You need to just get the hell out of here, because staying is surely going to doom someone.

You continue your trip to the exit, trying not to look at any of the people having sexual encounters along the way. Several times you have to push people away after they grab at you. Eventually you just start punching them, and for a couple of them that just turns them on even more.

"Uhn yeah, beat me harder! I like it like that!"
"This is fucked." You mutter.

You try to think of the most unattractive and least erotic things you can think of like the Holgard sewers, and similar things. You also hit yourself in crotch a few times and unlike the masochist freaks, that works to lessen your arousal. Doesn't get rid of it entirely though and you're not doing that too much more because it hurts like a sonofabitch.

Eventually you make it out of the palace. The guards don't even react when they see you and just shrug as you continue to run from the palace and out the gates into the city.

As soon as you're in the public area of the city again, you realize now you've got another problem. Instead of having a strong sexual desire around a bunch of other people who are also suffering the same condition, you're now potentially around a bunch of people who aren't suffering it at all.

You try to walk down the more isolated street with nobody about, but you need to get off them entirely before you potentially start molesting someone or worse. You'd go to a brothel, but if you did, you'd just end up killing all your employees.

"Hey, didn't expect to bump into you. I didn't realize you left the party too. Figured you were bedding some aristocrat or something."

You spin around and see Vera.

"Vera, what the hell are you doing here?" you ask.
"I was on my way back home. Shortly after we separated I wandered and talked to a few people and even looked around seeing if I could steal anything, but there really wasn't a good opportunity, and then something weird happened." Vera says.
"Let me guess, everyone got all friendly?"
"Yeah, REALLY friendly. Didn't know it was going to be that kind of party. Guessing something was in the drinks. Glad I hadn't drank anything while I was there. Still, I might have paired up with one of the horny aristocrat guys if it had just been a one on one thing, but then Ludmilla was around and she started hitting on me too and I got really creeped out. I mean she didn't know of course, but she could potentially be my half sister, and that just really put me out of the mood entirely. I ran out as soon as I could."
"Yeah, potentially fucking a sibling, I can see where that would put a damper on things…" you say barely able to contain yourself
"Um, what's wrong with you? You're fidgeting and sweating. You keep putting your hand on your crotch…wait a minute. Did you have the drinks?"
"Vera, I'm telling you, you need to leave me right now, because I'm having a REALLY hard time here."

Vera smiles a bit and grabs at the obvious bulge in your pants. You nearly don't back away.

"Shit. You ARE having a hard time. Well hell, come on let's put that to good use."
"Vera, you need to seriously stop!" you say.
"Oh come on! I don't see what the hell is wrong with me! I mean shit; you act like I got the fucking plague! You're a real fucking asshole you know that?"
"Vera…"
"No! I'm going to say some shit that YOU need to hear! I know all about your ex-girlfriend. Warts mentioned that you were really head over heels for a demonkin once when he suggested that I was banging my head up against a wall with you. Said that's probably the real reason why you don't have any relationships at all because you're still in love with the infernal bitch."
"Yeah well Warts don't know the whole fucking story."
"What's to know? You're obviously still holding a candle for her like a fucking idiot. You think she gives a shit about you? No. She was a DEMON. They don't give a shit about anything! And here you are still being faithful for a girl that isn't around meanwhile you outright continue to ignore people who ARE here and do care for you. Someone who knows your likes and dislikes. Someone who has done more than she would normally do and would probably do a lot more stupid shit because for some fucked up reason she really likes you."

Vera at this point looks down a bit and rubs her eyes.

"No. LOVES you. More than you'll ever damn well know."

You don't really know what to say. You always knew Vera had some attraction to you, but you didn't think it extended this far. Even with everything that's going on with your body right now, this information has made you focus on something other than sex.

"Vera, I really don't know what to say, except if you believe that I haven't ever thought about us, well you don't know me as well as you think. Hell, tonight I even enjoyed pretending a bit that we were going out on some fancy date, well until the drugged drinks that is."
"Then what the hell's the problem?"
"The problem is, I'll fucking kill you! My dick is fucking cursed!"
"What?!"
"Look, I'm having a difficult time as it is trying not to be all over you right now, so here's the short version."

