56. Administration: Tabitha

I had several skill notifications and a new class, but now was hardly the time to stop. Firstly I needed to find out about Nijel. I turned to him, “What’s your position here?”

“I run the Burglar specialists. There are four of us. It is mostly a steal to order operation.” he replied.

“I see, and how long have you been doing that?”

“Two and a half years. I was one of the specialists before that for a year and a half.” I raised my eyebrow for more information, he continued, “Before that I was in Hrothgar, where I grew up in the street gangs.”

“Will you work under me?” I asked.

He looked me in the eye, “Yes.”

Damn, I wish I had a truth sensing Skill. “You are second in command until further notice.” He nodded with a small smile.

I turned to Vesle, “How is this guild, gang, group… whatever it is called, structured?”

“We are currently known as Fett’s Fingers,” Vesle supplied.

I rolled my eyes. “That's the first thing that is changing. Put the word out we are now the Shadow Guild.”

Vesle nodded and got out a pen and paper and made a note.

“The Shadow Guild is structured around Specialisations and functions,” he said, the suckup weasel. He continued, “The Burglar and Grifters. The Grifters mostly circulate the gambling houses and Fett headed that himself. We own two Gambling Houses, the Lucky Cat and Destiny’s Desire.” I had been in both. The Lucky Cat is a dive, but Destiny’s Desire was a mid level establishment, although the reputation had been dropping. He continued, “there are three other gambling houses that pay us for protection. We have a Protection Arm, which organises most of our fighters, and supplies most of our bouncers. They also run the monthly Fighting Rings. Fett headed that as well, but his second is an Orc, Modrica who did most of the work.”

I nodded, “I will need to meet with him next. Carry on,”

“We also own a whore house, Quenby’s Queens and run protection at three others. We also run protection along the main pick up streets which the Pimps pay a cut for and at a number of bars on this side of town. The Street gangs are organised under Pedar and he organises training for the talented and collects their dues. Those are the main sources of income.” he concluded.

“But not everything.” I said. “You said you mostly burgle places on order” I looked at Nijel, and he nodded. “So who takes the orders?” I looked at Vesle, “Is it you?” He nodded. “So we also have an information network,” I stated. “So this Lars who is coming to report on the Trading houses, he is part of that?”

“Larson, yes,” Vesle said, starting to look a bit nervous. My gambling practice is helping me read him, I guess Fett didn’t care about this.

“I am going to make a guess that you ran the information business, but few knew that?” He nodded reluctantly. “I am also going to suggest that is how you carried out your forgery business under Fett’s nose, without providing him a cut.”

Vesle was open-mouthed in shock and started to back away.

I continued, “I am no Fett. I want you to continue, but you will pay your dues. Nijel will oversee that.” I looked at Nijel who was looking at me very thoughtfully. He nodded. “What about drugs?” I asked.

Vesle was happier at the change of topic. “Haarkon has the drug trade tied up tight in this city. Fett was trying to muscle in but didn’t have a reliable supplier and finding access to the right sort of alchemist with a supply of ingredients was even harder.”

“Who is the main competition?”

“Ingvar heads up the Dwarven Rogues who generally cover the other side of the town. They give preference to dwarves and their leadership is entirely dwarven. We do clash, but it is mostly at street gang level.”

“Where is the money?” I asked. This was probably the most important question.

“The legit businesses have accounts at various treasuries and we legitimise other money through them, especially the gambling houses. Fett had a chest hidden at his place for usual coin access. Only Fett knew where it was. I have a small chest, for expenses.” He replied.

I was thinking I was going to need Wiremu to find this chest. “We will go to Fett’s place after I talk to Modrica. Anything else I need to know right now?” They both shook their heads. “Right let’s go and sort these guards.” I went first this time watching them carefully in my senses.

Back in the meeting room were all four bodyguards and the largest Orc I had ever seen. She topped Koza by another head at least. Yes it was a her and nobody had corrected me earlier. I would have been surprised, except for my Spatial Awareness.

“Modrica” I greeted her. It was obvious the guards were going to take their lead from her.

“Where’s Fett?” She asked.

“His body is in the carriage outside.” I said, getting surprised looks from the bodyguards. They weren’t too bright if they didn’t even check. I already had all the valuables off him. She nodded to one of the guards who went to check.

“So you’re Black? Don’t look like much,” she said.

“It takes more than muscle to run a guild like this.” I replied. She just stared at me. I suppose she was deciding whether she could work with me or if she would break me. I didn’t have anything that would work on her, especially not in the time it would take for her to break me.

She must have made a decision and nodded at me. ‘What do you want?” she asked.

“I want you to take over as head of Protection.” I said. “Nijel is number two for the Guild. For now carry on as normal.”

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“I make changes?” She asked.

“You're the head.” I said.

She spun and punched the nearest guard in the head and he went down with his skull obviously deformed and a broken neck. She looked back at me and I nodded.

The guard came back from the carriage with the body.

“We leave it here as a Statement.” Modrica declared.

“Nijel and I are going to Fett’s place now.” I said. Vesle looked relieved not to be included.

“I come.” Modrica stated.

We headed back to the carriage. Nijel and I got in and Modrica and a guard on the front and a guard on the back. I engaged Shadow’s Embrace, but only lightly focussing on the Sound muffling. Nijel definitely noticed the change in light.

“At least you weren’t late,” he said with a small smile.

“I do prefer to be early,” I replied.

“I am assuming you want your identity to remain a secret?” he continued.

I nodded, “Is that going to be a problem?”

