Year 25

Things could always be better of course, but all things considered the Nocturnal League is doing well under your leadership. You actually managed to surprise yourself. Reminds you of when your father once told you that you could do very well anything if you just applied yourself.

Well you did, but you're pretty sure he didn't have this in mind.

Of course part of your success isn't just all your own talent. It probably helps that the city is once again experiencing an inner conflict. Not a revolution or anything like that, but more of a religious faction war. Holgard has always had a bit of a problem with religion and it's the fact that there is too much of it in the city.

It didn't start off as violent as its become, but its been bad enough that the Holgard Watch has been more focused on breaking up fights between religious factions and members in the streets than keeping an eye on crime and happily, the Holgard Watch has slowly started to revert back to their corrupt ways. Not enough like the old days, but enough that they aren't as much of a problem anymore.

As for your organization's role in the current religious squabble, you've managed to keep out of it so far and you've told everyone else to do likewise. This is mainly towards a few ex-Syndicate members that still have leanings towards the Temple of Fel. Though more than a few in your group give a few prayers to Yag too and while you've been known to do the same from time to time, you aren't looking to side with them either.

At least not unless there is some profitable reason for doing so.

In any case, there are also other areas some of your more enterprising members have been trying to convince you of expanding into.

"I'm telling you, we really should bring slave market back. It brought in a lot of coin when it existed and I'm fairly certain I could convince some of those Hessla pirates to bring their business here again." Vera says.
"Feh, if it did all that well, why weren't you rich?" Warts asks.
"Because Elias was a bastard boss that kept most of the money and then would promptly blow it all on alcohol and Blue Dream. I know with a more levelheaded person like our current boss running things, a new slave market could be even more profitable."
"Sheesh, such obvious flattery. Why don't ya just suck his dick while ya at it?"
"Fuck off Warts, why the hell is this half breed even still allowed around here? He's always claiming he isn't really part of the League anyway."
"Eh, Warts likes to play the role of a freelance outsider, mainly because he's been doing it for so long he's comfortable in that role. Nevermind the fact that deep down inside he wants to be part of a tribe. And that's us, though he'll never admit that, right Warts?" you say.
"Right. No wait! I'm not part of the League! Fuck, youz twisted my words! Anyway, slave market is a bad idea, too much upkeep, an' too much trouble ta capture people. Youz should just expand outside the city and send sum people ta rob the merchants on da road." Warts says.
"Oh, brilliant idea. Since when the hell did we become a bunch of unsophisticated bandits?" Vera remarks.
"Given the lot we have, I don't think sophisticated is exactly the word that would describe most here." You remark.
"Well you may be right, but come on, don't you think we're at least above that sort of guileless criminal activity? Besides, you send some of these people out there to do that and it isn't like you can keep as good of an eye on them. If they get successful enough, they may just decide to keep everything and fuck off elsewhere leaving us with nothing."

As with most ideas, everything has its pros and cons, you need to think about all this a lot more. You tell Warts and Vera this and while Warts happily leaves your office to go about his own hobbies, Vera stays behind.

"Is there something else?" you ask.

Vera goes over to the door and locks it, which immediately causes you to draw on her.

"Shit! What the hell man?" she exclaims raising her hands up.
"What the hell indeed, you're the one locking the door and acting all suspicious." You answer.
"I'm not trying to assassinate you if that's what you're thinking, I just wanna talk to you a little more privately so we aren't interrupted."
"About what? I told you I'd think about your proposal."
"Yes, but I REALLY think I can convince you that my idea is a good one."

At this point Vera starts unbuttoning her shirt and unsuccessfully attempting to walk seductively towards you and stumbling in the process. It's pretty embarrassing.

"Stop. Stop. Stop. Are you seriously doing what I think you're trying to do?" you ask.
"Hey look, I'm not proud. If I gotta suck your dick in order to convince you to set up a new slave market here and make me head slaver, then that's what I'll fucking do."
"Head slaver, interesting choice of words considering this situation. And now you don't just want me to go with your idea, you want to be in charge of it. That's pretty presumptuous of you."
"It's pretty presumptuous that you won't, after I'm done."

Looks like she took Wart's suggestion to heart.

At this point Vera's on her knees in front of you and her face is practically making a beeline towards your crotch. While this "offer isn't completely unenticing, you've got some reservations and not just the usual ones.

"Vera just stop. This isn't going to work." You say pushing her away a bit.
"What? So you wanna fuck me? I mean we can do that too…um you don't want to do it the other way do you? I mean…if I gotta take it in the ass, (sigh) I will, but you can't expect me to fake enjoying that."
"No! We're not doing anything Vera. Just put your tits away and get your hands off my dick."

While this would probably be enough to give most the hint that one isn't interested, Vera's a little more persistent.

