Chapter 8: Chapter 7: Ode to the Tower’s Matron

A day before the meeting in Layl Manor.

Away from the rabid night life of the city's Dusk district filled with Night Dust Dens, Brothels, and Taverns. The slum streets of the Pav's outskirts are supposedly quiet. However, a group of seven gruff looking men and women are running with great haste.

"FARKING DAMMIT! RUN LIKE HELL!" The fastest among them yells.

"SHIT SHIT SHIT, I CAN'T SEE'EM!" One of the thugs who checks behind them adds.

They split off from each other, running around different alleys, before finally meeting up in a secluded location in front of an abandoned building. When they see each other, they feel relief as if a feeling of primal fear was lifted from their psyche.

"We lost'em, the hell is that monster doing hunting shits like us. Damn" A thug grumbles.

"Come on, we're not out of shitter yet. We gotta get inside first. Thank hell they owe us a favor" The large leader of the group states.

He approaches the door of the abandoned building then knocks and taps in a specific combination.

"Knock, thud, tap, tap, tap, thud, thud"

After a few seconds of silence, a panel in the door opens.

"Yeah?" A voice from within the building starts.

"I'm calling in the favor you owe"

"...What do you want?"

"We need a place to stay for the night, the wackjob's after us."

"The Butcher? Not worth it...10 crates of dust, undocumented"

"Five"

"Nine"

"Seven, that hit on the Count you did wouldn't have worked without the poison I smuggled"

"...Fine" The voice behind the door agrees after some thought.

The door opens and a hooded figure leads the group inside the building.

As they walk, they notice that the building is abuzz with activity. Every person they pass is busy preparing their gear and equipment. Bows, arrows, and daggers

One of the thug leader's underlings turns to him.

"They seem pretty busy boss, looks like they're about to go to stomp-out a group of somebodies" She asks.

"Yeah, don't ask. Assassins love privacy even more than us smugglers do."

After a few more minutes of walking, they are led down a stairway to the basement of the building. They enter a large stone room that served as the assassin guild's surplus storage. The thugs settle down and begin to digest what had just happened. They were a group of smugglers who were about to complete a delivery. Unfortunately, when they had arrived at the drop-off point, they found the Capital's latest crazy serial killer having a discussion with the decapitated head of their client.

"Crazy farker, was trying to talk to a shitting head" One of the thugs say in disbelief.

"I know right, it was pretty cool huh?" comes a joking reply from a new voice.

"Kehoda asshole" The group curses the responder.

"...Huh?" They turn and realize they cannot find where the new member of their conversation is.

Suddenly, a voice is heard from behind coming closer and closer. It starts to speak in a rhythm as if reciting a nursery rhyme.

"Isn't it nice to see a gold great hall,

Fall under her shadow and then tumble and fall

Glory to beggar who grumbles and crawls,

Who's blessed then begins to stand straight and tall.

O'Matron of the tower who ushers weal and woe

Bring reward and ruin for both friend and foe

May your shadow bring destruction and change

May your passing bring growth and a new age "

Out from behind a stack of crates, the monster they were running from appears still holding the head of the baron it was having a conversation with an hour ago. When they had first met the creature, it was wearing dark leather troll-boar armor with a cowl and mask to cover up all of its skin and features. The only thing that gave a hint of its true nature was that it had taken off its mask to examine the late client's head revealing a face of dark mist alongside pure black eyes and a set of jagged teeth. Currently, the monster's top armor and helmet were off revealing the same shadowy body that would in places solidify into jagged flesh.

"DEMON!"

"OI!!! IT'S FARKING HERE, COME DOWN HERE AND HELP US KI, GUGH!" One of the smugglers tries to run out and call for help. However, before she ends up finishing her cry for help, a dagger implants itself in her jugular.

"Don't worry about it, they'll be here in a bit. Thanks for letting me test out my throwing skills."

(Man, this is fun. Sorry about this Keru, you're gonna have to settle for less oomph in your bloodline for a bit longer. I'm having too much fun on my break hahaha.)

The monster immediately throws the head it was carrying at a thug's head and then goes behind the crates it had appeared from.

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"The hell is that thing!" A smuggler yells.

"The fark does it matter, we gotta kill it if we wanna live. Everyone together, let's go beat his ass" Yells the smuggler leader.

The group slowly advances to the monster's position behind the crates, all the while being vigilant of sudden attacks. The leader signals to his underlings to move and attack at the same time. After a few seconds they turn the corner behind the crates with clubs drawn.

They find no one.

Everyone in the group was surprised, they spent a few moments staring at each other. This includes the leader of the group who is puzzled by what has just happened. After a few moments, he realized how absurd it was that the monster was here with them in this location. This was a well-known assassin guild's headquarters. It was impossible for it to get here without being spotted at least once. Paranoia begins to set in.

(Did we get set-up?)

"Hey, what's wrong! The hell are you doing?"

A group of a dozen assassins came running into the center of the room. Their weapons are already drawn as they spot the smugglers looking through the crates in the corner.

The leader of the smuggler's turn to the assassin who led them here a while ago. Desperate fear written on his face.

"THE MONSTER'S HERE, DID YOU KNOW!"

"Huh? The fark are you talking about, also why is she dead?"

The assassins look confused as they reference the body lying in a pool of her blood.

The smuggler leader, glances quickly at the corpse of his underling before freezing.

"Where'd the knife go?!"

The knife that was lodged inside the woman's throat was missing.

Coincidentally, the decapitated head that was thrown at them less than a minute ago was also nowhere to be found.

(It can't be, it was farking here!) The smuggler screams internally.

The Assassins are still confused but raise their vigilance even more so than before.

Suddenly, the bright lanterns that were lighting up the room go out.

"Can you hear it? The ringing of the bells.

The Matron of the tower has called.

It is a sound I know so well

Another dying light must be culled. "

An eerie verse is spoken, again with child-like glee.

"Shit" The minds of all the assassins and smugglers spoke in led by the voices of the leaders of both parties.

"Light now!" Yells the assassin leader.

One of the assassins quickly grabs and lights a torch they luckily kept in their pack; however, it can only emit a dim light and not fully cover the entire room.

With the single torch, they all form a circle and look around with panicked alertness.

"Deep in the tower there is a fire's light she stokes.

The light has borne much life, but the life must be cleaned

I, the executor of your will shall reap the fields of old weeds

May their sacrifice be enough for the new grain to grow"

As the 4th verse is being spoken, the combined group continues to look through the darkness searching for movement. Once the last line is uttered, they notice that someone has infiltrated their formation.

"So... now that that's out of the way let's start" the monster lets out a grin and the chuckles as rows of sharp teeth are seen inside its mouth.

The sounds of fighting erupt.

The monster draws its weapons, two daggers, one for slashing the other for stabbing and begins to attack the mob of criminals. As it approaches one of the smugglers, it morphs it face into the noble client it had killed. The thug is shocked and lets their guard down allowing the monster to stab into their gut then slash across their neck letting blood spurt. The monster opens its mouth and tastes the blood that just spurted across its face, glee emanates from its expression. Its face then turns into mist then it morphs into the face of the thug it had just killed; its happiness never wavering while doing so.

The group of humans are mortified.

"ITS A FARKING SHAPESHIFTER! SHIT! WHERE'S THE REST OF YOUR GUILD!" The smuggler leader yells at the top of their lungs.

"I don't know! They should have noticed something by now!" Replies the leader of the assassins.

The monster answers them as they fight.

"Oh them? Don't worry, they're right here with us" The monster says as its face morphs into the half dozen assassins who were unaccounted for.

The fighting did not last long after that.

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