Well, ratting on the Crimson Talons probably isn't the worst thing you've done…

You go back to the militia barracks where you're immediately stopped by some of its members who ask what you want. When you tell them that you want to speak to the officer in charge because you have information on the Crimson Talons, they tell you to wait while someone goes and gets Captain Branik, who apparently was the one interrogating you earlier.

Doesn't take long before you see this captain, who gives you a mildly smug look.

"Well, look who's back. Thought you didn't know anything." Branik says.
"I just remembered some details that slipped my mind." You retort.
"Hmm, well out with it then, and if your information is any good then we will have come to an understanding."

You give out what you know of the Crimson Talons, but specifically their headquarters location. He says something about how he can't believe they've been there the whole time. You also mention the secret sewer tunnel that leads from outside the city. Branik seems especially pleased by this information and mentions he'll send people through there as well when they move in to attack the place.

"This of course is all going to take a little time to put together and confirm, so in the meantime I'd like you to stay in the city. You know, just in case you're lying and this isn't some sort of set up." Branik says.
"What? What would I possibly gain by setting you up for anything? YOU told me to help you!" you say.
"Yes, but you didn't do it right away and even managed to disappear from the militia's watchful eye for awhile. I can't know if you haven't already tipped off your Crimson Talon buddies or something more sinister. So to put those concerns to rest, I just need you to stay within the city so that I may easily get a hold of you until this is all over. Be thankful I'm not just throwing you in a cell."

No good deed…

It's the best deal you're going to get at this point and really you have no idea now if the captain is even going to hold on to his end. Meanwhile you're probably still going to be having these militia assholes following you all over the city, which you can't even leave now!

You just leave shaking your head at the entire situation.

You honestly don't know what to do with yourself. You suppose you could live on your savings until all this shit blows over, but again you have no idea when that will be and if that asshole captain is even going to give you a break.

You still have to find a new place to live and you suppose squatting in your family's old inn is out now seeing as it's more trouble than it's worth.

Lacking any better ideas, you decide to go to the Church of Joachim that Virgil suggested. At least it will be free.

There are actually more than a few in the city, but you figure Virgil was talking about the one closest to the Welcome Mat so that's the one you seek out. It's probably the biggest one anyway due to more poor folks in the area sponging off the charity that the church provides.

When you get there you find that it's feeding the beggars day. Great now you have to put up with that smell along with whatever religious shit that's going to be preached at you.

You see Virgil serving up bowls of swill and approach him since you figure he knows where the flop room for the poor is.

"Hey Virgil." You say while trying not to get in the way of the hungry beggars who are eagerly taking their food and leaving.
"Hello. Surprised, but glad to see you. I'm a little busy at the moment, but what can I do for you?" Virgil responds.
"You said I could stay here awhile? Having sort of a problem finding a place to live at the moment."
"Oh sure. We have space so you can stay as long as you like, but erm…"
"But erm, what?"
"Well I know you're not exactly poor beggar or destitute mother with children and Brother Thadius is sort of a stickler for the rules."
"So what are you saying?"
"Well, maybe if you could donate to…"
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" you exclaim at which point Virgil tells you to keep your voice down.

"Virgil, you TOLD me that you wanted to make amends to me or whatever and you also TOLD me that I could stay here for free!" you say.
"Actually I never said it was free…(Sigh) but I suppose it is true, I might have given you a false impression. For that I am sorry. However, you could still stay here for free, but it would still require something of you." Virgil says.

You at first think Virgil is going to tell you to get him a bottle of alcohol or maybe ask you to steal something. You're just counting on religious hypocrisy to rear its head, so it's a bit surprising when he asks you:

"If you could help me serve these bowls of soup, that I think would be enough to allow you to stay here for free."
"Wha…are you…(Sigh) fuck it. Fine."

You spend the next few hours serving swill to dirty, smelly beggars, bums, and the destitute. You can't believe it's come to this.

About the only think that breaks up the monotony is you have to throw out a Yellow Devil junkie who gets a little aggressive with the others. Normally you don't get excessively hostile to the point of violence unless its necessary, but you're in a foul mood due to current events. Just as you're about to really kick his ass until Virgil stops you.

"Hey, hey, easy! He's had enough; look he's going now. And I think you've had enough too. Thanks for your help; you can find a space on the floor in the sleeping area in the back of the church." Virgil says.

You don't say anything and just head to where Virgil said to go. When you enter the room, it isn't quite as bad as you thought it would be. Apparently most of the beggar types actually prefer sleeping in their own personal areas on the streets rather than a relatively clean church. Go figure.