"Okay, I'm confused. Based on my observations of how I've seen you look at women, I know damn well you like girls. In fact, I've noticed you even checking me out on occasion and your dick was getting hard when I was touching it so I know it can't be because you find me repulsive. And I doubt if you have any moral objections…" Vera says before you interrupt.
"That's exactly it. I like to get to know someone first before being intimate with them. Maybe that sounds weird to someone so free with their…sexual activity, but that's just how I was raised and some things just stuck with me."
"You're kidding. We work together, while I don't pretend that we know everything about each other, we're not exactly strangers."
"Look, I don't shit where I eat, so if you don't mind, get the fuck out of here and go blow somebody who cares!"

Vera isn't exactly buying your excuse, but she's buttoning up her shirt and getting back up.

"I know you're the boss and all, but I have to say, sometimes you're a very poor liar. But, whatever just as long as you're not chopping my head off to make a point I guess."

Vera lets herself out and you're breathing a sigh of relief that you didn't give in since you're fairly certain you would have, had Vera not left when she did.

You've never told anyone this, but you're convinced that having sex results in your partner's death. Not instantly, but there's been too many incidences for it to be a coincidence.

For a long time after your parting of ways with Tanya you didn't even show much interest in other women. Indeed you felt a great loss as if she died and you were in mourning.

Tanya however, was correct that in time you'd "get over" her. Maybe not mentally (You can't help but think about her still) but physically you definitely did.

So it was with no surprise that during your time before forming the League you went with a few other women from time to time.

And every single one of them died.

In your line of work you tend to bump into the same people and frequent the same places. So you started to get suspicious when women you had been intimate with started always winding up dead…

The taverns…

"Where's Lucy? Usually she's serving drinks tonight."
"Lucy? You didn't hear? She fell off the docks and drowned two days ago. Tragic."

The streets…

"Any of you lot seen Ophelia around?"
"You mean the new up and coming cutpurse with the cute face and nice ass? She got a bolt to the head a week ago. Found dead in an alley. Damn shame, she had a lot of potential. Fucking tragic."

And especially the brothels…

"I think I'd like Francine tonight."
"Francine? Oh, you must not have heard. She was found dead of a Yellow Devil overdose a week ago. It's weird because I made sure none of my girls ever took drugs, let alone that vile stuff. Tragic."
"Oh. Sorry to hear it. Um, well I guess I'll take Patricia then."
"She's no longer with us either. She was murdered by some unknown assailant nearly a month ago. Very tragic."
"Well shit…"
"I might as well tell you too, that Helena is also gone. Died in a house fire yesterday. I tell you, it's been a tough time for this place lately, but hey we're always here to please and there are still many lovely girls here. Hey did you want to see Naji? She's free this time and it's been years since you indulged in her services. I bet she'd love to see you again. Always said you used to be the best customer she ever had."
"Um, no. I gotta go."

While perhaps it is just very bad luck and coincidence that all these ladies that you were intimate with, met tragic deaths, but you feel very certain that this has something to do with being bonded with Tanya. It's your curse as it were.

If you were a complete asshole you suppose you wouldn't give a shit and just think with your dick anyway, but even if you just gave into your base desires, Vera's useful enough that you'd hate to lose her help in the organization. Besides all that, you half wonder if Tanya is somehow keeping track of you.

Granted you've not seen her in person or even a dream ever since she departed to the infernal realm, but she said she'd always be linked to you. What if every girl you've fucked is just making her madder and madder? What if one day she'll come back to punish your "infidelity"?

True, you two were never married and she did tell you to go live your life, but…well she IS a demon and who knows what the hell she's like now.

You're starting to wonder that maybe you weren't so much bored when you came up with the idea to form the Nocturnal League so much as you were trying to keep your mind occupied on other things. It actually has worked great in that regard, or it did until Vera was about to pursue promotion via cock sucking.

(Well at least taking matters into your own hand is always safe)

In any case, you put Vera's inviting mouth out of your mind and refocus on business, which involves going over the ideas that were proposed to you by Vera and Warts in the first place.

You expand inside Holgard

Everything else aside, Vera did have point about Wart's plan which doesn't seem very efficient. If anything engaging in more banditry on the roads to Holgard might cause the government to increase security so trade isn't hampered.

Better you should stick to things that won't directly fuck with the government too much directly and Vera already has experience in the whole slave market thing so you're confident she'll know how to run it properly.

The only thing you do have concerns about is…well the whole slavery thing. You don't profess to be a saint of Joachim, but this seems a bit too far even for you. You aren't even sure where you're going to be getting these slaves from in the first place.

Since she's the expert, you decide to have another discussion with Vera about all this before making a final decision, but not right now. You figure after what happened you probably should wait a bit before seeing her again.

The next day you meet with her in your office again and she seems surprised that you're entertaining her idea.

"Wow, I just thought after yesterday, you weren't interested. Well this is great, you'll see!" Vera remarks.
"Well I'm still going to need convincing if this is something we need to get into. So you'll need to persuade me why this is worth pursuing AND I don't mean with your body." You say.
"Very well. What did you have concerns with exactly?"
"Warts mentioned that keeping captives costs coin. I mean how much are we going to be spending to keep them before selling them?"
"Oh, not that much. Really all you have to do is provide the bare minimum most of the time."
"But doesn't that sort of decrease the quality?"
"Yes if enough time passes, but that's why you try to sell as quickly as possible. Obviously women typically sell for a lot more than men and they sell faster."
"So where are we getting these slaves anyway?"
"Well back when I was working for Elias, we usually nabbed people off the street. Get 'em drunk at a tavern. Trick 'em into a dark alley. Y'know like robbing someone except instead of taking just their money, you take them too. Sometimes we bought them off of Hessla pirates and sold them for a higher profit to someone else. I'll have to get re-connect with my Hessla contacts before we can do that though."

