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Post by The Forgotten God on Jul 12, 2020 20:13:15 GMT
the criminal underworld in Innuria is varied and powerful, and most of all audacious. A proper heist gives one a reputation that fill five failures won’t stain, so thieves seek that one job that makes their name the fashion of the times.
Needless to say, Damien Chevalier has his own class, and so it is wisest to wait for him to think up a job he wants to perform prior to accepting a contract to ensure one doesn’t try facing him in a double-crossing plot-off.
The day Silvia found her moment was a snowy one, midwinter, and she had been drinking at the Kraken’s Tentacle. She found is unlikely she’d go back there anytime soon...
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Post by The Forgotten God on Jul 12, 2020 20:16:30 GMT
...he had pulled up next to her, a tall and handsome man in a wool coat. His deerskin gloves were shiny black and expensive and his gold Edyssian timepiece was of the newest and most exclusive model. “Johanna?” He has asked, in a mellifluous voice as he motioned for a hippocras. “I do hope I didn’t walk all this way in the blizzard to be mistaken. They said to find the best looking woman at the bar.”
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Post by Silvia Raizer on Jul 12, 2020 20:25:52 GMT
Silvia grinned as she sized him up; he clearly liked to show off his wealth. She wound a finger around the fine black locks of the wig she wore when she played the role of Johanna. The hair had once belonged to a whore; the wigmaker made his trade by purchasing the hair of down-at-heel women, and occasionally, of men. Her cheeks were powdered, her lips rouged and kohl rimmed her eyelashes.
"You are too kind," she said, though she personally thought it was no more than she deserved. "Care to buy me another drink?"
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Post by The Forgotten God on Jul 12, 2020 21:01:40 GMT
He slid a few coins over the bartop. “She gets what she wants,” he had declared, in the same time the Creator must have used when proclaiming the completion of life itself. “I’ve heard you’re interested in work. Fortunately for you this awful day, I’m the sort of man who hates to work, but I’m blessed with the resources to make my aversion a reality. I’ll warn you though, it’s a challenge many would quail at.”
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Post by Silvia Raizer on Jul 12, 2020 21:05:13 GMT
"Many, but not me." Silvia took a sip of her ale. "I like challenging work. But you probably know that already, if you know my name. If you wanted a lackey for a basic job, you wouldn't come after me."
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Post by The Forgotten God on Jul 12, 2020 21:14:42 GMT
“Quite right,” he purred. “There’s a rival of mine on the western side of town, a wizard in truth, named Nicolai. He dabbled in illegal weapon enhancements. He has something I need.” She’d heard of Nicolai, everyone in a less than legitimate business had. He had a bad reputation and the skill with weapons manufacturing to match. It was a hell of a lot of risk, really, especially with her other issues.
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Post by Silvia Raizer on Jul 12, 2020 21:19:00 GMT
"Intriguing." She toyed with her hair again as she thought about it. This was a dangerous job but she was in the mood to try something different lately, and her spare funds for doing good were beginning to run lower than she liked. She needed the money in order to maintain both aspects of her lifestyle.
"Tell me more," she urged. "What's in it for me?"
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Post by The Forgotten God on Jul 12, 2020 21:57:57 GMT
He pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket and opened it. It was a pardon signed by the Emperor himself. The actual contents of the letter were blank. “How about a free crime?” He said. “Never hurts to have a little insurance, does it? And, of course...how about four hundred pieces of gold? Or do you prefer jewelry?”
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Post by Silvia Raizer on Jul 12, 2020 22:07:34 GMT
A pardon would certainly come in useful if she were ever foolish enough to get caught, which of course she wasn't, and the gold would be even better. She could keep up her comfortable lifestyle, help plenty of poor people and continue with her dangerous double life.
"The gold," she said at once. "I've no need of jewels. A man once told me my eyes sparkle better than any gems. Besides, I'm no lady." That last was a lie, of course, but she always spoke in a rougher tone when she was Johanna, swore more frequently, and made sure to drop her h's and generally let her diction slide. Sometimes she thought that even her own mother wouldn't recognise her as Johanna.
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Post by The Forgotten God on Jul 12, 2020 22:47:40 GMT
Her own mother would choose not to recognize her as Johanna even if she could conceivably identify her. “That man will pay for telling you that before I could,” the handsome man said. He had gone on and on like men will when they want to impress someone, and in truth Silvia couldn’t pick the next five minutes of conversation out from the thousand identical ones she had had in her life. How it ended was slightly more unique, however.
The two men burst into the Tentacle with crossbows aimed. They had shouted something and even as Johanna went for her pistol, she heard a sickening sound and both men simply vanished into thin air. The handsome man had turned back to her as though nothing had occurred, kissed her hand, and told her she would get a map and instructions that night. He didn’t indicate how and Johanna had not once given him an indication as to where she lived.
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Post by Silvia Raizer on Jul 13, 2020 17:55:04 GMT
The entire affair had been rather baffling, and presumably magic had something to do with it, but Silvia was not the type to dwell on oddities. It was enough for her to have a job and some coin to look forward to, so she finished her drink and headed home to her inn for a nightcap and, hopefully, a good night's sleep.
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Post by The Forgotten God on Jul 13, 2020 18:05:00 GMT
She had locked herself inside the room and prepared to lay down to sleep when she heard a letter and a map slid under the door. Nicolai’s lab was drawn out with guard schedules and a ticket to a ball he was throwing in just two days. The letter also had had a line of credit for a dress shop to make herself presentable for a party heist.
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Post by Silvia Raizer on Jul 13, 2020 18:48:03 GMT
Her eyes gleamed with amusement as she gazed at the information in the candlelight. Silvia adored parties, both as herself, and in her role of Johanna. As much as she loved performing, sometimes it was fun to watch other performers. She stashed the schedules, the ticket and the line of credit in the secret compartment of her strongbox and went to sleep.
The next morning, Silvia dressed in Johanna's favourite gown, a slightly faded violet silk that she wore for everyday business as her alter ego. She put on her wig, carefully made up her face and fished out the line of credit and a few other personal belongings then headed for the dress shop.
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Post by The Forgotten God on Jul 14, 2020 5:33:40 GMT
Bastion was a heady mess on its busiest days; soldiers and adventurers heading to the great walls and the mysterious lands beyond them, merchants and sailors braving the Kraken and the Thousamd Serpents in warships and fat bottomed cargo vessels. She passed old Marco’s, the luthier who had made Silvia her first lute, the restaurants and clothing stores of the Golden Channel, and more before reaching a dress store she never had walked into. It seemed less suspicious that way.
As she ordered something to wear to the party she recalled the vast organization of allies Nicolai had. Failure or exposure would make existence a cruel prospect.
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Post by Silvia Raizer on Jul 14, 2020 18:12:31 GMT
Dire or not, Silvia was inclined to shrug her shoulders at the prospect of failure, simply because she hated to admit fear, even to herself. She had already experienced enough near-misses in her career to know that her double life was always going to be plagued by risks, but she loved the excitement and the challenge of it, and her pride, and the thrill of her missions, kept her going when she could have settled into a quiet life as a bard.
While she eyed up a green silk dress - cut low in the bodice, bordering upon scandalous, she tried eavesdropping upon the other patrons in case she heard a useful tidbit.
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