Chapter Twenty-Seven: Obligatory Tavern
As we made our way through the lowest terrace of the city it became clear to see the sharp contrast between the wealthy and the poor areas. The buildings hugging the main thoroughfare were maintained and well kept, but hiding just behind them, in the alleys and other side streets, the homes and shops became increasingly decrepit.
“Welcome to home sweet home,” Grenthar said sullenly as he noticed where my attention was being drawn to. As he and Jeloqa were the most familiar with the city they were currently the ones guiding us. Shialk looked around at the buildings with grief before speaking.
“It used to be better, back when King J’rain was in charge. He was more focused on improving the lives of the people instead of expanding his borders. Quite the disappointment. This looks even worse than the last time I was here.”
I nodded, not even bothering to answer. What could I say without my words seeming like shallow platitudes?
We walked in morbid silence for a while as we turned down a side street heading into a seedy-looking area. The homes and shops all appeared to be in varying stages of decay, and the streets were a lot less crowded than the main channels.
The whole time we traveled my skin crawled as I could feel eyes watching our party with hungry interest. Nobody stopped to cause us trouble, but compared to the others in this district our armor and clothing gave us away as wealthy. Or at least better off than the poor souls scraping the dirt off the ground just to get by.
Eventually, my friends and I arrived at a two-story house made of stone and wood paneling. Despite how rough the exterior appeared I could tell that it was sturdy and larger than a few of the other homes in the area.
Grenthar strode boldly to the door and without bothering to knock entered. Jeloqa followed after waving at us to trail her. The inside wasn’t much cleaner as dust billowed around our feet, and the stench of mildew and decay flooded my nostrils.
“This is where we lived, back when we ran with the claws,” Grenthar spoke up, breaking the silence.
“It’s, um….” Faerwyn started but didn’t know how to finish her sentence.
“A shit hole,” Shialk offered with a laugh, causing both Jeloqa and Grenthar to chuckle. A moment later I could hear the soft scratching of padded feet and both Nuts and Bandit entered the home. A flickering shadow for a brief moment and even Velixen appeared in the hovel.
“Well, now that the gang’s all here, should we go over the plan one more time?” I asked the group. We hadn’t discussed it too much on our way to the city. Just covering the loose basics of how we were going to get into the city, and saving the details for after. All of us were battle weary and with the levels we had gained most of us were figuring out our new skills and classes.
The plan in its entirety was for the most part straightforward. We needed to find the location of a secret treasury from one of King Milzeyan’s closest advisors. Then we needed to steal some documents that were stored within the vault proving that Milzeyan planned the assassination of his father.
At first, I didn’t know why proving he killed his father would be important. Plenty of people already suspected he had. That was when he revealed the secret behind J’rain’s assassination.
Milzeyan used a very delicate loophole in his oath of fealty to avoid getting punished by the system while seeing his father dead and his rise to the throne. There were three stipulations. One, someone besides Milzeyan needed to be involved with the planning. Two, there had to be evidence that could not be destroyed. Three, nobody besides Milzeyan and his accomplice could know what they had done.
J’rain had tried to pigeonhole loyalty out of his treacherous son and had crafted an oath that forced Milzeyan to get creative instead. He used a friend to hire an assassin to murder his father.
He then killed the assassin he had hired to make it look like he was loyal to J’rain on the surface. He then based his ascension to kinghood on his loyalty to his father. Primarily, because at the time there were still plenty of upper nobility who were loyal to J’rain.
So by having the proof and revealing it, we would force the system to inflict punishment on Milzeyan, significantly weakening his power. Which would make it a lot easier to take him down.
Phase One was simple, all we needed to do was get into the city.
Phase two was trickier, and had three parts. The first part was supplies. We would need a lot of food and equipment to pull off not only the heist but to finish through with the aftermath of returning to The Wound and facing Milzeyan. Even weakened, we expected a harsh battle with him.
The second part was getting me an adventurer’s license.
That too was part of the plan. I might be contracted through Threigar, but if I was an adventurer I would have certain rights that could help me get access to places I normally wouldn’t be allowed to go.
