Hawke is steaming mad. Shaddar listens in on some of his thoughts for a moment, “Even Jorin and Bort are different! Never seen those lads rush off to do their ‘work’, but now they act as though there’s a fire lit in their britches. No more lazy morning conversation where I get to insult them with subtlety? Mist take it! Me and Widow Cottondur loved laughin’ about that every day. And now even that wee bit of fun is taken from me… The Boss has turned my whole life upside-down!”
Shaddar summons his thralls to his room. Soon they stand before him and he gives them their orders for the day.
Shaddar will go shopping at some of the large and bustling marketplaces that he saw during his short jaunt into the slums. Cutt will accompany him. Shaddar is certain that he and his thralls ‘almost’ fit in with the rest of the bizarre entertainers that work in the slums, so he is confident that they can walk openly there. The streets would be a different matter entirely…
Cutt is pleased by this plan. He begins to mentally review what he needs to find: glassblowing tools, beakers, hoses, mortars and pestles, bottles, jars, a good supply of cork, small lamps, and many of the other strange devices that Shaddar is unfamiliar with. No matter, he will acquire whatever is required to properly outfit his thrall with supplies that will make the gnome a more efficient worker.
Loolipo will look for herbalists for strange substances and reagents for Cutt’s alchemical lab.
She is a bit confused with this task: “You want me to bring the contents of herb shops here? Fine. Should I purchase these items or do you want me to rob them?”
“Purchase goods? Certainly not! You have the skills: take what you think we might need in whatever way suits you.”
“Might need some muscle to handle any humans that don’t like me emptying their shops, master. Can Toothsnatcher come with me to help carry the stuff and crunch some heads?” Her thoughts are filled with cowardice and worry about shopkeepers who have employed tough guards or anti-theft magics.
Shaddar is annoyed. “No, no! I don’t need you to clear out entire shelves of inventory! Just slip items into your pocket unobserved – gather a broad sample of items from many shops. Keep track of which items came from where and return here. Cutt will examine what you have found and we can decide then which stores need to be re-visited. Evaluate how easy each shop will be to break into as well, just in case we need to make a large withdrawal later.”
Loolipo is quite happy with this assignment and seems to comprehend what is desired. At last!
Shaddar orders Toothsnatcher to remain in the meadhall and ensure that nothing untoward happens. Should anyone be seen by a human, then the minotaur is to hold those humans prisoner until Shaddar returns to deal with the problem. When things are dull, he is instructed to work with the hobgoblins in a series of strength-building exercises – focusing on repairing Shaddar’s room.
“Get the weak and flabby ones in shape! Once the ladies go home, you and Kug will begin clearing the patio and begin practicing combat skills,” Shaddar commands. Toothsnatcher grunts in acceptance of his orders.
The drow artisan, Masaxle, knocks on Shaddar’s door. He looks almost feverish and claims that he will be busy all day on his drawings – all he needs is more paper and charcoals.
“I’m running out, Avatar! Every scrap of paper in the room is fast being turned into a drawing and stuck onto one wall! It is a most glorious sight!”
Shaddar promises to get him the supplies he needs and Masaxle rushes back to his room to continue with this work.
Masaxle passes Halvyr on the stairs and Shaddar can sense that the weasel-y hobgoblin Tegoz is on his way downstairs as well. He can tell from both of their thoughts that they will want to leave the meadhall right away. For different reasons, of course.
“Your worshipfulness!” Halvyr says softly.
Shaddar manages to stop Halvyr from falling to his face again. He instructs him quietly, “Such abasement is unworthy of my high priest, Halvyr! Save that for our acolytes…”
“Of course, your worshipfulness!” Halvyr nods happily, his thoughts filled with his eagerness to spread the glorious word of the coming of his worshipfulness – the long-lost god of the drow!
Tegoz reaches the second floor and comes into view. He has a black eye and a split lip – both of which look fairly recently acquired.
“What happened, my friend?” Shaddar asks with mock concern.
“Oh, nothing. I just slipped on the stairs,” the hobgoblin mumbles unconvincingly.
Tegoz insists that he be allowed to leave the meadhall at once – citing his sick mother that he must take food to each day or she will starve.
