The outsider goblins had left a mess.
They were obedient to the mothers the main family had assigned, but they were hardly civilized. They had no compunction defecating and leaving food remains on the ground if it was a little out of the way of their own living space.
Now that they were gone the whole area between the platform and the gate was littered with filth and a notable smell.
It had been decided at some point by someone that the person most suited for getting all this filth into the sewer would be the minister of waterworks. So Aimone had to spend a day with a broom raking up goblin shit.
He was still grumbling profanities when pushing a heap of filth that had gotten quite large to the outhouse. "Mannagia.
Put to work like a..." He couldn't finish his thought, he didn't have the vocabulary to express the image of a working class day laborer he had in his mind.
"It's not so bad, comrade." Gildo laughed. He had two long leather gloves like those of a falconer to handle the refuse with. He was the one shoveling it into the hole itself. A stink had settled into the leather, making the gloves unusable for any other purpose. "We're putting in that little extra effort to ready this place for tomorrow's event."
Aimone exhaled sharply through his nose. "Not so bad? Stupido! This is not the life we were promised! Do you not remember the sacrifices we had to make? All that to mop up goblin shit, pah!" He spat on the ground.
Gildo sighed and looked him in the eyes. "It is not bad. We are alive, the liege has- thieves' guild has given us that. A place to live in, so we don't have to wander the forest like animals..."
"It's for the liege in the first place that we risked our lives, that we lost our citizenship in Grienice." Aimone insisted glumly.
But Gildo shook his head. "Maybe Audace. But we two were sloppy criminals since the start, and don't deny it. With or without him we'd be caught eventually."
"Maybe. But we don't deserve being pushed around by Fyro's haughty cousin, or her creepy pet."
Gildo started to laugh! "Yes! What a couple! I swear she's more his pet than he hers."
He was about to pat his friend on the back, but he shied away from his filthy glove. "Don't touch me."
"Even if we end up doing their chores for them, at least we can talk freely about the thieves without all the goblins here, ey?" Gildo sighed. "Can mention the liege without any ears being pricked up?"
"Yeah... why is it so quiet around here?" Aimone suddenly wondered.
"The summer is coming back." Gildo knew to say. "The forest goblins didn't have anywhere to go but the main family has been hiding inside when the sun is this high for days. It's too warm for them."
"Too warm?" Aimone frowned. "It's a temperate zone."
"Even a temperate zone is too hot for a goblin during the summer."
"I need to remember that."
-
Sure enough, when the sun came down and twilight set in the goblins came out of hiding, carrying pelts and blankets to spread out over the newly cleaned area.
"Thank you for cleaning the grass." Harkness came to thank the two.
She and the other guards had been out beyond the territory of the perimeter to scout for possible enemies. Now that they were so consolidated, they had more organized sieges to fear.
"Hmm." Aimone just grunted, her politeness messed with his ability to feel bitter about it and it annoyed him even more.
"We'll be having tidier guests around soon." She continued. "To discuss reintegration."
"Are we high on the list?" Gildo asked with a painful expression, being the newest members of the troupe.
"I wouldn't know. Are you?"
Their conversation petered out and she was about to leave. But then Aimone cleared his throat. "Ahem. How long have you had to... wait?"
She put her hands on her hips and thought for a moment. "It's been nearly a decade for me. But I'm not the eldest member here. Huckabee has been a bandit since he was a teenager." She spotted the man loitering not too far away and called out to him. "Huckabee! How long since your sentence?"
"Thirteen!" He shouted back. "Thirteen years. Been in Eston woods all that time."
"Well..." She told the Grienicians. "It's not quite a first-come-first-serve service either. If the guild thinks of you as useful, I have no doubt they'd move you up in the list."
"Not today." Gildo told Aimone. "If we are saved the first just after joining, the crowds would riot."
"And me along with them." Harkness stated sternly.
----------------------------------------
Second and Yuki were among the few goblins not involved with furnishing the grassland.
From deep within the bowels of the dungeon they had retrieved a series of thin metal beams.
"Will the witch approve of you using the steel for that?" Huckabee wanted to know.
"If anyone asks, it's an honest mistake." Yuki echoed Scratch's words and gestures while tapping his nose.