Law enforcement and protection were split into three groups. The army was a standing military that dealt with large-scale external threats primarily. The city guard and militia. They worked to ensure public safety and were essentially cops.
Then you had adventurers. They were both the feds and the bounty hunters. They traveled around solving problems. So while they technically had free access it was still polite to get permission when going onto someone else’s turf.
So having an adventurer’s license meant that if I got stopped in the wrong spot I could say I was on a job a lot easier than just being a noble or a merchant would allow for.
The third part of phase two was the gangs. Getting the gangs involved in the heist was always going to be problematic. Even Sherivos had been reluctant to include them in the plan. But if we were going to get into the vault holding the documents we needed to know where the vault was.
The best way to do that was to trick the Grand Marshal in charge to lead us to the location, but he would only do that if he thought the vault wasn’t secure. To convince him we would need a lot of high-profile robberies in a very short amount of time.
Which meant we needed manpower.
They each nodded. Then with a wave of my hand mana drained out of my body and every shadow in the room came to life. They felt like tangible extensions to my body, like the tendrils I summoned in combat. Except unlike my tendrils the shadows were not limited in form or function. For once I couldn't hate the system for giving me dark powers, as it had virtually turned me into Green Lantern. If he was someone who used darkness instead of light.
Skill: Shadow Crafter {Emperor of Darkness - Tier One)
Skill Rank: E
Investment: 10 / 45
Skill Description: For the cost of 9% mana you can manipulate the shadows around you for 3 minutes. During this time you can change their shape, and even make them corporeal.
Rank Up Effect: Decreases mana cost by 1% while increasing the duration by 1 minute.
The shadows danced for a moment before I brought them in front of me creating a dark three-dimensional diorama of the city. It was far from complete or accurate but it would serve the purposes of our conversation. It was a strange effect. The room didn't get brighter as I stole its shadows. It was more like the rays of light that had been coming in were displaced to fill the void.
“The first step went well enough. We made it into the city, and now if they want to track us they will be following your nightmares instead.” Velixen’s musical voice reminded us and I nodded. With a wave of my hand, the intensely dark shadows around our feet slid away and returned to amorphous hazy blobs in the center of the room.
“Correct. With my connection to Threigar, we should be able to get stationed on a higher terrace. I have instructed them to follow your orders. They have your mental signature so you should just be able to think about them following you or staying behind and they will.”
As I said this the shadows on the diorama shifted revealing a bright spot on the fifth level of the city. Most Threigar facilities had special suites to host traveling clientele.
“You mean they have our fears,” Shialk grumbled good-naturedly as one of the dark shadows rushed over to him and for the briefest moment turned into what looked like a little girl. Shialk shivered slightly but otherwise didn’t react.
“Just so,” I agreed. “The next step means we will have to split up for now, right?”
“Yes, today Fae and I will do some shopping for supplies, before making our way to the new suite. Veli, will you tag along to watch our backs?” Jeloqa declared. Velixen sat down on the floor and stared at the map for a long moment before answering.
“I will follow along.” Her voice sounded pained, and only then did it occur to me how insensitive I had been.
In not so many words each one had told me that this trip to Zelistan was their first time returning to the city since they had left. Painful memories lingered here. The only reason they had come back was for me, and I didn’t know how to feel about that. I wanted to offer support, but I didn’t know how. A thought occurred to me and I figured it was worth a shot.
Each one of my party members had cuddled with my deathsworn at some point. Except for Shialk, who said he still couldn’t get over the idea that they were technically undead, even though I could make them appear living now. I turned to Velixen and tried to make my voice sound light and friendly.
“Do you like dogs?”
“What’s a dog?” She asked me, but it was Shialk who answered.
“Annoying and loud giant rats. All they do is bark, yap, bite, shit, and eat. Leo, I know you like animals, but really? A dog?”
“Noted, but I didn’t ask you if you liked dogs. I asked her. Do you think she would like a dog?” Shialk glared for a moment before reluctantly nodding.
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“Veli, I know you get really bad anxiety, and it would make sense that it would be worse here. In my original world, dogs were used to make people feel better, and a lot of other useful things. So maybe one would help you.” I explained, and with a snap of fingers, a dog scampered out of the darkness of the map and bounded toward the woman.
