Rasarath is a huge, bustling city on the south coast of the Longlands. The only way to get to the Longlands by foot is along the Grey Road and then north through uncharted rocky mountains so no one takes that route. As such all trade to the Longlands is funneled through it. There are merchants and visitors from the Greenlands, from the Hallowed Realm, from Tuggranoskr and from Noth, all mingling together with the locals.
The merchants trade in slaves and lands and great sums of gold and jewels all guarded by all manner of warriors and mercenaries. There are many who work among the rich merchant classes of the city, making exorbitant amounts of money for their exclusive services. There are architects, chefs, courtesans, and doctors who are the best in their trade and work for only the most exclusive clients, amassing great amounts of money for themselves.
Rogo sailed into Rasarath on a ship he’d hired from the Hallowed Realm and watched the great golden domes of the city roll into view. There was so much wealth there, so much money, and he already had plans within plans, to steal it.
The ship docked and Rogo and his band of thieves left, paying the captain as they did so. It had been expensive to get here and even more expensive to arrange accommodation but if everything went to plan it would soon all be worth it. They did not look much like thieves as they strolled through the bustling city. They were dressed either in extravagant clothing, posing as nobles, or in extravagant armour, posing as guards. They were gathered from all across the world and so fit nicely into the chaos and extravagance of Rasarath as they jostled their way through the streets.
They made it to the mansion of Sebrutha, the friend to all merchants, or so he was named. He’d been only too happy to welcome Rogo and his band into his halls when he’d heard of their plight. Rogo had considered stealing from him but he had little to steal, his wealth and fortunes were all falling into ruin and disrepair, making him all the more desperate to make as many friends in high places as he could, hoping one would take pity on him. So far he’d had no luck and Rogo wasn’t about to help him, he wasn’t quite as high up as he seemed.
They all filed in to the grand hall, appearing weary from their trek through the busy streets. Those among them posing as guards stepped off to the side while Rogo and those posing as his family met with Sebrutha. Four of those posing as guards carried a palanquin, within which was Arna, a small, frail looking girl who they claimed had a terrible disease that only the greatest of doctors could fix. Sebrutha looked over at the palanquin with unease but greeted the rest of them warmly.
“Welcome, welcome, to glorious Rasarath. I trust your trip was pleasant.”
“Oh indeed. The seas are much kinder around here than where we come from. Kind enough that poor Arna was able to leave her bed and walk on deck every so often.”
“Excellent, excellent. I trust you’ll be wanting to see our esteemed doctor as soon as possible of course. He lives in a mansion beyond the city, he claims the bustle and chaos are bad for his patients. I say he simply dislikes them himself. The city is where it all happens my friend, I hope very much that you enjoy your stay.”
“Oh no doubt,” Rogo replies. “All the same, we’ll be seeing the doctor as soon as possible.”
“Of course of course. I will have horses and carriages ready for you within minutes. The best horses in Rasarath I assure you.”
And so they left the mansion after only just arriving. Carried away into the bustling city and then out into the estates beyond. The doctor’s estate was immaculately kept with gardeners and groundskeepers patrolling the perfect lawns. The huge mansion towered over them, imposing guards looking down from every corner.
“There are a lot of guards Rogo,” whispered Arna from within the carriage as they approached.
“Don’t worry, the plan will work,” Rogo replied confidently, perhaps too confidently.
They were ushered in to the mansion where they were brought to a room full of empty beds. Only one was occupied and the curtains were drawn around it. Arna was nestled into another bed and they all crowded around, ignoring the other occupied bed on the other side of the room. They waited for the doctor, whispering to each other in what they hoped was the chatter of nobles. They didn’t wait long.
Accompanied by his guards the old bald man shuffled into the room and examined the sickly girl in the bed. They had given her a poison that wouldn’t kill her but they hoped it would fool the doctor into thinking she was actually sick. It didn’t.
“She’s been poisoned,” he said quickly.
Rogo’s eyes went wide in alarm and he looked at the rest of his band. “Get out!” he ordered them and they left. “Poisoned?” He asked the doctor softly.
“Yes, I’m not sure what sort of poison yet. I’ll have to run some tests.”
“So one of my company has betrayed me?” Rogo pondered. “I cannot trust them.”
The doctor rubbed his chin as he examined Arna who was looking as terrified as ever. “Yes,” he said idly, far more interested in his patient than any potential betrayal.
“Would it be possible for your guards to watch them while I determine which of them did it?”
The doctor stopped examining Arna and thought about it. “I suppose. There are a lot of them though.”
“So you have somewhere secure we could lock them?”
“I have a few rooms in the basement that are quite secure. We could put them there.”
“Perfect,” Rogo said. “We should do that immediately.”
The doctor nodded and gave the word to his guards. Rogo thought the original plan had been better but the back up plan would work as well. His band muttered and grumbled as they were led off to the basement. There weren’t many rooms there and they were put right next to the vault. They began to take out the tools they’d hidden beneath their extravagant clothes.
The doctor went back to examining Arna who remained scared and sickly. She wasn’t confident in her acting skills like Rogo was and hoped that she’d look sick enough. Luckily she was supposed to be nervous and on edge which she did well. The doctor didn’t seem to care, he was far more interested in her illness than how she acted.
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He was mixing some herbs together when there was a huge shout from downstairs. Arna jumped in fright and the doctor turned to look but a guard came in and reassured them.
“He’s interrogating everyone. It’s getting heated,” the guard said and they all winced as the shouted argument continued downstairs between Rogo and other members of the band.
Meanwhile the others slowly began to tunnel away at the wall to the vault, the sounds of the shouted interrogation drowning out the noise.
Rogo was having fun as he screamed at Filmanion who screamed right back. “She’s dying! Do you not care!”
