Downtown Druid

Dantes sat at his exclusive table in the Viridian Vixen, sipping hot tea and looking out over it from his elevated position. He’d only rarely seen it empty, and he found himself enjoying the quiet of it, and noting with satisfaction that he still liked the aesthetics of it. The work he and Vera had put into it had been substantial, so it was nice that he could still appreciate it.

There were no knocks when Gavain and Pacha arrived. The door simply went from being on its hinges to being off of them and across the room, shattering against the wall. Dantes had predicted something like that may happen, and so the floor was already cleared of tables and chairs.

Dantes sipped his tea, enjoying the warmth of it as it traveled down his throat. He felt rested. His sleep the previous night, he’d dreamed of gods as he often did, but this time the god of justice had moved back several steps, and his axe no longer rested so near Dantes’s throat, but rather resting against the ground. He thought he’d won, but of course, Dantes was going to be the victor.

Young guards poured through the open door, looking for skulls to crush, but instead finding an empty club and milling about confused. There weren’t even any bottles of booze on the wall that they could break, or tables to cleave in two with their swords. Not that many of them would’ve managed it, Dantes had them made of high quality thick wood. It took four orcs and a halfling to move the largest of them.

Behind the young guards strode Pacha and Gavain. Pacha’s eyes were alight with something, his breastplate had been polished to a mirror like sheen, and his beard trimmed to perfection. He looked around and quickly sized up the situation.

“They must’ve had a heads up. Fan out, find Dantes. If he resists, cut him down.”

A few of the guards exchanged looks, and started searching a bit slower than they had been before.

Dantes suppressed a chuckle at that. He’d considered the possibilities of resisting, or even hiding, but discounted them both. He had no clear idea of Gavain’s true strength, every fight he’d seen him in he had not suffered a single blow, or even seemed winded. Dantes thought he could beat him, especially if he had enough time to prepare, but the risk was great. Hiding would’ve been easy. Hard to find one rat or roach among millions, but he didn’t want to hide anymore. Besides, he had plans for the Pit.

He looked at Gavain. He was much the same, long brown hair, a massive magical spear in his hands, wearing strange segmented armor that covered his body. His expression was different though, harsher. He had a small scar over his right eye, one that hadn’t been there before. It looked out of place on an otherwise unblemished face. Seeing a mark of vulnerability on someone who seemed untouchable, was disconcerting, even to Dantes.

Dantes stood up from his table and leaned over the edge of his little balcony, taking a sip of his tea as they started to notice him.

“Welcome to the Vixen, gentlemen. I’m afraid we’re short on booze and women at the moment, but maybe pleasant conversation is more what you’re in the mood for this morning?”

Gavain looked at him, he squinted for just a moment, then his eyes widened. “YOU.”

Dantes smiled down at him. “Yes, me. Dantes, Druid, lord of midtown, purveyor of hedonistic debauchery, and man who lies to naive adventurers to get them to clear out an enemy’s warehouse.”

Gavain’s teeth clenched as he gripped his spear.

Dantes gently placed his teacup down.

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“I helped you do good, Gavain. A very bad man’s operations were crippled thanks to you. The city, I’m sure, benefitted from it.”

Pacha put a hand on Gavain’s shoulder. “Step back, son.”

Gavain untensed a bit and smiled. “I own my mistakes, but Justice is here for you now.”

“You going to come quietly?” asked Pacha, simply.

Dantes nodded. “Absolutely. I will not resist at all.”

Pacha nodded, and unlooped some manacles from his hip as he began to climb the stairs toward Dantes.

Dantes held out his hands for Pacha to lock up.

“Arresting me is not going to help the city the way you’d like it to. Not really.”

Pacha ignored him, sealing the first manacle around his wooden left wrist.

“The streets are cleaner, Midtown is healthier with me here rather than Mondego. Removing me… it just creates chaos. Rendhold isn’t the kind of place that can be tamed. You have to mitigate problems to maximize results here. That’s just the way it is.” Ꞧ

Pacha sealed the other manacle, and pulled hard on the chain of it.

Dantes followed him willingly so that the pull didn’t harm his wrists at all.

“Straight to the Pit, eh?”

“Yes. You’ll be the first of many,” said Pacha.

“I’m sure… I have to say, I’m very impressed with your man Dulles.”

Pacha almost responded, but stayed quiet as he dragged him through the main door.

Outside, in the street, were dozens of men and women. Shopkeepers, bartenders, bards, whores, sailors, dealers, mercs, and a dozen more of every type of midtowner waved and hollered at Dantes as he was taken away. Some of them even threw flowers in their direction.

Dantes smiled, nodded, and even unshackled his wooden left arm to wave at them as he was dragged away.

The guards were tense and uncomfortable at the display, and Dantes could see a few beads of sweat dripping down Pacha’s neck. Gavain looked utterly lost, his mouth agape at such a display for a liar and cheat, a gangster that was exploiting all of those people that were cheering him.

Dantes smiled at him. “Don’t worry about it Gavain, it’s just Midtown. It’s just the way things are here.”

…

Jacopo pulled a bit at his collar as he stood at the prow of a large merchant ship. It was silk, Dantes had made sure that all of the clothes that had been made for him would be as comfortable as possible, but any clothes at all was a sharp downgrade from no clothes and a thick coat of soft fur.

The ship lurched a bit as the city came into view. It was morning, and a thick mist was making it difficult to see much of anything, especially with Rendhold not being regularly lit by mage academy students. From where Jacopo stood it was all dark silhouettes and high towers, only broken up by the docks which were lit by old oil lanterns to guide ships. The dark didn’t bother Jacopo of course, he was more focused on the task at hand.

One of the sailors, the second mate, an awful title in Jacopo’s opinion, approached.

“Sir, we’ll be docking shortly. The men will load your goods onto the docks as requested.

Jacopo nodded, putting on his best sneer. “If anything is missing, or the crates are underweight, I will personally emasculate you.”

The sailor paled at the words of the large foreigner, and nodded as he quickly moved back to the cargo deck.

Dantes had told him he’d need to act imperious and unkind in order to sell himself in the role they needed, but he wondered if he’d gone too far. Human’s and their intricacies were confusing to him. Vampa, who stood a few feet behind him, wearing an intricate suit of armor with a sword at his belt, didn’t correct him though, which meant he probably hadn’t gone too far.

Less than an hour later, the boat was docked and the unloading of cargo had begun. Jacopo was about to leap off the side of the boat to land on the dock, but Vampa put a hand on his shoulder, gesturing subtly to the gangway. He kept his head high and walked off the boat, finding a small man wearing the uniform of a port official waiting for him. The man looked him up and down, with an eyebrow raised, sensing a potential bribe coming his way.

“Welcome to Rendhold. I see that you’re carrying a large amount of goods with you. Are you-”

“I am Count Jacopo de Fosse, fourth son of the now deposed King Sigismund of the land of the eternal sun. I request the asylum granted to exiled royalty, including being welcomed into the nobility of Rendhold and all the privileges that come with it.”

The official stared at him blankly with his mouth hung open. “I’ll, uh, need to get my superior.”

“I am your superior.”

“I mean, my superior here at the dock, sir. It will be only a moment. I won’t keep your count-ship waiting for long.”

“See that you don’t.”

The man bowed, and scurried away.

Jacopo glanced at Vampa who gave him a curt nod of approval. He pulled at his silk collar again. It was going to be a long day before he would be able to change into himself again.

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