I concentrated on healing her burn wounds first. The hole in her side, then her leg. Despite the extensive damage, they healed in seconds. So did her ribs.

I also used Battle Recovery on her for the combat stimulation effect. It woke you up, made you alert, improved reaction times, and replenished your stamina.

She gasped heavily, and said, “What did you do to me? It feels like my heart is about to explode!”

“Sorry, I used Battle Recovery on you, but I may have used too much. I didn’t account for your size,” I said.

“Oh god. Well, what’s done is done. We need to get out of here!” She said.

She ran surprisingly fast on her tiny legs. I had to run to keep up. She didn’t match my top speed, but the fact that I had to run at all was surprising. Abigail followed behind me.

The goblin had a small pack on her back. Well, it was small to me, but it was full-sized for her. It jangled and clinked with the familiar sounds of crystals hitting each other. We would have to talk about that when we were safe.

"Brace yourselves!" The goblin said.

"With what?" I said.

"What for?" Abigail said.

A giant multicolored explosion erupted from the barn, blowing the building apart and sending a shockwave our way. It lifted us off our feet and threw us forward.

Abigail and I landed awkwardly while the goblin tucked and rolled out of the fall. "Get up! We've got to go! People will be after us soon!"

I got up off the ground and pulled Abigail to her feet. Some city guards saw us running away from the fire and started chasing us. We all began running again.

"I told you!" She said.

The guards were catching up to us. The goblin was slowing us down. Both Abigail and I could run faster than we were right now.

“Can I touch you?” I said to the goblin girl.

“What? Why?” She said.

“You’re slowing us down. Either you let me pick you up, or we leave you behind to get caught by the guards,” I said.

“Pick me up,” she said.

“Ok.” I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder fireman carry style.

Abigail and I sped up, and we were faster than the guards, but not by much.

“Can’t you put us in a bubble and fly us away?” I said.

“Yes, but it’ll be too slow. The bubble only moves at my max running speed. We need a distraction,” she said.

“I have something!” The goblin girl rummaged through her pack and pulled out an orb of metal with a glass chamber that contained something glowing and green.

There was a tube of metal through the top that looked like a pin on a grenade. The whole thing looked like a fantasy grenade.

She pulled the pin and threw it behind us at the guards. There was an explosion and a flash of green light. The guards didn't die or get hurt by the explosion but they suddenly stopped and put their hands on their knees.

They were breathing heavily. They sat down on the ground and then laid back. They were still conscious. They just looked exhausted.

“Now we can get away. They’ll be like that for a few minutes,” she said.

“Allison, fly us away!” I said.

“That’s not–oh right. Yes, sir Jarnathan!” She said. She got close to me and the goblin and summoned a bubble around us.

We rose into the sky. We traveled several roads over and landed in an alley. Abigail released the bubble and I put the goblin girl down.

“So what’s your name?” I said.

“Marcy,” she said. “And you are Allison and Jarnathan? What kind of name is Jarnathan? That sounds like the fakest thing I've ever heard.”

“Fair. It sounds fake because it is fake. We’re just in trouble with the law and we’ve been going by aliases to prevent from getting ratted on,” I said.

“That is more than I would normally tell a complete stranger, but you seem like the ‘in trouble with the law’ type too,” I said.

“You are correct in that assumption,” Marcy said.

“Before we discuss anything further, would you be willing to come with us to our base in the undercity?” I said.

“Normally I wouldn't follow random strangers anywhere, let alone the undercity, but since you did save my life and me from the authorities, I'll give you a chance,” she said.

"That's all we ask for," I said.

We led her down to the undercity and to the merchant guild hall we were using as a base. Marcy was short, about halfway between 3 feet and 4 feet tall. She had green skin, pointy ears, sharp teeth, and vertical pupils.

Her hair was a deep purple with white streaks. She had it in a ponytail. She wore form-fitting dark clothes for infiltration. She had a knife holster attached to her boot.

