Chapter 3: A Busy Night!
-----The dark, imposing man speaks, "I am the Guildmaster here. You may refer to me as Wain. I understand you already know Picks, Dora May, and the Fly. This is Bren," he says as he points to the plain-looking woman. "She is our source of information." He then points to the smiling young man with the green eyes. "This is Jarrom, but most of us here call him, Grin." He then gives the Fly a mean look, who suddenly makes a cooing sound.
-----Wain continues, stiffly, "We have received your dues for joining the guild, so at this point, you belong." He fires a stern look at Kazel, Seth and Gimplefwick. "Picks will now tell you of our operations here."
-----The crusty looking dwarf clears his throat and begins, "Aw right! Ya listen up! First I be needin’ ta go over the rules the guild goes by. They are pay yore duez, the guild takes cut o’ jobs, thiefs don’t rat or skweel, thiefs are loyal to the Guild, thiefs will give any portant info to the Guild, thiefs will tell Wain of any jobs ya gots planned, thiefs will train wif Guild Membrs ‘cept wear the guildmaster sayz so, and be expectin’ to due leg werk fer the Guild."
-----"Also, ya remember, ya don’t mess with the law and there’s a lot o’ people in town who like bein’ law abidin’, so ya gots to be extra careful likes. We gots a lots of friends in the beggars."
-----"Now take a’ look here." Picks lays out a piece of parchment on the table. He begins to point at the drawing on it. "This be the basic layout of this here hideaway o’ ours. Right now we’re under that old guard tower outside a’ town. Them front doors been boarded up a long time ago. Now there’s three ways a’ getting’ in here and give a close listen ‘cause there’s tricks ta all of ‘em."
-----"There’s that well ya climbed down ta get here. Ya just haft’a remember the secret door’s by the tenth rung ya stand on."
-----"The middle entryway ya get through by knowin’ what bush ta pick up outside. When ya leave, ya goes down that tunnel till ya be seein’ three chains. To get out, ya give a tug on the right one."
-----"To use that other tunnel from the outside, ya gets in a small shack built into a small hill. Inside are three doors that goes no where. The real entry to the tunnel is in the floor. Going down that tunnel, ya just haft’a stop at the end and start pushin’ up."
-----"Okay, over in here," Picks points over to a cabinet in the northeast corner of the room, "we gots this cabinet where we be keepin’ some o’ our special tools o’ the trade. Ya need any fer a job, ya rent ‘em. If’n ya lose it or break it, ya pay fer it."
-----"Over in here, we gots some layouts to a few places in town." He shows them a bookcase on the opposite side of the room. On top are a few rolled up pieces of parchment. "We gots the two temples, town hall, and a couple o’ the inns. We also gots us a map that shows where places and stuffs is located in town."
-----He then turns and faces the young thieves. "Ya gots any questions?"
-----Sethanales signals that he has a question, "Well, I have several questions.. The first is our dues, how often do we have to pay them?" Seth begins checking them off on his fingers one at a time. " The second is HOW much of a cut of our jobs does the Guild take? The third is Is there a list of people we are not to steal from? And fourth and this one is most important... Does the guild have any safe houses in the town itself or escape routes out of the town? Those are my questions for now." Seth turns to Kazel and Dread and waits for their questions or for Picks to answer his questions. While waiting, he momentarily has a vague look on his face, and then returns to the moment.
-----Picks squints one eye toward Seth and his sudden assault of questions. Taking a deep breath, he begins, "Lemme see, ya pays eight crowns, so yore paid up fer the first quarter. As fer yore cut of a job, well, it jest ‘pend on the job."
-----Picks looks over where Wain is standing ominously in the shadows. Turning back, he says, "Thar be no list, but ya needs ta tell Wain o’ any plans ya gots, so he kin okay ‘em. Thar ain’t no safehouses or escape routes, but we’re workin’ on some."
-----Kazel waits for Seth to finish, then begins badgering Picks with her own questions. "How long have you made your base in this town? Who here's going to 'train' us, or are there other members out there? What do you do with the dues? And tell us what kind of 'leg werk' members need to be doing."
-----She pauses for breath, then, on a whim she adds, "... you ever tried getting layouts for the wizard's tower?"
-----As Kazel asks her last question, Picks eyes widen fully and his jaw drops. The Fly lets go of a giggle, the smile fades off the face of the one named Jarrom, Dora May looks at Kazel appearing to be fuming and Bren clears her throat, but otherwise looks calm.
-----Picks emits a gurgling sound, then he angrily says to Kazel, "Now, wait a dang blasted . . ."
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