Shaddar looks from Tegoz to Halvyr and back again. “Yes. I sense that both of you have important tasks to complete this day. Use the back entrance and avoid being seen. Go with my blessings, children!”
Halvyr bows with a look of adoration before turning to go down to the first floor.
Tegoz hesitates at this strange-sounding benediction. His thoughts are filled with strange surmises – none of them even close to reality. Eventually the shifty-looking hobgoblin turns and follows Halvyr.
Shaddar is glad to see the back of him and allows him to depart with his variety of misinformation and false beliefs. He follows their thoughts to confirm that they go downstairs and exit the building. Soon both will be reporting to their respective racial leaders. Excellent.
He is sure that Evicurra will spend the whole day trying on dresses and relaxing, which is fine. The three hobgoblins from the brothel, Kodarm, Zoda, and Grunda are still asleep, but Toothsnatcher will put them and Kug to work soon enough.
Satisfied that everyone under his command is doing something that is useful to him, Shaddar is ready to be about his own business. He dismisses Toothsnatcher and motions with his tentacles for the other two thralls to follow him.
Shaddar, Cutt, and Loolipo exit the meadhall the back way. Shaddar asks Loolipo if she has opened the scrollcase. She has not! She needs to obtain some smaller lockpicks – hers are too big to work the tiny tumblers that she says are made of adamantine. This is an acceptable excuse for her delay. They remain together as a group until they reach the edge of the slums at which time Loolipo veers off to visit her first stop of the day.
Shaddar and Cutt wander through the marketplaces, getting many odd looks. They are dressed as entertainers, and are shopping for very odd items.
Those from whom he buys goods are courteous enough. The first shopkeeper’s thoughts are instructive: “A freak with gold is hardly a freak at all!”
Cutt is quite pleased to select several pieces of lead tubing, wire flask frames, and small pots and kettles. The gnome acts completely maniacal as he hops around the shop, pointing at various items and making happy exclamations.
“This! And that! Oh, yes! I’ll need all of these! Hey, you! Yes, you! Put that down! That’s mine! I’m buying it all! Ha-ha-ha!”
“Oi! Don’t chase off my other customers! I must serve them as well!”
“Not today, you won’t,” Shaddar says as he carelessly slides a handful of fat gems across the counter. Cutt giggles and kicks a customer who is moving out the door too slowly in the rump, before he turns to continue selecting the tools of his trade.
“That’s right! Begone! He’s closin’ early! Hee-hee! All mine! Mine! Ooo! Look at the quality of these rubber stoppers! Oh, where have you been all my life, you beauties?”
When gnome finishes his selection and the shopkeeper is satisfied with the price he has been paid, they turn to leave. Cutt’s happy mood is jerked out from under him when Shaddar indicates that the small gnome is to carry the heavy load of all of the items he so gleefully selected just moments before.
Shaddar is indignant that the gnome would even dare to think that he would help carry things. “I’m not going to carry that. Don’t put on airs, slave!”
At an open-air pavilion, Shaddar forces the gnome to buy some ridiculous thigh-high leather boots as well. The gnome is quite unhappy about having to haul a heavy weight of goods around while he breaks in a new pair of boots, but Shaddar has no sympathy for the travails of a mere thrall. Unfortunately it is pointless to look for boots to fit either Loolipo of Toothsnatcher. They both walk barefoot on tough, webbed flippers or cloven hooves – no one makes boots for their type of foot!
“Come along, Cutt! Lots of stores still to visit!”
Huff! Puff! “Yes, master! Coming, master!” Ooof!
Shaddar picks up a large stack of parchment and a new box of charcoals for Masaxle. He stuffs them into a gap between the sacks on the gnome’s back and they continue shopping.
Sadly, the load of materials quickly outstrips the gnome’s capacity for hauling. After only a few hours and with a mere 120 pounds of goods, the little gnome is barely visible under the stack of parcels, bags, and pipes he has lashed to his body. His throaty wheezing is becoming tiresome to listen to as well.
“I suppose he is packing more than his own body weight and I do hate to walk so slowly.” Shaddar decides that it will be more effective to walk back to the meadhall, drop off what they have found so far, and then go back out for another load.
It takes much too long, from Shaddar’s perspective, to reach their new home.