You quickly explain how you came to learn about your unfortunate condition and everything else relating to it. When Vera asks about a cure, you explain that the cost is too high from what you know about the one time it was offered to you.

"So you see? I haven't been avoiding a relationship with you for no damn reason. I've been trying to keep you alive! And if you want to stay that way, I'd suggest you fucking leave right this minute. I need to go jerk off or something in an alley right now." You say.

Vera is silent for a moment

"Okay, well why don't I at least help you with that?" Vera suddenly says.
"What?" you say.
"Why don't you at least let me jerk you off? I mean it's not sex right? You're not penetrating me. I'm just going to be lending a helping hand as it were."
"Vera, while I appreciate the offer, I'm still not sure if that's a good idea."
"Look, you know how I feel about you. And you're saying you have feelings for me, so isn't this the type of shit couples are supposed to do for one another? Help each other out?"

You aren't sure if it's the drink that's breaking down your willpower or Vera's fairly convincing argument, but you can't hold back anymore.

"Okay. Okay. I guess maybe you make a solid point. I'm still really worried about you though."
"Don't worry about me. You just try to relax as I take care of everything. Let's go over there, that looks like a secluded spot."

You and Vera duck into an alleyway and soon Vera is helping you out directly.

And then again.

And then a third and FOURTH time and you're still not sated.

"What the hell did they put into those drinks? Ground up unicorn testicles?" Vera says wiping her hands.
"Shit, this isn't working. Fuck what if its permanent?"
"No, this has to wear off eventually. We're just going to have to do something else."

Vera begins to lower herself.

"What the hell are you doing?!" you exclaim.
"What does it look like?" she asks
"You can't do that! You'll die!"
"It's not sex right? I mean not really. I'll be fine."
"I'm pretty sure it counts, some of those other women blew me too."
"Yeah, but you also fucked them, and we're not doing that, so again just relax and let me take care of it."
"But…oh shit…"

You can't even argue anymore as you feel the glory that is Vera's oral skills. Given how many times she's offered this to you in the past, this has got to be a major fantasy for her or something.

Soon…

"Fuck. That was a lot. You good?" Vera says wiping off her mouth a bit.
"I really wish I could say I was, but you're going to have to stay down there a little longer."
"Yeah, as much fun as that was, I'm not sucking your dick all night. You're putting that thing to better use."

At this point Vera begins lifting her dress up and grinding herself into you.

"Vera! Shit! We REALLY can't do this! You WILL die!" you say, but still holding on to her body tightly.
"Y'know what I've been thinking? I think you're fucking imagining things. I think all those girls were just a bad coincidence and you jumped to conclusions because as I said, you're still holding a torch for your ex and felt guilty about it." Vera responds.
"What? Where do you get that idea from?"
"I get that idea from the fact that you have no damn proof that your dick is cursed from what you've told me. I mean if it really was cursed, I'd think those women would have melted shortly after or something, not died from common shit like drug overdoses or fires. You just had a string of bad luck and made assumptions."
"Vera, you can't know that."
"Yeah, well I've never been one to play it too safe, so if this is it for me, there are worse ways. Might as well at least be because you fucked me. Now let's do this already."
"Right here in this dirty ass alley?"
"You didn't seem to have any objections before when your dick was in my mouth."
"I still think this is a really bad idea…"
"I guess we'll see, now fuck me like it's my last night here, because it might very well be."

Against your better judgment (or any judgment really) you finally give what Vera's always wanted from you.

"Oh… shit. Fuck, this is going to be good." She says as you enter inside her.

You've barely gotten started fucking her up against a nearby wall and she's already trying not to make a lot of noise and failing at it.

This session quite unlike anything you've ever experienced. It's raw; it's dirty and it almost feels violent.

As you're giving it to Vera hard, she still manages to surprise you.

"Put your hands around my throat." She suddenly says.
"What?!" you ask.
"Oh and call me a whore too. I want to imagine you're raping me in this alley. Y'know like when you pretend threaten to do when we first met?"
"That's…sort of fucked up Vera"
"I'm attracted to the likes of you, are you really all that surprised that I'm a little fucked up?"

You're starting to get the impression that Vera's love for you is a little more twisted that you originally believed. You sort of wonder if it's been borderline obsession and she's just done a good job of keeping it together.