You look down a bit and frown.

"What's wrong?" Vera asks.
"I dunno, maybe this is just not something I feel comfortable with."
"Wait a minute. You've got a moral quandary about THIS too? If I didn't know any better I'd start thinking I had joined Joachim's church!"
"Look, I told you that YOU needed to convince me. So convince me."
"Okay so what are you having a problem with exactly? Wait, let me guess. It's the whole sex thing isn't it? Geez, you got some weird hang ups about sex."
"Well that IS what these women are going to be sold for right?"
"How is that different than the brothels we run?"
"It's a big fucking difference! For one, the whores at least have a say in things."
"Does it make a difference that some of the guys are probably used for fuck holes too?"
"Not really."
"Okay, then would it make a difference if ALL the slaves were just being used to go get worked to death in some iron mine?"
"Well…at least I'd feel like we were at least contributing to the economy in some way as opposed to just feeling like we're running one big rape factory."
"Oh and I suppose our protection rackets and our Purple Wish dens are great contributions to society as well."
"Call it my own twisted sense of honor, but at least our extortion of businesses isn't completely one sided. I mean we ARE offering protection. Also we're not shoving Purple Wish down anyone's throat. If people want to get high, we're providing a product. If people want to be idiots and get addicted well that's on them. Our gambling places work the same way. Nobody is forcing anyone to go into debt."
"Hmm, maybe not, but I still think we should re-open a slave market. Sex slaves are just too profitable to not get into."
"Well wait a minute. What about fighting slaves? Y'know slaves that fight each other and people bet on who wins."
"You mean like for underground gladiator matches? Eh…yeah we bought a few of pit slaves once and it didn't go so well. You want to talk about upkeep, those bastards need upkeep because you need to keep them in good condition for a potential buyer. Not to mention on almost every occasion they tried to escape or kill one of us. One of them actually succeeded in killing four people under Elias before being subdued. I don't think it's worth it and I find it funny that you're perfectly okay with that brand of slavery as opposed to the sexual kind. You really are a prude aren't you?"
"Maybe I am, but I'm also still not entirely convinced of the upkeep costs being low. I mean if we're going to go into this, I would prefer our slaves to be known as being good quality and not half starving and dirty."
"Well if you're worried about that, we could always stick to children."
"Children?!"
"Sure! We used to sell more than a few back in the old days and they're really low upkeep and easy to nab as well."

You're done.

"No. We are NOT capturing and selling fucking kids! THAT is where I'm drawing the damn line. In fact I'm thinking this whole thing is a bad idea." You say.
"So…what then? You're going to go with Wart's idea?" Vera asks.
"No, that's retarded for different reasons. I'm going with my own idea. We're going to hold underground gladiator matches."
"I thought you said we weren't getting into slaves."
"We aren't, this will all be voluntary. Plenty of stupid assholes that are willing to try to prove they're tough for a bit of coin. If they get themselves killed, well that's on them and either way, we don't need to worry about keeping anyone in good condition, unless we're fixing a particular fight. Hell, we could also use people that are falling behind in their debts to participate rather than breaking their legs. So no slaves needed."
"I dunno, if we're pressing potential deadbeats into fights, that's sort of like enslaving them isn't it?"
"Okay, maybe it is, but at least we're just trying to make our money back from said deadbeat as opposed to snatching some hapless girl off the streets."
"Well we could always apply this to our brothel whores too. I mean if a whore doesn't make enough money for the month then she gets her ass thrown into slavery for slacking off."

You never knew that Vera is REALLY into this whole slave trade business. Though you suppose given that she worked as one for so long, it makes sense she wants to stick with it. You're not going to hold it against her, but you've definitely realized that you've still got some scruples, scant though they may be.

"We're not peddling sex slaves of any kind, Vera. That's it." You say.
"You sure you're in the right business, boss?" Vera asks.
"I could always cut your head off and let you decide."
"Okay, okay, no need for threats, I know you're a badass. It's just that I'm finding out that you're strangely principled in ways that I'm not used to in our line of work. I guess maybe that's a good thing. Shows you aren't some complete psycho I suppose."
"Oh, I wouldn't jump to that conclusion, but at least you can take comfort in the fact that IF you ever fail me, I'm not going to have you stripped naked and sell your ass to pirates."
"Well that's one less thing to worry about at least."

After going over some more details, you tell Vera to gather up a crew and start setting things up. It isn't what she exactly envisioned she'd be doing, but then she's not running things.

