Again, if you're going to move to make war on the ECS, you're going to be absolutely sure. Also you've now just upset your son and while this is very serious, you might need to employ less aggressive tactics.

"Alright, alright, Kol. I'm not mad. Calm down. In fact, you calm down as well, you're not getting sold anytime soon Layla." You say addressing the both of them.

The pair of the them begin to calm down and cease crying while you're coming up with a risky idea.

"Dad, I'm sorry I didn't tell you or mom. I'll make sure the medallion is around my neck good." Kol says.
"Actually might be time to get you a ring, however maybe not right away. Tell me more about Fel son. How is he exactly towards you? Does he scare you?" you ask.
"Um, he's kinda scary. I've never seen him. It's just like…I dunno…a voice. It's loud, but it's like whispery. I don't know if he means to be scary though."
"What do you mean?"
"He's not mean to me. He just talks to me. It's just really dark and his voice is creepy and that's scary. He says he wants to be my friend."
"Hmm, do you talk to him back?"
"Yes, I asked him if he had a mom and dad, but he just laughed and said a god has no parents. I asked him if he had any friends, and he said he just had followers in places like this temple, but said they weren't nearly as amusing as you and mom."
"Amusing? Why does Fel find us so amusing?"
"Um, he said he thinks what you did with the temple is a lot more fun than his other temples because of all those people you put in cages."
"I see. Glad we could entertain I guess."
"Fel also says that he wishes he could speak to me more often."
"And I'll just bet he wants you to go to sleep without the medallion. Tell you what, when you go to sleep tonight don't wear the medallion."
"Really?"
"Yes, you have my permission, however, and this is very important. When you talk to Fel tonight, I want you to ask him who is going to take you away so you know what they look like."
"But dad I don't want to go away! I want to stay here with you and mom! Honest!"
"Yes, I know son and I won't let anyone take you away. But this is just pretend and I want you to ask Fel anyway okay?"
"Okay."
"Kol, I think that's been enough studying for today, you can go play. Don't forget to put away your spell book though."

Kol nods and runs off with his book.

"Hope I know what the hell I'm doing." You mutter to yourself before turning your attention to Layla who is still sitting quietly and wondering what you're going to do next.

"I trust you know to keep your mouth shut about this." You say to Layla.
"Yes, of course! Who would I even tell? I don't even understand what exactly is going on." Layla remarks.
"I dunno, you might talk casually with your fellow slaves."
"I'm not exactly friends with anyone here. Ever since your wife had me looking after your son, she keeps me isolated from the rest of the slaves. If anything they probably dislike me more for having better living conditions. Sir, I swear to Ahmed I will not say anything you say or do if you don't wish it. My situation is very dire compared to my previous life, but I certainly don't want it to get any worse by angering you or your wife."
"Hm, well see that you continue with that line of thinking. In any case, you can go tell my wife that I want to talk with her and that you'll do as a sitter for Kol when needed. At least until further notice."
"Very well." Layla remarks obediently and leaves.

You wait for Vera still pondering your decision. When Vera arrives and you explain everything, she of course has her own strong opinions on it.

"What?! After everything you said and did to prevent Fel from contacting Kol, you're now saying it's perfectly fine?" Vera remarks.
"No! That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying…gah…look it's already happening and unfortunately it's probably going to happen from time to time anyway. Even if I get that enchanted ring for Kol, I can almost guarantee he's going to take it off at some point when we aren't around. Maybe he'll be curious, maybe he'll be pissed and do it to spite us. I'm already envisioning what a problem he's going to potentially be when he gets older what with his magic abilities. I'm just thinking that MAYBE restricting him too much is an exercise in failure. I know it obviously was with my parents." You say.
"Okay, I get what you mean on that, but this plan of yours still seems pretty dangerous. Not only are we risking war with the ECS, the Felians, but the god itself."
"Might as well go big. If Kol is going to speak with Fel, we might as well try to use it to our benefit. According to Kol, Fel finds what we've done with the temple to be amusing, so we can't be completely on his bad side. Look, I'm going to speak with Kol again before he goes to bed and really, this isn't going to be a regular thing. If Kol gets the information he needs, then the enchanted medallion or ring when I get it is going right back on the next time he sleeps."

Vera has a bit of apprehension in the eyes, but as usual she tend to side with your decision, which is good since you don't need to be second guessing yourself anymore than you already are in your head.