To her credit, she neither froze nor panicked. The undead minion approached her playfully and began rubbing against her. She stared at it with interest before petting the undead creature. It was nothing but bones and ectoplasm, but a quick infusion of mana and the ectoplasm shimmered until a very lifelike puppy was wagging his tail in front of the assassin.
“This is a dog? It’s cute.” I could hear the smile in her voice as she picked it up. “I can have it?”
“Yep!” I answered, bonding the animal instantly. “As long as I live I can keep making sure he is around.”
“He is so adorable!” Faerwyn chimed, rushing forward to pet him too. “What’s his name?” The question surprised me, and even Velixen was looking at me. I hadn’t planned on naming the animal as I had given it to Velixen, but as I thought about what to name it I smiled for a moment before releasing a barking laugh.
“King Bagel, the Cocker Spaniel. You can call him K.B. for short though.”
“Awww, King Bagel, you are a good dog.” Faerwyn cooed, while Velixen continued petting the dog. I could sense growing jealousy in Bandit and Nuts.
“I want pets too!” They chimed in my mind. Directing them over to me I began giving them affection.
“Now that that’s settled, Leo, Shialk, and I might as well head to the old haunt. Word has to have gotten out by now that we are back in town. My guess is they will send Doikkal and his goons.” Grenthar spoke up and pointed at another point on the map.
“Wait, you want me to help you meet the gangs? I thought I had to go get signed with the adventurers guild?”
“Tomorrow,” Grenthar said. “Tonight we need to start getting the different gangs in motion. Since we are already here, I thought we would start with the claws, while the ladies shop and set up base.”
“Where is a good place to meet a gang?” I asked, staring at the 3D map of the spot where Grenthar had pointed. He only answered with a smile.
***
I had let all of my deathsworn travel with the girls, each one accompanied by a nightmare. This had just left the three of us men in the group to travel to wherever it was that Grenthar had planned.
As we traveled I made small talk with Shialk, who was explaining the finer points of potion craft with me.
“... so the bregglewort caps are both deadly and restorative. The purple spots are actually glands that secrete a translucent toxin that covers the mushroom to help fend off predators. The rest of it though can be ground up and used to help increase natural coagulation. This can almost immediately stop the bleeding of a given wound, but because of the properties you can even use it to stop magical bleed effects if you make the potion right.”
“That’s fascinating!” I replied, mentally filing the information away. Grenthar had slowed down and his change in walking speed caught my attention. “What’s up Gren?”
“We are there!” He said excitedly and began pointing at a structure that looked slightly less shabby than the ones around it.
I could tell the building had once been rather ornate, most of the intricate carvings and paints had been washed away over time, and the polish had lost its luster. Now the stones were green and covered with vines which gave it a rustic natural sort of beauty.
The most impressive thing about the building was the large brown door that glimmered with magical power of some sort, and I could feel the buzz of power making my skin tingle from where we stood. Above the entrance hung a sign and I started laughing as soon as I read it.
“What’s so amusing?” Shialk questioned, as both of my friends looked at me with perplexed expressions.
“It’s about time. I was beginning to question the system’s integrity.” I answered with emphasized relief as I stared at the sign. Obligatory Tavern.
“What are you talking about??” Grenthar asked next. I pondered how I wanted to answer the question, and then with a wolfish smile I spoke up.
“There’s always a tavern. There’s always got to be a tavern. So far, there hasn’t been a tavern. Now we have a tavern. And it’s obligatory. Just as taverns should be. All taverns seem obligatory. Sometimes it starts in a tavern. Sometimes it ends in a tavern. But there is always one tavern.”
“Sometimes, I swear you talk nonsense just to fuck with us,” Grenthar stated, and then turned his back to me and made his way to the entrance.
“You wouldn’t be wrong. But let’s just say that taverns have cultural significance to me, and this is the first one that I have been to since becoming a system-born. It just amused me.”
