Chapter 1: Minor Ambitions


Once upon a time in a city called Klyton, there was a young man who wanted to be a doctor. He studied hard in school and his parents supported his dreams for he was intelligent and hard working and they knew he could succeed if given the chance. They also wanted him to have a more stable and comfortable life than they did. (Much like their parents before them)

Despite the high costs of a formal education of a person growing up in his middle class background, his parents who ran an inn, scraped together enough money to send him to a university and for awhile the young man was able to pursue his dreams.

Unfortunately life doesn't always go as planned and one day the young man's father died and to make matters worse it turned out his father who only had the best intentions for his son, had been borrowing from a dangerous loan shark.

With his mother in danger of losing the inn, the young man had to put his dreams on hold and help his mother. It was a time of great stress for the young man, but in time he was able to not only keep the inn afloat and pay off the debt, but he was also able to turn enough profit to re-enroll at the university and eventually become the doctor he always wanted to be.

During his time as an innkeeper however, he had become very close to a young barmaid by the name of Eliza. While their love didn't blossom immediately, he soon realized his feelings before it was too late and the two became romantically involved and in time they married.

For various reasons together they moved away from the city and to a quieter smaller town called Teckleville. There the young man opened a private practice and became a respected member of the community and had twins with Eliza.

These twins, a boy and a girl, had possibly even more of a loving home than their father did and they certainly had even more comforts and advantages. Truly when they grew up, they could be anything they set their minds to.

However, once again life is not always so simple.

As they grew up, these twins became the scourge of Teckleville, always getting into mischief. Granted some misbehavior is expected from youth as they find their purpose in life, but it would seem no matter what, these two were bound and determined to pursue the life of crime.

The pair of them rogues through and through and as they got older it was apparent they had no desire to change.

And that's where our tale begins…

You continue

Year 16

As you sit counting your ill-gotten loot from the latest traveling merchant in town, your twin sister is watching you with a slightly distracted expression. She's been looking like that a lot lately.

You know she can't be concerned about getting into trouble. The pair of you have been doing this since you were kids. You've got this routine down pretty well at this point.

While most of your small town is fully aware of your roguish ways, you're fortunate that you're both still young and your father is a good doctor and has some measure of influence in keeping you out of the local jail. Plus, it helps that you long since stopped stealing from the town itself and focused on stealing from people passing through Teckleville instead.

Still, it isn't like either of your parents are pleased with your recreational criminal activities and have tried to steer you in a different direction with little success. While it tends to go in one ear and out the other with you, sometimes your sister listens occasionally.

And you're pretty sure that's the cause of her distraction in-between your jobs. Something is on her mind and has been for a while now and today is the day she says as much.

"We need to talk bro." your sister says.
"Uh oh. You sound like mom. Which means this doesn't sound good." You reply.
"I really wish you wouldn't set a negative tone to this already difficult situation. I've been going back and forth about this multiple times, making myself sick over it actually."
"Very well, let's get this over with."

You sister exhales deeply and sits next to you.

"There's nothing here for me in this town."
"Gee thanks, sis."
"That's not what I mean, I just…(Sigh) look I know you don't listen to mom or dad, but I've been thinking they've got a point. I mean, what am I doing? What are WE doing? I mean when we were little kids, this was fun. Working together in near perfect harmony and avoiding trouble, but we're both sixteen now. We really going to be doing this for another sixteen years?"
"We weren't doing this straight out of the womb, sis."
"You know what I mean! What does the future hold for us? How long before dad just gets fed up and tells the town guard to throw us in jail for our own good?"
"Mom, wouldn't allow that."
"Yeah, well I think even mom has her limits. Besides, neither one may have a choice in protecting us, if we really fuck up one day."
"We're too good at this, we're not going to fuck up."
"Yeah well, even if that is the case, I don't see staying here in Teckleville robbing travelling merchants as a stable future."
"So what are you saying exactly?"
"I'm saying I'm getting out. I'm leaving town."

You're silent for a moment. You knew that's where this was heading, but hearing it makes it real.

"Where are you going to go?" you ask.
"I dunno. Anywhere! Maybe Klyton, or Holgard or even the Delantium Kingdom. I'll figure it out during my travels. Just anywhere, but here."
"Oh? And just how exactly are you going to support yourself?"
"Half of that stuff we steal is mine you know." Your sister points out.
"Yeah, I know that, but that's not going to last forever and it isn't that much." You say.
"Well mom has always stressed how nice my voice is and how creative I am. And I think you know I've been practicing my lute a lot more lately. I figured I might be a bard…"
"A bard?"
"Yeah, you know. Singing tales, telling stories and getting into adventures…"
"…okay…Yes, you've got many talents. I mean it's why we work so well together. You distract folks with your charm and I do the rest. I've always known that and I get that you've always liked the attention you get from the marks more than the actual thievery. But I thought you said you were seeking a more stable future. Being a wandering bard doesn't exactly qualify."
"Well okay, maybe stable wasn't the right word, maybe DIFFERENT was more accurate. My point is, this is something I want to do and I can't be a proper bard unless I travel and experience the world! I can't stay here any longer."

Your sister is quite serious about this and you know that there is going to be no deterring her from this path. This is going to change everything, but you're willing to roll with it.

"Well…okay I suppose if this is something you want to do, I'll have to support it. You're probably right about sticking around here anyway, I know I get pretty bored in between waiting for the next mark. I assume you're probably already getting ready to leave soon. Just let me get my things together and I'll be ready…"
"Not this time. I'm going by myself."

Now you're really surprised.

"What?! But you can't! I mean…who's going to look out for you? Don't you know how dangerous it is out there?" you exclaim.
"How would you know? You've never left this town either!" your sister points out.
"Yeah, well I've heard things!"
"And so have I. Look…I'm well aware that it isn't a safe world out there, but that's part of what I need to experience. I mean even here, with that overly aggressive asshole Klint hitting on me every other day, I know I'm safe from him because you, mom and dad are around."

Your sister continues.

