Maybe you're no longer with Annah, but if you're going to start fucking whores, you could still do better than Randi.

"No thanks, I'm good." You say.
"Hm, I understand. Still holding a candle for her huh? Y'know, anytime I saw you two together she was bitching at you. If you ask me, you seem like you're better off anyway." Randi says.
"Well nobody asked you Randi, look just leave me alone, you aren't selling anything I'm interested in."

Randi now looks offended.

"Oh fuck you asshole. You think you're better than me? Your girlfriend obviously didn't think so since she wised up and left your ass." Randi says.
"I broke up with her, you presumptuous whore." You say as she walks away waving a dismissing hand back at you.

You leave the Welcome Mat and go get yourself some food and then spend the rest of the day seeking out new burglary opportunities. Normally you would have spent the rest of the day doing the whole distract and con jobs with Annah, but without her around now, you're content on focusing no longer having to directly deal with people.

You spend the next few weeks working by yourself and generally getting by. You've manage to nearly build up what you gave to Annah.

During this time you're also mainly avoiding the Bloody Talons (along with the Klyton Militia) who are a little more aware of you now thanks to that night Annah mouthed off to them. Fucking Annah…

While you've generally been having a fine time without her constant bitching, you'd be lying if you said you didn't still think about her. She was fun in a lot of physical ways, it was just about everything else she did that made her less fun.

You're still a little surprised that she hasn't popped up again on your doorstep. You thought maybe she would have by now. The fact that she hasn't does give you a little concern that maybe the Bloody Talons got a hold of her (or some similar fate) but if something bad has befallen her, there's not much you can do about it and it's certainly not your fault.

Then again you did throw her out…

"Bah, stop thinking about her. You're better off. She probably went back home a lot richer than I am right now." You mutter to yourself.

As you're trying to put the thoughts of your ex out of your mind, you start wondering about the possibility of leaving Klyton yourself after you acquire a little more.

Besides the Bloody Talons potentially giving you grief, they've also been terrorizing the city with their actions, which means the Klyton Militia has been cracking down harder on everything.

Part of you wonders if maybe you should just move on from this city, but you really loathe the idea of travelling again and you aren't sure where you'd go. Hessla maybe?

While you're pondering your possible future you bump into Virgil as you're stepping in the Welcome Mat.

"Heeeeey youngster! (hic!) You got any spare….coppers fer the faith?" Virgil asks.

The odor of Virgil's rancid breath hits you full force. You immediately cover your nose and mouth.

You thought the followers of Joachim were supposed to be into purity and restraint. If you didn't know any better, you'd think Joachim was the god of alcohol and hopeless drunks based on this guy's behavior and actions.

"Shit, Virgil. When the hell was the last time you washed? You fucking smell worse than a troll's ass. Granted I've never smelled a troll's ass, but I think it's a safe bet you smell worse than one." You say.
"Guess again. Hahahahahahaha! (hic) So can ya spare a copper?"
"No and I told you to stop bothering me Virgil! Don't you have a collection box you can pilfer booze money from?" you shout.
"Yeah…but no…but I got some (hic) news…"
"Yeah, I already know about Joachim's blessed light. You tried to tell me about it the first time I came here and you nearly threw up on me in the process."
"I did? Geez, sorry son…but this is different! (hic) Some…somebody…"
"Somebody what?"
"Somebody was lookin' fer ya."

Well that peaked your interest.

"Oh?" you answer.
"Yeah…(hic) Yeah, this big guy. I mean not like ogre big, but just human big ya know? Old guy too. (hic) I mean not as old as that asshole who own this place, but probably around my age." Virgil says.
"Well that's still fucking old then, aren't you like seventy?"
"Fuck you. I'll have you know I'm in my forties…I think…yeah…"
"Okay, so big guy in his forties was looking for me. What did he want?"

Of course NOW Virgil decides to be uncooperative.

"No! No! Fuck you, I'm not tellin' you shit now. (hic) Who…who…what do you think I am some kinda asshole fer you to abuse? Callin' me seventy fuckin' years old. I oughta kick yer ass in the name of Joachim! Yer lucky I'm a man of faith…(hic)"

At this point Virgil mumbles and stumbles away still mumbling and swearing.

You suppose you could always ask him again later when he's feeling less feisty. He will have likely forgotten all about your so-called insult later, of course he probably will have forgotten about the guy looking for you too.