“Taverns are culturally significant?” Shialk inquired, and I nodded with a shrug. It would be too complex to even begin describing Dungeons and Dragons to him, not to mention the entire genre of fantasy. “Oh I should warn you -”
Shialk was cut off almost immediately as Grenthar opened the doors and an eruption of sound nearly sent me sprawling. That made the imp cackle with malevolent glee before he finished what he was trying to say.
“Silence spell on the doors! Most commercial buildings in the city have them!” He had to shout to be heard over the ruckus, but he still had a laugh in his voice. I had felt the magic, but I didn’t know what it was and hadn’t been expecting that.
Pushing our way into the building I could see the tavern was packed with all sorts of demons, and not one of them gave us the time of day. It wasn’t yet nightfall, but already plenty of them were drunkenly fighting, singing, and dancing.
I guessed in this part of the town more of them had time to spend the day out drinking than working.
“Guys, it's loud in here! I'm going to get us a room!” Grenthar yelled over the din and walked up to the counter holding out five golden coins. The bartender immediately rushed over and with a quick swipe the coins disappeared.
A few words passed between them and soon enough Grenthar led us into the back where a private room waited for us. A moment later I was surprised to see a cat-girl enter the room and meekly leave a tray on our table before leaving.
Not just a humanoid cat, but a full anime cat girl. Mostly human but with cat ears and a tail. I stared after her in bewilderment before shaking my head and turning my attention to Grenthar who was smirking.
“So how did this place get its name anyway?”
“An old gang war, as well as city construction permits. A few hundred years ago there used to be eight gangs that ran the low terrace. Whenever they interacted blood was usually spilled and that would get the town guard involved. Either that or the adventurer’s guild, which was often even worse than getting the guard involved.
They needed to establish a way to meet in peace. A neutral zone. The problem was they didn’t know where to meet. Since this city is just a bunch of rings that would mean crossing through territories which was dangerous.
Someone got the idea to create buildings that fell halfway between the zones. The different gangs would meet there and pass messages between the buildings. Unfortunately, you need permits to build and maintain facilities, otherwise, it can cause a mess. Considering how the halfway points were usually market districts there was a limit on what kind of buildings could be added.
The only one that they were allowed to build first was a tavern. Since they were obligated to build it, they named it the obligatory tavern. It’s not the only one either. Any building in Zelistan named Obligatory is an old code for where the gangs used to meet up and talk peace.
While most of them have ended up merging or disbanding the neutral ground still stands. You can’t be attacked here, and you shouldn’t attack others here.”
“That's pretty civilized of them," I noted.
“Yeah, but it keeps the peace. Ah, Basilisk Blood. My favorite," Grenthar agreed taking a long drink from his mug.
“I thought I recognized the smell!” Shialk exclaimed and immediately went for one of the glasses and began drinking joyfully. I looked at the last glass skeptically. It was a bubbling deep red and purple drink that looked intimidating, even though it smelled like strong rum. With a sigh, I began pouring it down my throat.
My first reaction was to almost gag as it was like drinking straight maple syrup if it was mixed with lemon juice and blood. The potency was unquestionable though as the bitter strength immediately burned my throat. Soon a soothing numbness hugged my body and almost made me feel like I was floating on clouds.
“Odd, I don’t feel drunk, but my body feels…”
“Yup. Part of the paralyzing effect basilisks have. This is a very diluted dose. It’s like getting drunk instantly. Of course, if you drink too much it’s just like any other beer.” Shialk laughed, explaining. The imp’s words were already slurring a bit.
“Alright, so, how much longer do you think we are going to have to wait?”
“Not long,” Grenthar said. His words were proved true seconds later, as the door to our private room was opened up and three large demons entered the room.
They were the same race as Grenthar and a quick scan told me they were each level 25 with a class called Pit Brute. I didn’t know what that was but I had a guess it involved massive amounts of strength. Their names were Doikkal, Hilkiri, and Fringor. The only real difference between them was the tattoos each one bore.
They had claw marks on their bare chests, but each claw mark had notches etched into them like a patchwork of stitches. Doikkal spoke up first, and I noticed that compared to the others he had the most stitch marks.