Second just grunted.
They were drilling rows of holes above and below the opened up cave.
Before every alteration to the rock surface they measured it precisely with cut reeds.
"And it's for a wall?" Huckabee asked sheepishly, making conversation and distracting the workers.
"Door." Second answered curtly.
"We're making a double-sided door." Yuki explained. "It has to fit perfectly 'cause they can't get in each other's way and there can't be a hole between them."
"I see. 'Cause you have doors inside, right? But they're... they're inside doors I guess."
"Ahem." Second dropped his tools and turned around. "Do you need to be somewhere?"
"Uh, no. I was just... you know, making conversation."
"We don't like you." Second stated angrily.
"Secooond~" Yuki protested.
"We're not your friends. Huckabee. We don't want to talk to you we-"
Yuki tugged on his arm. "Scratch said-"
"-Scratch isn't here."
"Aren't I?" Just as he had said that the goblin patriarch came up into the foyer through the hatch.
Second turned away from the group and crossed his arms.
"Don't mind Second." Scratch laughed it off. "He's having trouble growing up and letting go of grudges."
Huckabee looked a bit sheepish.
"The murders?" Scratch tried, thinking that perhaps he'd forgotten.
"Yes. No I knew why, and I understand, I just-" But Second refused to turn around and take part in the conversation.
"Forget about that. It's up to nobody but himself." Scratch stated. "Rather, come help me with this door."
From beneath the stairs came the strained grunting of Jasper, who was trying to push a wooden fixture through the narrow hatch.
"Son. Stop it." Scratch ordered. "I told you it's scraping, you'll break it."
"It's getting heavy!" The boy whined. "I want to get it through before I drop it."
"I didn't ask for an excuse." His father answered.
Huckabee quickly came to their aid by removing the lid from the opening and twisting the wooden panel until it fit through.
"Ah look who has spatial insight." Scratch cheered. "Round of applause everyone."
"Do we get applause?" Ada demanded when she and Felix lifted theirs through the opening in one go.
"Sure, well done. Let's get these things installed."
-
Before the rest of the wall was put in place the doorpost was finalized within the steel framework, making it seemingly float in the air.
The door panels were thick wooden slaps, square at the bottom but arching at the top. On both sides the goblins had carved images, halfway geometric and halfway depictions. They were supposed to be goblins in profile, facing outward from the central doorknobs and wielding spears.
"Did you carry all this through the rope platform?" Huckabee stroked the engraving with his hand.
"Hell no. We made it in the tunnels right here." Scratch responded. "We just crammed all our workshops in the mined out holes since that's where we're stuck anyway."
"I made the design!" Ada boasted. "Do you like it?"
"You just started on it and then that's what we had to go with." Felix complained.
"Enough admiring it." Their father decided. "Let's see what it looks like in place."
The hobgoblins had considerable strength, but even with three of them it was hard holding up the carving into the steel lattice.
The hinges were less shiny and smooth than the beams, but they were steel. Each had two halves, one attached to the panel and one to the doorpost, allowing them to attach the door by sliding the hinges into place.
"Aaaand... let go."
The door panel stayed into place. There was no loud creaking or bending of the materials.
"Success...?"
"With hinges like these," Harkness had suddenly appeared beside them, "any intruder can lift the door of its supports."
"Oh! Hi." Scratch responded in surprise at her suddenness.
"Hi." She said sweetly.
"It's not a locked castle gate." He continued. "If there's intruders here it's already too late."
"Hhm." She didn't sound convinced.
"'Sides," Jasper stated, "these doors are heavy."
"Huckabee and me can help you lift the next one into place." Harkness suggested. "As a favor."
-
When they were done the heavy wooden fixture within the metal framework had a precarious aura.
"Are you sure it's alright like this?" Harkness asked.
"Once the plaster is in place it'll have more support." Scratch answered.
"We're not doing bricks this time." Yuki explained to the humans. We're going to fill up the mold with cement-clay and make a solid stone wall. We are going to make a 'flap' for the dogs first, though."
"We might still stud it with some bricks." Scratch corrected him. "Or planks, or tiles. Whatever would fit in with the house."