You're just not sure if this is such a good idea given that the women you have sex with tend to die afterwards.

You fulfill the request

Never let be said you won't honor a lady's request.

You put your hands around Vera's neck, but are very aware of not to actually choke her (Even if she is telling you to squeeze a little harder at times). As fucked up as Vera might be for requesting this, you're definitely thinking that you're probably worse since you're starting to enjoy this.

Your thoughts even goes to a dark place during this and you partially struggle to keep in mind that you shouldn't actually be trying to strangle her to death.

In any case you and Vera continue your sexual activities and even though you're the weakly choking her a bit, you're the one that starts feeling delirious and out of breath.

At one point you actually blurt out:

"I love you."
"Shut up, you're breaking the fantasy." Vera replies.
"Um, I mean you dirty whore, you're fit only to be fucked and killed!"

While this seems to really do it for Vera, you still think this is a really bad idea considering that she may very well really die after all this.

Doesn't stop you though and you continue until you (and her) are completely spent.

At which point you collapse nearly directly on top of her and lose consciousness right there in the alley.

When you wake up you surprisingly find yourself back at headquarters in your bed. You feel very drained and thirsty. Reminds you of when you were with Tanya.

You look over to your right and nearly jump when you find Vera lying next to you just staring.

"What the hell?! How did we get here?" you ask.
"Well after you collapsed, I paid some bums who apparently had been watching us the whole time to help me drag you to the nearest brothel, from there I found some of our people and they carried you the rest of the way here."
"Great. Now I have to worry about my reputation along with you as well."
"I hardly think some bums are going to be a concern, and so some of the gang carried you home, big deal. It's not like you got the shit kicked out of you. You just passed out from a mixture of alcohol and wild sex. In fact I went on about how you were giving it to me really good last night. If anything your reputation just increased a bit. Even better, because I wasn't even lying." Vera remarks and moves in to caress your body.
"And you?"
"And me what? Oh you still worried about the whole curse thing? Obviously I'm still here and doing fine, so obviously your concern is misplaced. I told you that you've probably been living like a monk for years for no reason and there is no curse. We could've been having fun a long time ago, but better late than never right?"
"Vera, I told you, the curse doesn't work like that. You could die tomorrow or even a month from now."
"Yeah, and I could also die a year from now. You going to blame that on a so called curse as well? Shit happens. And that's exactly what happened to those girls. I mean none of the ones you told me about were exactly in the safest of positions. Whores, tavern wenches, one was another thief. I mean it's a cruel world and living in Holgard doesn't make it any easier. Just because they happened to die shortly after you fucked them, doesn't mean your dick is cursed."

You don't answer, but you don't look convinced.

"I mean I know you. You typically think things out before making any major decisions, surely you must have considered that this was just in your head and you weren't cursed?" Vera says.
"Yeah I did. Several times in fact, but there were just too many coincidences for me to not come to the conclusion I did. Not to mention I still think about Tanya from time to time. I mean it's certainly not as strong as it once was, but she's still there. And if she's still in my head, what else was left behind?" you ask.
"Well of course you're still going to think about her. From what I can tell, she had fucking demon powers that aided in fucking with your head. Not to mention it sounds like you had a genuine relationship with her. Those things mixed together are going to cause some lingering feelings. I mean shit, I remember this asshole boyfriend I had back when I was a teenager. He wasn't even a demon and he knew how to say all the right shit to me and I was fool enough to fall for it most of the time. And despite the fact he's no longer in my life, there's still a part of me that remembers the few really good times with him."
"What happened to him?"
"Got himself killed by being a dumb ass during a robbery. I cried over him for days, and like I said sometimes I still even think about him but my point is I got over him and moved on. And I think that's what you're having a hard time doing. You got some sort of weird loyalty going on with this demon chick. Reminds me of those widows that wear black forever after their husbands die. Life's too damn short to live in the past, which is why I'm not going to fucking worry about a curse and YOU shouldn't either. We should have gotten together a long time ago."

You know Vera made a brief argument last night about this. At the time you weren't really thinking straight to really take it into proper consideration and you half believed she just really wanted your dick. And while that still might be true, it doesn't mean she isn't wrong.

Even if she doesn't necessarily believe everything she's saying and is just hedging her bets that you aren't cursed, she must REALLY be into you if she's risking potential death.