As you head back to your room, you ponder who he could have been talking about. Your dad? Dad's not a big guy though and you honestly doubt if he would bother to come look for you.

Might have been one of those Bloody Talon assholes, though honestly you're a bit surprised that they haven't shown up here before.

Other than those possibilities, you're drawing a blank of who might be looking for you. It's a little concerning though.

You'll just remain alert and keep an eye out this guy looking for you. Remain on your guard too, since you still don't know if this man means you harm or not. Hopefully Virgil can tell you something later.

For now though you decide to get some sleep after your long night of thievery. As your lids get heavier, you think on where you could ply your trade with a little more ease and a lot more loot. The rich areas are well patrolled, the government district is well patrolled, the merchant district is well patrolled and has Bloody Talons running about, and the poor areas are definitely Bloody Talon territory and the folks don't have shit.

It suddenly occurs to you that you've never really tried the university district of the city. Might be worth a look, after all it should be filled with stupid rich kids not aware of their surroundings and the Talons don't seem to go running around there, so there might be less heat overall.

You wake up midday. After getting yourself ready for today's endeavors, you knock on Virgil's door, but there is no answer. He's either still asleep or he's out collecting donations for Joachim. Probably the latter considering you didn't contribute to his booze fund.

You leave the Welcome Mat Inn, though a little more cautiously than usual. Nobody seems to be approaching or giving you suspicious looks though. Still, wishing to keep a low profile, you stick to the back streets as much as possible and eventually when you get to the better part of town, you catch a coach for your remaining trip to the university. By the time you arrive, the day is beginning to end, but you soon find that the university is still fairly active.

After a few hours of just scouting and walking around, it's much like you figured. A lot of scholarly types with their noses in books and rich kids that do a lot of partying. The dorms have security, but oddly not as much as one might think.

You find that despite being dressed in your lower class clothing, nobody is really giving you a second glance. It might be due to your youth though; you probably just look like a struggling student. Wasn't like your dad was exactly rich when he attended this place either.

It occurs to you how strange it is to be at the university at all. You never thought you'd ever "attend" your dad's old place of higher learning. You're sure at one time he had hopes you would, but it probably wasn't under these circumstances.

As you're having these inner reflections, you see a group of people hanging around laughing and generally having their attention focused on a little black and white curly haired dog, which is enjoying the attention.

What gains your attention however is you recognize one of these people. It's Annah!

Her hair is fixed up and she's dressed like she's the daughter of some rich nobleman. Looks like she put all that loot you gave her and indeed bought herself something nice and apparently she's bought a dog as well. You never knew she wanted one of those.

Annah hasn't seen you, but that's probably because she's busy picking everyone's pockets while they're all distracted and laughing. Or rather she's trying to, the problem is the dog moves around enough that people are constantly changing the direction of where they're looking.

You shake your head and move towards the group.

"Excuse me, I'm new here and I'm looking for the medical school." You say.

Annah's eyes instantly go wide and then they narrow with a "Get the fuck out of here." look. Meanwhile her little dog has also seen you and unlike with everyone else, it has decided to growl and give a little bark before running behind someone's leg.

"Oh, sure it's just past those buildings over there." Someone answers.
"Over there? I just came from over there and I didn't see it." You reply.
"No, over to the west. There's a big statue. You can't miss it."
"The big statue with the sword? I was over that way too and still didn't see it."
"No, that's on the east side, I'm talking about the west side. There's a statue of a physician wearing a plague mask."
"Can't say I've seen that. Where did you say it was again?"
"The west side! The west!"
"Okay, calm down! I was just asking where the medical school is and you're giving me directions to a statue."
"I'm not give….argh."
"Here let me try…" a girl says stepping in to explain.

You manage to keep up this idiot charade for quite awhile completely exasperating the entire group to the point where several of them are calling you a retard and don't know how the hell you're even breathing, let alone getting in this university.

Meanwhile Annah realizes what you're doing and manages to easily pick everyone's pockets while they're focused on you. She then takes off with her dog.

"Oh wait, I'm supposed to go to the school of magic, not medicine. Duh. Apologies." You say trying not to laugh while everyone calls you names.

As you walk away you decide to call it a night. While you didn't really engage in any lucrative opportunities yourself, you're sort of glad to learn that Annah is alive and well. You suppose you do miss her a bit.

In any case, you decide that the university district might be the place to start plying your trade since the militia patrols are infrequent and the Bloody Talon assholes aren't around here.

