Underdark- Black Web Region
Kingdom of Zeren'gor Territory- City of Nythi Thalas
Warehouse District
Aaron studied the groups in front of him. Thiera Lanthul, three other Priestesses, two Driders, and a dozen Temple Guardians, Quincy with twenty of his best and two Wizards, and Margie with two dozen of their best Thieves. With this, they would either succeed or the city would fall within hours. Did they have enough...Aaron had no idea until they got down there.
"Hey boss, can you come out here for a minute, we got a situation," Davis called from behind him and Aaron studied him and nodded.
Emerging onto the street revealed Natash with nearly two dozen men and women, Aaron gave the First Sword a hard stare that he ignored, "I thought you could use the help, so I brought along some of the best in the city and four Wizards." Aaron kept the stare on him as he responded.
"They understand you are not in command, they do as they are told or be left behind. Agreed?" Aaron responded and another figure stepped up.
"We understand Aaron Sumner, we will do as you command concerning this," Corina replied with a smirk.
Aaron rolled his eyes, "I am a Thief girl, aim higher.' Aaron told her before looking at the others. The little smirk on her face grew though. 'Get inside, we will talk once everyone is within." Aaron told them before turning and heading back inside the warehouse.
Ten minutes later, Aaron looked down on the now four groups. Each was separated by various divides, but if they didn't put those aside, this city would die within the next twenty-four hours. "Before anything else happens, thank you for coming. For those who don't know the stakes of what is coming, we are about to fight for the fate of this city and the people within it. If we fail, more then likely most if not all the inhabitants will die.' Aaron told them trying to meet all their gazes. 'For those who do not know, Jonas Ele'tharamas allied himself some time ago with Chaos Priests. They killed Jerimiah Long so that Jonas could take over the Thieves Guild of Nythi Thalas. Everything they have done since then had been a build-up too tonight." Aaron told them and more than one person had a look of disgust on their faces as they listened too him.
"We have one chance at this, if any of you are unwilling to step up and fight, you need to stay behind. Once we are committed, there is no going back. So, make your choice now.' Aaron told them as he vaulted the guardrail and landed below rolling to his feet before he turned and approached the wall as he activated Rogue's Eye to manipulate the Runes on the wall. The wall moved and the floor fell away to reveal stairs leading down and into the Undercity. 'One last thing, no mercy. These people, they don't deserve compassion or any leniency. They will not offer it to you." Aaron stated before turning and drawing his daggers.
Quincy grabbed his shoulder, he had a large two-handed mace resting on his shoulder and wore metal-studded leather armor. "For Jerimiah."
"For Jerimiah," Aaron repeated before dropping into Stealth and ghosting ahead, the other following soon after until the warhouse was empty and the entrance closed behind them.
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Dark and dank was the best description for the Undercity of Nythi Thalas. Carved into the bedrock below the city, it was even more ancient than the city sitting on top of it. Parts of it were ruins of an older settlement that had once been built here and had probably been wiped out when the Drow moved into the area. Now it was part of the Undercity that was primarily used by the various underworld Guilds and neutral territory for them as well until Jonas had gone and claimed a part of it for the Thieves Guild and Chaos Priests as a staging area.
Now Aaron and the others were on their way to kill everyone down there and disrupt their plans. If everything succeeded anyway they would disrupt their plans. Aaron was pushing forward with two other Thieves pacing him and watching his back. A part of him itched with the fact that two other Stealthed and armed figures were behind him. Yet he would have to learn to trust them if he wanted to become the Viscount of the Thieves Guild of the city. The sounds of voices drifted from up ahead and Aaron slowed and signaled the others that they had company up ahead.
They nodded and their pace slowed to a crawl to what it had been. Aaron ghosted forward light on his feet, his daggers in his hands ready to deflect or lash out. The tunnel revealed two Enforcers talking and completely confident no one would oppose them. Aaron activated Rogue's Eye to make sure no others waited nearby and carefully looked the tunnel over. He looked back at the other and signaled for them to target one of the Enforcers while he dealt with the other. With a quick nod, they silently split up as they approached the Enforcers.
Aaron slowed even further as he got closer, he kept his daggers low and across his forearms so not too reflect what little light was in the tunnel. Once he was in range he triggered Dash, closing the gap almost instantly before activating Shank and Backstab as his daggers plunged into his target causing him to appear as the Enforcer died. The other Enforcer gasped and prepared to scream but the daggers of the other Thieves lashed out and he died in an eyeblink. "We drag their bodies back and around the corner. Joey, send word for the others to move forward and keep an eye on the tunnel until we get back." Aaron commanded causing the two others to get too work as he grabbed the man he had killed by the arms and started dragging him away.
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Three different Portals, so Aaron had the larger group break up into three different strike teams. Each one with the primary objective to destroy or disable the Portals and kill everyone they could. Any Immortals would be captured if possible, killed if necessary. Natash and his group were with Aaron since he wasn't sure of the First Swords motives in coming. He also didn't trust Thiera as far as he could throw her, so he tasked Margie with watching her and leading the Thieves with her team. Davis led the third team of Thieves with Quincy leading the overall group.
Aaron studied his opposition, Jonas and two Chaos Priests were arguing, while another half dozen Priests were working on the Portal. A dozen Enforcers were throughout the room from what Aaron could see. His Rogue's Eye revealed no stealthed beings within the room. The Portal itself was already starting to draw power and based on the Priests chanting and working on it, they had minutes before it was fully ready. Aaron moved back down the hallway where the majority of his group waited and he immediately started talking to them.