Later that night when Kol goes to bed, you and Vera both speak with him and say generally positive things to him. You also go on about the plan and to remember that no matter what Fel says, he will never love Kol as much as you and Vera will.

This seems to put the Kol at ease and he goes to sleep fairly quickly. You and Vera however definitely don't that night. The pair of you can't sleep so you both engage in the usual intimate pastime, but after that fails to completely distract you, you both go check on Kol, who is actually sleeping pretty soundly.

The pair of you watch over him for some time, though eventually you start getting a little restless and tell Vera you're going to get some work accomplished. Vera however, insists on staying with Kol.

When morning arrives, you're still awake and you check on Kol, and find that Vera has fallen asleep in a chair next to Kol, who is still sleeping. Your arrival wakes her up though.

"Wha? You're back. How long was I asleep?" Vera asks rubbing her eyes.
"I dunno, this is the first time I've checked on you both.

You son wakes up hearing both your voices.

"Mom? Dad? What are you both doing in my room?" he asks.

You immediately ask him how did he sleep and about his dreams. Naturally the boy is still groggy, but he soon answers your questions since he thankfully remembers his conversation with Fel who did indeed visit him.

Kol tells you that he asked Fel about being taken away by Fel's agents, to which he asked further questions if he was sure that was what he wanted and why. Kol tells you he didn't really know how to answer other than "I don't know"

You grimace a bit, thinking that this plan of yours probably didn't work, but apparently Fel indulged the boy anyway explaining the benefits of such a thing, oddly he also explained the benefits of staying here too. Then he told Kol that if he was really serious, he should contact a well dressed man with a thin mustache and he will be able to get him off the island before anyone figures it out since he knows what to do already.

The description already sounds like Percy.

"Kol, is that the only agent that Fel described to you? Didn't say anything about an orc?" you ask.
"No dad. Just the man." Kol says.
"That's odd. Wouldn't he have sent both of them?" Vera remarks.
"Have no idea. I can't know the mind of a god. For all we know he could be lying about everything." You say.
"Should we really start second guessing ourselves? I mean wasn't the whole plan to learn this information and act on it?"
"Yes, but…argh…this is really…fuck it, let's do this. I want those two summoned back here and tell them I'm ready to talk about a deal. I also want you to take Kol away from here and go to the armory or something with several of our best and wait until this is over."
"Do you really think you need to handle this directly? I mean we've got several people; surely it would be just a simple matter of having one of them sneakily pop them in the back of the head with a single shot. Or shit, we could just send a bunch of people to overwhelm them right now where they're staying. I mean it just seems safer for all of us."

Vera might have a point, though part of you finds this pretty personal enough that you'd rather take care of this directly.

"I…I don't want to leave you guys. I want to stay here." Your son suddenly says.
"You will son. You win." You answer reassuringly. "We're not taking any chances with them somehow escaping, I want to see this done right. I'm going to have enough people with me that the odds are going to be heavily in my favor though."

Vera reluctantly agrees to your plan, though she says she'd prefer to just ambush the pair of them.

You set things in motion and have some of your people go fetch the ECS reps. You aren't exactly sure how this is going to play out, but you put on extra body armor and armed yourself with a couple extra blades and pistols and have Marco and everyone that's going to be with you do likewise.

Honestly, you aren't sure how good your ring is going to be, but you hope it's good enough to keep you alive. If nothing else, they aren't surviving this.

Time passes and eventually Percy and Toz arrive. Percy looks as jovial as he has since he got here, while Toz looks about as grim serious as he always has. You still aren't sure what to do about him. Fel didn't mention him, but you can't imagine that you aren't going to have to kill him as well.

Looks like you'll be going to war with the ECS and you'll be firing the first shot. Really wish you could have avoided this, but that's no other way.

Percy looks at his surroundings and with a smile he begins to speak.

"I'm getting the impression, you don't want to talk about a deal with the Syndicate after all." Percy says, which causes Toz to immediately stand a little straighter and the rest of your people to put their hands to their weapons.

You don't even bother to make the pretense and pull your pistol immediately and point it at Percy. Percy doesn't seem bothered though and even puts his hand on Toz to keep him from attacking.