Once we were all settled around a table, including Stylus, Marcy said, "So what's your guys' deal?"

"Our deal is that I took over the crystal gathering side of the Red Tail Fox Company business in Ravenhold. I stopped all crystal gathering when I saw what crystals did to people. We were at the sales branch to destroy it, and with your help, we succeeded," I said.

"This is my girlfriend, Allison," I gestured to Abigail, "and this is Stylus. He was the accountant and administrative assistant at the old crystal gathering operation. I offered him a job in taking down the Red Tail Fox Company and he took it."

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"It's not like I had a choice, but I would've said yes anyway if I did," Stylus added.

"Yes. Allison and I are both powerful magic users, and Stylus is good at his job too," I said.

"You're still using your aliases I see. I suppose that's fair. You don't know me yet. My name is Marcy, as I said before, and I am a goblin. I'm sure you want to know why I haven't bitten you yet or tried to stab you," she said.

"My parents were adventurers. They destroyed the goblin camp I was born in. They found me among the bodies as an infant. Instead of killing me, they decided to raise me as their own in secret."

"They started using crystals when I was about 13. They were told they would make their adventures easier, and they did. But crystal toxicity built up over time. I watched them go from the kindest most caring people I knew to angry and violent abusers. Until one day they just weren't themselves anymore."

"They were violent and mindless, attacking anyone that came near them. The guards captured them and took them to the dungeon. I hid under the bed because no one knew about me. They would've killed me on sight."

"Ever since then, I've been on my own. I've spent years trying to find a cure for crystal madness. During that time I invented crystal bombs. I was at the sales branch of the Red Tail Fox Company to stock up on crystals and destroy the rest."

"Too many people have been hurt by crystals. I figured if I took out their sales branch, they wouldn't be able to hurt any more people."

"I'm sorry that happened to your parents," I said. "I'm glad you're only using the crystals in your pack for bombs. If you had planned to use them on yourself, I would have stopped you."

"Good. I wouldn't want it any other way. So how do I join up?" She said with an enthusiastic look on her face.

"By asking to join up," I said. "So you're already on the team. We have a few beds, so we have enough for all of us, but we'll need to get more if we want to add anyone else."

"Stylus will show you to your room. Get settled and comfortable. We have more work to do tomorrow. We're taking down the noble branch. I'm busy tonight though so you'll have to wait until tomorrow before we have anything for you to do."

"Ok," Marcy said with a smile.

----------------------------------------

I arrived at Beer and looked around. Not a lot of people around, same as last time. I spotted James in the corner with his hood up but instead of shuffling his cards or performing a card reading, he was playing cards with someone.

The other person also had their hood up with their light brown hair sticking out. Their clothes were midnight blue. They were dressed like a rogue with form-fitting clothes, dagger holsters at their hips, and bandoliers of throwing knives crisscrossing their body.

It was Nico. She and James were playing a game with James' fantasy tarot cards. I walked up to the table. They glanced up at me and kept playing their game.

I checked James with my Evil Eye, as I checked everyone with it. He was good. I always had Evil Eye on running in the background. It only ever messed up my vision when I was looking directly at an evil person. Otherwise, everything looked the same.

When I was looking at an evil person, it was like I could see their thermal signature superimposed over their normal features. Somehow I could see both at the same time. Still, it could be disorienting when I didn't expect it.

"Why is your hair so much longer than yesterday?" Nico said.

"One of my abilities makes it grow really fast. What are you playing?" I said.

"Fates Drawn," James said. "The object of the game is to get rid of all your cards before the other person. If the game ends and you still have cards in your hand, then what the cards represent will happen to you in real life."

"Interesting. Sounds scary," I said.

"It is," Nico said. "That's why it's so fun." She put down her last card. "Fates Drawn bitch! Show them."

James revealed the 5 cards still left in his hand. One was a goat barfing gold, another was a jester farting on a king, another was a King ordering an execution, another was an image with a bunch of different fantasy races all shaking hands, and the last was the eye that I got last time.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means I'm terrible at this game," he said.