A few months pass and you're making a good amount of coin with this new venture and you can take a little relief that there's still some things you aren't going to do even in your position…

"Hey boss, I got some hobs from da Spider Fangs dat wanna join the fights tonight." Warts says.
"Really? Thought you told me the Spider Fangs shun human civilization centers." You say.
"Eh, ever since dey got their asses kicked hard by da elves and lost a good portion of the tribe, there's been sum serious re-thinkin' on how things are gonna work now. Anyway, just wunderin' if they can join."
"Well sure, we always got room. In fact why are you coming to me about it, and not Vera anyway?"
"Well I did, an' she told me to come ta youz cuz youz might object to sum of dem."
"What would I object to, I'm no racist."
"Nah, not dat. It's just a few of dem are young teenagers and Vera said youz might have a problem with dat."
"Oh."

Before you can give a more thorough answer a small ugly green child wanders in behind Warts. You don't know how old it is, but it can't be older than a toddler.

"Wargh! blag! Graaah!" it shouts causing Warts to turn around.
"Damnit, Gubbins! I told ya ta wait in da corridor!" Warts reprimands the child.
"Warts, I'll admit I'm not completely familiar with the growth size of hobgoblins, but I know damn well that's no teenager."
"Wut? No! Dis one ain't fightin', well at least not for another few years anyway. Dis iz my son."

Now you're just confused.

"Your son? When the hell did you have a kid?" you ask.
"Two years ago I guess. Didn't know for an entire year either since I hadn't been back ta visit Snuffit in awhile. Boy wuz she pissed at me when I returned. Anyway, he's sort of with me for awhile since Snuffit says I should be spendin' time him. She's probably right. It's hard growin' up with no father." Warts says with a bit of an introspective look down.
"Hm, I suppose you would know about that. You never told me all this about having a family and shit."
"Didn't think you'd be interested given how youz got yer mind on other things. Got a daughter too, Zuggins. Twins actually. That's another reason why Snuffit wuz so pissed at me. Hey, didn't youz say you were a twin?"
"Yeah. So about these other hobs…"
"Um, yeah, they're fighting age to be sure. An' remember these are hobgoblin children that have been livin' in da wild all their lives. I guarantee they've all probably killed already."
"I suppose that's true. Do their parents know about this?"
"I think most of dem are orphans due to the feud with da elves an' they're here to either start a new life or tryin' ta make some coin for da tribe."

You think about this a few moments and then throw up your hands.

"Fuck it, if they wanna fight. Not gonna stop them. Anyway, go talk to Vera about the match details of who to pair them up against." Actually you should get her to set them up with an elven opponent if possible. Should incite a little more bloodthirst."

Warts nods and leaves with his spawn who sticks his tongue at you.

You snicker a bit at the thought of Warts having a couple kids, but you suppose he seems happy with them. You're just glad you aren't saddled with any; you've got enough complications in your life.

Then again with the curse you have, that isn't likely to ever be a problem.

You time passes...

Year 27

While conflict can be good for business, there sometimes is a point when it starts becoming a hindrance. Especially when the wrong side is winning.

"The Joachimites are starting to break this stalemate and win this religious war you know. The Yagites are gone and so are the followers of Karn. The Dornans are still around, but they've decided to just put up a force field around their temple and ride it all out. That just leaves the Temple of Fel and rumors are that they expended a lot of their power taking down the Karnites." Vera says.
"Dey ain't gonna last long against dem purity fanatics. They're worse than those Neroth cultists were and there is a lot more of dem." Warts adds.
"Yeah, an' more people are starting to join. Maybe not in their fighting ranks, but that isn't our problem. What IS our problem is these folks are the same ones preaching for purity and living a clean life to everyone. We're going to start having serious complications if they win and have complete influence over the city as the only religion."

The concerns that Vera and Warts both bring up aren't lost on you, in fact you've been having them yourself. You've already been seeing a drop in profit in most of your business ventures.

You were hoping to avoid getting involved and you certainly didn't anticipate the Joachimites being so violently fanatical as they've been. Then again nobody really did.

What you don't understand is why the hell they've even been allowed to get this far. There was always the rumor that Baroness Varsakken herself was a worshipper of Fel so you would have thought she might have intervened in some direct way. But maybe it was just rumors.

You can't help but wonder if the Ebony Claw Syndicate was still around if the Temple of Fel would be doing much better than they are. It might be a case that you're going to have to be the ones to help instead.

You're not exactly on friendly terms with the Felians, but you've never really had any problems with them either. Your issues with them are just like you have with any religion and that's that you find them to be too restrictive. Honestly, if you had it to do over again, you might have sided with the Yagites since they seemed the least fanatical, though even Warts didn't think much of them claiming that people shouldn't organize to worship Yag in the first place.

In any case, you aren't even sure if the Felians will be receptive to an alliance or what it might even entail. You have to try though because you can't afford to just sit by and do nothing anymore.

"Guess I need to have a meeting with whoever is the head of the Temple of Fel. Do we have any actual information on that?" Vera remarks.
"Um, not really boss. You know the Felians, they're a pretty secretive bunch. In fact, don't even know where they're all holding out at actually now ever since their temple was directly attacked and partially destroyed."
"Mm, well put the word out that I want to talk with the high priest or whoever. I'm sure it'll get back to them eventually."