Look, I need to do this on my own. I need to fail or succeed on my own. I need to take care of myself, I mean don't you think I've got the skills to do it?"
"Yeah, but…I dunno…I guess it'll just be sort of strange. We've been a team for so long."
"I know. It'll be strange for me too since we're so close, but maybe this will be for the best anyway. I mean have you heard some of more recent ugly rumors about us just because we're twins?"
"Yeah, sort of twisted where people's minds go. (Sigh) I guess this is goodbye. Are you leaving tonight, are you telling mom and dad?"
"Yes, as you correctly guessed I will be leaving tonight. As for telling mom and dad, I thought about it…but I can only imagine the chaos that might cause with mom getting weepy and dad forbidding me to go anywhere. Hell, he might actually have the town guard throw me in jail just so I'd have to stay! No, better just leave a note and take off in the middle of the night."
"Probably the safest bet for you. Though of course you realize I'm going to catch the fallout of this plan of yours. In fact I'll probably somehow get blamed for it."
"Yeah, I suppose you will…apologies." Your sister says.
"Meh, don't worry about it. I'll muddle through like I always do."
"Y'know you could leave too. I mean not with me of course, but you're a resourceful guy, I'm sure you could make it outside this one horse town too. You did say you get bored here." Your sister says.
"Yeah, but I dunno. I'm not exactly multi-talented as you are and I doubt if I'd be able to try my hand at a life not involving crime somehow. Plus, here I'm probably the best thief in town. Elsewhere? I'm probably an amateur that would get eaten alive by the bigger criminals. Besides, I still got a good thing going here. I admit though it's not going to be the same without your help."

Your sister pats you on the shoulder.

"You'll be fine. Just remember what I said. You've got more talent than you think and you could definitely do well out there too."

Maybe there is some truth to that, but in any case, this is where you part ways with your blood partner in crime. You both hug knowing that you both are going to feel like part of you is gone, but perhaps your sister is right. Perhaps it will ultimately be better for you in the long term. At least for her since she does have talent other than petty thievery.

Later that night, your sister takes off to parts unknown and you prepare yourself for the hell that your parents are no doubt going to raise. Truth be told, if you left, they probably wouldn't cause as much fuss…okay well maybe that's not entirely true, but still, your sister has always been the favorite so they're going to take this hard.

They won't be the only one.

You time Passes...

Six months later…

As you sit counting your ill-gotten loot from the latest traveling merchant in town, your girlfriend is watching you with an exasperated expression. Of course she tends to look like that a lot.

"Ugh. This part is soooo boring! I dunno why you didn't steal the jewelry, I liked some of those necklaces." Annah exclaims.
"Because you know I prefer hard coin in my possession rather than anything else." You reply trying not to lose count.
"So? You're not the only one involved in doing this you know! You couldn't just think about ME for once and steal some pretty items?"
"Annah, if you wanted one of those necklaces so bad, you could have just stolen it yourself. You were closer to the merchant and easily had him distracted."
"He was gross. Breathing heavy and touching my legs, it was all I could do not to vomit…y'know you could have defended my honor."

It's going to be one of those days…

"(Sigh) And how exactly was I going to do that while I was breaking into his lockbox in his tent? The whole point is for me not to attract any sort of attention and that's getting more difficult to do what with a lot of the merchants hiring more guards nowadays."

Annah rolls her eyes.

It's no secret that Annah was certainly drawn to you because she's a little on the wild side and doesn't have the best of reputations herself. While she certainly lets you do things to her that are a lot of fun, she's not the partner in crime that your sister was and she certainly complains a lot more. A LOT more.

Annah's got the looks and flirting down, but that's about it. Your sister actually had the talent to get the attention of people even if they weren't some weak willed slob that went nuts over the latest sweet young thing that batted their eyes at them. She could lure them with a tale or a song and keep a whole entourage captivated if need be.

You suppose Annah's lack of skill has had the benefit of increasing your own since you've definitely had to be quicker and sneakier.

Still, it isn't just her lack of skill and bitching that's the problem since that you can deal with. It's the fact that she's way more maintenance than you thought she'd be and she's been getting worse in that aspect.

You know you're probably going to have to give her a little bit more this time around just to keep her appeased. At this point you haven't really been saving much at all and you were planning on moving out of your parents home by now because that situation hasn't gotten any better since your sister left.

Lately you've been starting to wonder if you shouldn't just do what your sister did and leave. It's just getting to be too much hassle to steal in this town and it definitely isn't as much fun as it used to be.

Where you would go though, you aren't sure. You're going to have to figure it out.

In the meantime, you hand over Annah's share.

"Okay, here you go…so what do you want to do now?" you ask.
"Well since you were unwilling to steal me one of those nice necklaces, I guess I'll have to buy a cheap ass one from that hag that runs Sparkling Treasures." Annah replies.
"So, we're going to Jasmine's shop."
"Yeah, and she's going to be giving me the evil eye the entire time. Thinking I'm going to steal something."
"Well to be fair, you can't blame her. I'll come with you, but as far as I know I'm still banned from the place ever since I stole a bracelet for my sister's birthday. Of course that was before we decided that the town was completely off limits."
"Whatever, I don't really want to hear about how you spoiled your other girlfriend right now. It's bad enough that continually criticize me and say I'm not as good as sister."
"What the…first of all I'm sick of these rumors about me and her when it wasn't even like that! Second of all, I just said ONCE that our capers might run smoother if you had a better array of talents rather than just relying on your looks."
"There you go again putting me down! I don't see you complaining about my talents when you're having your five minutes of fun…"
"Now don't even start with that! Look, I don't want to fight! Let's just go get your necklace."
"I need more money!"
"What?!"
"What you gave me isn't enough for the one I want!"
"Didn't you just say Jasmine sells cheap quality shit?"
"Yeah, but that old bitch charges an arm and leg for it, so I need more money!"

You shake your head and reach into your pocket.

"(Sigh) Fine. Here, take it! Take it all!" you exclaim and hand over most of your coins to Annah, who takes them without blinking an eye.

At this point you're wondering why if she thinks you're such a bad bum to her that why is she with you at all.

"Thanks baby!" Annah beams and kisses you.

Well that answers your question.

As Annah grabs your arm while you walk to Jasmine's shop, you continue to think about leaving here. The only thing is, are you going to do it like your sister did and just leave in the middle of the night, or are you going to actually say goodbye first?