What you do see more of is "regular poor folk." Families who have obviously suffered some hardship causing them to be homeless for whatever reason. You imagine their faith in Joachim keeps them going that things will get better. The fools.

You find a corner to be in, make a pillow with your bag and try to get some rest despite the sounds of children and people nearby. You can regroup tomorrow, you always do.

Next day…

You head to the university seeing as you don't have anything better planned at the moment.

Of course as soon as you start heading that way, militia is on your ass already. This is ridiculous. It's like they suddenly have some sixth sense of your whereabouts. You try to lose them a couple times and while you do succeed, it once again has taken you out of your way to your destination. Eventually you manage to get a carriage and ride to the university. From there you get to work.

All is going relatively well, though you do catch sight of more than a few wandering militia. You aren't sure if they're there specifically for you or just the usual.

On your way through one of the many student-gathering areas, you suddenly hear someone call out your name. You turn around and get a surprise.

"Yvette?" you answer.
"Glad to see you remembered me. How have you been?" Yvette asks.
"Um, I'm okay. And yourself? You probably graduated and are some sort of powerful wizard by now."
"On the graduation part yes, on the powerful wizard bit, well that's debatable. I'm sort of teaching and doing independent research on possible new spell components. It's a really good thing that the wizard college has such a generous benefactor on the Klyton Council. Otherwise, I'm not sure what I'd be doing with my life."
"You're a wizard, surely there's no limit to what you could do."
"I suppose in some ways, but I guess I just like what I get to do now…is something wrong? You seem a bit distracted."
"No, nothing's wrong. I'm just surprised to see you, let alone you even talking to me. Last time I remember you were pretty pissed at me."
"Oh. That. Yeah, I always meant to apologize to you about that, but I couldn't find you. I asked Dr. Gossey, but she said she didn't know much about you outside the times you helped her. I only knew your first name, but I didn't know what your area of study was. I must have went through a lot student lists, but never could track you down. I even tried some divination magic, but nothing turned up. Though I never was very good at that. Still, it almost seemed like you never even went here."
"Heh, yeah…wow didn't realize you looked for me. I'm really flattered."
"Well I gave up after about a year. I figured you probably graduated by then…so what are you doing here then? Are you teaching now too? What was your study anyway?"

Yvette is flooding you with questions that you weren't really prepared to answer with well thought out lies. She's being pretty friendly though and given how things have been going, it's nice a change. You sort of wonder about the fact that she looked for you for a year. Obviously, she had more in mind than just to apologize.

If you'd known that, you would have made more of an effort to seek her out too, rather than just fucking a whore that looked only vaguely like her a few times.

Well, hopefully better late than never…

"Okay, I'm just going to come out and ask. Were you interested in me back then?" you ask.
"Um…well…" Yvette stutters.
"I'll take that as a yes."
"Well wait no. I mean yeah, but…oh I'm not very good at this."
"Calm yourself then just speak your mind."
"Okay. Well, I didn't NOT like you. I mean I liked all of our time together up until Kelium died. Between that and worrying about my report, your kiss sort of caught me off guard. After my report was a success, I had time to think about your advance and while I would have preferred something less aggressive, I can't say that I entirely disliked it. Actually it might have even helped my report."
"How's that?"
"Yes, at the time I was so pissed at you that I ended up telling my superiors the story we agreed upon as well as adding that it was all your fault that things didn't go as planned. Since I was so mad at you, it came off as believable hence a successful report. I was actually going to thank you for that too."

You laugh a bit.

"Well glad it helped I guess. Though I suppose my question is and again this might be a long shot, but are you still interested in me?" you ask.
"I dunno. I mean it was years ago. We still don't know much about each other. I suppose the answer is the same as it was back then, I wouldn't be opposed to seeing you. I'm currently unattached. I have a bit of trouble meeting people that aren't also magic users and the few I do seem to get scared that I have magic powers." Yvette answers.
"What about other wizards?"
"Hah, yeah…well after going out with a few magic users in the past, that has not gone very well. I'll just leave it at that."

You're doing okay so far, but here's where the problem is going to come in, your real life.

If you pursue this relationship, you are going to have to change your life severely because you are entirely sure that Yvette is definitely not going to be good with your roguish ways.

Oddly, this isn't completely unappealing to you. Granted you've had an okay day here at the university, but how long before the militia gets more savvy and starts watching your movements here a lot more? You still can't walk to most places without them around and again you still don't know if they're going to hold up their end and leave you alone after they bust up the Crimson Talons.

When you really think back to what you've managed to accomplish as a rogue you aren't sure if it's worth it anymore. All you've been doing is going through the motions because you don't know any other way.