You can't help but be pretty attracted to that sort of dedication. In fact, if you weren't still feeling so drained you'd probably have with Vera again right now.

"You're right, I have been hanging on to a memory and making excuses. Time put everything from the past aside and see what happens." You reply.

After getting something to drink, you muster up as much energy you can to get around to dictating orders for everyone today, though you end up letting Vera taking over those duties for the most part today while you're still recovering from yesterday. (Which she's happy to do)

As much as you're trying to put the past aside and focus on your new relationship with Vera which is seemingly going well, it's not entirely simple.

For whatever reason Tanya keeps popping up in your head. Actually more frequently that she has in quite awhile. Like when you weren't with anyone you only thought about her briefly once every month or so. Now? She's passing through your mind at least once a day. Sometimes more.

You continue to try to ignore it, but then your mind starts going to a darker place. You begin to see the images of the women you had sex with in the past after Tanya and their deaths. Honestly before recently when you started explaining all this Vera you hadn't given them much thought. You never actually saw them die when you were informed of their deaths, yet now you're seeing their deaths quite clearly, like you were actually there.

Worse, now you're starting to visualize Vera's death and it all comes to a head when you have very real nightmare involving you stabbing her to death.

"Argh! Fuck!" you exclaim waking up.
"What the hell?" Vera says waking up next to you.
"Oh shit. Thank the gods, you're still alive!" you say and immediately hold her tight.
"Of course I'm still alive. Wait, have you still been worrying about that curse I told you was bullshit?"
"Yeah, for awhile now. But I don't think its bullshit. For the past month I've been having these really dark thoughts and I keep seeing the deaths of those girls and the worst part about all of that is I'm starting to think that I killed them."
"I told you, you didn't. Those were all accidents or coincidences, not a fucking curse!"
"No! That's not what I'm saying! I'm saying, the girl that died in the fire? I SAW myself light the place up! The other that died of an overdose of Yellow Devil? I fucking injected her with it! And now I've been seeing myself stab you to death! This is worse that I thought! Before I thought maybe it was just demonic forces doing their work independently, but now it's ME directly! I mean I'm not sure what's worse, the fact that maybe there's a curse on me causing me to kill these women OR something is fucked up in my head and it's just been me the whole time! Either way, you're not safe around me!"

Despite this revelation and you being obviously upset, Vera is silent and doesn't move from her spot.

"Okay. We can still work through this." She replies calmly.
"Are you serious?"
"Fuck yes I'm serious! As far as I know all couples have their issues, yours just happens to be more complicated. Okay first thing you need to do is go fuck some whores."
"What?!"
"You heard me. I want you to go fuck a bunch of whores. Pick a brothel we own and fuck as many as you can. I mean I know you didn't do it before because you didn't want to put their lives in jeopardy and that's very sweet of you. One of your endearing qualities, but we need to see if any of this is true once and for all. Obviously if they start dying off then maybe this curse business has some merit and if it IS you doing it, then it's going to be really obvious soon enough. I mean maybe you'll get some of them, but no way in hell you're going to be able to kill them all without getting caught."

This is insane.

"But, what if I target you first? I mean I'm already thinking about it!"
"You're not going to kill me. And if you try I think you know I can take care of myself. And even in the off chance you do, well then it's not going to matter because I'll be dead."
"But what about me?! Don't you think I'll feel really bad about killing you?!"

Vera touches your face.

"I'm sure you will. You'll probably even cry over me for a while. The sadder thing is, it'll still be more emotion than anyone else has ever shown me. I told you I'm in this for the long haul. So if that means you if I have to temporarily let you fuck other women and all this still possibly resulting in my death, then so fucking be it."

Vera's unbelievably fanatical devotion to you is really starting to reach a level that you didn't think was possible. Whatever "condition" is fucking with your head, it's going to have a really difficult time in getting you to actually kill her

"Now you want me to go with you to the brothel? Will it help if I'm there?" Vera asks.
"Um, no. I'll go there by myself. Um, what if this all turns out to be true?" you ask.
"Well, then I guess you'll have to get the priests of Dorna to cure you. I know you said you declined before since it all felt a little sketchy and you didn't feel right about the ritual, but desperate times and all that."
"Yeah, I suppose it'll be the only way. Shit…"
"Hey, we'll get through this."

