Year 33

"Shit, these fucking orcs don't die like they should." You say after putting two more shots in a large greenskin trying to get back up.
"Don't think it matters boss, this brothel's fucked, and not in a good way. Just bout every whore in here is dead." Warts says.
"All of them?"
"Well there were a couple survivors, but I think their whorin' days are over."
"Damnit, that's another one destroyed."
"An wez lost a few purple wish houses and sum gambling dens too. Hopefully we can save da rest before we don't have anything left."

You look around at the destruction of the brothel you're currently in and try to temporarily ignore the loud chaos going on outside as you gather your thoughts on what to do next.

"Damnit." You say seeing a familiar woman on the floor with an axe wound in her head.
"Wat?" Warts asks.
"I know this whore or rather I did. Name was Naji. She was that girl that I rescued back when you talked me into ripping off Reginald's house."
"Sheesh, dat wuz a long time ago boss. Yer memory iz good if you can member whores. I can't even member when my weddin' anniversary is, though I wuz drunk at the time an' Snuffit reminds me anyway."
"Well she was a bit special for awhile, but as you might know my heart always really belonged to Tanya. I knew Naji was still whoring, and after we got the Nocturnal League set up I made sure she always had a job in one of our brothels, but I never did speak with her again in person. Always thought about it sometimes, but just figured I could get around to it when I wasn't busy. Guess it's too late now. Seems rather pointless that I even rescued her given that she just wound up dead anyway."
"Well look on da bright side boss, it looks like she got a cleaner death with a quick axe strike as opposed to wat dose cultist fuckers woulda did."
"I suppose. She also was Rook's cousin, which probably saved me from him killing me. In any case, I'm having serious concerns about this attack."
"Well yeah boss, da whole cities goin' ta shit again."
"No, I mean why the fuck are we even being attacked? I mean yeah I get orcs tend to be enthusiastic about their marauding, but something about the fact that OUR businesses are getting attacked like they were military targets seems really fucking suspicious."
"Mebbe dat Peter knew we weren't really gonna help him."
"Well that's definitely possible, but it still doesn't explain why we would be targeted so much and so accurately. I would think he'd want to focus his forces on taking the palace or taking out the mage school. Also his invasion force was a lot larger than first reports mentioned."
"I guess Vera wasn't too successful in convincin' other pirates to not join her ex-boyfriend."
"I'm a little concerned about her too, since the last message we got was six months ago from her and she said she was having some success in her endeavors."
"Well she must be okay, because we wuz still gettin' da cut from her even last month."
"I suppose, but at the rate shit is going down here, we might not even be able to pay the pittance that the ECS asks for every month."
"You sayin' you don't have a secret personal stash?"
"Of course, but I'll be damned if I'm going to part with my shit to pay the damn ECS. I'm sure you'd feel the same way about your stash."
"Pfft, I ain't got no personal stash. Snuffit takes it all. Speakin' of her, I think I'll be getting back to her. Seems like this city is a lost cause an' if you're smart you should just get the hell out too."
"What the fuck Warts. You're just gonna abandon everything?"
"Well yeah. I don't exactly have some bond with dis place. I mean it wuz fun while it lasted, but looks like its come to an end. I mean maybe dis place will be better again in a couple years or so. An' didn't you make plans to retreat to Jicol is shit started to go wrong?"
"Yeah, but again, I'm still not sure if everything there is okay."
"Bah, Vera's fine, she's probably just really fuckin' busy. I mean you know how it is. Look dis iz the ways I sees da situation…"

Warts steps over a couple bodies before addressing you again. He gives you a more serious look than he normally does.

"Youz gotta be the luckiest Yag blessed bastard I know, beside myself. You shoulda died so many times, Yag musta been rollin' loaded dice. However, an' don't say dis offen but dere iz a time ta step away from da table and dis iz one o' dem times. I myself have stayed alive as long as I have cuz I knew when ta walk away." Warts says.
"And you think this is one of those times, you don't think there's still a chance to turn this around?" you ask.
"Well yeah, there's always a chance, such are the whimsical ways of Yag, but the odds just ain't lookin' good enough for me to take da risk, so I'm off whether you're sticking around or not, but I'd rather you leave with me, because…"

Warts coughs a bit and looks away. You hear a sniffle.

"Warts…are you crying?" you ask.
"NO! I'm not cryin' like sum sissy elf! It's all dis dust bein kicked up due to da battle! Anyway, we've known each other a long ass time, made a lotta coin, did a lotta stupid stuff, an' in sum cases even saved me from getting' killed. Sometime youz waz an asshole, but you still were better than most an' especially anyone in da Spiderfang Tribe. Yer, the closest thing I've had to a friend, an I'd rather our parting of ways go with me knowing dat yer on yer way ta Jicol rather than dying here over nuthin'." Warts says.
"So you wouldn't be coming to Jicol?"
"Nah, too far. I'll probably just find work in Spider Fang territory, open a tradin' post maybe. Most of da folks dat hated me are dead now anyway so it ain't like I gotta worry bout bein' a halfbreed anymore. I should be closer to my family anyway. In fact dat's another reason youz should go to Jicol. Start a family with Vera, I know you likes her. Forget dat demon girl that's still plaguin' yer mind, she's gone."