“It wasn’t me! How many times do I have to tell you! I’d never hurt her!”
“You expect me to just believe that!”
“What evidence do you have!”
“Who else knows anything about poisons!”
Up in the ward the doctor made Arna drink something and poked around her eyes and mouth. She could see he was growing annoyed at the shouted argument happening downstairs. He had moved out of the city to avoid these sorts of things after all.
Rogo and Filmanion kept shouting at each other, in a different room the others had almost tunnelled all the way into the safe. A guard burst in and shouted over them.
“Silence!” Rogo and Filmanion stopped shouting and looked at him, panting slightly from shouting so much. “The doctor is working on your little daughter and he needs to concentrate! So if you’re going to be interrogating each other you should do it quietly!” the guard hissed.
Rogo and Filmanion looked at each other. They didn’t know if the others had tunnelled through yet. Rogo feigned looking guilty. “Sorry doctor!” he shouted and the others rapidly hacked away at the wall. “We’ll be quiet from now on!”
The wall fell away and they caught the slab of rock, edging slowly and silently into the vault.
The doctor rolled his eyes and went back to his work, poking and prodding at Arna who was now properly terrified that the plan hadn’t worked. She felt sick from the poison but also from the fear that they’d get caught, that it wouldn’t work, that everything would come crashing down. She really wasn’t very good at this whole thievery thing, why did Rogo give her all the most stressful jobs?
The doctor looked at her eyes and his eyes narrowed in suspicion. She didn’t like that. He gestured for a guard to give him something and he poked her with it, she jumped. He spun away and walked off down the stairs. She stayed in the bed and wondered what was going on.
Rogo was arguing in whispers now and he jumped in surprise when the door slammed open behind him.
“I was being quieter, tell the doctor-” he stopped when he saw that it was the doctor in the door. Rogo looked confused.
“I know what the poison was.”
“Oh good.”
“It’s a paralytic, she doesn’t react the way she should to various stimuli.”
“So... can you fix it?”
“I don’t need to. It’s harmless, it will just put her out for a week or so.”
Rogo narrowed his eyes, he’d really been hoping for some more time.
“Which begs the question,” the doctor continued. “Why did a bunch of unknown merchants turn up out of nowhere with a girl drugged harmlessly, asking for the best doctor in the world?”
“Well we didn’t know it was harmless obviously.”
“It’s the most common harmless poison in the Hallowed Realm. The poisoner clearly knew it was harmless. So why would he do it?”
Rogo leaned back on a chair and crossed his arms. “What are you implying?”
“I don’t think you are who you say you are. I think-”
“You think that we skillfully got ourselves placed right next to your vault so we could dig into it and steal all your money. Good guess that’s exactly what happened. Unfortunately for you we’ve already got in and out with all the money, you can check the vault if you like but I’d suggest you get off after my friends before they get to the city if you want your money back. They do have some very fast horses, the best in Rasarath I’m told.”
The doctor’s eyes grew wide and he spun out of the room. He took some guards with him to the vault and they opened it, painstakingly slowly, each key seeming to take an eternity to fit into the locks. Eventually the door swung open to reveal an empty vault with a hole in the wall leading into one of the other rooms.
“Did you let anyone out?!” the doctor screamed at his guards. “Has anyone left?!”
They shrugged, there were a lot of guards and a lot of rooms, it was possible. The doctor spun around and gathered up as many guards as he dared, taking them to the door. The carriages were still there but he had no idea how many horses there’d been.
“Get after them!” he shouted and his guards sprung up onto horses, galloping off down the road. The doctor panted in exertion, he would get his money back, he would-”
He heard a scream behind him and spun to see one of the guards that he hadn’t just sent away being cut down by Rogo’s band who had all produced weapons from somewhere and were walking toward him. One of them carrying the girl he’d been treating.
“Thanks for sending all those guards away,” Rogo said confidently. “It would’ve been difficult to get through all of them.”
The doctor backed away. “You won’t get away with this. You-”
Rogo slapped him and he crashed to the ground. Then he watched all of them walk past and mount up, carrying all of his gold and wealth with them. They were gone before he could clamber to his old tired feet.
“They haven’t been able to find them,” the doctor said to the man in the bed. “They’ve completely disappeared with all my money.”
“Mmmf,” the man grunted in response.
“You could find them though. You can do a lot of things.”
“Mmmf.”
“You owe me for saving your life, you know. Some people might consider that a debt worth repaying.”
The man shrugged, he wasn’t one of those people.
The doctor sighed. “I suppose I’ll just have to close up shop. I won’t be able to buy anything to treat any of my patients. Especially my expensive patients.” He reached over the man’s face and the terrible scars across it. They were black and corrupted and the man winced as the hand brushed them.
“Mmmf,” the man whimpered and the doctor withdrew his hand. The man looked up at him with angry eyes through the terrible scars. “Alright,” he rasped. “I’ll find them for you.”
Wegrel had been following Rogo and his band for weeks. Everywhere they went they seemed to rob and extort the rich, so far they’d never been caught but he doubted their luck could last. He stood at the dock watching their boat in the distance, he’d been so close this time.
The captain he’d talked to came up to him and assured him that the boat was going back to the Hallowed Realm, Nagathrum specifically. Wegrel thanked him and looked around to find another ship going there. Another man walked up to him, a man with three horrible black scars down his face, hidden poorly under a hood.
Wegrel narrowed his eyes at the man who rasped at him. “You’re after Rogo and his band of thieves?”
He nodded nervously.
“What a coincidence. I think we might be able to help each other.”
Wegrel swallowed. “Who are you?”
The man smiled and it contorted all his scars horribly. “Just someone who knows a lot more than Rogo does.”
Wegrel nodded. “I don’t think he’d agree with you there.”
The man’s smile grew wider and more contorted. “We’ll see.”