Vera kisses you and you're soon on your way to one of the brothels.

When you arrive, you're greeted warmly since it's been a long time since you've been to it and not just because you own the place.

And so begins "the test."

The first time, it takes awhile for you to get into it mainly because now you feel like you're not just cheating on Tanya, but that you're also cheating on Vera!

Then again, it's not cheating at all is it? Tanya isn't in the picture anymore and hasn't been for years and Vera gave you permission.

Once you settle that in your mind you're able to get on with it, with fewer issues. You still end up having some thoughts about those dead women, and even Vera and the whores you were with today. Except it wasn't quite as vivid.

You repeat the process and by the time a week passes you're experiencing the thoughts even less. Now Vera isn't even showing up. Oddly some of the whores still are, but again it's very minor. You aren't thinking about Tanya either.

A month passes and you haven't had any dark thoughts and nothing has happened to any of the whores or Vera.

The dead women however are still with you. The images of you being there now feel more like a faint memory. You get the terrible feeling you DID kill them. You aren't sure if it's due to a curse or some mental break down you had after the break up with Tanya, but they aren't going away. You're going to just have to try to rebury those thoughts again.

Vera's been pretty understanding through all this so that's certainly helping, but you're wondering if maybe it would help even more if you weren't in Holgard any longer.

"Expansion? Where?" Vera asks.
"I dunno, but besides all the other shit going on in my head, I have been thinking about business matters too." You say.
"Okay, so were you thinking about starting a League chapter in the Delantium Kingdom?
"No. For whatever reason the Ebony Claw Syndicate has not fucked with us. If we start going into their territory, that could change. Besides this this isn't really expansion so much as relocation. I really think for my own mental health I need a change of location. Too many fucked up memories and baggage here."
"Hm, I see. Well you ever heard of Jicol?"
"Think I've heard some of the Hessla pirates we deal with mention it sometimes. Don't know much though."
"It's a port town west of Hessla and from what I've heard it's wide open like a whore's legs. Nobody has tried to organize anything there and the city focuses so much on defending against potential pirate attacks that it doesn't have the heightened security like say Klyton does in recent years. I say we start there."
"That sounds good."
"Okay, so are we not keeping a presence at all here?"
"I thought about it, but again, I don't want too many ties to this place. I mean I'd keep Warts in charge of a chapter here, but I doubt that he'll want the headache of running it. I figure I'll just pass the businesses off to the next most qualified person who can start a new organization and we'll take the half of the treasury and whoever wants to come with us to relocate."
"What if nobody comes?"
"Well we'll still have the coin and we can still restart in Jicol with all new people. Or it can just end up being just us. I don't care. My mental well being and my relationship with you is more important than coin."
"More important than coin? Wow, you really do care about me."
"Of course I do, why would you doubt that?"
"Well I know how I feel, and I can make good guesses on your feelings, but it's never a sure thing you know? But I'm happy to have confirmation. In any case, I go where you go. We'll start over in Jicol and be successful, in fact I've already got my own ideas about what can get us a good head start…"

With Vera by your side, a new prospect on the horizon and your "condition" either subdued or gone completely you're feeling more positive about the future.

You time passes...

Chapter 3D1: Nocturnal Ambitions



Year 30

Properly getting with Vera and relocating is the best decision you could have made you think. You definitely feel more at ease and not as stressed out all the time. And more importantly you've finally shaken off the effects of whatever it was that was fucking with your head before.

Still, there always problems that crop up in your line of work. Nothing that can be done to eliminate that.

"These Black Hooks are dumb ass snot nosed kids." You say.
"Perhaps, but you know those type tend to be very eager to prove themselves." Vera says.
"Maybe so, but I'm just not sure I want that lot incorporated into our organization."
"Well the only other option is to wipe them out then, because I think you know from direct experience that two major criminal organizations in one city tends to lead to a whole lot of conflict."
"Hah, I'd hardly call the Black Hooks a major anything. They're a gang of wannabes, but I guess you do have a point and everyone does have to start somewhere. Yeah, probably should try to recruit them now when they're young and moldable. Might be good to have some more local people and bolster our ranks a bit more."
"Okay, so how do you want to do this?"
"Talk to the leader and his lieutenants I guess. Martin is his name?"
"Marco actually."
"Whatever. Have some of our people go to one of their little hangouts to set up a meeting and explain to them if they don't accept the invitation then I'll have my answer of how to deal with them. Now are we certain that they are the only other organization in the city?"
"Yeah, all other criminal activity in the city is mostly by independents and unorganized."
"Okay, well we probably should start gathering them too in time, but we'll deal with the Black Hooks first.