Your orders are carried out and life continues as usual for you. Weeks pass and for a while you think you're probably not going to get an answer. In fact you start to wonder if the Joachimites already succeeded in wiping them all out.

However, one night when you're in bed you awaken and sit up with your pistol drawn from under your pillow.

A dark figure that you can barely make out sits in the corner of the room.

"Not sure why you're bothering with that thing. I could have killed you several times over already and that's even before you actually woke up. My name is Shade." The figure says.
"Appropriate name. Was wondering when one of you lot would show up." You say, lowering your weapon.
"We've been a little pre-occupied as of late. Defending the faith of Fel is a tireless cause, but one we take very seriously."
"I suppose its even more tiring when you're on the losing side."
"It may appear that way to the ignorant faithless, but I assure you that is not the case. We are merely biding our time and will strike when the time is right."
"Sure you are. And that's why you're here wondering what I might have to say to help quicken that wait time."
"You presume much for a petty criminal."
"Pet…okay, you know what. I'm sick of this. We can sit here all night and verbally kick each other in the balls, but the point is, I wanted to speak with you about a mutual enemy, which are those fanatical Joachimites. Now they haven't been a direct threat to me and mine yet, but I imagine when they finally are through with you, we'll be next in their purity crusade. Since I'd rather not have to deal with them by myself, I reached out to you for a possible alliance. I figured since you once had a similar set up with the Ebony Claw Syndicate, you wouldn't be opposed to the idea."

You hear a snort of laughter when you mention the ECS.

"Something funny?" you ask.
"Yes, irony is always funny." Shade says.
"What do you mean?"
"Not everyone was keen on our alliance with the Syndicate. In fact I was very vocal against our alliance with them. I felt it sullied our faith to associate with such criminals. Allowing some of them into our shadow magic secrets. It was a disgrace to Fel's name. Joachimite's foolishly believe they have the cornerstone on the concept of purity. Let me tell you, purity isn't only found in the so called light."
"Well I can see that you have some strong feelings on all this."
"Damn right I do. Which is why I didn't kill you immediately even though I could tell you had your own agenda against the Ebony Claw Syndicate the first time I met you. Now here I am dealing with you again despite our temple's break from alliances with the unworthy."

You pause and realize who you're talking to exactly. You remember at the time after everything that happened with the ECS you wondered if you'd have to deal with this man again. You never thought it would be in this capacity though.

"So, you were sent by the Fel leadership to deal with yet another criminal group. Yeah, I can see where that would piss you off." You say.
"It's even worse since I AM the Temple's leadership this time. Shortly after the ECS started to collapse with the death of their boss which I have no doubt you had a hand in, there was another debate on whether or not help. It was then when I decided that our temple should seize the chance to discard our alliance and go back to basics. Let's just say the disagreement with the leadership at the time got heated and I took our temple back to what it should be focusing on." Shade says.
"And it looks like that worked out real well for you."
"It did. At least for a time. In any case, all of my actions would seem to have been for naught since I'm here. While perhaps I believe outside influences are a corrupting influence on our faith, I must also be pragmatic if our faith is to survive in this city."
"What I don't understand is how you lot let yourselves get in this position in the first place. I mean you fuckers sneak about silently, turn invisible, and are one with the shadows. I mean arguably that's why the Ebony Claw was so feared in the first place, due to your alliance along with its top leaders being practitioners of Shadow magic, and I imagine they couldn't even do everything your top followers could. What about other Fel temples elsewhere? You can't just call on help from them? Not to mention I thought you lot even had government influence. I mean I always heard the rumor that Baroness Ludmilla was a follower of Fel."
"Well the part of that is easy to answer, because it relates back to my break away from outside influence. You see, the next closest chapter, which exists in the Delantium Kingdom where they still maintain close ties to the ECS, doesn't exactly approve of THIS particular chapter. Hence I can expect no help from them. As for the Baroness, well let's just say she's a politician first and even more of a dabbler than a typical ECS lieutenant. It probably doesn't help that I cut most ties with her on our temple other than bare minimum cordial tolerance for her superficial intrigue on our faith."
"If you hadn't been so much of a fanatic, you might have had a few more friends to help you now."
"I remind you, that if I hadn't been so much of a fanatic, I would have killed you a long time ago. However, you are right of course unfortunately. Lately I've been wondering if all of this that has happened is Fel's way of punishing me for my hubris and past transgressions. I suppose it is equally amusing that my own rigid fanaticism caused my temple's downfall, while that same rigid fanaticism is causing the Joachimites' churches resurgence. Their god has been blessing them not just in the martial ways, but of magic as well. Our own shadow magic is practically rendered useless when faced with their light magic. Can't even get anyone close enough to stealthily assassinate their known top priests. Let alone the one who's actually leading them."
"Who is leading them anyway? I mean we've only got a few rumors and names."
"A bit of an enigma. So much so, it would actually make Fel proud. All we know is they call themselves The Inquisitor."
"That's the same name I've heard a few times."
"Yeah and that's about all that's known about him, assuming it's a guy. Have no real clue since whenever there have been sightings of the Inquisitor; the person is wearing a white mask along with a long white robe. Could be anything under there."
"You can't assassinate him?"
"Besides the fact that he moves around a lot, we've tried several times and we can't get close enough. He's also got some sort of magical protection that deflects projectiles of any kind. I suppose if we had more people maybe we could try to overwhelm him, but those damn Joachimites…they do not go down easy. Some of them rival a Karnite priest in their stubbornness to die and I should know because I've had to fight several of each. Yes, they are definitely not the peace and love pacifists they once were. I guess perhaps the Neroth cultists that were plaguing the city years ago lit that spark of hate back in them."