"In the back of the room against the far wall is the Portal, it is already powering up. Six Chaos Priests are working on it currently, those are our primary targets. In the middle of the room are Jonas and two more Chaos Priests, and a dozen Enforcers throughout the room. I studied the room, I could not find any other stealthed individuals. Natash, how do you want to play this out?" Aaron asked the First Blade.
The Drow gave him a feral grin, "Your Thieves will Stealth out and hit the Priests working on the Portal first and foremost. My people will deal with the Enforcers, as soon as your Thieves finish off the Priests, they will assist with the Enforcers. The Wizards will do what they do best.' Natash replied before looking at the two robed figures who gave him tight smiles and shrugged. 'We will hit Jonas and his two companions." Natash finished and Aaron nodded his head in agreement as he looked at the eight Thieves with him.
Most wore cocky grins or smug smiles, "Watch each other's back in there and get the Priests, we cannot allow them to power up that Portal, understand?" Aaron told them and they nodded acknowledging the order.
"I am guessing we are going to be the distraction?" Aaron asked Natash who winked and smiled.
"Yes we are, we are going to walk right out there in the open. When the Wizards appear, that will be the signal to attack." Natash added as he looked around the group who nodded their heads in agreement and understanding.
Aaron smiled as he drew his daggers with a twirl, "Let's get the show on the road."
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"I don't care what assurances you give me, I want my people out of here," Jonas told the Chaos Priest, ahh divisions within the ranks.
The Chaos Priest turned and smirked at him, "You think I care what you want. You made agreements boy in return for our assistance with your problems. We delivered on everything we promised, now you have to be here until we say otherwise. Everything will be done within a few hours, so go sit down somewhere and relax."
"You know what, I couldn't agree more. Go sit down somewhere Jonas and let me slit your throat.' Aaron stated loudly as he walked into the room. Jonas jumped and whirled as he drew a pair of clubs from his belt. 'What's wrong Jonas, you seem a little jumpy. It's not like you did anything that would cause me to want to kill you, right?" Aaron commented as he slowly walked closer too him.
"Aaron!! Why are you here?" Jonas responded causing Aaron to smirk at him.
"Oh, we are going to do the cliches, are we? Ok, well I am here because someone set me up on a murder charge. Oh, and someone murdered a close friend of mine, Jerimiah. Remember him? You were always slow on the uptake Jonas. So tell me, when exactly did you decide to stab me, us, in the back. Before or after I was arrested." Aaron asked Jonas while he ignored the Priests. All eyes were on him now, and not on the other Thieves infiltrating the room and making a slow way towards the Chaos Priests near the back wall.
"Don't be so surprised Aaron, only one of us was going to inherit Jerimiah's position. We both knew it was going to be you, then an opportunity arose and I took it. You would have done the same in my shoes." Jonas replied.
Aaron smiled and chuckled, "No, I wouldn't have. Then again, that's why you guys choose him right?' Aaron asked the Chaos Priest. 'He was easily influenced. You could give him something he wanted desperately. You could get rid of me. Something he could never do alone." Aaron prodded and the Chaos Priest smiled and bowed slightly.
"Well, you are an Immortal and our ranks are very diverse. Our people are true believers no matter where they are from. Earth or Ithea. It was easy enough for our Earth Brothers to figure out your identity, then it was only a matter of setting you up. The weak link was getting your brother and girlfriend to go along with it. So the better question is, how are you here?" the Chaos Priest asked.
Aaron smirked, "I guess my brother had a stroke of a guilty conscious, on his death bed he confessed I had been set up and cleared me of any and all wrongdoing. It set me free. Don't think you can depend on my ex either, I made sure she will never come to this world again.' Aaron told the Chaos Priest. 'My question is, who's had the idea was it to kill the old man. You Jonas, or your little handler? I know, you could not take him alone. You had to have help killing him. So did you get impatient or was it your Chaos Priest friend here?" Aaron asked them both.
"Does it really matter? He is dead by my hand and I am Viscount. You will never take the position until you have killed me and I am not as weak as I once was. I have had years to get better Aaron and you cannot beat me now." Jonas replied as Aaron smiled.
"I suppose not, you are all dead anyway. You sealed that decision in stone when you killed Jerimiah. Personally, my Plan A was to wall you all in here and let you starve to death. Less bloodshed, less work. It would have been easy to do since you are in a dead-end section of the Undercity.' Aaron told them as he received a pair of messages from Margie and Quincy, they were in position. 'Then I took a BIG chance and scouted out what you were doing around here. Plan A went out the window and Plan B came into existence. I hope you didn't judge us all based on this fool? Some of us do have pesky feelings, and put more important things above our personal ambitions." Aaron told the Chaos Priest who frowned.
The explosions and screams within the other chambers started, Aaron smiled and darted forward causing Jonas to snarl as he raised his weapons, but Aaron disappeared in an eyeblink. "You forgot Jerimiah's number one rule!!! Why give a guy a straight fight, when you can stab him in the back!!" Aaron hissed out as the Chaos Priest tried to scream as he clutched at his throat as blood poured from his slit throat. Then the room turned to hell as the Wizards appeared at the mouth of the tunnel and started flinging spells and the Thieves dropped out of Stealth as the Priests working on the Portal started to die. Aaron gave Jonas a tight smile as he darted forward, his knives swinging.