Vera kisses you goodbye to go perform her regular duties and get things rolling on the Black Hooks situation.

A couple days pass and you've finally gotten your answer from the Black Hooks and apparently despite some tough talk by Marco, he's agreed to meet with you, just outside the city.

Given what you know of him and the Black Hooks, they're a gang of youths that engage in a lot of petty crime such as punching old ladies and taking their coin bags. You're also aware that more than a few of them though are getting hooked on Purple Wish so that might play a part in negotiations. Though as far as you're concerned, this isn't going to be much of a negotiation, it's going to be you telling these wannabes if they want to be continue along their path of delinquency, they're going to have to start falling in line.

You naturally get to the meeting a little early and have some of your people hiding nearby in case something happens, but honestly you're not worried. Eventually Marco and three of his people of them arrive. Two of them look a little jittery. Another one is female and given that she's hanging on Marco's arm, it must be his little trashy girlfriend.

Marco gives you the hard stare to which of course you're quite unimpressed by.

"I trust you know who I am." You say.
"Yeah, you run that new gang called the Nocturnal League."
"Oh, we're a lot more than just a gang."
"Okay, whatever. So we're here. What the fuck did you want to talk about?" Marco says.
"Hm, I'll ignore the bluster and chalk it up to nerves."
"Hey! I'm not nervous! There's four of us out here and just one of you!" Marco exclaims, not knowing just how close he is to death at anytime.
"Relax, it wasn't an insult, but tell me Marco, where do you see the Black Hooks in five years?"
"Five years?"
"Yes, that's what I said. Where do you see yourself and your gang in that time? What's the plan? Do you have a plan?"

Marco just looks at you and then at his buddies with a blank expression.

Predictable. Stupid ass teenager doesn't have a plan.

"Well? Come on boy think! I know you lot engages in minor thievery and pointless vandalism. Were you planning on moving into drugs and whores? Get into the Qweepa fights perhaps? Unite all the criminals in the city into your little gang and take over all of Jicol's underworld?"
"Um…"
"Um? Um is not a plan you halfwit. Am I just wasting my time here?"
"Okay! Fuck! I dunno! I mean I guess we want to be pirates."

You shake your head.

"Okay, you lot want to be pirates. Alright, do you own a ship?"
"No."
"You have no ship. Are you saving coin to buy one?"
"Um…"
"I'll take that as a no. Do you know how to sail?"
"No."
"Fucking hell, do any of you losers at least KNOW any fucking pirates?"
"I do!" the girl says.
"Hm, I bet you do." You reply.
"Hey what's that supposed to mean?" Marco asks.
"It means your little girlfriend is the only one here that at least has any connections, and since I'm a gentleman I won't elaborate any further since it's none of my concern anyway. My point is you fuckers have no damn ambition. You lot probably haven't even left this island have you?"

The four of them again look down and at each other.

"I thought so. When I was your age I had already killed several men, left home and was travelling the world!"

Travelling the world might be pushing it, but travelling to Holgard is still more than these little shits have done. At this point you begin lecturing Marco about how their criminal activity is petty and amateur along with bringing unnecessary heat down by the Jicol Watch.

Something about this seems familiar…

"Hey! Get off our fucking asses! What gives you the right to yell at us? You're not our fucking dad!"

And yep, that's what seemed familiar. Shit, you never thought you'd sound like your father, but you guess the old man's personality is there after all. In any case, you hope you're a little more successful than he was in getting some unruly teenagers in line.