You sort of think with as much grief as you give your parents, they might actually like to at least say goodbye to you seeing as they didn't get that chance with your sister.

Of course that might be just wishful thinking on your part.

"Okay, since you said you're not allowed in, just wait outside and I'll be out soon." Annah says as you get to Sparkling Treasures.
"I'll be here." You remark.

Annah hasn't been gone long when you encounter more trouble.

"Well if it isn't the notorious thief of Teckville. Shouldn't you be skulking around in the shadows stealing from little old ladies?"

It's Klint and ever since your sister left, he's been even more of an asshole to you and you're not really sure why.

"Klint, seriously what the hell is your problem? I don't understand this continued antagonism towards me. I don't go over to your family's chicken farm and steal the cocks out of your hand."

Klint as usual is slow on the uptake and doesn't even get the double meaning insult you just said, but he's mad at you anyway.

"Because it's all your fucking fault! I could have gotten with your sister if YOU hadn't been around!"
"Oh for fuck's sake, if my sister had ANY attraction to you, she certainly would have showed it. She didn't and now she's GONE, okay? Get the hell over it already…"

Klint at this point starts getting closer to you and raising his voice and you begin to take a more defensive stance.

"FUCK YOU! It was ALL your fault! How could I have a chance with her when YOU corrupted her! Tell me…did she smell like flowers when you embraced her? Did she taste like honey when you kissed her? Did the very heavens move when you plunged into her?" he asks with a mixture of anger and resentment, but also with a glint of eagerness that you'll tell him.

While you knew Klint was always a bit obsessed with your sister, you never quite knew how bad it was until just now. He's totally lost it.

"Klint, contrary to what the rumors are, none of that happened you sick fuck. Look, just go home before something bad happens…" you say.
"Oh something bad is gonna happen alright sister fucker!" He says and then brandishes a knife partially covered in blood and with a few feathers stuck to it.

And of course nobody is around to see all this despite it being broad daylight. Or maybe they're just watching from windows and don't care. You're not exactly popular after all.

"Klint, put that knife back and just walk away now." You say stepping back.
"Everyone in this town hates you, y'know. Even that whore you hang around with now. She came on to me the other night saying how she wanted a proper fuck as opposed to your pathetic attempts. I didn't fuck her though; I just let her suck my dick. Did she kiss you today? Ha ha ha ha!"

You ignore Klint's ramblings and continue to focus on his knife, which is now aiming towards your face, even if you are trying to widen the gap between you two.

"Klint, last chance to get that knife out of my face."
"Or you'll what?"

Well it's a good question, what are you going to do?

You draw your own dagger

This asshole is trying to kill you! You're not taking any chances.

No sooner have you drawn your own dagger when Klint swings at you a couple times and you barely have time to dodge. Luckily for you, despite his size Klint isn't all that skilled in combat. While you've never really been in more than a few scuffles as a kid yourself, you've taught yourself what you THINK is adequate fighting knowledge. Also the very real threat of Klint seemingly trying to kill you is causing a survival instinct to kick in. You don't think, you just see an opportunity causing you to swing with your dagger.

It's a hit and Klint touches the side of his face and looks at the fresh blood from the medium slash you landed on his cheek. For a moment, Klint is in disbelief. He begins shaking and breathing hard. You think he's going to start crying or even run away because he realizes that this is a real fight with real consequences.

Klint instead screams with rage until his face is beet red. It's sort of unnerving, but you stand your ground. Swinging his knife wildly, he charges at you still screaming the entire time.

You dodge out of the way, but your leg doesn't completely clear the charge and you fall to the ground face first.

Fortunately you trip up Klint in the process, who instead of taking advantage, continues to stumble in the direction he was already running in. Unfortunately, Annah was just coming out of Jasmine's shop at the time.

"Hey what's…AH!" Annah yelps as Klint's knife goes straight into her stomach.

You recover just in time to see Klint hovering near her body with his knife in it. She's lying up against the door of Jasmine's shop as blood seeps out and dyes her clothing red.

"Annah?" you utter, but she doesn't answer she just looks down at her wound, holding it and then looks at you with a mixture of shock, pain and sadness.

Klint on the other hand turns to you with a face that's now completely drained of all its rage and is a little shock himself.

"I didn't…I didn't mean…" is all he stutters.

ANNAH!" you shout and now you're the one that's going out of your mind.

Klint tries to defend himself, but you're relentless. Klint falls backwards as you attack and ignoring any sort of pain he's caused with his fists or feet you begin stabbing him in the chest like a madman. Klint screams are now ones of pleading rather than anger.

It doesn't matter if it was an accident. It doesn't matter that he just said she cheated on you with him (Which might've been a lie anyway). It doesn't even matter that she's bitching at you all the time and you were strongly considering leaving her soon anyway.

The fact is, you did have a relationship with her and to some small degree you did care.

He begs you to stop killing him, but you've snapped. He's caused you nothing but trouble for your sister and yourself. You're ending it today and with one more strike, you thrust your dagger in his throat and then pull it out.

Klint's screams become gurgles as he clutches his bloody throat. His body convulses a bit as you stand up drenched in blood. You don't stand there and watch him die however, you instead run over to Annah who is still bleeding out with a knife in her belly.

"Shit, shit, Annah, it's gonna be okay. My dad's a doctor remember? He…he…he'll fix this. I'm gonna go get him. Just…just hang on baby…" you say before you're suddenly pulled away by two strong hands.
"GET AWAY FROM HER MURDERER!" a gruff voice shouts from behind.

Still at a heightened state of alert, you stab at whoever it is behind you, and just manage to nick their arm before twisting away.

You now see that your fight with Klint has drawn out a lot of the townsfolk. Bastards were probably watching the entire time. The man who tried to pull you away was the Wilfred the pub owner. It's a good thing he's not one of the appointed town watch, but it probably won't be long.

"You little bastard! You see that? He tried to kill me too! Someone get the town watch! Someone go get Klint's family too, they need to know what this murderer did to their boy!" Wilfred shouts as he clutches his bleeding arm.

