I keep walking on, in an attempt at silence. But my feet scrape the ground when I place them. Not too loudly, buy still yet, loud enough.

I think of the rumors about this area. About the thievery and murders committed hereabouts. Rumors of a bane. Rumors of urhounds on the loose. A man of wisdom would avoid this place during the day, much less after dark.

The faint light of Zar, the dark moon, settles on me for an instant. I curse under my breath when my moonstone pendant flashes in the glow. I pull my hood closer to my face and quicken my pace when I hear a faint gasp from the darkness.

A light rain begins to drizzle, masking sounds even more. As the water falls, it pulls the stench of the fires down from the sky, along with the smoke. The rains grows heavier as I continue down the street. Water starts to puddle underfoot making harder to walk silently, yet the sound of the downpour obscures my footsteps.

I'll tell you one thing for certain, it might not rain a lot in Zanth, but it still rains too much for my taste. The smoke tumbling down reminds me of the slag pits in Shattra. And the stench. They could be burning fernwood as opposed to black iron ore, but, smoke is smoke and a stench is a stench.

By the Exarch! I've been standing here just thinking about the smoke and lost in the past, not paying attention to my surroundings. It's not like I'm unfamiliar with this area, but it still takes a minute to gauge where I am. Truth be known, I probably know this place better than most of the residents. By the Shadow Realm, I've been through here almost every night for the past week.

All for a damned ring! That stupid, lazy, mogrothful Quan, Vajido. Running around in areas where he shouldn't be. He should have known that this place is dangerous. Losing his ring, and in this area to boot. His ring has probably been pawned to some cheap Kasmir by now.

But, as long as I get paid, I'm happy. He is offering a fairly large bounty for the ring, after all.

The rain is cold, starting to soak my cloak. I dislike the rain, and I hate getting rained upon. If he weren't my employer, I swear I would kill Vajido. But, he's my employer, and I'm just doing my job.

I risk a glance up to the sky. When I do, a little rain splashes on the rim of my hood, splattering into my face.

I quicken my pace even more. I can't hear the other's steps, or the breathing, because of the rain. But my mind knows that they are there. And it enhances every other sound. Every splash sounds like a footstep, every draft a breath.

As I walk past a little shanty, the resident lets loose with a long, wheezing cough. I jump, startled by the sound, and look around hurriedly.

I almost-run down the alley, looking every which way in panic. My footsteps splash in the puddles, resounding on the walls of the alleys. I slip on the wet paving stones as I round a corner.

I make the turn and glance around in confusion. Ahead is a wall. Looking to my left and right, walls stand on either side. A dead end. Nowhere else to go, nowhere to run.

I turn around as I hear a laugh. It sounds like a file scraping an ogront hide. Very annoying. I can make out several figures in the darkness. About five of them.

"A little late to be out walking in the rain, isn't it? You never can be too careful. You might catch your death of a fever." That laugh again. It really is annoying me to no end. On top of that, his accent sound Mangaran. Even more annoying.

"What's the matter with you boy? Are you deaf and dumb?"

A couple of his cohorts laugh at his little joke.

"I'm sorry sir. I'm just doing my job." I say it in as meek a voice as I am able to muster.

"And just what would your job be?" The Mangar rumbles.

My eyes quickly search the ruffians. On the leader I see the ring. Gold, with loops in the pattern of a rainbow kra's scales. A brilliant moonstone inlaid in the crest.

"Recovery..." I state in my normal voice.

"Of what?" he asks as a Maruk, one of his entourage, steps in to my right.

I look him directly in the eyes as the now ex-Maruk jumps at me. I sidestep his jump and he lands on his chest. A bright red stain shows on the dagger tip protruding from his back, spreading through his tunic.

"Poor fellow. He must've fallen on my knife." I chuckle as I say it. I can see the Mangar's eyes flinch in either anger or fear. It's kind of hard to tell with those fellows.

Two of his other cohorts, another Mangar and a Ferran, fall with knives finding a new home in them. The Mangar with one in his left eye, and the Ferran with a knife through his throat.

"It's just you and me now," I say as I point to the leader.