"The house?" Huckabee asked.
"Yes, I have it all planned out." The goblin bounced outward onto the half-ruined square. "We'll go for a roman-style courtyard, this can be the atrium.Once you come inside you can go straight ahead for the underground or enter the home proper on the sides. With a second story that overhangs the square we can have twelve- sixteen rooms! More than enough for us two," he looked at the bandit leader, "the kids and their uncles."
"We talked about this." She spoke softly but with a strict tone.
He dropped into a sitting position and leaned his chin on his fist. "Yes, and I've been thinking about what you said. We started this town because we wanted lives of our own, right? A home for ourselves that isn't just a waiting camp for something better."
"Yes. But we can't make the others-"
"Wait. Let me finish. For us it's an upgrade, but for you it's just another bandit camp with a wall, right?"
She looked at him without answering. The bandits had benefited from the safety of the location, but their lives hadn't fundamentally changed.
"As long as our town is still a group project, it isn't a town." He said, unfurling his hand to tap the side of his nose. "It's a town when it's a home to pursue your own life, your own interests."
"So you don't expect Huckabee and the others to build our home for us." She asked.
"What? Me?" Huckabee was surprised, he hadn't quite followed the meaning of the conversation.
"I do actually. But not as a favor. It can be a job. There's always goods coming in and out, right? And everybody is doing jobs and making things. How about everybody earns their own money and they can order their own goods from the caravan, to have just for themselves."
She smiled "It sounds like you want a sovereign nation of your own."
He threw up his hands. "I prefer to think of it as an independent syndicate. Isn't that what you want as well? To live for your own sake again? To have your own home."
Her face grew more serious. "You don't think that I'd let you exploit these people, do you? If they need to work for their living, it won't be more work for less living."
"I wouldn't dream of it." He stood up and continued to look around at his imaginary house. "We'll dip into the gold supply."
"H-hey now." Huckabee protested. "Who will pay me for guarding them?"
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
"There still are public jobs I suppose." Scratch pondered. "Ministers, security..." Then he dramatically turned around.
"A protection fee, or rent for housing. Equal for everyone."
Harkness started laughing. "You're describing a tax levy!"
"What is a tax levy?" Jasper asked.
"Okay." Scratch took on a stubborn pose. "Why not then? Why shouldn't we be a nation? A city-state. We've got imports and exports. We've got civilians. We even have our own national product; steel. The only thing we're missing is a name." He turned to the kids. "What do you think the name of our country should be?"
"What is a tax levy?" Jasper repeated.
----------------------------------------
Kathia didn't have a storefront. Any legitimate weapon shop had to operate by the rules of the adventurer's guild, which meant selling only to adventurers and buying only from licensed suppliers.
Those rules were too restrictive for her. She resold found or stolen equipment from her home in Eston, at a much lower price. Her clients were adventurers with a connection to the thieves' guild as well as thugs and loan sharks that made it their business intimidating and attacking others with weapons.
All they had to do was knock on the green door at the end of the street.
*knock* *knock*
At the door were two tall characters. A man and a woman, they naturally had a similar appearance and were likely related, but they emphasized their similarity by wearing matching clothing. Bespoke form-fitting clothing, expensive but not presuming a status above peasantry. Black shoes, polished to a shine. Even the earrings in their left ears were the same.
"Can I help you?" The servant woman asked politely.
"Hiiii~" The female twin flashed a big white smile. "We're taking back the amulet, if you don't mind."
"Uhm... it is still quite early, Kathia is not yet ready to conduct business. If you'd-"
The man rudely shoved her aside and the two entered the home.
"H-hey stop!"
The shop's stock wasn't hidden very deeply. They busted open one locked door in the hallway to find the vault.
There were two wall-mounted displays and a glass casing, but most of the wares were strewn together in boxes.
The intruders ignored the valuable display items and began overturning the boxes, seemingly looking for a specific item.
The house was filled with loud clattering and clashing metal. Waking up the lady of the house.
"What's all this?!" Kathia came storming out of her bedroom, furiously adjusting her bathrobe. "Berta, who didya let in the house!?"
"I-I didn't." The servant stammered. "This lady and gentleman forced-"
"Can't you do anyfin' proper? You right tart!" The fence cussed at the help, who cringed at her words.