Of course that might mean bumping into Annah again so that's definitely a potential drawback, but it's still a big place and she doesn't have some claim on it. You'll try to stay out of her way though if you happen to see her.

Over the next few days you start making your routine visits to the university. You find it particularly easy to just go into the dorms and start pilfering things. These students have more money than a sense of security it seems. And the actual university security must be everyone that tried out for the Klyton militia and failed miserably.

After a week of looting the male dorms you decide to change it up and move on to the female dorms. You'll have to be more stealthy considering you can't just wander about as freely in there, but you've been doing this long enough now that you're confident that you shouldn't have too many problems.

Fortunately there are always a lot of parties going on and this weekend there is a big one that everyone is supposed to be excited to go to, so you figure that's the best time to strike.

After some stealthy moves you get in and begin rummaging through empty rooms. You're doing fairly well until you get to your fifth room and as you're going through one of the drawers you suddenly hear a little growl.

"I KNEW you were fucking stalking me! Get out! Get the fuck out of my room!" Annah suddenly shouts and hits you in the head with a shoe. You have no idea where she was hiding, you thought you were pretty observant and careful.

"Ow! Your room?" you say and begin blocking her attacks.
"Yes! This is my fucking room! Checkers attack!" Annah commands and you feel her fluffy hound viciously bite you on the ankle.
"Fuck! Little shit!" you say and kick the beast off of you causing it to yelp and hide behind Annah though still growling.
"You fucking asshole! You kicked my dog!"
"You told it to attack me! And how the hell is this your room, since when are you in college?"
"What's it to you? What? You didn't think I could make it on my own did you?"
"Well…"
"You didn't! I knew it! You've never supported me! Well as you can see I'm doing just fine without you, better in fact!"
"Oh sure, that's why I had to help you last week distracting those idiots you were trying to pick pocket."
"I was doing just fine with that! So why the fuck are you here anyway? You trying to get back with me? Because if you are, that ship has sailed a long time ago the moment you threw me out! Now stop stalking me and get out before I call security!"

You just leave

When Annah is like this, she's just going to keep on, and since she's obviously managed to fool people into thinking that she's a registered student here, you're at a disadvantage if she starts causing trouble. Best to just leave.

You hold up your hands and bow your head.

"Alright, alright, you win. I'll go. You won't see me anymore. Didn't mean to intrude and I'm glad you're doing well for yourself and not laying dead somewhere. I really mean that." You say and back off.

Annah just sniffs at you with a scowl while petting Checkers in her arms.

You leave the dorm with haste as well as the campus. Then its trip back to "home sweet home." You save your coin and walk back tonight, part of that walk involves thinking about Annah. You sort of figured you'd bump into her again, maybe on some level you might have even wanted to, but you didn't expect it to be like that.

You're guessing she's been lying about being in college, but it has to be more than that if she's actually living in one of the dorms. You remember your dad saying he lived in one for a while and how it was a big hassle to get a room in one.

You can only think that she stole someone's identity and maybe some forgery was involved. You suppose she could have paid someone to forge something or maybe they just don't bother checking the records very close anymore.

In any case, she's apparently got a sweet set up for however long it lasts. Sort of wish you'd thought of something like that. You guess you under-estimated her resourcefulness.

"Why the hell wasn't she suggesting this shit when we were together, instead of bitching all the time? Things might have…ugh, fuck it." You mutter.

You get home to the Welcome Mat and bump into Trobart, the crusty owner of the place. He gives you a dirty look like he gives you all the time.

"Hey you thieving asshole, I hope you stole enough to make rent this month because I'm raising it." He suddenly says.
"What? Why?" you respond.
"Because fuck you that's why. You're not special, it's going up for everyone. Speaking of not being special, I'm not your fucking personal secretary, so if you got lowlifes looking for you again, don't expect me to pass along another message!"
"Message? What message?"
"Some big guy probably in his forties or fifties, with a bushy beard, shaved head and weathered face came in and started asking everyone about you like he was the fucking Klyton Militia, put everyone on fucking edge."
"Was he armed or something?"
"No he wasn't fucking armed, at least not openly, but he was big and asking questions. Pretty sure you know that the folks here don't want that shit and I especially don't want it! I swear if you bring trouble here, I'm throwing your ass out!"
"Yeah yeah got it." You say trying not to be excessively dismissive.
"In any case, the fucker said he was carrying an important message for you from your family and that it's very urgent that you meet him at the Raggedy Man Inn."
"That's it?"
"Yeah that's fucking it."
"Okay, thanks."