“Oho, I didn’t believe it when I heard, but you really did show your face again Grenthar. I had heard you were never planning on returning to the city again until you paid your debt. It doesn’t look like you are rolling in wealth. Does that mean you are intending to pay the blood toll?”
I opened my mouth to speak but closed it with a glare from Grenthar. Not yet, the look told me. He wanted to set the stage first. My friend took another sip of his drink before slowly looking at Doikkal.
“What makes you think I don’t have the coin?”
“Would you have bothered coming here if you could have just paid us off?” the brute asked. Grenthar looked at the other demon with a self-assured smile.
“Maybe I just didn’t trust you all to behave. You could take the money and still require a blood toll for all I know.”
“That breaks the oath!” the one named Hilkiri shouted, but I could tell from Doikkal’s sneer that Grenthar had hit the mark. I didn’t know what issues he had with Grenthar, but it seemed more personal than professional .
It was Shialk who drunkenly broke the tension as he let out a long burp and giggled lightly before turning his pitch-black eyes to Doikkal.
“You are a moron. You need to sit down and deal with us like proper demons, or else you are the one who is going to pay the toll in blood!” Shialk declared before breaking into a drunken laugh. Doikkal’s infuriated glare broke into a sneer of contempt.
“I thought imps don’t get poisoned?” I asked Shialk who only shrugged, as he raised the glass bigger than his head back to his lips.
“Doesn’t mean they can’t get drunk,” Grenthar laughed. “So are you going to sit and talk Doikkal, or do you want to keep being obstinant?” Doikkal continued to give us dirty looks, but I could see the fight leave his body. He knew when he had been outmaneuvered and with a sigh, he sat down at the table.
“Alright. So if you have the money where is it? With interest, you owe more than almost even I can carry.”
“In truth? I don’t have it. I might have something more valuable than what I owe though.” Grenthar answered, still casually drinking from his glass, eyeing Doikkal in amusement.
Doikkal’s face flashed with suspicion. Slowly he turned to his men and waved them away.
“You two, go make sure we aren’t disturbed by anyone else.” The other two demons left the room, and then Doikkal turned a hesitant glare at Grenthar. “So you come back into town with no gold, but say you have something more valuable? What is it?”
“I am offering the Gutter Claws an opportunity. It will more than pay off the debt I owe. Keep in mind I am only starting with you because of what I owe the gang. The chance will be offered to the others as well.”
“Which others? What’s the job?” Doikkal picked up the Grenthar’s mug of Basilisk Blood and after smelling it downed the rest. Grenthar didn’t object, but Shialk did.
“You’re acting very tough for someone on the edge of death right now!” His normally light voice sounded shrill and made the rest of us wince.
“Oh yeah? Not from where I am standing. You’re in our turf, and apart from my two buddies outside we have at least twenty others watching the block. You’re trapped, so you better start talking.”
Grenthar eyed me, and I knew what he had in mind. Time for a display. This was either going to help our cause or hurt it. With a glare, I snapped my fingers and shadows filled the room, and Doikkal released a startled yelp as he was lifted helplessly into the air.
“What are you doing? This is neutral ground!” He cried out, but the shadows quickly wrapped around his mouth cutting him off from speaking. I rose from my seated position and with a twist of my wrist his body rotated until I was staring him in the face, grinning as my fangs elongated hungrily in my mouth.
“Hmmm, you smell… appetizing. I wonder why. Now listen, your neutral ground, it means nothing to me. You mean nothing to me. If I wanted to I could kill everyone here in a few minutes without breaking a sweat.” At that I let my fake status screen drop for a moment. There was no way he wasn’t trying to scan me and figure out how someone who should have had an agility and charisma class could be using magic like I was.
When he saw my true class and titles the room turned ice cold with his fear and it made me quiver in delight as the hunger churned. I pushed away the darkness that wanted to consume this demon, but barely. I once more put on my disguised status screen.
This was Grenthar’s idea. Depending on who showed up to meet us would alter our tactics, but if it was these guys then an unstoppable show of force would be our best option.
“Now, are you willing to stop acting like a tool and listen to our plan? Or do we need to call in one of your friends?"