Warts doesn't really know the whole story to that of course, and you don't really have time to go into it right now, but despite all that, Warts does raise some good points.

You're not out of the fight yet though and you've been through two city upheavals already, you can easily survive a third as long as you're smart about all this. You ran away from home once before, you're not doing it again, especially not now when you've built a life here. Might not be ideal to most, but it's yours.

"Warts, you do what you gotta do, but I'm gonna do what I gotta do. Just remember whether the Nocturnal League survives or not, I'm still going to be here if you want to work with me again the future."

Warts shakes his head while giving a slight broken tooth grin.

"Suppose I shouldn't expected any less from ya. Youz haz a death wish. Always haz fightin' dangerous groups of cutthroats, goin' head ta head with religious fanatics, fucking demon bitches… youz gonna get yerself killed one day and it ain't gonna be a pretty death when it happens. But guess I gotta respect all dat. I hope Yag's still usin' loaded dice, cuz yer gonna need 'em." Warts says.
"We'll see each other again Warts." You respond.

Warts nods at your confidence which you return before he takes his leave.

Now alone, you briefly check the rest of the brothel for any remaining survivors. You don't find any, but you do tell the couple that Warts mentioned to go find a better place to hide if they can.

While you could just start jumping back into the action, you'd still rather have some back up and the only place you're going to be certain to find some is back at the Nocturnal League's headquarters where you're probably going to find the rest of your remaining members hiding or attempting to wait this out. Good thing you're already not in the greatest of moods because you don't imagine it getting any better when you have to deal with your "employees."

When you get back, most of them are a bit on edge, but others are just lazing about playing cards or just generally doing nothing.

"Oh, uh hey boss. You're alive."
"Yeah well I can see you're really glad that I am. Why the fuck are you assholes sitting around playing cards, you do realize there is a siege going on and our businesses are getting all fucked up right?" you say.
"You said we should guard this place."
"I said SOME of you and as I remember, you weren't one of them. In fact, most of you should be up there defending our interests. I'm not even asking you to be a fucking hero or defend the city because I know damn well that's a pointless endeavor."
"Boss, I don't see why we should risk our lives when we can just wait shit out down here."

And there it is. The excuse you've been expecting.

"Oh this should be good. Go on about why you feel this way…whatever the fuck your name is."
"I'm really not trying to be disrespectful boss, but it seems like we can just pick up the pieces after all this is over. If anything we'll be in a stronger position since the populace won't be in any condition to oppose us and it'll take awhile before the new ruler imposes any sort of order. And this Peter is another Varsakken right? He's probably not going to be any better than his sister, so it'll be business as usual."
"That's a nice thought. I see you really thought this out while sitting on your chair playing cards and drinking your ale. Here's another thought though. While we're sitting here playing cards, telling jokes and jerking each other off, all of our business interests are getting fucked up. All our Purple Wish dens? Destroyed. That's a shitload of our income right there and it can't be easily made up. Our whores? Slaughtered. Again can't easily be made up, unless you lot are gonna start selling your asses to make up the loss and I guarantee it wouldn't. Our protection rackets? Well you can't extort corpses, and that's what A LOT of them are right now thanks to orcs just killing everything in sight. I mean fuck, we ARE supposed to be protecting these hapless suckers if not out of the goodness of our hearts then at least for our own pockets! Shit, that's the whole damn point!"

Your voice continues to rise as you walk around the room admonishing your people.

"This idea that we'll just pick up everything after everything is over is laughable, because there won't be that much left and what IS left, Peter Varsakken is going to be establishing order over, and I'm telling you right now, whether he's as corrupt as the rest of his family or not isn't the issue. The issue is, we DON'T have a good working relationship with him like we do with his sister. Shit like that takes time and trust, both of which we are in short supply of. And to top it all off the ECS is going to still be breathing down our necks telling us we better pay up by the end of the month. How are we going to fucking do that if all of our income has turned to fucking rubble? Is ANY of this getting through or am I talking to a bunch of fucking retards?"

Suddenly another one stands up.

"Well gee boss, why don't you get your precious hobs to fucking do all this shit?"
"Because most of the hobs are fucking dead that's why, which is another loss since a lot of them were our best pit fighters. And I highly recommend you take it way down, before I take YOU down."

Now several others stand up to join the troublemaker. Though a few of them look unsure. Some don't take a side and just quietly slink back into a place where they might be safe from the fighting.

One thing you are noticing is nobody seems to be siding with you. This is worse than you thought. You already have your hand on your weapon.