"No, what do the cards mean," I said.

"I know what you meant. I'd just rather not discuss my fate with you," he said.

"What if I gave you 5 gold?" I said.

"Fine. Gold first," James said.

I slid the gold coins across the table. I sat down. It felt weird standing over them. I had to sit down next to Nico because I wanted to be across from James when he explained the cards.

James pointed to the first card. "The Barfing Goat. It means a boon will come to you from an unexpected place." He pointed to the next one. "The Mocking Jester. It means you will humiliate someone in power, either accidentally or intentionally."

He pointed to the next one. This one was upside down. "Order of Execution. Upright, it means someone in power will send someone to harm you. Reversed, which this card is, it means someone in power will send someone to harm someone around you. This could be someone you know or a stranger you see it happening to."

He pointed to the next card. "Communion of Cultures. It means you will become aligned with someone from a different culture. Or it can be interpreted literally to mean that you will become aligned with someone from a different race."

He pointed to the last card. It was reversed. "The Eye. Reversed, it means that someone around you or that you know is being watched."

He picked up the cards and shuffled them back into the deck. "Happy?" He said.

"Actually, yes. That was surprisingly very helpful to me," I said.

"I'm glad," he said with a dead face. Sarcasm. How cute.

The Barfing Goat could refer to the fact that I plan to hire James and pay him more than Dorian did. I wasn't sure what the Mocking Jester was referring to. Unless it meant James was going to accidentally be rude to Abigail, with her being a princess.

The Order of Execution being reversed could refer to someone sending people after me for taking down the mercenary branch of the Red Tail Fox Company in Ravenhold.

The Communion of Cultures could be referring to James meeting Marcy. And the reversed Eye could refer to people watching me as a potential suspect in the destruction of the mercenary branch.

"Guess what, James?" I said with a devious smile.

"What?" James said.

"You now work for me," I said.

His jaw dropped open. I closed it for him by pushing up on his chin. He swatted my hand away. "Don't touch my face!" He said.

"Sorry, you just dropped your jaw, so I thought I'd pick it up for you," I said.

He gave me the stink eye. "That's very clever wordplay," he said. "But seriously, you're my boss? How? I did think it was weird that one of the lieutenants was visiting me." He looked at Nico.

"Because I killed your boss, and I have the money to pay you. You have two choices. You can work for me, or you can be unemployed," I said.

"I thought you were with the company. Why would you kill Dorian?" He said.

"I'm not. I tricked you. I killed him for shady business practices and general cruelty. And because I plan to end the crystal trade. So what will it be James, owner of Sprinkles, the cat?" I said.

"Are you going to hurt my cat if I say no?" He said.

"No! Of course not. That would be messed up," I said. "I may kill evil people, but I don't harm the innocent. Unless Sprinkles is somehow evil."

"He's not. That's a relief. Will you still pay me the same?" He said.

"No. I'll pay you double," I said. "You'll keep recruiting people as normal, paying people, and receiving crystal hauls if I need it."

"That, I can do," he said, shuffling his cards.

"Good," I said. I turned to Nico.

"You're still on board to join me right?" I said.

"Yes. What will you have me doing though? You won't make me kill people again, right?" She said.

"No. What I want you to do is find out everything you can about the Noble branch in Ravenhold and anything you can about the company at large," I said. I adjusted my pants again.

"Ok. I can do that. Where can I find you to give the report?" She said.

I whispered the location of the merchant guild hall into her ear. I didn't trust James enough yet to let him know where I'd be, but Nico didn't seem like a rat and with her skills, wasn't likely to get caught and tortured. That said, it didn't hurt to make sure.

'Will you rat me out in any capacity, whether you are forced to or not?' I asked Nico's soul.

'No. Snitches get stitches.' Her soul said.

"Ok, I'll meet you there," she said. She went back to playing Fates Drawn with James. I left the bar and went to my next thing.