My surprise is evident as his fourth comrade steps from the shadows and states, "You forgot about me." I mean, I know there was another mark in the shadows, but a Shadinn, of all things?!?

The Shadinn raises his huge axe, but the weapon is so much slower than me.

Like a breeze blowing through the grasses, I spring towards him. By the time he has his executioner's blade at the apex of his swing, I am behind him. My knife slashes his hamstrings, and he drops to his knees. The axe falls with a thud behind me, chipping the stones, as I step closer and bring my blade up under his hood. The demonic forces in his blood flow freely through the path my knife carves in his throat. His last breath carries a gurgle of surprise.

"Like I said, it's just you and me now," I state simply.

"Oh, by the way, I hope you don't mind, but I actually led you here. I thought that you might like a matching moonstone pendant for your ring. We'll call it bait, an old term from your seafaring days, eh? Kind of humorous, no?

"So anyways, I've learned this section of town like the streets back in Shattra. I seek by the look on your face that you're catching on. Yes, I knew that there wasn't an exit except that stretch you just came down. It looks like a dead end works both ways." He doesn't like it when I chuckle after saying that.

"Oh. You don't like old Dakmar's sense of humor? You truly hurt my feelings."

The Mangar drops to his knees, begging for his life when he sees the look in my eyes as I glance down. It could be the rain, but I'll swear to the day I die that the old corsair has tears running down his face when I bend over and pick up the war axe discarded by the Shadinn.

"I haven't been entirely hones with you," as I walk towards him. "I'm not just in the business of recovery. I'm also in the business of recompense.

"Don't take this personally. After all, it's just business."

I climb through the same window I sued the last time I visited old fat Vajido. A little blood escapes the pouch to drip on his tundra beast rug. I step on it to blend it with the greyish fur. It blends a bit, so I walk on to the reading room of Vajido.

I stand in the entranceway for a few minutes before Vajido even realizes I'm there. He jumps as he sees me and waves the Mandalan reading to him away.

"Oh! How dare you sneak up on me like that! I have a mind to take a deduction on your payment. You are here because you finished the job." Not even a question. At least he realizes what he's dealing with.

I toss the tarkus hide sack on to the table beside his chair. He reaches to the sack with his bandaged hand. As he opens the sack and sees the hand still wearing his ring, he absently massages the location of his missing ring finger. His smile turns to a grimace when he touches the still sore wound.

I look Vajido directly in the eye as I say, "Recovery and recompense, fivefold. You have your ring, and a whole hand to replace your missing finger. The same alley, even."

"Yes, yes. I am...'satisfied' with your work. Our agreement was 1000 gold lumens for the ring and 500 lumens for the hand." He places a money bag on the table and slides it across.

"Actually," as I slide the bag back across, "I believe it was 1000 gold pentacles for the ring, and another 500 pentacles for the hand."

"Ahhh, yes. I meant pentacles. I don't know how that slipped my mind." He reaches back under the table and pulls out a larger money purse.

As I take the purse with the pentacles, I state, "This ends our terms. Your job has been completed."

"Yes, yes," he states distractedly. His jowls jiggle as he nods his agreement. "You may leave the same way you came in."

He looks down at the hand and calls his pet Kang over to remove the ring. As takes the ring from the Kang's clawed hand, he notices that I'm still standing here.

"What?!? Why have you not left? Do I have to get Agrevar here to throw you out?" He nods to the Kang, who starts to pull his ceremonial falchion.

"Actually, this brings up another job I've recently taken on." I sling three knives at Agrevar, and he falls before his sword is drawn.

I unsling the Shadinn's axe from my back as I walk towards Vajido.

"You see, there was this man who wasn't happy about losing his ring and his hand." I smell the fear pouring from Vajido's rolls of flesh as I step up the dais to his chair.

"Don't take this personally. After all, it's only business. Recovery and recompense."

For the record, there is only one PC - Dakmar, an Arimite Revenant on his own.

One NPC - Daigai, a one-handed Mangar Corsair 'turned' cutthroat (do as you will with him)

Eric Edwards

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