But if you really put your mind to it, you're a resourceful guy; you probably COULD do something different if you wanted to.

In any case, you still need to know how you're going to deal with Yvette. You could just tell her the truth about your life, which would prevent a possible shitstorm later, of course it could fuck up things now. Especially since you've basically been lying to her up until this point.

Of course if you've been lying to her all this time, you could just continue doing it and hope for the best. You could still try to change your life, but just not reveal your past.

You tell her the truth

Best to start a new life with a clean slate.

"Yvette, if we're going to be together I fell like it's best if I tell you EVERYTHING." You say.
"Oh?" Yvette responds.
"Yeah, okay where to start…"

You go into your past, though you still leave out a few details. (Like having to leave your town for murder instead of theft) In general you're truthful though. You're rolling the dice here and while you're explaining, you aren't sure how she's even taking it.

"I just wanted to lay it all out there because I'm ready to turn over a new leaf. I want a life with you and I want that life to have no secrets between us."

Yvette still says nothing; her face just has an expression of shock on it.

"Yvette?" you say.
"Um…yeah. Well…yeah…" she starts to say.

This isn't good.

"Yvette, please say something." You say.
"What do you want me to say? This is pretty damn serious! I mean how CAN I trust you? Up until THIS moment you've lied about everything!" Yvette responds.
"But I'm not lying now! I'm telling the truth here. I'm no longer going to be a thief, I'm going to go look for real work and…"
"Look, I can't deal with this right now. I've got other things on my mind and running into you was a surprise to begin with. Obviously it was a mistake to even admit I had some faint feelings for you at one time. I have to go."
"Well can we talk about this again later?"
"I don't think that's a good idea. Look, if you ARE serious, then by all means turn your life around and become a productive member of society. I don't even think you're that bad of a person…but I can't be with someone I can't trust and I can't trust you. Goodbye."

And there it is again. Doing the right thing and getting no accolades, just a kick in the fucking face.

Disappointed with how this entire miserable day has turned out you head back to your place Joachim's church (With the militia following you the entire time of course).

You spend the next few days on your usual routine of sneaking around trying to lose the militia as you perform your work at the university. You might as well considering you can't leave the city. If things actually been different with Yvette, you probably would have tried to find a real job, but now? What's the point?

You figure it's free to sleep and eat at the church so you might as well just endure it until the Crimson Talons finally get busted and the militia backs off your ass so you can leave this fucking city.

One day in your corner of the church sleeping area, your light sleeping reflexes kick in and you grab a little arm reaching at you.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing you little thief?" you say to the little girl who you've just grabbed. She looks at you with wide eyes, but doesn't scream surprisingly.

"Nothing! I'm not a thief and I wasn't reaching for you, I was just trying to pet Pink Eyes!" she says.
"Pink Eyes?" you ask.
"Yeah, the funny rat with big teeth by your head."

You turn your head slightly and see Elana sniffing near you. It would seem she located you. You release your grip on the girl's arm who stands back as you slowly sit up rubbing your eyes. Elana squeaks a few times and finds a less open place to be.

"You're lucky I stopped you kid. Elana here isn't just a regular rat, she's a qweepa and she also doesn't tend to let people just pet her. In fact she's more likely to eat your fingers." You say.
"She didn't do that with me. When I saw her, I gave her a little piece of bread I had from breakfast and she nuzzled my hand a bit after she ate the bread. Then I played with her a bit before she ran over to you. Is she your pet?" the little girl asks.
"Yeah I guess you could say that. Though apparently she's a little traitor if she's being nice to anyone that feeds her. Guess I'm no position to speak ill of rats though. Wait, did you say you already had breakfast?"
"Yeah, it's almost time for them to serve lunch now. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and see you creep in here. Do you have some sort of night job?"
"Something like that. Where are your parents?"
"My mom's out looking for work. I…um don't know who my dad is."
"Oh. Well I got stuff to do, so off you go kid."
"Can I play with Pink Eyes while you're gone?"
"Um…yeah sure I guess if she isn't chewing your face off. I wouldn't call attention to her though, not sure what the animal policy is in this place. And if she doesn't want to be fussed with, then I'd leave her be. Like I said, she isn't usually this friendly to other people."

You leave the little girl and Elana and step out of the church before Virgil or some other Joachim follower can ask you to do anything. You head to the university seeing as you don't have anything better planned at the moment.

Of course as soon as you start heading that way, militia is on your ass already and this time they don't just follow you, they actually come up to you and start throwing their weight around.