When they do finally arrive back at the Jester and Hawk Meadhall, Shaddar is amazed to see that Jorin and Bort have already returned. Shaddar is most annoyed. Why are they not out working?
“Oh, thank goodness!” Bort breathes when he sees him.
“Boss!” Jorin says loudly, “There’s been some news. We came back as soon as we heard it, but you had gone.” He pauses with a worried look on his face.
“Well?” Shaddar says, “Report!”
“Word on the street is that the villains are going to riot,” Jorin says in hushed tones.
“Interesting,” Shaddar thinks with a trace of excitement.
“Rioting against whom?” Shaddar asks.
“Well, the streets, of course.”
“Do you mean the Guild of Villains is going to march into the streets and cause havoc? Has this ever happened before?”
“Oh, yes!” Bort says with worry, “It’s terrible.”
“Yeah, when the villains riot, it turns into huge battle between them and the heroes!” Jorin continues.
“It’s so scary!” Bort shudders.
“Luckily, word always seems to get out that the Guild is planning to riot ahead of time. Usually the constables come out in force to help protect regular folk and keep them out of it. They keep people safe.”
“But there’s damage,” Bort adds.
Jorin nods vigorously. “Sure is. Lots of damage during a riot. It’s a major disaster whenever one happens – most of the city’ll shut down and people’ll barricade themselves indoors. Lock all the window shutters and stay away from the windows, too.”
Hawke has overheard part of this conversation and calls from the main room, “What’s that you’re sayin’? A riot?!”
Female shrieking ensues from various locations of the meadhall.
“A riot? A riot! Eeek!”
“Villains rushing about with no restraint? Oh, mother! I feel faint…”
“Oh, Mr. Hawke, we’ve all got to go home and hide! Right away!”
“Yes, yes, you run along home, then,” Hawke says to the three woman. Shaddar is most interested in his thoughts, which are not fearful in the least, despite his tone of voice.
“A riot? I wonder why the villains and heroes need to get together and talk?” Hawke thinks.
Shaddar is now wholly intrigued. “Not a civil uprising at all, then? This merely is a method for the two guilds to hold a parley? Ah! I wonder what new developments have occurred in the past 24 hours to require them to meet? I may have to attend their meeting to find out if I am a topic of conversation.”
“Word is that the riot is going to start at noon,” Jorin continues his report of the alarming rumor that they have heard, “We can’t do what you wanted us to today – the whole city will be shutting down in another hour!”
Bort notices that there is only one pair of legs under the huge collection of packages standing quite unsteadily nearby. He looks past Shaddar down the alley as he asks, “Isn’t Loolipo with you, Boss? Toothsnatcher said you three left together.”
Jorin pales, “Oh, no. Poor Loolipo… She’s going to get caught in the middle of the riot? I can’t handle the thought of that.”
Bort and Jorin begin backing up to the stairs. Bort continues speaking as Jorin now looks quite ill, “We’ll just be hiding in our room then. Sorry about your mate, but we can’t risk being out in the mess of a riot!”
“Hiding in our room?” Jorin says faintly, “I’ll be hiding under me bed!”
Shaddar can barely tolerate the stink of their cowardice. He is glad to see them run up the stairs.
“Master,” Cutt calls weakly in a thin and muffled voice, “may I unload these packages now?”
“Do as you wish,” Shaddar broadcasts with little focus. He barely notices when the gnome falls over with a gasp and begins to wriggle around in an attempt to extract himself from his ensnaring burden. Shaddar is too busy thinking about this new and unexpected turn of events.
Widow Cottondur and her daughters run from the meadhall and Shaddar hears Hawke lock the front door behind them. There is a sense of panic in most of the human thoughts that he can detect around him. But not from Hawke. He is still pondering as to what might have caused the need for an “all-hands, guild-to-guild meeting”.
“Should I make an appearance at this ‘riot’? I could disguise myself as a cloaked villain easily enough, but do I want to lower myself to such an appearance?” Shaddar wonders, “If Loolipo were back I might send her – she could sneak into the meeting with little trouble, I’m sure. But she is following my orders out in the city and is not available. Hmmm…”
Chapter 1 < Chapter 16 Chapter 18 >
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