Trobart shakes his head at you and moves on while you head back to your room. Along the way, you bump into Virgil who you haven't seen in a long time and were looking for, but now that Trobart's given you the info…

"Heeeeey you…" Virgil starts to say.
"Lost your chance Virgil, get out of my way." You say and shove him aside causing him to fall.

You shut your door, ignoring Virgil's cursing and pondering this new information you've been given.

Well this just keeps getting weirder. All you know about the Raggedy Man Inn is that it's in a worse part of Klyton than even you stay at. If this guy is some sort of courier, surely he already knows where to find you, especially if this is an urgent message from your family. And you can't begin to know what that might be if true. And why the hell wouldn't he just leave the message here? Unless it's something he has to deliver personally.

Part of you wants to just head to the Raggedy Man Inn to confront this person once and for all, but all of this sounds so damn suspicious that you can't imagine going there would do you any good other than getting caught in a trap.

Bloody Talons, pissed off ex, and some mysterious asshole looking for you, maybe its just time to leave Klyton completely. You really hate having to travel again though. Maybe you just need to find a better place to live. You'll think more on this tomorrow.

Tomorrow comes and you go back to the university to ply your trade without any incident this time. You don't see Annah thankfully, but you've been keeping away from the female dorms and any popular gathering spots since that seems to be how she's working the place.

You've actually taken an interest in sneaking into the medical school and stealing various drugs lying around. While it's not exactly an area you've been into before, you're fairly certain there's a market in selling typically unavailable drugs (and more reliable).

You keep up your usual caution and after about a week, nobody is trying to tell you that some guy is looking for you anymore. You end up wondering if it was some message from your family after all.

You've also made a nice profit from your dabbling in the drug trade. You even managed to perhaps get the Bloody Talons off your back since you sold to a lone Talon who seemed agreeable to the idea that maybe he could convince others to leave you alone if you managed to get more of the stuff. (You still aren't allowed to work on their turf though)

With things going well you continue with your life a little more relaxed. And while you're coming back from the university one night…

No sooner have you opened the door, when a hand strongly grips your hand and yanks you inside. You feel a foot trip you and you go plunging face first into the floor and hear the door being shut behind you.

"Now hol…" you start to say before you feel a boot kicking you in the side of the head.

"Stop talking, I don't want to hear your voice. This has to happen." You hear a voice say.

You manage to roll over and see a muscular older man with a beard standing over you with a very large knife.

This is the man that was looking for you.

"Who…" you start to say again before the man descends on top of your body and punches you in the face with his free hand.

"I said shut up! I thought about this. I thought about the pros and cons for a long time. The right and wrong. And ultimately it all comes back to justice." The man says.

You never put it together based on the vague descriptions by other people before, but you know who this man is. He's Klint's father.

"You took away my son and not only did you escape, but I see you merely plying your criminal ways here too. I could have easily told the Klyton militia about you, but no, I want to perform this justice myself. Not just for my son you murdered, but for ALL those you've hurt!" he shouts.

"Checkers attack!" you hear and this is followed by growling.
"AGH! Shit! Get off!" Klint's father shouts as Annah's dog has once again proven to be a vicious ankle biter.

You have no idea when or why Annah was following you, but you're glad she did. (And a testament to her stealth skills again, because you never even knew she was)

Taking advantage of the distraction, you grab Klint's father's wrist and wrestle the knife from his grip. The man is strong for his age, but between you, Checkers and even Annah hitting him in the head with a blackjack, you manage to disarm him and slide out from underneath.

"Fucking bitch!" KF shouts, getting in an upright position, kicking Checkers off of his leg and slapping Annah at the same time.

"I remember you too, you fucking whore. You can join your…Urk!" KF says before you interrupt him by stabbing him in the back.

He clumsily punches at you by flailing his arms backwards and even hits you in the face, but you don't stop, you pull out the dagger and stab him again.

And again, and again, and again, until he's lost his strength to even stand anymore. And then with all your strength you sink the blade in the back of his damned neck severing his spinal column from the rest of his head and through the front so part of the tip is coming out.

"Stop! He's dead!" Annah says.
"Shit…yeah…(pant) the fuck you come from?" you gasp.
"I followed you obviously, but let's talk about that later, we need to get the fuck outta here!"
"Fuck, right. Hold on."

