hidden away for me to take,” Tarn said, gesturing to his two peeved siblings.
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Gram, or the one who William had dubbed Scarface, replied, “You’ve swindled us out of every coin we had. We need another mission now.”
“You two do. I’m loaded now. Thanks for that.”
Gram let out a long suffering sigh and shook his head in disappointment.
“It’s fine, Tarn, We’ll go without you and keep all the money to ourselves while you piss your money away via copious amounts of ale,” Wilt said, pushing his spectacles up from his nose.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, I can’t let my little brothers get hurt on mission without me there at the front,” Tarn replied, quickly pocketing his not so hard earned gains.
“Sure, that’s the reason, Tarn. We leave later today. I wanted to introduce you to our team for this mission. This is William, Stacey, Jane, John, and Maya. Likewise, these three are the brothers, Tarn, Gram, and Wilt. We will be one big happy team,” Nite said, bringing the topic back to a serious tone.
Tarn stepped forward and extended a hand to William. The two shook hands, firmly squeezing the hand of the other. William’s strength wasn’t bad, but it was a little bit under Tarn’s own, but he had enough to leave a good impression on the big man it seemed. He used [Identify] out of curiosity, making sure to get the others in view too.
{Ascension_Protocol}
Tarn – Human – Level 22 – Fighter – Level 22
Gram – Human – Level 20 – Medic – Level 19
Wilt – Human – Level 24 – Scout – Level 22
{End}
They were all pretty strong. Stronger than William in his own combat Class, but not in overall Race level.
“Nice to meet you, Tarn, Gram, and Wilt. Let’s work together well,” William said, trying to take the initiative in conversation.
He had been getting less anxiety lately, and currently felt mentally stable enough to do so. Appearances and all that.
“We always do good work, William. Have no fear in that,” Tarn replied, baring a big toothy grin.
Tarn let go of William’s hand and looked at Nite, before continuing, “Speaking of which, we meeting by the gate? Wagon as mode of transport?”
“Correct. I intend to show these guys around Shaderest for a bit. Don’t do any more gambling today.”
Tarn laughed heartily before replying, “I wasn’t gonna. I’ve already dried these saps of their money.”
“Go fuck yourself,” Gram and Wilt said in unison, making William and his group chuckle at the antics.
The rest of the day went by quickly. They saw an area that had a theatre and open space circling a large fountain of solid stone, and clear water. It turned out that enchantments kept a steady flow of water running constantly, even with no one living there for a time. The entire area seemed made for concerts, festivals, and Thespian productions. Echo, Ashen, Snow, and Lily had a splash in the fountain, much to the amusement of the group. It wasn’t too long before they arrived at the town’s Aerie. Atop a three story building of administration, was an aerie home to many nests that the creatures living there resided in. The three falcons were provided with a row of nests to rest in for the duration and chirped happily. They were still young and excitable, so the new sights and sensations were a good distraction for them. Echo communicated his disinterest in having a nest of his own. He was bat-like after all, so it didn’t come as much of a surprise to William. He was glad Echo could come along, even if it was really dangerous. Echo had stuck with him since their initial bond and the pair enjoyed fighting together.
Evening came and William’s group waited with Nite for the three other members of their team. He was surprised to see that Nite had shoulder length, red hair, with a high trimmed fringe, clearly designed not to interfere with the eye gap in her masked cloak, however it was starkly contrasted by mostly plain facial features. They were all dressed in the military garb provided, with Stacey and Jane donning a single braid that ran out from the back of their helms. Apparently, long hair in the military had to be controlled via braid, ponytail, and so on. William had stored his overcoat inside his Spatial Ring and strapped the harness to his cuirass. It fit fine by design, along with the two daggers sheathed at his sides. Severance and his shield remained where they were with no issues either. All in all, he was arguably better protected than ever, even if the coat looked cooler.
He wouldn’t need to wear it for too long if all went well, however. They waited for what must’ve been an hour before the three men appeared in their own uniforms. Once everyone was together, they signaled for a wagon, pulled by two Rellzin and after a nod to the coachman sat on the perch behind the two beasts, they climbed inside. It wasn’t long until they were moving and William along with his companions took a few long moments adjusting to the rickety motions.
“First time in one of these eh, William?” Tarn asked, grinning in amusement.
“What was the first clue,” A slightly paler William said, as he and Stacey both seemed to be the most affected.
Tarn noticed the two holding hands and William saw the glint in his eyes. Tarn was about to say something pretty inappropriate, he just knew.
“Ah so the two of you are fucking eh? Who’s the dominant one?”
John was shocked at the sudden question whilst Jane covered her ears and closed her eyes muttering noises to herself. The last thing his sister wanted to hear was stuff related to bedroom activities. Nite was pinching her brow in exasperation in a way that matched the two other brothers face palming. Stacey had gone a beet red and buried her face into William’s shoulder, hiding from view. William was about to say ‘none of your business’, but Tarn spoke again.
“Never mind. From what I can see, you are the dominant one, William. I respect that as a man.”
William didn’t bother to do anything but nod silently. Getting angry at the guy before they went on a mission seemed incredibly foolhardy, especially with the lives of those he cared about hanging in the balance.
“William, I’m sorry about Tarn. He’s always thought with his fists, dick, and stomach first. In that order typically.” Gram said, apologetically with Wilt fervently nodding the same sentiment.
“I think about the important things too, Gram. Not my fault they’re too boring to follow most of the time. Don’t worry, Nite. Before you get all moany, I’ve read the mission and feel that I’ll be best suited for manual stuff and training. I’ll obviously report what I see and hear. Just don’t take too long. I wanna smash some Stonegate dogs in the face,” Tarn replied, patting his spiked mace at his waist.
Thankfully, for all involved, Tarn got bored and went to sleep. Maybe there was a god after all. The wagon journey was always rickety, and annoyingly, within the last twenty minutes or so of the journey, they had acclimated to it. William wished it came much sooner, but that’s how things went on occasion.
It was early morning when the group hopped off the carriage, Tarn exiting last, fighting a yawning fit. They were nearly home.
William took a deep breath and spoke quietly, “You’ll be free soon.”