While all this is mildly fascinating, you think it's time to get to business.

"Shit, I was hoping this might be easier if we aligned. The way you're talking you make it sound like this Inquisitor is nigh invulnerable." You say.
"I'm sure he's not invulnerable. Peel away all that protection and I'm sure he bleeds like everyone else. It's just getting through it, that's all. As much as I'm loathed to admit, your help WOULD probably go a long way in the Joachimites' eventual defeat. For one thing they aren't expecting an attack from your group. Set it up right and you could probably do a lot of damage with your first attack. Be prepared for the retaliation though, because it will be fierce. Hope you're ready to take some personnel losses." Shade says.
"I'm more concerned by financial losses, but better to take a big loss now than a complete loss later if we don't help at all. Just wish there was another way rather than the slog that's going to ensue. If we could take out this Inquisitor leader immediately, I would imagine the rest might lose some of their fight."
"Don't be so sure. Remember, all of these people are motivated by their love and faith of Joachim, not this Inquisitor. He's just leading the charge. However, you may have a point in that if he was out of the picture quicker, then perhaps those of lesser conviction may indeed be shaken enough to no longer be a concern. While our attempts at breaking through the Inquisitor's magic defenses have failed, I can think of one group who might be able to and that's the Dornans."
"And I take it you're not on good terms with them either."
"No, however you are a neutral party and if you're willing, you might be able to talk with them. Of course there's a bit of a danger though. The Dornans as you might know have taken a cocoon like approach to this whole event with their protective barrier around their own temple. Only Holgard Watchmen who patrol through the area at times are allowed anywhere near the place. The Joachimites attempted an attack on it once and they were incinerated almost instantly. Even they haven't dared to do it again."
"So if I go to talk with them, at best they'll probably ignore me, at worst they'll turn me into ash."
"Essentially, yes. Up to you though if you want to take that risk. If you do and assuming you're successful, I believe on my end we can track down the latest where abouts of the Inquisitor and hit him hard. This brings me to my question to you. Regardless of what approach we go with, what exactly is it that you want of the Temple of Fel in exchange for your assistance in this matter?"
"Oh that. Well I haven't made up my mind on that exactly yet. Don't worry though, I have no intention on insisting that you teach me or any Nocturnal League members shadow magic or otherwise intertwine our two organizations. All I ask for is if there comes a day where I need a really need a big favor, I expect you to honor it." You say.
"How big exactly?" Shade asks.
"Oh not bigger than saving an entire organization from extinction I assure you. In any case, I know you're obviously a man of great faith so I expect you to make this promise to Fel that you will help me whenever that day comes. Do this and I will take your word as true."

You hear nothing for a moment followed by a loud sigh. This has to be killing Shade, but better his pride dies tonight than the meager remains of his temple.

"Very well. Assuming you succeed in helping us, I swear by the purity of the shadows provided by Fel that give us protection against our enemies that I will help you when you call upon it in the future and extend that protection to you. Now, do you have an idea of which way you want to go with the attack?"

You war of attrition

While there may be more Joachimites than Felians, you know there aren't more of them than the Nocturnal League. It'll just be a matter of keeping up the pressure and whittling them down. Eventually there won't be enough of them to defend this Inquisitor properly and that's when you'll make the killing strike.

When you explain this to Shade however, he's less than enthusiastic about your rather laid back plan.

"Honestly I had hoped you had a better idea than just simply trying to wear them down." Shade remarks.
"Well all your attempts at going in for the kill immediately have failed so maybe a new approach is what is needed." You reply.
"If you haven't noticed, my organization is fighting for its survival and we don't have time to sit on our hands and wait for the enemy to overwhelm us!"
"They won't now, you've got our help. With our forces together the Joachimites will eventually crumble. I don't care who this Inquisitor asshole is, he won't be shit after all his buddies start dying."

Shade doesn't look convinced, but he reluctantly agrees with your plan.

You don't wait too long before you put your plan into action. Also doesn't take long before the Joachimites are on the defensive. Your first few attacks are particularly devastating to their ranks.

This isn't without cost however. As time goes on, the Joachimites manage to drum up more support in the form of their non-combative followers. All those regular Joachim fearing Holgard citizens that weren't directly involved are now becoming more of a problem as several start openly standing up to Nocturnal League members in the streets preaching about how the League is a blight on this godless city and divine justice will soon be upon you. This never goes well for them of course, but it's not doing wonders for you either.