You immediately go grab your savings stash and shove it in your pack, while Annah has already picked up her dog and took off.

"Hey cut out the noise! What the fuck are you degenerates doing over….oh what the fuck?!" Trobart says as he stands in the hallway just outside your door as you trying to exit the room.
"Fuck. Look, here." You say and hand him a shitload of coins and even a few gems you had.
"This ain't fucking enough! You've murdered this asshole right in my damn hotel! This is fucking serious! I run a clean place here."
"Fine, here." You say dropping a few more coins in his overfilled hands which fall to the floor.
"No, this is too fucking far! You're gonna…"
"I don't have time for this…"

You suddenly slam Trobart up against the wall which surprises the hell out of him.

"Look here, you old fuck! This asshole just tried to kill me and it was self defense! But even if you don't believe that then believe this, if I can do THAT to this fucker, I can do WORSE to your ass. You tell the fucking militia and I will fucking burn this shithole to the damn ground and everyone in it after ram my fist up your ass and tear out your damn spine!" you threaten.
"Alright! Alright! Shit! I know how to keep quiet you crazy fuck!" Trobart exclaims.
"Good, keep the coin."

You take your leave as quickly as possible. No sign of Annah, but then she always was good at making herself scarce whenever the shit really went down.

You get a few blocks away and sure enough, you hear her.

"Hey! Over here!" you hear Annah say from an alleyway. You stop and go over to her.

"You all right?" she asks while holding Checkers who curls up as close as she can to Annah when she sees you.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Probably won't need to worry about the law this time either. Well hopefully anyway."
"Glad to hear it."
"Hm, so why the hell were you following me? And before you even start, YES I am thankful you did, otherwise Klint's father probably would have killed me…shit I just realized I've killed that entire bloodline now and nearly under the same circumstances. Fucking hell…"
"I was following you because I wanted to talk to you since I'm well aware that you've still been thieving at the university. Though I appreciate that you were staying out of my way."
"What, have you been following me on the campus as well? Didn't you just accuse me of stalking you the last time we met?"
"You were in my room! What the hell was I supposed to think? Look, I just want to know, were you serious when you said you were glad to see I was doing well without you?"
"Well I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little envious that you've managed to have it a lot easier than me so quickly, but yes, I'd rather see you doing well than as I said before laying dead somewhere. I mean…yeah I guess I was an asshole that night I threw you out, but fuck you can't deny that you didn't play some part in compelling me to it."

Annah surprisingly nods her head a bit.

"Maybe…but you didn't have to be so mean. I cried over you for days." Annah says.
"I find that hard to believe." You retort.
"Well it's true you asshole! You were my first love, I had fun with you! And I thought you felt the same! I figured the best way to get over you was to just do it, but you still lingered in my mind every once in awhile. THEN you suddenly show up at the university and stir all my shit up again! I go some nights feeling sick thinking about what went so wrong that caused us to break up." Annah says getting emotional.

Well now you really do feel like an asshole. You actually figured if Annah did have any strong feelings for you, she had gotten over them fairly quickly.

"Sorry Annah." You say not really knowing how to follow up.
"Look…" Annah says trying to maintain her composure.

"I'm not saying we should get back together, because I dunno I guess you're right, maybe we're just not good like that. But we got history and I can't ignore that. I don't know anyone else in this city. Or at least nobody I really connect with. I still need ONE person that I really know in this city. Someone I can count on. So maybe… we can still work together from time to time?"

You nod.

"Of course. If there's ever some big job or even small job that you want to pull off and need extra help with, I'll be around."
"Okay. Well, I should get back. What are you going to do?"
"I dunno, find a new place to live I guess. Maybe move some place more upscale, hey how exactly DID you pull off living in a dorm anyway? I mean I have so many question about that situation."
"Yes, well maybe another time. Anyway you take care, okay?"
"I will."

Annah turns and walks off. You watch her and follow her a bit until you see her catch a carriage.

It's been a weird night. Your encounter with Annah aside, you still haven't fully processed the fact that you had to kill Klint's father tonight. You aren't quite sure how you feel about that, except better him than you.

And that you really need to invest in a flintlock. You're done with this wrestling around on the floor with a knife shit.

You time passes...