Several other townsfolk go running off shouting about your deeds, and a few others look as if they're going to take their chances apprehending you themselves and while Wilfred is a fat out of shape barkeep, you don't know if you'd do as well against the blacksmith who is now approaching you with a hammer in hand.

With a lynch mob starting to form, you do the only thing you can and that's run.

After a few moments of running and backtracking, you've managed to make it home and lose most of the ones that were half heartedly trying to nab you, but it won't be long before what passes for real law enforcement around here is beating down your door. You only have a short time to gather what you can and get the hell out of here.

Of course as soon as you come in, your mother sees you covered in blood and demands to know what is going on.

"By the gods! What have you done!? What have you DONE?!" your mother shouts.
"I didn't do anything! Where's dad?!" you ask.
"I'm right here….oh shit. Fuck! What the hell did you do now?!" your dad says walking into the room.
"I didn't do anything! But Annah is severely wounded, you gotta help her. She's got a knife in her stomach and she's over by Jasmine's shop! Please! You have to hurry!" you exclaim.

"Are you the one who stabbed her?" your father asks.
"What?! NO! Klint stabbed her, but everyone thinks….look… I gotta get outta here, just go help her!" you say and push both of your parents out of the way to go gather a few things from your room.

Surprisingly your father doesn't say much more, he just gathers up his emergency physician's bag and mutters to himself. You think you hear him saying how you're a fuck up before he leaves, but that's about it.

Your mom on the other hand as you're hastily grabbing a few items, is tearfully going on about how you (And your sister) wasted your potential and she doesn't know where she and your father went wrong.

You have little time and it isn't much, but you try to reassure her that it isn't either of their faults. You'd like to calm her down some more, but there are a bunch of people soon banging at the door.

"STOP HIDING BEHIND YER MAMA'S SKIRT AND GET OUT HERE MURDERER!" you hear a voice shout.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry for everything. I…I gotta go." You say as you leave your mother crying and go to climb out your window.

You manage to just get out of your backyard when you hear someone else shout that they see you and you're soon off and running from a mob again.

It takes a bit of stealth and hiding on your part (along with distancing yourself from Teckleville) but eventually as the sky goes dark, you're fairly certain nobody from the town is still chasing you, or if they are, they might have made camp for the night.

As for you, you're in the middle of a wood, still wearing your bloody clothes (fortunately you managed to grab some spare in your pack though) unsure of where you're going to go exactly.

On top of it all you still don't know if Annah's dead. You're so tired. You can't even process all of it anymore. You have to rest.

You find a tree that looks sturdy and high enough, so you climb it and prepare to sleep for the night. You just hope that anyone that might still be looking for you at this late hour doesn't think to look up.

As you drift off to sleep, your thoughts go to your sister.

"Well sis, whether things are working out for you or not right now, at least your exit wasn't like this."

Next day

You wake up fairly early, but then you didn't really sleep much to begin with. This was more of a brief rest anyway.

After a quick check to see if anyone is in the area, you get out of your bloody clothes and change into some new ones. You might not be properly clean, but it's better than you were.

You then check your supplies, which aren't much. You've got a few coins, but you aren't excessively worried about that since food and water are more important out here in the wilderness. You've got a little food and water, but it isn't going to last long. The only weapon you have currently is your dagger.

Part of you is only just now starting to feel the various negative emotions involving your parents and Annah. You can only imagine the shitstorm they're facing because of your actions. You just hope that they don't suffer the consequences of what you did.

Then there's Annah. You feel like you should be feeling a lot sadder about her, maybe even crying a bit, but maybe you got all those emotions out of your system when you killed Klint.

Still seems a bit surreal that you killed someone. Not just anyone, but someone you knew since childhood, even if you didn't like him.

You definitely don't feel bad about it and while that can be due to several understandable factors, you can't help but wonder if you could do it again under different circumstances.

You may have to, especially now, though your mind certainly went to a dark place during that time.

Whatever the near future holds, you'll have to deal with it when it happens. Right now you have to make a decision on where you're going to go because you're not exactly hot on the idea of staying out here in the wilderness.

Your first thought is to head west to the city-state of Klyton. It's certainly the closest city and it's the direction you ran from Teckleville anyway. The problem is if anyone from Teckleville is still searching for you, that's going to be the first place they look.

Still, Klyton is the only place you really have any basic knowledge about thanks to your parents both being originally from there. Your father never really spoke too much about it, just saying that the only thing worthwhile that he got there was your mother and he was glad when they finally moved to Teckleville to be closer to your grandmother at the time.

Your mother on the other hand didn't speak so ill of the place, which is surprising since she grew up in a lower class area than your father did. She even said that sometimes she missed the times when she worked at the inn where she met your father in the first place. Of course her knowledge about the city is bound to be a bit out of date.

Also, while Klyton has no jurisdiction over Teckleville, it has been known to apprehend wanted criminals from elsewhere trying to hide out there. Not to mention the place in general has a fairly good reputation (And they want to keep it that way) as far as its own security goes.

The Delantium Kingdom to the east isn't really high on your choice list. For one thing, you'd have to backtrack around Teckleville to go in that direction. From what you've overheard, the kingdom has been slowly trying to expand again which sounds a lot like more soldier types running around and that's the last thing you need. Still, the kingdom is a big place and they can't possibly be everywhere. Sivak is the closest major city there.

The only other nearby bastion of major civilization you can think of that's close is another city state by the name of Holgard. It's to the south and in terms of existence, it's only a little older than you are.

It was founded by a noble from the Delantium Kingdom. Originally it was most likely supposed to be some sort of outpost or colony for the DK. But whatever the original intent, the noble soon set himself up as absolute ruler with no ties to the kingdom at all.

For whatever reason, the DK hasn't taken any action against him, whether that's because the cost wouldn't be worth it, they've got more important things to deal with or they're simply glad to have him gone is unknown. The third possibility isn't entirely out of the question either, since you've overheard travelling merchants say that Baron Varsakken is a very unlikable man and it's amazing he hasn't suffered any assassination attempts. His children are apparently little better.

Still, you've also heard the place is filled with corruption so it would probably be a better place to do your work than Klyton.

