Chapter 21: 21: Public Relations

Packing as much gold as we could carry didn’t take long. Gold is heavy as shit. So, once we were all suitably laden down with gold, it was time to go. Except, there was one last thing to do. We still had to deal with the Docksgord guy that was currently unconscious on the floor.

“Think he saw it was us?” Whistle asked, poking at the man with a foot.

“Bassi is pretty recognisable,” Singer mused, chewing on her lower lip.

“We said we’d kill him,” Jitters said, her tone high and tense. “Not just cos he’s awful. We lost Yudjri to those bastards. Plus Hail, Teller and Howclaw to other gangs.”

“He will die,” Bassi agreed, drawing one of her blades. She was quick, a clean slash across the neck and he was on his way out.

She moved to step away, but stopped when I approached the rapidly dying man.

“Let’s confuse them a little,” I said simply, and raised my hand.

Black claws of transparent shadow rippled out of my hands, ready and eager to tear flesh. Bassi’s eyebrows went up, but she didn’t stop me as I reached down with my ethereal talons. Looking down at that man, helpless and bleeding out, I should have felt some sort of pity, remorse at a life lost.

There wasn’t any to be found. I had no sympathy for those who engaged in sex trafficking. Such an innocuous name for it too, at least compared to what it represented. Rather than that man’s face, I just saw Jitters’. Her face stony but cracked, like a dam struggling to hold back a furious wall of boiling emotion.

I tore the rest of his throat out in one quick motion, then raked my claws down his chest, arms and whatever part I could reach in the space of a few seconds. His body barely twitched as I finished him off, savaging him like a beast would, making sure to keep the strokes erratic so as to not look methodical. At least he didn’t wake up.

“By the goddess, Mist,” Singer breathed as I stepped back, the blood sloughing off my arm as though it had never been there.

“Looks like a monster attack now,” I shrugged, seeking out Jitters among the group. I could see the tension ease from her shoulders as she stared down at the body with hard eyes. “At least enough to confuse them for a bit. There is a lot of gold missing,” I clarified after a tiny bit more thought.

Off to the side, Whistle stared at me like I’d just started telling him about my real past. “Damn, I didn’t think you had that in you.”

“I’m not squeamish, and that guy was on his way out,” I replied, a little defensively.

“Oh, I’m not… ah, doesn’t matter. It was a good idea, kid,” he told me with a look of chagrin.

“Less talking, more leaving,” Bassi growled, making shooing motions towards the door.

So we left, making our way into the tunnels as soundlessly as we could. Strangely, I was the only one able to keep myself completely silent, the rest of the group having issues with jingling coins. Still, we didn’t encounter the rest of the Docksgord group, and Bassi and I brutalised any monsters we found.

We opted to travel through the tunnels the entire way home, as we were an even more conspicuous group now that we were carrying massive jingling sacks. We had to hide from a pathfinder party or two as well, and the whole journey took us several days longer than we’d expected, because like… that place is a fucking maze.

 

****

 

“This is… a lot,” Lark remarked, pushing a hand through the pile of gold on the table.

We were all gathered around the largest table in the tavern room of the hideout, simply staring at the hoard of gold we’d just acquired. It was a lot too, I don’t think we’d realised how much we were grabbing off those shelves until we’d gotten it back here.

“Didn’t even need me to pick the lock, in the end,” Jitters sighed, poking at a gold coin on the table.

“Yeah, but you carried three sacks,” I said with a smile. I was going to build that girl up no matter what her seemingly shitty brain tried to tell her.

Singer laughed and nudged at her, “Plus, you’re great company.”

“Wait, does that mean I’m not good company?” Swipe asked with feigned outrage.

“It can be a little iffy at times,” Lark mused, giving the shorter guy a sly smile.

That got him a very real warning look from his partner in crime.

“What do we do with it?” Dancer asked, leaning his large arms on the table. “There’s more here than we’d need to live off for a year or more.”

“We could give it away,” I mentioned tentatively.

Several of the people at the table gave a laugh, as though I’d made a joke, but I really hadn’t. The amount of money we had here, it would ease a lot of problems that the people who lived in the slate plains had.

When I didn’t smile back, there was an awkward silence as the group glanced among one another. Bassi eventually spoke up, giving me a curious look, “What’s your reasoning?”

“Alright, so…” I sighed heavily, preparing myself to explain. “Anamoor is a fucking mess. People are hurting, cramped together and desperate. I could go on and on about the mechanics of this, the reasons and all that shit, but I won’t for now. What would make this a better place though, is if some of the money up on that hill found its way into the pockets of people down the hill.”

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“How?” Singer asked, then realised she needed to clarify. “I mean, how will it help? They will just spend it, then it will be gone.”

“You’re right, and it will eventually find its way back up the hill,” I agreed, leaning my elbows on the table. “But, say we give it to… a bakery down the road. They might be able to buy a better oven, or replace some worn down tools. Say we give it to the widow of a pathfinder who died down in the ruin, her kids grow up in a happier environment, less likely to become one of those gang guys we just took all this money from.”

“Now, this next part is… important. All of that shit, it’s just nice things to do, but it’s hardly any of our responsibilities to go and do it. No, there are several ways it benefits us,” I explained, leaning forward with a smile now. “We give this money out and make sure they know who gave it out. Then, the next time you’re fleeing through the streets, maybe we wear a special cloak or something. Civilian sees that cloak, and if we do this right, they don’t think, oh it’s a criminal, they think, oh, it’s one of the good guys, fighting the oppressors upstairs.”