"You realize you're killing yourself right? And I don't mean starting a war with the Syndicate, because you aren't going to live to see that anyway. Even with your advantage and weak anti-magic ring, I…WE have more than enough power and skill to overcome what's just in this room. True, we probably won't survive, but we'll do enough damage to this entire place that when our absence is noticed, the Syndicate WILL assume the worst and send people to mop up what's left. Terrible way to do business." Percy says.
"That's a possibility I considered long before you ever showed up. However, this isn't business. This is personal." You remark.
"Oh? Interesting. Have I offended you directly in some way? Perhaps Toz here has? I know he's a little on the impersonal side, but…"
"Cut the shit. You're here to steal my son. You know about him and you're here to take him to back to your main temple. Not happening."

Percy seems surprised to hear you accuse him of this, but he soon returns to his smiling self. Toz on the other hand is showing a stone face looking like he really wants to get on with the fighting.

"Alright. Well, I can see this IS personal. On both sides. I mean I can't very well disobey a direct order from my god can I? I can only guess you must have found this out from your son who is also in contact with our shadowy lord. I wouldn't expect a godless heathen like you to understand, but if Fel is speaking to the boy then that only PROVES that he's destined for greatness! Think of it, your son is one of Fel's chosen! Surely you want what's best for your son. No harm would come to him." Percy says.
"You seriously expect me to just hand him over?" you ask.
"Yes! Because it's your ONLY logical move. I am willing to forget all this as…an over protective parent outburst. Completely understandable. I will even work out a better deal between you and the Syndicate. Your son will no doubt rise in the ranks of our order. Just think, YOU will have a powerful ally on the inside, close to the Temple of Fel in the years to come. If you ever have trouble with the Syndicate, you will able to get support from our order to smooth anything over. It seems like a winning situation for all of us."
"Perhaps, but that's still not happening."

Finished with talking, you open fire and nearly instantly you feel like everything is slowing down in front of you. You see your first bullet actually hanging in the air and then Percy moving to the left. What torchlight there was in the room, goes out completely.

You begin swearing and shouting orders, desperately trying to adjust your eyes to the darkness. You already hear noises of men being killed and unfortunately they sound like yours.

All you can make out is a bunch of dark figures struggling with each other.

You suppose you could just fire blindly and hope you get them or maybe try to retreat out the exit where there is more light.

You retreat

While your enemies are distracted, you need to get to a better location. The entire temple to on alert anyway, so you should be getting reinforcements soon. While your ring might not seem like it's helping, you're actually moving at your own speed rather than suffering from whatever slow effects that were cast.

You run to where you know the closest exit to be and run towards the better-lit corridor. Already several of your people are heading in your direction.

"The fuckers are in there and…SHIT!"

The torches go out leaving you in complete darkness again. You instinctively duck down and sure enough you hear the whizzing of several things, followed by the gurgling of the men near you in the corridor. One of them falls on you as you try to fire blindly in the dark towards the direction behind you.

Other footsteps run off, retreating from your position and you're about to do the same when you suddenly feel a strong grip on your wrist and slamming your hand against the wall causing you to drop your pistol. You swing at your assailant, who you now can see is Percy, but your punch is blocked and you're knocked to the floor.

You manage to see the glint of a blade in the darkness and then Percy drops hi knees in your stomach, knocking the air out of you and attempts to stab you. He's quick, but despite your state of gasping for air you're just quick enough to grab ahold of the knife-wielding arm from stabbing you in the face, though it's now just inches from it. You attempt to roll and kick, but all of Percy's weight is on you.

"Your fucking ring still won't save you. Could have settled this a lot easier, but take solace that your bad choices will not affect your son. Now…ugh…"

You hear the sound of a sharp object going into flesh, but it isn't yours. Even in this dark, you can see the dead expression of Percy whose mouth now hangs open slack jawed and dripping blood all over you. His neck is also dripping blood and his body is even heavier on you.

At first you think one of your people saved you, but then the torches suddenly light again and there you see standing over you and Percy's corpse is Toz in the process of removing his blade from Percy's neck.

You go for your pistol, but Toz immediately sees this. More of your people arrive at the end of the corridor ready to open fire. Even with shadow magic, he's bound to get hit without much space to dodge in.

"Call off your men, or this will not end well." Toz says.
"Maybe not, but I'm not handing over my son to you." You remark.
"I don't want him. That's not why I'm here. Now call off your people, I've killed your enemy as you can see."

You wave a hand down in the direction of your people from your prone position.