"Hey criminal scum, we're on to you." One of them says.
"Yeah I know that already. Been through all this with your captain." You reply.
"No, I don't think you fucking understand!" he says again, pushing you hard this time.
"What the hell? I'm not doing anything!" you exclaim.
"Bullshit! We know where you've been going even though you THINK you've been eluding us. You go up to that fancy university. Whatcha going up there for? I know it ain't to take any fucking classes. We haven't caught you in the act yet, but it won't be long."
"Aren't you supposed to be taking down the Crimson Talons?"
"Don't you worry about that. They'll be facing justice soon, just like YOU will be. Seein' you soon asshole."

And there it is, final proof that the militia consists of a bunch of unyielding dicks that are not going to EVER leave you alone. You truly have to get out of this city.

Your original plan was to wait until they finally took out the Talons, but they seem to be taking their sweet ass time about it. You suppose if you really wanted to get out, you could take the sewers and leave through the secret exit that the Talons use to get in and out of the city with no fuss.

Yeah, seems like a plan, though you figure you'll wait until it gets darker. In the meantime you head back to the church.

When you arrive back to your sleeping area you see that little girl playing with Elana and giving her some of her food. Looks like even your pet has abandoned you. Though considering you're leaving soon, it's just as well she seems to have found a new owner.

Lacking any more motivation to do anything until tonight, you decide to get some more sleep.

Later…

You suddenly grab a little arm reaching for you.

"Girl…you REALLY need to stop doing that!" you say waking up and letting the girl's arm go.
"Please, my mom is missing and I dunno who to ask for help!" the little girl says frantically
"What?"
"My mom, she hasn't returned! She ALWAYS returns before now! She promised she'd never stay out late like this again and I know she wasn't lying!"
"Alright, alright, calm down. What the hell happened?"
"My mom…"

At this point the little girl starts breaking down in tears and some nearby folks trying to sleep start shushing you.

This certainly wasn't anything you had in mind to deal with right now. From what you can tell it's pitch black outside. You slept way longer than you intended to and now you've got a little girl begging you for help.

You get out of the city

This is sad and all, but you've got more important problems. Besides the girl's mother is probably a whore and is just out later than usual to make more coin.

Still, you need to calm her down because she's making a scene and waking everyone up.

"Shhh. Shhh. Look, do you know where you mom might have went or where she goes to look for work?" you ask.
"I dunno, mostly the taverns?" the little girl asks.
"Okay, I'll go check every tavern in the area then okay? You just stay here and try to get some sleep, or I dunno…play with Elana."

You quickly gather your belongings and bid the little girl goodbye. She looks hopeful at you, but you can only imagine that her disappointment is going to be even greater when you don't return. Hopefully her mother does show up.

You leave the church and make your way to the closest sewer entrance that you know of. Fortunately even this late the militia aren't patrolling quite as much and it's easier to sneak around.

You descend into the foulness that is the sewers and begin your slog through it and eventual freedom.

Along the way you just hope you don't run into any Crimson Talons. While you doubt if they have heard about you ratting on them since the militia hasn't made their move yet, but still, you'd rather not bump into them since they've gotten more territorial lately anyway.

Your thoughts also briefly go back to that little girl and how you feel sort of bad about just leaving. You should have at least been up front with her and told her you couldn't help her, rather than giving the girl a little bit longer for false hope. Then again, the last time you told the truth it didn't go so well either.

You'll just be glad to leave this damn city behind.

At last you start to see the literal light at the end of the tunnel as you approach the sewer exit leading to the outside. You have no idea how the hell the Talons slog through this day after day, though you suppose they won't be doing it for much longer.

This thought has never been truer than it is right at this moment.

No sooner have you made it half way to the exit when all of a sudden several militia men enter through it. You stop in your tracks when you see them.

"He's warned them! Kill the bastard!" one of them shouts.

You immediately turn and run. Several shots ring out along with shouting. You catch a bullet in the arm, but manage to keep going. It doesn't matter though since the militia already has men coming from the other tunnels as well.

Today of ALL days is when they decided to storm the Crimson Talon hideout. It figures.

In fact the only place to run to is the Crimson Talon's hideout!

Avoiding the militia now seemingly coming from every fucking tunnel, you immediately run to the hideout and start banging on the door to be let in. Even now, the irony that you're begging for the Talons to help you after you ratted on them in the first place isn't lost on you.

"Open the fucking door! It's a raid!" you start shouting.

There isn't any answer other than a couple of "what?" or "Who's banging on the door?"

"Come on open the fuck up, it's…ugggh! SHIT!" you shout and get shot in the back. This time the wound is fatal.

You collapse at the door, which still stays firmly shut until the militia comes stomping over your body to batter it down.