"Go get the guards, no, not the guards... go to the horse stables and tell the caretaker. Not a word to the guards."
The woman hesitated.
"Hurry then! After I let you and your disgusting kid live in my house. Benesant would curse me for me generosity."
"Y-yes ma'am." Before she flew out of the house she ducked into the room she shared with her daughter to whisk the young girl away from the rambunctious people.
Kathia had often threatened to throw her out and complained about housing offspring off the staff, but she more than got her value back with how she put the two to work.
It occurred to the young mother not to follow orders and to let her employer and landlady get herself killed confronting the two alone. But she found herself dragging the kid along to the stable anyway.
-
Like most cities, the layout of Eston was designed to accommodate adventurers. The western gate, shopping district and guild were all in close vicinity to each other.
It didn't take much time for the house servant to pass the gate and find the horse stables, where the mounts of visitors were being looked after.
"Uhm. Ah! Uhm." She stammered, standing on the edge of the property and seeing the stable boy pitch hay.
She and her daughter made an odd spectacle, dressed in inside clothing with no coats or hats, they looked like they'd escaped a house fire. The little girl in particular was wearing no shoes.
Eventually the young man saw them, layed down his pitchfork and approached. "Hi there. Can I help Y'all?"
"It's... madam Kathia. There's these ruffians..." She trailed off.
"Hey, I know you. You're Boris' sister, right? Uh, condolences." He blabbered.
The servant looked distraught, confronted by her own lack of presence and ability to convey urgency.
"Bad guys broke in the secret room!" The daughter yelled out.
"Are the guards-" The stable boy stopped himself. "No not the guards. I should go get... the boss. I think."
-
In a hurry the three rushed to a new location. A tall but narrow riverside manor in the richer part of town.
"George." The woman that answered the door stated expectingly.
"Mabel," he gasped from running, "is Fyro in? There are angry customers going ballistic at Kathia's."
"Fyro is out. Can't the- No. Not the guards. You go get Zell, we'll cool them off. Make sure it doesn't turn into a riot."
"Yes ma'am."
"Who's this?"
"This is, uh, Kathia's... friend?"
"I'm..." The woman didn't dare speak.
"We clean the house!" the daughter said.
"Well whatever. You stay here and watch my boys then. I'm warning you, they're little monsters.
-
And so, after almost half an hour of running back and forth help came for the fence being trashed by thugs.
After all this time they still hadn't found what they were looking for, and had moved on from trashing the house to assaulting the owner.
"Give it up hag." The man said, holding his victim in the air by her throat. "We know it's in here somewhere."
Kathia had both hands on his wrist, holding herself up to keep her neck from breaking under her own weight. "I haven't... the slightest clue... what you're-"
The female thug sighed. "The spring amulet was supposed to be rewarded to our selected winner. Suddenly, a goblin slayer with an even less credible amount of trophies appears and snatches it away, then that you lot up and assassinate him. What do you take us for? Tell us where the amulet is."
"Eat dirt." Kathia spat.
"I think it's time to try your new experiment." The man grinned.
"Brother, you're so cruel." The woman commented. "I love it."
A clammy cold sensation began to spread out of the man's hand and over Kathia's throat.
For a moment she felt a deathly fear, but the sensation suddenly stopped when an aggressive voice called them out.
"Steady on Guvnor." A broad man holding a spiked club grunted from the opposite end of the lane. Next to him where the much skinnier George and authority figure Mabel. "Let go of the lass, will ya?"
"None of us want to make a ruckus." George added. "So let's all calm down."
"You lot must've not realized who's turf you walked in on." Mabel fumed. "Eston's thieves' guild can bite back."
The male twin let go of the fence, she fell painfully to the ground. "I should hope so." He scoffed.
"Eston's thieves' guild can bite a lot harder than you three." The female twin laughed.
"Ugh. What do I even pay protection money for?" Kathia rubbed her throat in misery.
"Not to disobey the liege." The man scolded her and kicked at her while she was down.
"You two with the liege then?" George asked unsurely.
"'Ow would we know if they're even telling tha truff." Zell swung his club.