You klyton

You figure it might be best to head somewhere that you can at least get your bearings about what you're going to do in the long term with your life. Still, it would be best to stay off the road and stick to the wilderness. With a new goal, you head in the direction of Klyton and hoping nobody from Teckleville is tracking you.

You stick to the woods figuring that it will provide you with more cover. You keep alert for possible denizens that lurk in the woods themselves, but besides a lot of birds and a few normal animals, you don't encounter anything out of the ordinary. You even manage to get a good night's sleep, well as good as you can get with as paranoid as you are.

Unfortunately the woods eventually begins to thin and if you continue walking the way you are going, you're going to be in the open plains and if you're going to march across the open fields, you might as well just walk on the road since you'll be just as exposed.

Since you're not exactly in danger of starving or anything and the woods themselves seem fairly safe, you decide to play it cautiously by staying in the woods for the rest of the day and travel in the open at night. Hopefully it won't be a much longer trek to Klyton.

You take the opportunity to rest up some more and when the only light in the sky is that of the dim moon, that's when you leave the edge of the woods. The trees around you soon disappear and all that's left is you in the open countryside and the occasional sounds of nocturnal animals. You walk across the fields for a while, but as the grass starts getting knee high, you start hearing unfamiliar sounds. While you hope it is only a harmless nocturnal animal (or rather several of them judging by the noises) you get concerned that you might be at a disadvantage if it isn't, so you quickly make your way back towards the road where you have better vision of any potential low to the ground threats.

The road is just as empty as the plains you just left. You continue to keep aware of your surroundings by keeping an ear out for various sounds. You still have this idea that you're suddenly going to hear Teckleville watchmen on horses galloping on your position.

You continue down the road and once again you see something out of the ordinary. This time though it's a hanging cage along side the road.

You've heard of those before. Klyton apparently uses them when the jails are full and the criminal hasn't done anything bad enough to deserve outright death. So they get put in these cages until they eventually die of starvation, exposure or someone grants the mercy of killing them. Either way they aren't the city's problem anymore. Seems like it would be kinder to kill them immediately.

You walk a little further and you see a few more of them on both sides of the road. Well if there's anyone inside them, they're going to be safely locked in a cage.

First couple cages you pass are empty. The next one has a decaying smell as you pass, but nobody is in it. You notice on the other side of the road a couple of the cages have bodies in them, but seeing as they aren't moving, you can only guess you're probably walking by corpses.

At least you think you are.

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to have any extra water would you?" you suddenly hear one of the slumping figures in the cage say.

Well you may have decided to travel at night, but it would seem you're encountering more people than you thought.

"Uh, no not really." You answer.
"That sounded really convincing there son. Come on, if you got any you could spare some. You always got the luxury of grabbing yourself a drink at the first tavern in Klyton…assuming you're even old enough...I can't quite see you, but you sound fairly young." The figure in the cage says.
"I'm not young, I'm a grown man!" you exclaim.
"Oh. Well apologies then. So can you please spare any water, I'm dying of thirst over here."
"Why should I trust you? You're in a cage meant for criminals."
"So? What, do you think I'm going to suddenly attack you or something? Even if I had the strength to grab you from between the bars and choked you out or something, that wouldn't exactly help my situation now would it? If anything it would just be harder to beg for water from the next person that passed by given that your corpse would be near my cage."

Strangely that logic makes a bit of sense to you.

"I'm not a violent criminal anyway. I'm just in here because I was a little down on my luck and stole some food. Unfortunately Klyton is pretty overzealous when it comes to their laws." The man goes on to say.
"So you're a thief?" you ask.
"Only out of survival."
"Explains why you got caught. You're not a professional." You say.
"Oh? Well more apologies then, I didn't realize I was speaking to a master fucking thief. Of course if you're so good, why the hell are you wandering out here in the boonies? Shouldn't you be stealing the King of Delantium's jeweled chamber pot or something?"
"Hey, if you're still expecting me to give you any water you're doing a piss poor job at convincing me." You say getting a bit agitated and stepping closer to the cage.

From this distance you get a better visual on the man in the cage. He looks about of average build, and he's a lot older than you. In fact he looks like he might be around your dad's age.

Of course he gets a better look at you as well.

"Heh. You barely have any stubble on your face! I knew you were just a kid! Something about you though…you look strangely familiar." The man remarks.
"I don't think so, I've never been to Klyton." You say.
"No, you don't look like you have. You look more like someone from a small town…say you wouldn't be from Teckleville would you? That is the closest town around here."
"…um no why?" you say and then silently cursing yourself that your lie didn't come out natural.
"I'll take that slight pause as a yes and you really need to work on your attempts at misdirection and lying. What sort of thief are you?"
"Better one than you obviously, you can't even pick the easy lock on your cage."
"Yeah, yeah, so Teckleville huh? Hmm….wait a minute!"

The man suddenly asks if you know a doctor from Teckleville, and then goes into a description somewhat matching your dad, even mentions him by name. Does this man know your father?

Since you seem to be messing up on your lies right now, you just go ahead and confirm his suspicions.

"The gods are truly merciful this night! I knew your father! You look a lot like him when he was young. My name's Tom and I used to go to school with your father!"
"You mean in the university?"
"No, I used to go to primary and high school with him. I was one of his friends during childhood. I mean sure we drifted apart obviously, even more so when I dropped out altogether, but me and him were always alright with each other! I heard he moved to Teckleville years ago and had a family. Didn't know his son was a thief though…how the hell did that happen?"
"Long story."
"Hm, I'll bet…so you were saying this big ass lock on my cage looked easy?"
"Yeah, I've picked more complex merchant lockboxes." You say confidently.

At this point Tom stops slouching and begins to move towards you as much as he can in his cage.

"That's good…that's good….so hey instead of water, how about you set me free?"
"What? Why should I do that?"
"Oh come on! I was a friend of your father's! Surely he's mentioned all the fond memories of us playing smash sphere after school."
"Well, actually my father doesn't speak much about Klyton or the past at all. He prefers to forget it. Says it was mostly stressful."
"Oh....well hey how about this deal then? You've never been to Klyton, so how about in exchange for my freedom I give you some basic information on some of the neighborhoods and potential places you could easily go burgle. I mean obviously I'm rubbish at it, but if you're as good as you say you are, they should be easy for you.