With so many standing up to the League, it's harder to maintain the natural fear you were instilling in the population. Relying on more brutal methods to keep people in check works, but unfortunately you can't collect money from the dead and the violence from your organization is getting so bad that even the normally corrupt Holgard Watch has to step in to maintain some semblance of order and you begin to lose business.

In fact it gets to a point where the Baroness demands that ALL hostilities between the religious factions come to a halt or she'll be sending in soldiers to deal with everyone involved. This goes about as well as you might expect.

The Inquisitor, still as zealous as ever makes a rare public appearance calling for a holy crusade on the city itself and that anyone who truly believes in Joachim's light, should follow or be cast down into darkness like the rest of the infidels.

It is during this speech that the Felians, attempt to launch one more direct attack upon him. Shade himself even leads the charge. You would have helped had you known about it, but coordinated efforts between you and Shade haven't been the best since you agreed to join him in the first place.

You weren't there to witness it first hand, but the assassination attempt is a failure. Shade is even killed in the process, brought down by some sort of divine light that utterly melted him. The sight was so impressive that anyone who was on the fence about joining the Joachimites became a believer that day.

With the Felians broken, any of them alive after that point flee their temple and the city itself. Which ultimately leaves you and the Baroness to combat this religious mad man. (The Dornans continue to remain fiercely neutral and refuse to see anyone, remaining behind a magical barrier around their temple.

The Nocturnal League isn't out of the fight, but many of the members are seriously starting to question your leadership since nobody is making as much coin with religious fanaticism taking root and your businesses no longer being the draw they used to. A couple foolishly attempt to challenge you (which results in their death) but more of them are just thinking about leaving the city for better pickings. Warts ends up being one of those since he just disappears one day and doesn't return. It's possible he's dead, but you remember he did this before during the last major Holgard conflict. Vera's pissed and you are too to a small degree, but you aren't excessively surprised.

You continue your fight with the Joachimites and fortunately get a little relief from the government since Ludmilla finally calls a halt to ongoing hostilities towards the League since the Joachimites are a greater threat. However your activities are severely limited to just running brothels and gambling. Other activities such as extortion or dealing drugs are to no longer be tolerated. You don't have much choice in the matter since much like the government; you can't fight a war on two fronts and are just managing to keep the League from collapsing internally.

After a few months, you maintain a more defensive posture and focus on consolidation of your own forces while Ludmilla spares no expensive in stomping out the Joachimite religion in the city. Eventually enough oppressive laws along with Ludmilla somehow coming to a deal with the Dornans to provide minor assistance the Inquisitor's last holdout with his most fanatical followers are tracked down and defeated.

All religion save for the temple of Dorna are outlawed and anyone holding Joachimite beliefs is sentenced to death, putting a final end to the religious faction war in the city once and for all.

As for you and the League, it's been a war of attrition indeed and you curse the fact that you allowed yourself to get wrapped up in this in the first place, but then again who knows if this wouldn't have happened eventually anyway and at least the Joachimites will no longer plague the city.

You're in a much weaker position now, but you imagine that you can hopefully bounce back from it. You just need time.

Year 28

"Maybe the halfbreed really is dead if he hasn't returned yet. I certainly hope that's the case." Vera remarks.
"Possibly, but it's only been a year and things still aren't really settled yet in this city. He's probably just waiting it all out a little longer. In any case, what was it that you wanted to suggest?" you ask.
"I was going to suggest that maybe it's time we start looking to better opportunities because Holgard in its current state isn't getting any better for us. That baroness bitch has become miss law and order all of a sudden and she's even employing more magic in this task now thanks to her new alliance with the Dornans!"
"Well last I heard Klyton isn't exactly that great for rogues like us and Hessla is a piss poor pirate town. The Delantium Kingdom is Ebony Claw territory, so that doesn't give many options to expand."
"I was thinking of Jicol."
"Where?"
"Jicol is a port city on an island west of Hessla. They've got a large enough navy to fend off pirates, but as far as I know, they don't really focus on their land based security as much."
"How do you know this?"
"I got some pirate contacts who tell me shit from time to time. Honestly, I'm thinking we should just take the whole operation there, but I'm guessing you might be a little reluctant to just leave Holgard entirely."
"Well yeah, but I've always trusted your judgement and you've stuck with this organization through some rough times, so if this Jicol is open like you're claiming, then maybe we should check it out. I guess I'd send you with some people to get started."

Vera smiles a bit when you approve of her idea so quickly. You try not to think about it too much, but you're pretty certain that Vera is genuinely attracted to you and not just on a physical or "career" level. You don't really want to ever think about it due to the whole fact that you're cursed. Something you haven't really had time to think about too much, but you need to fix it someday if you ever want to have any sort of relationship again. Maybe you could try to go see the Dornans about getting it lifted or something.

In the meantime, Vera also springs some extra news on you that you weren't expecting.

