Touch of Fate

Mike awoke feeling refreshed. He had spent much of the last night trying to drink himself under the table, but unfortunately some combination of his attributes and his poison resistance skill made it virtually impossible. After he had worked his way through the majority of a barrel without achieving more than a mild buzz, he finally gave up.

With some disgust, he noticed that his poison resistance skill had ranked up again. [At this rate its going, I'll be virtually immune to alcohol in the near future. I really need to figure out how to turn off passive effects.]

He couldn't imagine the kind of trouble he could get into if his Casanova Aura advanced in some way.

Standing, he did his daily routine of stretching he had picked up during his training with Albert. He had been slacking a bit recently, but the events of yesterday showed that he still had a long way to go.

He glanced over at Morris's side of the room and took note of the slightly snoring form in the bed.

Mike snickered to himself while remembering the way his friend had tried to bow out early from the festivities. The older man had drunkenly tripped over his chair and stumbled into the waitress, who spilled a platter of drinks on the unfortunate bard.

[Hopefully that doesn't impact his job search. He mentioned yesterday that he hadn't had much luck on that front. Better make sure to leave some money at the front desk to cover our expenses for the next few days.]

Mike left a note for his hungover roommate stating that he had decided to spend the day exploring the city and doing some shopping for some armor. He threw on the Salamander's Cloak, and grabbed one of his new swords, almost as an after thought. After eating a quick breakfast in the common room, he stepped out into the street.

It was a beautiful and sunny morning, with a pleasant breeze bringing fresh air in from over the lake. Mike was truly grateful for Lifestyle Magic. He hated to imagine what a city of this size would smell like without it.

He turned and started trying to navigate the confusing city streets towards the Market District, hoping to do some shopping with his newly earned money.

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Not too far away, in a rundown pub without a name, but which is referred to as the Watering Hole by the locals, a skinny man dressed in grey clothes burst through the front door, and ran up to a table. Seated at it were three people dressed in similar looking grey clothes.

The first was a shaven headed man with a closely trimmed grey beard. He was absently drinking from a flagon while leaning back in his chair.

The second was a red haired, male dwarf. He currently had his heavily muscled arms crossed in front of his long and elaborately braided beard.

The last was a young female cat beastman with light orange spiky hair in a boyish cut. Her clothes were more form fitting than the others, revealing a lithe and slender form. She was cleaning her nails with a dagger while periodically staring out the window.

The skinny man addressed the grey beard first. "Boss, we just got word of a valuable target moving through our territory."

The boss lowered his flagon. "Oh? What's the details?"

"A buddy of mine is a member of the Adventurer's Guild. Well, I say a buddy, but its not like I would trust him with anything in particular, not like I would with fellow members of the Grey..."

"Get to the point, Roger!"

"Right! Well, anyway this buddy of mine said he heard about a little incident at the guild. Apparently, there was a group of newbies that got into some trouble down in the dungeon. They ended up on the fourth floor and had to defeat the boss to escape."

"I'm failing to see the point Roger, you better be making it soon. I don't care about whatever trash they picked up there." The boss issued a threat with menace in his voice.

Nervously the skinny man continued. "Ye-Yeah. Well that's the thing. One of them came out of the dungeon wearing a genuine Salamander's Cloak. I had another buddy of mine, who works at the bank and has the Inspect skill, confirm it this morning when the newbie was traveling trough the market."

The dwarf reacted to this news first. "A real Salamander's Cloak? That would easily be worth a thousand gold, maybe more to some experienced adventurers looking to delve in the lower levels. If its really in the hands of a newbie adventurer, then its ripe for the picking."

"Right?" Roger smiled. "That's why the first thing I thought about was sharing the news with the boss."

He evidently felt more relaxed now that the value of his information had been recognized. The eager look on his face showing his hope for a reward.

The boss grimaced, and tossed over a silver coin. "If this information ends up panning out, I'll replace it with a gold one. Now wait outside while I make some plans."

Roger thanked him profusely before scampering out the door. Adrian, the current leader of the criminal organization simply known as the Grey, sighed. Not for the first time, he thought that the newer recruits were getting worse and worse.

They had once been the most powerful of the Dark Guilds, as such organizations were colloquially called, in the city of Wyrport. Unfortunately, they had recently suffered a series of setbacks caused by a new player that seemingly wanted to carve out a chunk of Wyrport's underworld for itself.

Despite their best efforts, none of the Grey had been able to identify the origin or goals of this new power. When the group suddenly stopped their previously implacable advance, Adrian was content to lay low and rebuild. But for that he needed funds.

"So Lorik, what do you think?" He said addressing the red haired dwarf.

"Well, if we could get our hands on that cloak, the money would go along way to replenishing the treasury. As I'm sure you know, its only by selling some of our legitimate assets that we've been able to stay afloat as long as we have. This cloak would be a good stop gap measure, but we will need to reclaim some of our income sources soon or risk the guild dissolving."

Adrian nodded. The Grey had historically been funded almost exclusively through protection money, gambling proceeds, and the occasion heist of valuable items or materials. They often held themselves as being better than their drug running, slave trading competitors.

Now, with the majority of their client businesses and gambling houses taken over by that new organization, the Grey were in dire straights financially.

Still he hesitated a bit before organizing a theft from the newbie. Stealing from adventurers, even newbies, was not something one entered into lightly. The Adventurer's Guild was home to some of the most powerful people on the continent, not counting a few of the more successful knightly orders. Stealing from one of their members could lead to trouble the Grey couldn't afford at this time.

He looked over at Julia, the Grey's most accomplished thief, while considering his options. Finally he made a decision.

"Julia." The cat beastman's ears twitched at the name, even though she continued to stare out the window. "I'm going to authorize this mission. Get some of the boys together and follow Roger to the target."

She looked at him, sighed, and slumped onto the table. "Do I have to? I hardly think a measly thousand gold is worth the effort. I'd much rather take a nap."

Adrian grimaced again. For all that she was a talented member of the Grey, sometimes her personality could infuriate him.

"Yes you have to. The Grey needs this money now."

"Fiiinnneee....." She exclaimed with an exaggerated amount of exasperation.

He gritted his teeth at her antics. "Listen! This needs to be a clean job. No one can trace it back to us. We can't afford the attention right now. If you can't get it without the newbie noticing, then get him somewhere alone and eliminate him. There can't be any witnesses."

"Yeah, yeah. I know how it goes." She stood up and stretched, showing off her remarkably flexible body, before daintily stalking off.

Adrian sighed again. He seemed to have been doing that a lot more frequently nowadays.

Lorik glanced over at his old friend. "What's the matter Adrian? I know this isn't the way you'd like to do business, but this cloak could mean the difference between success and failure for the Grey. With it we could operate for a few more months, give ourselves some time to get our feet back under ourselves."

"I know, but for some reason I can't shake the feeling that I'm making a mistake. My head tells me its the right choice, but my gut is telling me the opposite."

The boss looked at the doorway Julia had left through. "I just hope that nothing goes wrong."