You might have less of a problem with releasing him if you could somehow confirm he is who he says he is. Tom certainly seems to know bits about your father that would be hard to know by some complete stranger. Your father never said anything about former childhood friends though, or if he did you weren't paying attention.

You release Tom

The promise of loot is always a helpful push in any direction.

Even if he's lying about being a friend of your father's, dying a slow death in a cage is still a pretty horrible way to die just for stealing food.

And while he could also be lying about that as well you're confident in your abilities that if he tries anything, you'll be able to defend yourself if necessary. At worst he's probably going to just run off.

"Okay, I'm going to take big risk here, but I'm going to release you, but if you try anything I'm more than capable of defending myself. I've killed before!" you exclaim.
"Whoa there son, I'm not going to do anything! If anything I'm going to be your best friend for life if you set me free. Look I'll even step as far back as I can in this cage and put my hands behind my back while you pick the lock!"

You're still a little wary, but you pull out your little lock pick set and begin to work on the big lock.

"So…you're a killer along with being a thief huh? That's quite the combination kid. I'm sort of having a hard time believing it."
"Why? Because I don't look like one? Because I'm young?" you say.
"Heh, neither of those. Known a lot of killers that don't look the part. Also known a lot of killers younger than yourself. Just having a hard time believing it because of who your father is. While your father certainly wasn't some goody two shoes as a kid, he certainly didn't go seeking out major trouble. Never did anything illegal as far as I know. I sort of figured if he ever had kids of his own, he'd teach them the same."

You continue working on the lock while only really half listening to Tom's ramblings about your father.

"He was always was focused on his goal of becoming a doctor. Heard even when he ran his dad's inn temporarily he did nothing but work hard all the time while still attending his classes. Yep, your dad certainly had his shit together by thinking about his long term future."
"Guess so if you like boring." You mutter.
"Boring huh? I suppose stability would be a little dull to some, still there are benefits. So is that why you're going around stealing and killing people? Running away from your boring small town and heading to the big city? Is this your form of rebellion?"

Now you're getting irritated.

"Look, I'm trying to work on this fucking lock and I'm having a hard enough time doing this in near darkness without you trying analyze my home life."
"Okay, okay, I'll shut up." Tom remarks.

After a bit of silence, you speak up again.

"And for the record, I don't go around killing people for fun. I've only killed one and that's because the sonofbitch stabbed my girlfriend." You say.
"…well shit kid. That's pretty damn horrible. Guess you did what you had to then, I can respect that. Did she…"
"I dunno…hope not. Maybe my dad got to her in time. I had to sort of leave town in a hurry though."
"Ah. I see."

And with that, the big rusty lock makes a satisfying click and you back away from the cage.

"There, it's done."

Tom wastes no time he immediately opens the door and starts pacing and stretching.

"Damn, you don't know how good it is to be out of that fucking thing! I should have been out of there yesterday."
"Wait, what? You mean someone was already coming to get you?"
"Well that was the pact I had set up with some friends of mine. If any of us ever got thrown in one of these cages, one of the others would help as soon as possible."
"So how long you been in there?"
"Oh about a couple days."
"Couple days? You acted like you were in there for weeks!"
"Yeah, well I was really thirsty, besides I still didn't know some stranger was going to set me free. By the way, thanks a lot and nice work on that lock."

You shake your head at this situation.

"Let me guess, you weren't caught stealing food either."
"Stealing yes, food no. It was a job and well I'll tell you on the way back to Klyton. Come on kid."
"Wait, you're going back and you expect me to just follow?"
"Well sure, didn't you at least want to know the ins and outs of the city, best places to steal from, the neighborhoods and all that? Look, I know I lied a bit, but you helped me out and with your skill set I got a feeling you'd do really well in our organization."
"Organization?"
"Yeah, I'm a very important member of the Crimson Talons!" Tom says with some pride, you on the other hand look blank.

"The Crimson Talons. By the gods kid, surely you've heard of us. I know your dad didn't exactly hang out with outlaws, but the Talons were pretty infamous in Klyton! Used to maintain control over all criminal activity in the city!" Tom remarks.
"Used to?" you ask.
"I mean they still do…it's just um…well things are a bit different now…look you're gonna wanna make good connections in this line of work and right now I'm giving you a perfect opportunity to make some fucking great ones at no cost! You come with me, meet a few people and if you feel like we're not your style, well I promise you can just walk away. You really don't have anything to lose."

As much as Tom as been telling half-truths and outright bullshit, he's sort of right in that you don't really have much to lose. You're already an outlaw from your own home and everything you own is on your person and that isn't much. Not to mention you probably would have lied to gain help in the same situation.

You suppose there isn't much harm in going to see what the Crimson Talons are all about. Still, you're going to take whatever Tom is saying with a grain of salt, because on top of all the other lies he's already told, you have a hard time believing that he's really all that important in the organization.

"Okay, I'm interested, but how are you sneaking past the city gates. I can't imagine the city guards are going to just let someone in that just escaped from a hanging cage." You say.
"Oh, there's better way to get in and out of the city. We're going through a secret tunnel." Tom remarks.
"That would certainly solve that problem. Well let's go, I guess."
"Great, I'm anxious to get back. They're probably going to be surprised to see me, but believe me, I'm gonna have my own questions of why they didn't come get me sooner! Now let me go over how to act and the boss' personality just so you're prepared…"

And with that, you and Tom are on your way to see his Crimson Talon cohorts…

You later...

"Ah, here we are, just up these stairs and through that door." Tom says.
"And here I was just getting used to walking through shitty water." You say.
"Hey, the sewers are the best way to get around the city. The guards don't patrol as much down here and even when they do, they don't patrol certain areas."
"Can't say as I blame them, I've been on the verge of puking since we entered your secret tunnel which you neglected to mention was actually a foul forgotten sewer drain entrance."
"Hey, this is the business we're in kid. It ain't always convenient and comfortable. Besides you get used to the smell. Come on."

Tom and you walk up some stone stairs and Tom bangs on a sturdy looking wooden door.