"Oh, some man with a shaved head and several burn scars on his face and hands was asking about you by name at one of our brothels. He said he knew you from the old days." Vera says.
"Oh? Wait, this wasn't an older guy was it?" you ask, suddenly wondering if it was Sneaks. (You never did learn what happened to him)
"No, this guy said his name was Yinen. Said he used to do some business with you…name sounds familiar."
"Yinen? Yeah I know him! He was a fence for the Thieves Guild. Well for the Syndicate too really, maybe that's why the name sounds familar, but in any case the last time I saw him was when I rescued him from a Neroth torture cell. Never did know what happened to him either, where the hell has he been?"
"I dunno, this is second hand info I got from some of our people. All I know is he wants to speak with you about settling some debts."
"Debts? The only one I can think of between us is him repaying me for saving his life."
"Well maybe that's what he wants to do. Here." Vera gives you a small piece of parchment with some writing on it. "He gave this to our people and this apparently is an address of where he's currently staying at and said you can meet him there at anytime. You want me to just have some people bring him here though?"
"Nah, I can make the trip down there. He's not Nocturnal League anyway, so he doesn't need to know our hideout. Though who knows, maybe we'll have a new member. Could use the help right about now. Anyway, why don't you start making the arrangements for your trip to Jicol."

As Vera sets out to follow your orders, you decide to go visit Yinen now while you've got the time. You're sort of wondering what Yinen's meeting is all about. Last time you saw him, it wasn't under the best circumstances and he was ranting like a madman after his torture by the Neroth cult. Hopefully he's gotten over all that.

You soon arrive at a run down house in a lower class district. The house itself looks like it suffered through the recent conflicts in the city. Wouldn't be the only property in this city to do so.

You knock on the door and soon it opens and that's when you see Yinen.

"Yinen? What the hell happened to you?" you say remarking about several things applying to him.
"Hello old comrade, as for what happened to me, that's a long story. First though, come on in and let me say I want to apologize for attacking you that day you saved me from that wretched cell."
"It's fine. It was a long time ago…but I don't remember the Nerothians burning you. Where did you get all these burn marks on your hands and face?"
"That's an even longer story and I'll tell you about that too, but rest assured, what you see on my hands and face is just a fraction of what is practically all over. Doesn't matter though, I healed and grew stronger. I had far greater losses than any superficial physical appearance."

You step inside and Yinen closes the door before walking into a humble living area.

"You'll have to excuse the mess and disrepair of this place. Used to be my parents until they died." Yinen says.
"Oh. Didn't know your parents lived here." You answer.
"Why would you? I tended to keep my old business life as private as possible. They were good Joachim fearing folks that didn't have much to do with me anyway. Of course that's also what got them killed. Ludmilla didn't show much mercy to any of those faithful to Joachim and my parents while peaceful would never willingly give up their faith. You can guess what happened."
"Yeeah…I imagine that would suck. So they died during that conflict?"
"Yes, last year towards the end of it, before the Inquisitor was finally brought down by Ludmilla's troops. I only heard about my parents a few months after everything had died down. I was a little pre-occupied with something else at the time, but I rushed back here to this accursed city as soon as possible to take care of various affairs."

Yinen at this point goes over to a small box and pulls a couple ornamental objects out of it. They look like symbols dedicated to Joachim.

"Careful with those, you get caught with them and it's the death penalty rather than just a fine and jail time. Sort of surprised those objects weren't destroyed when your parents were…killed." You say.
"Oh these didn't belong to them. These are mine. This house was either filled with broken furniture or garbage until I moved in. Apparently the government didn't bother repurposing it or even seizing the property for housing someone else. Just left abandoned." Yinen says.
"Your stuff and you snuck it in here? Are you crazy?"
"I suppose to many I am. I have even questioned my own sanity at times, but then I remember, Joachim has given me his guidance and holy mission. And no matter what, I will not fail in that mission. I have learned from my failures and will follow a new path to bring his divine justice."

At this point Yinen's voice sounds more fanatical even if it remains calm and you get a very uneasy feeling. So uneasy in fact that you go for your weapon.

Yinen turns around and before you know it, your pistol burns so hot in your hand that you drop it. You go for your blade, but once again you burn your hand.

"Joachim's will cannot be stopped and this city WILL learn this. I regret that I must destroy you who once saved my life. Indeed if not for you, I would not be on my holy path that I am today. For that I thank you, but you are one of the many symptoms of wickedness in this city. Perhaps if you had not attacked my flock so brutally a parley might have been possible, but then I should know that one cannot suffer a sinner. One can only cleanse them." Yinen says raising his hands, which are emanating a white glowing light.
"Shit…it was you. You were the…"
"When the baroness' men tried to kill me by setting my last church on fire and barricading me inside, they should have known that fire only purifies and will never kill those on the right path or those whose work is not yet done. All that happened in my near death experience was my focus became even clearer with the will of Joachim. I give you the only mercy I can to an infidel. I give you a quick death and may Joachim forgive you."

You attempt to run out the door, but before you even reach it, your whole body spontaneously combusts into flames. You scream in agony as the fire completely engulfs your body.