"Maybe because we're not dead yet." The woman laughed with a sassy gesture. Then she pointed up, a number of shadows dashed overhead, evading a proper examination, but clearly there. "Did you think keeping the peace was up to you lot? Doesn't your husband tell you anything? The liege's shadows are everywhere."
"I know a guy that works for the liege..." George began. "He says he only does the talking bit, and that he never met the smashers."
"Well we're talkers and smashers." The twins walked up to the trio and began to circle around them, examining them from head to toe. "Let's talk."
"I'm ready to do sum smashing at any time." Zell's grip around his club grew tighter.
"Who are you, and why are you here?" Mabel asked. Contrary to the thugs she'd brought, who kept their footing in case a fight broke out, she spun around to keep the two in her sight.
"My name is Mitt and this is my sister Trish." The man said smugly.
"We go where we're needed to represent our master's interest." His sister finished.
The duo were still circling the others.
"You have no right to cause chaos here." Mabel's voice cracked in her attempt to sound authoritative. "My husband owns this person, the liege will have to cont-"
"Who is causing chaos?" Mitt stepped into their personal space threateningly only to resume his orbit, like a sheepdog scaring cattle.
"So many loose ends. So many sloppy disappearances." Trish spat. "Who in Eston doesn't know about the bandit village by now?"
"That doesn't give you the right-"
"We have every right." Trish spat again.
"By tonight there will be people held responsible." Mitt continued. "No matter who they belong to. Leadership or not."
"We'll pull out the branch by the root if we have to." His sister added.
"You and what army?" George challenged them nervously.
"All of it, horse boy. All the people doing all the smashing bits in the whole city."
George audibly gulped.
"And we want that amulet." Mitt began.
"Make sure it turns up." Trish said. "Or, you know, else."
The two walked away.
"We could have taken them." Zell grunted. "It's three on two."
"No." George was looking up. "They were with a lot more."
"It's a good thing I didn't let them get their hands on it." Kathia boasted, as she pulled the spring amulet from under her bathrobe.
Mabel frowned. "Were you keeping it there the whole time?"
"I snuck it in while they were trashing my shop. Now that I know it's valuable I think I can sell it to Mac's casino."
"Really, Kathia," Mabel groaned, "you are incorrigible."
Zell laughed heartily.
----------------------------------------
After their confrontation wit the liege's spokespeople the smugglers returned to their business.
Once Mabel arrived at her riverside manor a carriage was parked in front of it.
She had no scheduled appointments, and her husband was supposed to be out, in a secret meeting with the leadership.
She began to worry for the safety of her family as she unlocked the door.
Inside her boys were ganging up on the servant girl that had fled from Kathia's. She was down on the ground and they were kicking her.
She sighed in relief. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Then she picked up an umbrella from the stand and whacked her eldest on the back of the head, so hard that he fell to the ground and started crying.
"Who's cart is that outside? Did you let them in? Tell me now." She demanded.
"Wuh-Witch."
"Witch? What witch?" She left them alone to find the living room, where Lacrima, one of the thieves' guilds leaders, was being served tea by Kathia's lackey.
The witch took a long slow sip of the drink before speaking. "Good to see you dearie, we were starting to worry."
"Out." Mabel fumed. "Both of you. Out of my house."
The servant looked at Lacrima to be given permission, when she nodded the woman rushed out of the room to take her daughter home.
The witch herself, however, stayed perfectly still and continued to enjoy her cup of tea.
Mabel narrowed her eyes at the brazenness. It seemed to her that a guild leader would not treat a member of another branch this way if she still feared that branch's power. "Were is my husband if not at the summit with you?"
"He is, dear. It is me that is terribly late. For all the time I had to wait for you."
"Well, I can do nothing for you. Have a nice trip." She gestured at the room's exit.
Lacrima put her cup down with a soft but deliberately abrupt cling. "It'd be a shame if that were true. Perhaps one of your sons will survive to be taken in by my orphanage."
"How there you threaten me? In my own house! This is the second time today. Now I only need a gambler to show up and I've got all three-"
"I'm not threatening you, I'm helping you you streetborn slime." The witch dropped her veneer of friendliness towards the thief, stunning her into silence. "I'm helping you. Do you realize how much trouble your family is in?"