"Hey! It's me! Open up!" Tom shouts, a few moments pass and a scruffy looking man rubbing his head opens the door.
"What the fuck you banging on the door like the city watch for? Wait…Tom? What the fuck are you doing here? Weren't you taken to cages?"
"Yeah Vaughn, and where the hell were you guys? I thought you were supposed to come get me yesterday!"
"The heat was still pretty bad, so we decided to lay low."

Tom barges past Vaughn who follows and then you follow both as they continue to talk.

You must be above the sewers now though this looks like it might be an abandoned building of some sort so far. It barely looks better than the sewers you just left.

You see a few people who you assume are Crimson Talons, but they're either completely passed out or look like in various stages of being drunk or hung over. Bottles of spirits are all over the place and now you're starting to wonder just how "powerful" the Crimson Talons are really supposed to be.

"Decided to lay low huh? Looks more like you lot stayed down here, had a party, got liquored up and forgot about me!" Tom remarks.
"Now that's just not true! We didn't even spend your cut of the loot! You can even check your room! Nothing's been touched!"
"I swear I'm not here for a few days and this place goes to shit. Where's David?"
"David? Um…he's dead."
"What?! He wasn't even on the job at the time. He was here!"
"Yeah, well when the rest of us were coming back from the job, he apparently got into an argument with the boss. A really bad one about how he didn't like the way Edmond was running things. It didn't go well for either of them. Edmond might have been old, but he managed to overpower David and killed him. Unfortunately I guess it was all a bit too much exertion, because the boss died of a heart attack like almost immediately afterwards."
"Wait…you're saying the boss is ALSO dead?!"
"Yeah. We took both of their bodies to the usual spot if you wanted to say a few things to David…"
"I'm sure the rats have stripped both corpses by now…(sigh) so who's the new boss?"
"Um, nobody. We haven't really gotten around to figuring it out yet…but hey your name came up as a potential candidate! I don't think anyone else wants the job."

At this point you start laughing.

"I'm sorry I doubted you Tom. I obviously was way off about not believing that you weren't one of the most important people in this organization."
"Who's this asshole?" one of the nearby members asks stirring from his hang over.
"Someone who actually helped me out, Jake." Tom says shaking his head at all this new information and just tells you to come with him while he checks his room.

Tom's room in this dump isn't quite as bad as the rest of the place. It even looks like he's taken great pains to make it look "neat." After looking through his drawers and small chest, he breathes a sigh of relief.

"Well, as shocking as it is. All my stuff is actually still here, even my cut. Glad to see I'm somewhat respected around here."
"Yeah, they just forgot to spring you from a cage."
"Yeah well, I'm here now."
"And so am I. So now what? You brought me here to potentially join your little organization, but so far I'm not really impressed with the organization part. I thought you guys were supposed to be infamous or something."

Tom sits down and exhales deeply, rubbing his face.

"Yeah, we once were. The truth is, even by the time I got involved with his organization, it was on the decline. Still had the vicious rep at least though, maybe a bit too vicious since it probably encouraged Klyton's crackdowns and tightening up of security. Things just got worse over the years as more skilled members got arrested, killed or just quit for better pastures." Tom explains.
"People could just quit? I sort of though joining something like this was a for life type of thing."
"It typically is, which is why you can see how much trouble we're in if people can just up and quit! It didn't really help when the Ebony Claw Syndicate showed up here briefly."
"Who the hell are they?"
"Another criminal outfit. Much larger than us by far. They're based in the Delantium Kingdom, but I believe they have a strong presence in Holgard too. Edmond was an idiot when dealing with them, though I guess that was mainly pride."
"What did he do?"
"Well the Ebony Claw had heard of the Talons and their problems with Klyton's improved security. However, they also knew of our reputation even if it was a bit tattered at that point. Out of respect, they offered to help the Talons. The deal was we'd still have reign over Klyton, keep our identity and have to access to Ebony Claw resources, but we'd have to give a cut of all the profits we made to them. Not sure what the percentage was, but Edmond wasn't pleased with it. Though like I said, it could have been free and he probably would have turned them down."
"So did they cause you a lot damage as well?"
"If they did, it wasn't directly. Their representative just left and we haven't heard anything from them since. Despite never seeing any signs of the Claw again, Edmond got even more paranoid than he already was. Started organizing riskier jobs and accepting anyone who was desperate enough to join. He was convinced we were going to have to deal with the Claw again so we needed to be prepared. All that ultimately happened was with all the new unskilled people we got sloppier and caused even more heat to bear down on us and well, this is what we're reduced to today."

Sheesh, this is pretty damn depressing. It's almost enough to make you rethink your own career choice. Almost.

At this point Tom stands up.

"Shit, I have no idea what comes next. If I was smart I suppose I'd get out. Of course if I was smart, I wouldn't be in this situation in the first place." Tom says.
"Can't you just start over elsewhere?" you ask.
"I thought about heading to Hessla, but that place is overrun by pirates nowadays. Spending days at sea isn't exactly my thing. Nah, Klyton's my home and for better or worse I'm staying here."
"So are you taking over the Talons as boss?"
"I dunno, I never really thought of myself as a leader since it seems like a lot of headache, but I suppose out of all of us that are left, I do have the most experience and years on my side. I suppose given that my face is more well known now due to being thrown in a cage by the city watch, being the boss has appeal since I won't have to risk going out in public as much. I guarantee if I get nicked again, it'll probably be the death penalty. Well anyway what're your plans? You still interested in joining or is that a silly question?"

Not too silly though since despite the deplorable state the Crimson Talons are in, you sort of wonder about the potential. Before you though maybe if you joined such an organization, you'd probably be considered just another low ranking flunky. However through barely any effort on your part, you may have just secured a high ranking position in the organization by helping out the new leader of it. You think if you joined and made a go of it, you'd at least have a lot of input. Who knows, maybe the organization will get back on its feet. If it did, you'd be even better off.

Of course this is going to be a lot of work and you are still new. While Tom might like you, the other members may see you as an upstart. Getting a knife in the back from a bunch of folks who are supposed to be watching it is a real possibility. You might be better off going off on your own.

You join the Crimson Talons

There is an opportunity here and you're not passing it up.