Year 21

"You're raising the rent here?!" you say.
"Hey, cost of living. Or more specially Klyton raising property taxes to put it into security of the city. Your Bloody Talon pals have really been raising hell lately." Hank replies.
"The Talons are far from being my pals. I don't even do business with those crazy fuckers anymore. Haven't ever since they pulled that shit last year where killed a bunch of the militia. Associating with psycho assholes on any level like that is a sure way of getting targeted."
"Well be that as it may, the new rent price remains. Hey, you should be lucky; I'm letting you stay here. I don't generally have people making their homes here. Clientele tends to be travelling merchants and such staying for awhile, which I know damn well you're stealing from. Another risk I'm taking."
"I'm also getting you proper pain killers for cheap and you don't have to roll the dice getting whatever the shit the apothecary thinks is going to work on any given day."
"Another reason you're getting to stay here."
"Bah, you let that dumb poet stay here for fucking free and as far as I can tell all she does is drive away your customers with her horrible poetry that she does on stage."
"Yeah well unless you're somehow suddenly transforming into a young girl that's willing to suck my dick on a regular basis, you don't get to stay for free."

You think for a moment.

"Say Hank, what would you say if I told you I could find some actual talent to grace that stage of yours that might drum up more business?"
"Well, I'd say that would certainly go a long way in decreasing your rent. The problem with that plan is I'm going to have to pay for actual talent unless you know of some idiots that are going to work for free or practically for free."
"Oh I'm sure I could probably find some."
"Well I'll be waiting then."

Great, now all you have to do is go find some starving artist types.

Time to take a trip to the university, specifically to the school of arts. Personally you've always tended to stay away from that area due to the unbearable pretentiousness and the fact that the fuckers never much coin to their name. Must be nice not having to do shit all day and having your expensive "education" being paid for you.

You never really thought about it before, but shit, your dad worked fucking hard to achieve his goals. Makes you almost feel guilty about the fact that you pursued a life of crime, but at least you've got a little of his "work ethic" right?

Also makes you appreciate some of the songs your sister made up in her spare time. Granted you never were much into some of the songs she wrote, but even when she was sixteen she was writing shit a lot better (and certainly playing a lot better) than some of these so called bards around here. Hopefully she's doing well, wherever she is.

Knowing how Hank has a predilection for young girls, you attempt talk up some of those first.

Unfortunately you aren't having much success for whatever reason. Normally something like this would crush your ego, but since you doing this more to alleviate your financial costs rather than getting laid, you're just more annoyed than anything else.

Moving on to guys, you don't have much success there either. It would appear nobody is interested in slumming and are perfectly content on plying their trade at the artsy locations around the campus. You question how ANY of these fuckers know anything about "life experience" if they aren't even traveling out of their comfort zones.

"Bunch of fucking poseurs. And of course none of them got two gold coins to their name." You mutter as you go through the pittance you managed to steal.

As you're taking a break from your failed talent search, you run into a more familiar face.

"What the hell are you doing on this part of campus? These fuckers don't have any coin and if you're trying to sell them drugs, you're doomed to fail since most of them all smoke that shitty version of Green Lotus that they grow themselves. Barely even gets you high." Annah remarks.
"No kidding. That's all I've smelled since I've been here. Hate it. I wouldn't even be here if I wasn't trying to find cheap talent for the inn I'm currently living at. What're you doing here? And where's that little hell hound of yours?" you say.
"I got a roommate that take classes over here and she needed me to help her move her big ass painting. Looks like she just vomited paint all over a white board, but I guess that's what gets you an A around here. As for Checkers, she's safely asleep at my place. So talent search huh? What's that all about?"
"Just trying to lower my rent a bit. Hey, you got any more artsy friends that are into poetry and singing and shit like that?"
"Eh, not really. Even Jenny, the one I just helped I'm only good with because she helped with a couple jobs last year."

You tilt your head.

"Been doing jobs without me?" you ask.
"Sometimes, I don't need a master lock pick or safe cracker all the time. Sometimes honeyed words will do."
"Didn't think you needed any help in that department."
"I don't usually, but let's just say Jenny's willing to go that extra step sometimes to gain access to the inaccessible. Under certain circumstances, you'd probably like her."
"Hm, I'll bet. Well I guess I'll see you around."
"What so soon? We haven't seen each other for awhile. Come, I'll help you. What are you looking for exactly? " Annah asks.

You explain the situation in greater detail and Annah says that she (or Jenny at least) can probably find what you're looking for.