"Yeah, I'm not your dad, but here's the thing, I AM in charge. From now on, the Nocturnal League is taking over everything and you can either be part of that, or you can get the hell out of the way. The choice is yours. What you don't want is to be IN our way. Now I'm telling you lot this first because you're closest thing to an organization in this city so you're officially the biggest competition, as laughable as that is. You're also getting the chance to join a REAL one along with better training for all your youthful activity that the law disapproves of. So, you with me or not?"
"So what happens if I say no?" Marco asks.
"You're free to leave. Though I'd suggest that you go get a regular job like a barrel maker or go try to be a cabin boy on a pirate ship and pursue that dream because as I said, the Black Hooks as of now are a thing of the past." You reply.
"So we have no choice."
"Sure you do, just not the one you want. Look, I get that this is going to be the hardest for you since you're in a leadership position and you probably don't like people telling you what to do and all I can say to that is well tough shit. You're either going to have to suck it up or as I said, get the hell out of my way. Now if it'll lessen the sting to your pride, I can say, you may retain some of your leadership role in a limited capacity. I'm going to need help in assimilating the rest of your people and the smoother this goes down, the better off we'll ALL be."

This ultimatum is met with some silence and then the four of them begin whispering amongst themselves. It's actually sort of amusing to you.

Marco turns to you and speaks.

"Fuck you. We're not joining." Marco says.

You just sigh thinking that this was going so well too.

"Oh? And that's what all of you have decided?" you say.
"That's what I'VE decided."
"Funny, because I could have swore I saw you conversing with your friends which signifies to me that maybe you AREN'T the leader you claim if you have to speak with anyone before making a final decision as important as this."
"I AM the leader and I'm not following some asshole that's trying to scare me. I know some shit about you. You only just got here and only have a handful of people. The Black Hooks have WAY more than you. You don't look so tough and if you didn't have that pistol, I'd kick your ass."
"Is that right?"

Well you expected some resistance, but you figured it would be half assed negotiation, not Marco finding the balls to stand up to you.

The simple thing would be to shoot him and get this over with since you're fairly sure the rest are going to fall in line, but you'll make greater point by actually humoring this asshole. Besides, he's annoyed you enough that you'll take some delight in kicking his ass.

"Okay then, but first." You say and whistle for your people to come out of hiding.

Marco and his people look a little surprised which just proves how dumb they really are if they thought you were out here alone.

"Since I'm fairly certain as soon as I'm kicking Marco's ass, he's going to call for help, I want you two to make sure this is indeed a fair fight. Shoot anyone who interferes."
"Wait, how do I know they won't shoot us, if I win?"
"Don't worry, you won't win." You say and hand your pistol over to one of your people.

Marco pulls a knife and begins to look for an opening to which to attack. You just watch him.

"I want you three to pay attention, because what I do to Marco, I'll also do to you if you choose to follow him…well not you. You can have a position in the brothel." You say to Marco's buddies.

Predictably this enrages him and he swings wildly at you with his knife, you easily dodge his clumsy attacks and with a few punches to his face, he's already on the ground.

You then step on his wrist and take the knife from him.

"Too fucking easy."

At this point Marco attempts to punch you in the balls with his other hand, but instead you stomp him in the face. You then proceed to break his arm, he screams in pain and his girlfriend looks away while his buddies look like they've just realized how serious this is.

You point Marco's own knife at his face and he's already crying and begging for his life.

"No! (sob) Please! I don't wanna die! I apologize! I… (sob)" Marco screams.
"Shut up! Shut the fuck up. YOU brought this on yourself. Up until now, you've just been playing, but this is what happens when you make bad fucking choices. There are consequences." you say as you prod the knife into his face so it bleeds.

"However, you're fortunate that today those consequences aren't fatal."

You stand up and step back while Marco's people slowly go see to him.

"You change your mind?"

Marco of course says he does and his people do as well.

"Good, now go back and tell the rest of your gang about the change in leadership. Also assure them that they all stand to make more coin and who knows maybe you lot will actually scrape enough to buy a ship one day. In the meantime Marco, I'm going to be counting on you to make this transition smooth. I don't want to have to straighten out the rest of your gang the way I had to with you, I don't have the fucking time. Understand?"

Marco nods his head and thanks you for not killing him.

"Yes, well I am the nice one. Now get the hell out of here."

Marco and his crew leave as quick as they can and head back to Jicol. After chuckling a bit with your own people and taking your pistol back, you do start to do likewise.

Or at least you try to.