"Yeah, why did you do that?" you ask.
"As I said, that's not why I'm here. I'm here on behalf of the Ebony Claw Syndicate, not the Order of Fel. I was given no instructions by them or their god, and even if I was, my loyalty is always with the Syndicate first. They really do want a deal. Any past animosity you may or may not have had with them has been waved. This is business and everyone involved can make lots of money." Toz says.
"That's very pragmatic of the Syndicate, but unusual for the Order of Fel. I mean you guys that are heavily into the shadow magic side of things tend to follow that first."
"And orcs tend to be brutish thugs that speak in short sentences, but there are exceptions as you can see."
"Alright, I suppose we can talk more. Just let me get this corpse off of me."

You verbally order your men to stand down, but approach slowly as you push Percy's body off of you. Toz stands back and keeps his guard up. Eventually you both return to the original room where you find everyone dead. You also see Marco lying near another body face down.

"Damn Marco." You say and go over to him.
"I trust you realize that I was just defending myself during the chaos." Toz says.
"Yes, we've already established all that. But still, he was a valued employee. Improved much since the first time I met him…wait a minute…he's breathing."

You quickly turn Marco over and he's moaning about being in pain, which is probably true since his face has a hole in it where you guess he was stabbed. Fortunately it just missed his eye and the blade went into his upper cheek instead.

"Boss…ugh…dying…" he utters spitting up a little blood.
"You are not fucking dying. This isn't a fatal wound you sissy. Get up and get yourself patched up." You say and start motioning him to get up.
"K…ooogh…hurts…"

Marco slowly gets up holding the side of his face and is helped by a couple others out the room.

You turn your attention to Toz.

"Let's get on with this deal which I hope you know isn't going to be the same one that Percy first proposed when you both first got here, however it'll still be good for the Syndicate."

After only an hour of discussion you and Toz come to an acceptable deal. You don't think Toz wanted to stay any longer than he needed to since he says he'll be leaving right away.

You can't help but ask though…

"Won't the Order of Fel be pissed at you and in general?" you say.
"I don't see why. Percy died on the way here when the ship was attacked by mermaids and he jumped overboard when hearing their deadly song."
"Hm, well I suppose that's one way to explain away everything. Will it work?"
"The Syndicate won't care as long as the this deal is pleasing to them which it should be. As for the Order, well the goals and the Syndicate's goals clash at times. It's an ongoing struggle, but I believe with this deal, your son will not be whisked away in the middle of the night or something similar." Toz replies.
"I'll be on guard nonetheless."
"Well that's wise anyway. Though Percy never even told me this plan. I only learned about it the moment it was revealed in this room. I do not even believe the Order gave this command as Percy claimed he heard it directly from Fel himself. Though your words indicated that Fel spoke to your son as well. I cannot know why a god would give one a command, but only to sabotage it. Seems contradictory, but I've never pretended to be the most fanatical follower. I worship purely for the extra power that the god gives me for whatever reason and use that power to support the Syndicate."

Toz at this point bids you goodbye and soon you go find Vera in the armory where she waits with several of your best fighters and your son. The pair of them are pretty happy to see you, even if Kol doesn't quite know everything that's going on.

"You okay dad?" Kol asks coming up to you.
"Yes, I'm fine son. And you don't need to worry anymore either." You reply and give him a pat on the head.

Vera approaches you.

"I heard fighting and wanted to help, but you insisted I stay here." Vera says.
"Yeah, glad you listened, it got a little closer than I thought it would, but it's all worked out now." You answer.
"You sure?"
"Well you can never be completely sure about these things, but we'll keep our guard up as usual and keep an extra special eye on Kol just in case. Maybe Grayhaze has something for that. We need to go to her anyway and get a ring enchanted to block out Fel again."
"You don't think that we've angered a god by thwarting his plans?"
"Well from what I can tell, Fel's plans mainly consist of him amusing himself. That was probably satisfied today from what I've heard of him. Anyway, can't rage against the gods, just can only hope they don't fuck you up too much. Still a pain in the ass though."
"Sometimes I wonder if maybe our lives got more complicated after we left Holgard."
"Perhaps in some ways, but its all been worth it. No point in wondering what if. In fact, given where I was mentally before we actually got together, I'm glad this is where choices led me."

You give Vera an embrace and a kiss, which she returns.
With today's crisis averted, everyone soon goes back to their routines, though you take the rest of day off to spend time with your family.

It'll be a brief break, but at least a pleasant one and given the life you've chosen it's best you cherish those when you can.

Long gone are the days of being a simple rogue. You've risen to a station even you never imagined.