“And they might be inclined to help us, rather than just stand by and watch,” Bassi mused, a smile forming on her face as she understood.

“Even further,” I grinned. “Can you imagine how dangerous it would be for someone to try and collect on a bounty on any of us? A random pathfinder gets one of us, and then suddenly his favourite bakery doesn’t serve him, people spit on him in the streets. It’s not a surefire way to stop it, but it would be a mighty good deterrent.”

What I wasn’t saying, was that there was another reason they would want to do this. A reason that everyone in this city should give a shit about. The goddess was failing. It had been clear from what she’d said when we were brought here, that she couldn’t hold out against the evil outside the walls for long. As it stood, the people of Anamoor were struggling to survive against the monsters inside the walls, let alone those outside them.

So this was something small I could do to contribute to the quest my class had been given when we were thrown into this world. I felt a little bad that I’d been enjoying my time in what was essentially a dystopian post apocalyptic medieval society.

“I like this idea,” Whistle offered, glancing tentatively around the table. “I mean, it’s just a good thing to do regardless of how it benefits us. I’d like to be seen as a hero, rather than just gutter scum.”

“Aye, that’d be nice,” Lark said with a wan smile.

Ward perked up too, as though he’d just had an idea. “Oh! People’d be way more likely to give me information if they liked us too!”

Internally I laughed, because I think I’d just started the beginnings of a thieves’ guild with a PR strategy.

“Alright,” Bassi said, with an amused smile. “Clearly Mist has swayed you all, and me too. Ward, I want you to put some feelers out, find out who in the area is struggling. Focus on businesses and anyone with children in need, but keep an eye out for other opportunities too.”

“Glad you all approve of my idea,” I said, suddenly feeling a little shy. I mean, I had just kinda butted in and thrown the idea out there. I was the newbie too, so they could have just told me to get lost.

After the meeting was done, I was glad to go and get myself cleaned up with a bath. I’d started to stink a little, and my feet were so fucking sore. When I finally laid down in my bed wearing clean comfortable clothing, it was the most incredible feeling in the world.

A lot had happened while we were out, from the way Bassi and I had been strangely cuddly while we were on watch, to the weirdness around my recently MIA dick, to the strangeness I’d felt in my shadow abilities. Oh, and then there was the guy I’d casually killed. Sure he was on the way out anyway, but… goodness. In just a few short months, I had changed dramatically as a person. My old self would barely recognise the person I’d become.

A knock at the door interrupted my mental systems check, and soon Bassi was slipping into the room, closing and locking the door. She leaned back against it, wearing a casual linen breeches and shirt. God she looked good in almost anything. I think it was the confidence, the way she carried herself like she knew she was gorgeous and it wasn’t something to make a big deal about.

“Hey,” I smiled, somewhat sleepily. That smile on seeing her was becoming almost involuntary these days. It just happened when I saw her.

She sent a smile back, gesturing to the bed. “May I?”

I shuffled to the side, allowing her room. “Yeah, go ahead.”

She crossed the room with a slowly expanding smirk, finally settling down on her side, facing me. She regarded me with some sort of bold amusement, her tongue doing that thing where it poked and prodded at her fangs.

“You, Mist… are a sneaky one,” she told me, her smile expanding a little.

That had me a little confused, and I raised an eyebrow in question.

“You had an ulterior motive with that suggestion of yours,” she chuckled, shifting forward to get a little into my personal space. “Would you tell me what it is?”

Oh my god, how was she so damned perceptive? Like, every time I’d decided not to tell her the full story on something, she’d sniffed out the fact that I’d done so.

WIth a deep sigh, I contemplated her, staring into her eyes and trying to figure out how much I could trust her. What would she think if I told her the whole truth about me, my appearance in this world and my past.

“It’s complicated,” I finally murmured, giving her a sad, apologetic smile. “It’s tangled up in a lot of my secrets, my past. Why I’m even here in the first place.”

“Mist the mystery,” she joked soothingly, her hand reaching out to trail down my arm, leaving goosebumps in their wake.

I gave a snort. “Yeah, something like that. Let’s just say… what we’re going to do, it’s a tiny step for good. A drop in the ocean, but something that will help humanity in its struggle against what lies at the top of the hill and outside those walls.”

She seemed disappointed by my non-answer, but covered it with a smile. “Alright then, I’ll leave it be. For now.”

“Thank you,” I said, my heart skipping a beat when I realised that I was very thankful that she wasn’t going to push the issue like so many others would.

Propping myself up on my elbow, I looked down at her, meeting those entrancing green eyes of hers. When we were in low light like we were now, her pupils seemed to be almost spherical, as well as huge within the irises. I liked her eyes. They were so full of life, able to communicate so much, from desire, to vulnerability, to annoyance. Bassi was such a vibrant person, so rich in personality, and it drew me in towards her like a moth to flame.

Gently, I reached out, pressing her down till her back was to the mattress. She was so gorgeous, hair free to splay out across my pillow, lips curved in an inviting smile. Lidded, desire filled eye contact remained unbroken between us, and I used it to make sure she wanted my attentions, right up until our lips met. Then I wasn’t really thinking of much at all, besides how wonderful it was to have her hands on me, her lips on me, her tongue exploring me. She was intoxicating.

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