You're not used to stomping about the jungle area outside Jicol and unfortunately you end up getting turned around and lost.

You begin cursing as your two underlings try not to anger you any further by staying silent. As you're still wandering through the jungle you stumble upon a ruined structure. Looks like a temple and by its design it looks like one dedicated to Fel.

Seeing as it's starting to get dark, you half wonder if you shouldn't just take shelter in here for the night and start fresh tomorrow. Not to mention there could be something of value in there.

You take shelter

You've always hated the wilderness. You still have the bad memories of when you had to trounce about the forests on your way to Holgard. It's so easy to get lost, especially at night. Better to stay in a structure until day break when you can at least see better.

You can only imagine how concerned Vera is right now. Hell, she might have even declared war on the Black Hooks believing them to have killed you, but there isn't much you can do about that at the moment.

You tell your two people you're going to take shelter in the temple and you all head inside.

After lighting a couple torches, you get a better look at your surroundings and the place looks about like what you'd expect, though it's obviously much bigger than the temple in Holgard. It's also covered in spiderwebs.

It's a long shot, but you think about the possibility of some valuable items still here. Temples usually have that sort of thing lying around. You might as well take a look given that you'll be spending the night here.

"Let's have a look around. Grab anything that looks like it might have some value." You say.

You all search the immediate nearby rooms and areas, but don't find much save for a lot more cobwebs. You enter one room, you find a couple of old vases that look like they might hold value. As you're looking at those, one of your people ends up finding a stairway leading down.

"Hey boss. Found something."
"Hm, I suppose if there is anything of value, it might be down there. Of course who knows what might be down there, so we should be careful. I wouldn't be surprised if there were traps."

You and your two people slowly head down the steps, when suddenly you start to hear squeaking. At first you think it might be rats, but the squeak is a bit of a lower tone.

You soon see several sources of the squeaking running at you from the darkness of the bottom of the stairwell.

"Shit, there's a fucking shitload of qweepas!"

Your underling instinctively starts swinging his torch at them, but qweepas tend to be a bit more fearless than normal rats especially in a large pack like this and merely just avoid the flames by running around his swing radius. Doesn't take long before one of them has managed to get to his legs and bite him. He shouts in pain and slips down the stairs.

While this wasn't enough to kill him, the old traps that were at the bottom of said stairs well and you see a swinging spike impaling him.

Meanwhile there are more qweepas coming up from the stairs. A lot of them. You and your other underling immediately run back up the stairs, while qweepas are biting at your heels the whole time. Some of them are even managing to leap on your back.

You both get to the top of the stairs and have to stop to get the damn things off of you before they gnaw through your clothes and your body. You start stabbing, burning and throwing the oversized rats against the walls. You've got bites all over you and you're bleeding all over, but that's nothing compared to your surviving underling who isn't quite so lucky when a qweepa manages to bite into his neck, puncturing an artery.

Flailing and crying out, he falls to the floor mobbed by several qweepas who are eager to finish him off.

You manage to get away, but the qweepas haven't given up yet. You end up getting a couple more leaping on you, which causes you to have to slow down your pace again to get them off. In the process, you drop your torch and fumble around in a corridor desperately trying to avoid an ignoble fate of getting eaten by these things.

As you're doing this, you've moved far enough away from your dropped light source that you can't even see what's around you clearly. In your thrashing you've stumbled down a corridor you didn't explore and specifically into a larger gathering of spiderwebs.

You were pretty careful about avoiding those before and burning the smaller patches that were in your way earlier, but now you've fallen into right into one big patch. The webbing is incredibly sticky, and now you're having a hard time even moving at all.

Despite this impediment, you manage to get rid of the last of the qweepas, and fortunately for you, there doesn't seem to be any more qweepas attacking you.

Unfortunately that's because even most qweepas know better than to go near the spider webs.

As you're trying to pull yourself free, you soon find out that these webs weren't just made by multitudes of little spiders, or even several big ones.

A vibration on the web is felt as you're still fumbling around in the dark and you look just in time to see a very large mass descend upon you. You can't see it clearly, but fear over takes you since you know what it could only be.

And much like spiders of the smaller variety, it injects a poison, which paralyzes you, but it doesn't bother wrapping you up and save you for later. It's hungry now and just decides to eat you alive right then and there.