"...What trouble?"
"You and I are going to take a short ride in my carriage. Along the way I will make you an offer you can't refuse. How does that sound?"
The woman audibly gulped. "And the boys?"
Lacrima finished her tea. "I will make sure they look after themselves while we're gone."
When they left for the door Lacrima made sure to turn to Mabel's sons and wave her hand in front of their faces.
"Be good boys for your parents, ey? Or they might not return."
The boys straightened their backs and began to stare off into the middle distance.
"W-what did you do?" But the mother didn't get an answer as she was ushered into the vehicle.
----------------------------------------
Their was no driver on the witch's vehicle. The horses seemingly knew where to go themselves.
Inside were three people. Lacrima herself, the witch and thieves' guild higher-up, Arnold, master of the adventurers' guild and her personal bodyguard, and Mabel, for now not much more than a prisoner.
They quickly left the city gates and prattled over cobblestone paths next to the crop fields. The grain wasn't ready for harvest but it was tall and spread out to all sides like an amber sea.
"Where are we going?" Mabel asked.
"The summit. If we aren't too late."
"But where?"
"Such questions. Don't you think she asks too much questions, Arnie?"
The man nodded. He didn't seem at ease next to the old woman.
After not too long they left the unequally paved road for a dirt one, and the hobbling got worse.
"I-is i-it the rende-vouz c-cavern in the f-forest?" She asked while being shaken about.
They didn't answer.
But the travel took them even further into the forest, over a barely flat use trail, out the other side next to the cliffs.
There they travelled past rows of treestumps until they entered a wooden gate and the wheels thankfully skidded over flat road again.
Out the window a small start to a livable outpost could be seen. Some buildings, a water tower, and smoking chimney pipes emerging from holes in the cliff that suggested something more going on below.
One thing that caught her attention was a large podium, with tables and chairs in front. There various thieves' guild members were gathered, discussing personal things for now until all invited were present.
She could recognize her own husband, Mac, who lead the underground clubs, and the twins she had met before.
Somehow they where there before her.
She was about to step out, but Arnold put a hand on her shoulder.
"I will be joining my competitors in a moment, but you have a different appointment." Lacrima stated, and gestured towards the doorless warehouse at the other side of the carriage.
There stood Lydia harkness, ready to grab the prisoner.
"My friend here thinks she can convert you to our side. We'll see about that." The witch concluded, as she had Arnold help her out of the coach. "Have fun, dearie."
-
"With me." The former knight almost lifted the thief out of the carriage by herself when grabbing her arm.
"What do you want from me?" Mabel gave a symbolic wriggle but did not seriously attempt to escape the warrior's grasp to start a fight.
She was dragged inside to a room full of wooden crates, where a few of the bandits were seated.
What chairs they had had all been appropriated for the summit outside. They were seated on crates and loose wagon wheels.
The healer was there, Stanford, as well as one of the guards, Huckabee. Lying on his side on a higher stacked crate
was the one-eyed goblin she'd seen before, with the peculiar long sleeve. He was smoking what looked like a cigarette.
Right in front of her, not looking her in the eyes, was her own sister.
"Sit down." Harkness commanded.
She obeyed, planting her backside on the smaller crate that had been put down for her, right across from her sister.
"What's this all about?"
The goblin took his cigarette out of his mouth. "Well we were going to execute you-"
Mabel shot up from her crate but got pushed down again by Harkness' strong hand.
"-but one of our highest ranking members has defended your innocence."
Mabel looked around at the bandits.
"Your sister. Idiot." The goblin said mockingly. "Isn't that right, Barbs"
Barbara still didn't look at her. "I guess."
"Now listen to this," Stanford began, "tonight Fyro will be taken out for leaking crucial information to Mildred of the adventurer's guild. Intentionally."
"You can't do that!" Mabel raised her voice, but remained still, as she still felt the strong hand of the former knight on her shoulder. "Damn it, we're leaders-"
"Not without unanimous support from all other leaders. Isn't that how it works?" Stanford insisted. "That's why they're here."