“We can make it work,” he said. “I was a bit worried when you pulled the Blacksteel knife, but if you keep your face hidden and use it as your symbol it might work. The Shadow Guild, run by a shadowy figure called Black with a Blacksteel knife is an image we can push.”

That was good, because I was hoping to have Nyx do most of the appearances. He then started to give me a run down on the major players in the Guild and who might cause trouble. There would be fewer now that I had Modrica onside.

He wasn’t finished when we pulled up to Fett’s mansion. It was a modest mansion, but a mansion nonetheless. It was on the edge of the rich area, also on the edge of our ‘territory’. It was a two story building and as we approached I sensed it went down as well, like most buildings in Jern. The carriage pulled up to the gate and Modrica issued orders and the gates opened and she ordered all staff and security to meet in the front parlour. It was apparent everybody was used to operating through the night.

We pulled up to the covered entrance and disembarked. I could sense at least two levels below us. I was shrouded, with a hood up and went to meet the staff and guards. There were two staff, apparently all the other work was done by contractors. The head of staff was, surprisingly, an Elf. Llawr was his name and was a slimy piece of work. He had the Merchant and Overseer classes, with a Charlatan Specialisation. I had immediate suspicions about his persuasive skills. Then the other staff member came in. She was also an Elf with the glassy eyed look of a slave. Slavery was illegal in the Kirghiz Kingdom.

I had not yet worked with Modrica, but I knew the Orcish general attitude to slavery, so I used Distract to whisper in her ear, “Knockout Llawr and restrain the other elf.” I didn’t want him using any persuasive skills on me. She didn’t hesitate and as Llawr came toward me he was punched in the head, but not as hard as the last person she punched, and she grabbed the elf and stopped her reacting. She did try to go to her masters' defence.

“Everybody Stop!” I commanded, channelling my best Branik. I couldn’t really Mimic Branik, I think it was more the Intimidating Aura I projected. “Who is the head guard here?”

A sturdy looking Dwarf stepped forward, “Axill, is the name, Madame.”

“You can just call me Black. I am Fett’s successor and took over the Guild and this mansion. We are now called the Shadow Guild. Nijel is second in command. Modrica is the head of Protection. Does anybody here have a problem with that?”

Silence. I let it drag out a bit.

“Modrica, do you have a problem with Axill being in charge here?”

“No, Black.” she replied.

“Axill, who did you take orders from?” I asked.

“Fett”

“Are the guards stationed here permanently?”

“No, Black. Modrica and I rotated them around, except Fett had his favourites for the Bodyguard detail.” Axill replied.

“Are you stationed here permanently?” I asked.

“Yes, Black.”

“You now take orders from Modrica.” I knew I was putting a lot of power in her hands. I was not getting any negative vibes from Nijel, not that he knew I could sense him. She could easily take over the whole guild as she headed basically all the fighters.

“Everybody back to your stations except Axill and two guards,” I ordered. Axill indicated which guards should stay and Modrica passed the Elf to one of them.

“How long have you been stationed here Axill?” I asked.

“Two years.”

“Tell me about Llawr.” I commanded.

“He was here and tight with Fett when I came. Fett would not tolerate any harm to him, or even hear words against him. He has access to the money chest and we knew he was taking what he wanted, but we couldn't go against Fett and Fett wouldn’t listen.” Axill explained.

I squatted down above Llawr and stripped him of his valuables and two small daggers. “What about the girl?” I asked.

“Eyslk is her name. Slave to Llawr, not that it is ever said. Did all the scut work. Occasionally shared Llawr or Fett’s bed, sometimes passed to Fett’s head bodyguard.” I figured that was the one no longer alive.

I indicated toward Llawr, “Bind and gag him. I don’t want him to be able to speak.” One of the guards left to get ropes. I turned to Eyslk, “Do you understand I am in charge?” I asked.

She nodded. She had two Classes, Treasurer and Maid. I assume, Treasurer was from her preslavery days, she must have worked in a Treasury or area of responsibility with coins. What a waste of talent.

“I am now Llawr’s boss. What are your orders about me.”

“To do what you say unless Llawr has said otherwise.” she replied.

“What will you do if Llawr is tied up?” I asked.

“Free him.”

“What will you do if he dies?” I figured I knew what was coming.

“I am to kill myself.”

This was not unheard off as standing orders for slaves, to stop the Master being killed and the slaves stolen. There was only a short period it would work. The compulsion would fade after ten minutes or so depending on the strength of the bond, then the slave would be passive waiting for a new owner.

“Is there a place we can lock her up safely for now?” I asked Axill.

“There is a holding room on this level, but the main dungeon is two levels down.” He replied.

Great, I now own a dungeon. “Put her in the holding cell for now.” I didn’t know what other standing orders she had. “We will take Llawr to the Dungeon and you can give me a tour on the way.”

The upper floor was basically taken over by Llawr. The door was locked and trapped but didn’t look difficult to get through. I shared a look with Nijel and he thought the same. We would come back later to explore. The ground floor was the living areas, kitchen and public meeting rooms. The first underground floor was basically bedrooms. Fett’s room was very luxurious but very gaudy. It would need a complete strip out and renovation. One side of the first underground floor had a loading dock, like the Emporium had but smaller. The second underground floor had the wash areas as well as storage and a dungeon. The dungeon had three cells and an interrogation room. We left Llawr bound and gagged in one cell. We left a guard with orders that if the gag comes off he was to be killed immediately regardless of other consequences.

I didn’t know what I wanted to do with this place. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with Eyslk. We could easily stop her from killing herself, but then what? She would be waiting for a new master. I didn’t want a slave. I knew Wiremu would want to try and get the class removed and her freed, but we didn’t know how and what would we do with her in the meantime?