"Well, this isn't exactly how I expected to start out here in this city, but I'd be a fool to dismiss the potential help. I could probably learn a few things while I'm here. In fact I'm used to working with a partner anyway." You say.
"Really? I figured you for a loner." Tom says.
"Well I sort of got forced into that situation. Before that, my twin sister and I used to steal from travelling merchants in Teckleville all the time before she left to pursue her dreams of being a bard. Worked with my girlfriend after that, but she wasn't quite as good at it…you know the rest."
"Hm, well I can honestly say I'm glad you decided to join. Your skills are going to come in useful and as you can already tell I'm going to need all the help I can get. Guess since I'm the boss, I'll take Edmond's old room. You can have this one. It's one of the better ones in this place so consider it part of your reward for rescuing the leader of Crimson Talons." Tom chuckles.
"Is the other part money?"
"Yeah, you greedy little bastard. Here and I think I don't have to tell you not to brag about getting this room or the coinage. Last thing I need is people getting jealous of others, especially when they haven't been here as long." Tom says and hands you some gold coins from a small pouch.

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around all this. Hell, I can't even believe David's dead, let alone the boss. (Sigh) Damn idiot. Still…I'm gonna miss him."
"Was David your friend?"
"Yeah, I suppose he was. He was an asshole most of the time towards me. Always thought it was funny to sat untrue things about my mother, but I knew him since childhood too and he was often there to help if I needed it. If he had still been alive, I would have been out of that cage on time. I'm guessing your father never mentioned him either."
"Not that I can recall."
"Well no matter, I guess we need to introduce you to the rest and I need to make my formal declaration that I'm going to be running things." Tom says.
"Okay, let's go then."

And so begins your life with the Crimson Talons...

You time passes...

Chapter 2A: Red Storm Rising



Year 17

"Another good haul!" Jake laughs.
"Yeah, that old man didn't know what hit him." Vaughn remarks.
"Old bastard is lucky we didn't kill him." Zalmora says.

Meanwhile you just shake your head at the lot you've hooked up with. While you knew this organization had some problems, you thought there was going to be an attempt at restructuring it by Tom. He seems content however on just taking a hands off approach, or at least an approach that doesn't involve a lot of rules.

Which you guess is good in some ways, but it's not exactly doing this organization any favors, especially with this lot who barely plan anything out. If it wasn't for you being so cautious, you think the militia would have apprehended most of this crew already.

Most of them don't seem to realize that this city is too damn secure to just go on the way they've been going on. A lot more subtlety and a lot less smash and grab is in order.

Still, you feel like you've already invested a bit in this organization by sticking around this long so you're not willing to bail out just yet, but something is going to have to change soon and you're going to bring it up to Tom.

"Hey lockboy, why're you so quiet over there?" Vaughn remarks.
"Just thinking about something." You respond.
"You do a lot of that don't you?" Zalmora says.
"He does a whole lot of nothing. Don't know why Tom even sent you with us on this job, you were pretty useless." Jake says.
"Well, I agree my skills do go to waste when the plan isn't followed. I was supposed to pick the lock to the door and then one of you was supposed to quietly subdue the old man if he woke up and the others cleaned out the place. Instead what YOU did, was break the window on the door and unlock it that way. When that inevitably woke up the old man, you lot spent a bunch of unnecessary time taunting and beating him unconscious." You say.

Jake stops walking back to the Talon hideout and walks over to you.

"Yeah? And what of it? Listen you little shit; you're just some small town snot nosed punk. You know exactly fuck all about what it means to be a Crimson Talon. If you don't like the way we do things, you can just leave. Not like you'd be missed."
"Hold on, hold on. We had a good night. No need for all this, let's just get back to Tom, okay?" Vaughn says getting a little bit in between the pair of you.

Jake's been on your case since day one. You just know you're going to have to deal with him someday. Maybe today is that day.

You take a swing at Jake

This guy reminds you of Klint, another bully who thinks he can just talk shit louder than everyone else to scare them into submission. Well, it ultimately didn't work out for Klint and if Jake makes this difficult for you, it's not going to work out for him as well.

You punch at Jake, but due to Vaughn being in the way, your fist doesn't quite connect and you just tap Jake in the face a bit to knock his head back briefly.

"Too bad. That was your best chance." He says and lunges.
"Hold on! SHIT!" Vaughn shouts as he gets out of the way of Jake and yourself.

Jake tackles you to the ground and you try to throw another punch, but this time Jake catches your fist. His grip is very strong. A lot stronger than you thought he'd be actually.

"Not this time." He says and then smashes his fist into your nose, breaking it and causing blood to flow from your nostrils. You have a hard time catching your breath, but that's a secondary feeling when Jake proceeds to break your wrist and then punch you in the face again.

"Jake! Stop! You made your point!" Zalmora shouts.
"Come on Jake, get off…" Vaughn says attempting to move Jake off of you.

You feebly throw a punch with your one good hand, but again you don't connect very well and only manage to his Jake's side. Meanwhile Jake punches your two more times in the face nearly knocking you out completely and certainly knocking out several teeth.

Eventually Vaughn and Zalmora pull Jake off of you who is laughing.

"Knew you weren't shit. Good luck picking a lock with one good hand for awhile!" Jake says and begins walking away.

Zalmora comes back to you and helps you up. It's actually amazing that you're able to stand though you're having a hard time with the balance. Your vision is blurry and your face looks like its been through a meat grinder.

"Hey, pit fighting champ! You okay? You see me? You know where you're at?" Zalmora asks.

You hear her just fine, you're just trying to gather what strength you have and keep your focus on that laughing asshole Jake who is continuing to walk away from you.

You draw your weapon.

"No! Wait!" Zal says before you push her aside and sprint towards Jake fully intent on revenge. Unfortunately Vaughn and Zal shout at you to stop, which gives Jake enough warning to turn around.

Jake falls to the ground and trips you with his legs. You fall face first and drop your weapon.

You don't get another chance to get up before Jake takes advantage of your position by jumping on your back and wraping his arms around your neck.

"Stupid fucker, you brought all this on yourself. Jake says and then with a quick twisting motion he snaps your neck like a twig.