"No! You've been bossing us about for months getting prepared for this fucking invasion and none of us see why we should even be involved. You do this ALL the damn time, dragging us into these unnecessary conflicts instead of just staying the fuck out of it. You did this with the religious faction war, you did this with the Felians, who were supposed to be our allies and now you're doing it here. And who is on the losing end of all of this shit? US! That's who! We're the ones fucking dying! Well no fucking more! We're all staying down here and riding this out, and if you don't like it, tough shit, because if you haven't noticed by now, you're fresh outta friends and you don't even have your filthy hob scum to protect your ass anymore."
"Seriously, you ALL feel this way? You fuckers are the most short sighted assholes ever if you've decided that right now would be the best time to pull a double cross and MORE fool you that you didn't kill me right away."
"Well we can take care of that right now, and you don't have enough bullets to kill us all."
"I don't need to kill you all, I'm just gonna kill you and I don't need hobs to do my work."

The troublemaker's eyes widen and he goes for his own flintlock, but he's too slow of course and you've already killed him and three others before everyone has taken cover. Nobody else is returning fire or attempting to attack, which means you've probably asserted your dominance once again.

"That's what I thought. Now contrary to this dead fucker's words, I've been risking my ass more than ANY of you since day fucking one! Who the hell was it that was leading the damn charge when we took out the Joachimites and Felians? As I remember it was me. And what the hell have I been doing while you lot were hiding like cowards, I've been trying to keep this organization together by defending our shit! So don't give me this bullshit that I've been leading from the back. Maybe the real problem is you shitheads have all gotten lazy because you have no regular opposition. Scared of a real fight. Y'know what? Fuck all of you. I'm going back up there to try to salvage what this organization still has left. The rest of you can either help or get the fuck out of the way, but what you can't do is stay here. Because when I come back, I find ANYONE still here, you'll be joining these troublemakers on the floor."

With those last words you leave.

You have no idea if you're even going to have an organization left if you survive all this, but that doesn't matter right now. Right now you're going to do something even more foolish and find out what the hell's going on with Heather and her crew of wannabes because if you can get the wizards to help you in this chaos, staying here will have at least been worth the effort.

Tracking them down is fairly easy because it's the part of the city that EVERYONE is avoiding, lot of explosions, debris flying in the air, fire, strange lights and even stranger noises in general.

When you arrive in the general vicinity, you finally get a good look at what's going on. You see several creatures that remind you of some sort of demonic dwarves since they're about the same height, and pretty stocky. They're attacking a group of wizards wearing purple robes which you're guessing are Heather's people though you don't see her.

Heather's people are holding their own, but the problem is the demons don't stay dead or rather as soon as one is killed another one materializes. They can't possibly keep this up forever. A little bit in the distance you also catch sight of a man in a shabby brown robe. You're guessing this is the one summoning the demons. He must have some strong protection up, because demons aren't known to enjoy being summoned by mortals.

You also see two figures battling it out on top of one of the few standing buildings left in the area. You see all manner of magic being thrown about and most of it hitting nearby parts of the city. You can't quite make out the figures, but you're guessing one of those might be Heather.

The way you see it, you can either climb up the building to try to help Heather or try to help her students.

You help her students

Heather's a powerful wizard and can probably take care of herself. Her students on the other hand you're not so sure of and you're going to need all the magic help possible if you're going to turn back this invasion.

If you can take out the opposing wizard, that would probably break the stalemate and then you all can help Heather if still necessary. You figure if you can sneak in range and get off a shot, you'll kill the wizard and dispel the demons he keeps warping in.

Well that's the ideal plan anyway.

You sneak around a few buildings trying to stay away from the direction of the fighting and getting closer hoping the whole time nobody notices you. Eventually you go into a partially destroyed building and get to the third floor of it to take your shot since you figure you'll at least be out of immediate danger of the demons suddenly turning around and attacking you.

Taking aim, your pull the trigger and shoot the wizard in the back. You were aiming for his head, but it seems to have done the trick anyway as the wizard goes down. All that magic and you figured he neglected a protection spell against more mundane dangers.

Whether the bullet killed him or not doesn't really matter since the demons warping in aren't under his control anymore and instead of immediately getting themselves killed by the students, a couple of them attack the easy prey on the ground instead. You watch a couple of them take chunks from the wizard and go bounding away.

The students make quick work of most of the remaining demons that do insist on continuing their attack. Meanwhile, you're making your way back down to go meet up with the students now that the demon threat is over with.

You exit the partially destroyed building and still see that Heather is fighting her opponent on the roof of the intact building. She needs help fast and you begin shouting at the students when you get closer to them.

"Hey! Hey! I'm on your side! Heather needs help! Look!" you shout pointing up and towards the roof.

No sooner have you done that, when they start shouting back and it looks like they're prepping spells.

"What the fuc…shit!"

Feeling in danger you immediately start firing at the students. A couple of them go down, cuasing the rest to scatter a bit and a few magic bolts go wild in your direction missing you.

Unfortunately they also miss the demons they were trying to hit behind you.

Your shouting caused the escaped demons that you thought left the area to come back for seconds on another easy target. You hear the growls and turn around just in time for one of them to almost be on you.

The last thing you see are inhuman jaws enclosing on your face followed by a sickening crunch sound.