"Even the liege has send those two here to speak on his behalf." Harkness added from behind her. "Fyro is the only one that doesn't know the true purpose of this meeting, and the vote that is about to take place."
"You're not supposed to know either." The goblin chuckled, rolling on his back to stare at the ceiling. "As far as the others know, you don't. Tell her Barbara."
Now Barbara did look at her. "Tell them Mabel. If you tell the others about Fyro's betrayal, you won't be seen as a co-conspirator."
"Do you understand what this is?" The goblin asked. "It's a get-out-of-jail-free card from your loving sister."
"It's a painful decision." Stanford said sympathetically. "But there's only one right one."
Mabel blinked to hold back tears. "I don't have a choice, do I? The entire guild has turned against us."
"There will still be a smuggling route without Fyro." Stanford whispered softly. "You will not lose your income or your house."
"You are the sister of our Barbara." The goblin commented. "That kinda makes you an aunt to our tribe. As long as we're around, you will have the support to be able to keep power."
"We have more than enough time to discuss this later." Harkness grunted, as she lifted Mabel upright again. "Now it's time to confess."
"Come on." The goblin sat upright. "Give each other a big goodbye hug. You're sisters."
Somewhat awkwardly the two embraced. Spitefully, Barbara whispered into Mabel's ear. "We're in the same boat now."
----------------------------------------
From atop the platform, Scratch and Harkness looked over at the meeting of the guild leadership.
There were more eaters seated in the area, but the thieves' guild higher-ups were the guests of honor and received the most attention.
Fyro's wife mabel had just sat down with him. He seemed surprised by her presence, but not really alarmed. He was discussing something with an older gentleman, covered in jewelry.
"You're having too much fun with this." Harkness stated sternly, as she saw Scratch prepare for his musical performance.
"It's our moment of victory, baby." He stated. "We're allowed to be a little smug about it."
"I still don't understand how in the world you arranged it, like this." She sighed.
"It's an old cop trick." He explained, as he tuned his lute. "If we think they already know everything, we will confess it all to get off lighter. Mabel couldn't know that without her testimony there would be no conviction."
"It can still go wrong, can't it?"
"I suppose it can." He turned to the other musicians. "Are you ready?" They nodded. Then he turned to her. "Are you?" She shrugged.
He struck a few notes and began to sing.
Sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm wrong
But she doesn't care, he'll string along
He loves me so
That funny honey of mine
Sometimes I'm down, sometimes I'm up
But he follows 'round like some droopy-eyed pup
He loves me so
That funny honey of mine
As the song continued the talking at the leadership table became louder.
Accusations began to fly.
He ain't no sheik, that's no great physique
Lord knows, he ain't got the smarts
But look at that soul, I tell you that whole
Is a whole lot greater than the sum of his parts
And if you knew him like me
I know you'd agree
What if the world slandered my name?
Why, he'd be right there taking the blame
He loves me so and it all suits me fine
That funny, sunny, honey, hubby of mine!
He loves me so
That funny honey of mine
Then the big words came out.
Mabel turned away from Fyro, her face in her hands.
Scratch's singing became more gleeful and manic.
Lord knows he ain't got the smarts
Now he's shot off his trap I can't stand that sap
The two twins grabbed the man from behind and began to drag him off.
As they did the song entered its last lines. Sung in a hard staccato.
Look at him go, rattin' on me
With just one more brain what a half-wit he'd be
If they string me up I'll know who brought the twine
That scummy, crummy, dummy, hubby of mine~
-
The goblins laughed cruelly as Fyro disappeared from sight forever.
"Scratch..." Harkness whispered to herself. "you're supposed to be better than me."
----------------------------------------
shadow bandits
When a thieves' guild becomes too powerful, it can field shadow bandits in its territory. These are masked combatants that steal and rob within the confines of the city walls.
In contrast to regular bandits, they are not outlaws. A shadow bandit ise a legal resident of the town that hides their identity in order to commit crimes.
Not every criminal intending to remain anonymous is considered a shadow bandit, only trained enforcers for criminal organizations. Their threat level is usually between E and D.
When combating shadow bandits it is vital to determine the identity of their employer, in order to expose the corruption within the city and restore law. The aid of trustworthy nobility is required.