"Now, we can probably convince some of these girls into slumming, but the problem is, they aren't going to want to stick around. Especially if you're trying practically pimp them out to some gross old inn owner. So this means that doesn't really solve your issues. What you need is someone that's going to come back and is willing to work for practically nothing. Would a band suffice, because I got one in mind and they'll probably just perform for free drinks." Annah says.
"Sure, what's the catch?" you ask.
"Well they're a group of elves for one thing and I think you know how unruly those fuckers can get. It's mainly why this band doesn't play many places outside the few locations around the campus that are prepared for their brand of wild shit since most tavern and inn owners don't want to deal with them. Now the plus side is they're going to draw a crowd, believe me. I've seen it multiple times."
"You think they'll go for it?"
"Sure, they're elves. They are probably eager to play at a whole new location for a change. Plus Jenny will probably fuck all of them if that doesn't convince them."
"Wow. Okay then. Oh, they aren't too destructive are they?"
"Eh, not in the traditional sense no. I mean any damage they do cause is mostly confined to on stage and going to be minor compared to the crowd they bring in. However, they do have some rather interesting theatrics on stage. It's part of why people like to watch them."
"Sounds reasonable I guess. What are they called anyway?"
"Nature's Revenge."
"Hm, how elven. Alright when's the soonest you can get all this done?"
"Probably in a couple days. You're at the Laughing Devil right? We'll just show up on the weekend. Tell your inn owner to be prepared for a large crowd. Larger than that place has ever seen."
"Sounds good. Well guess that's it then. Glad I ran into you. Been awhile since we've worked together on something."
"I suppose it has."
"So…you still in those dorms?"
"Oh, nah. Couldn't keep up that ruse forever and still be officially enrolled here without arousing suspicion. I just live with Jenny now in this small home her parents pretty much paid for."

Once again, Annah has a much better set up than you do. Not that you really care…okay maybe you're curious, but you have to ask…

"Um, so you and this Jenny…"

Annah rolls her eyes.

"Ew. No. And you wish." Annah says.
"Okay, okay, I had to ask. I still don't know how you originally pulled off this whole college student thing, which you still won't tell me." You say.
"Another time perhaps. So what about you? You still living your usual frugal existence? I'm guessing so if you're concerned about your living arrangements."
"The Laughing Devil isn't that cheap, and far from being the shithole the Welcome Mat was so it's not that frugal."
"I'm also guessing you've probably got a small fortune hidden away like one of those dragon stories of old."
"You always did know me."
"Now that's one thing I never understood about you, why do you bother saving? You're an excellent thief. I mean I'd never deny that. You could be living so much better than you are."
"Well I guess we can't all be blessed with the charisma you have."
"You could probably work on that, but that's beside the point. I'm just saying you could be doing better. Sometimes I think you're content on being a near do well."

Now you roll your eyes.

"Right. This coming from the woman who is sponging off some other woman who is sponging off her parents. Look, you got your way of doing things, I got mine. I once again thank you for your help, but we're not fucking so I don't have to listen to this…whatever this is." You say.

You start to walk away.

"Well what if we were fucking?"

You turn around.

"What?"
"I know you heard me. And I KNOW damn well you still think about it. I've know the stories about you requesting that those little brothel whores to try to look like me when you're at those places."
"I did that like maybe few times years ago after we first broke up! Fuck, I mean I didn't…shit…how do you even know about that?"
"Face it, you never got over me."
"Hmm, considering that you have more of a habit of spying and stalking me, I'd say that could be said more about you."

At this point Annah walks up closer to you. She's actually looking pretty good right now. The make up isn't too much, but it's definitely enough to make her look more seductive than she might normally. She smells nice too. Some sort of flowery perfume you guess. Living in luxury has its perks.

"I've never denied it. Doesn't matter how many other guys I've been with since you, I've always said you were the first and will probably be my only true love." Annah says running her index finger down the side of your face.
"I see…wait…how many guys have you been with?" you ask.
"Hah…you jealous? See? Why don't you just admit that you fucked up, and breaking up with me was the worst mistake you ever made? Think about all time we've spent apart in this city yet still working great together as a team stealing from rich asshole's houses that I've cased. It's always been me and you versus everyone else. So much of that time while fruitful, could have been a lot more fun if we had been still intimate. I miss the fun we had. Don't you miss the fun?"

Annah now practically has her legs wrapped around you. Fortunately you're still in the school of arts area so nobody is really paying much attention since public outdoor fucking isn't that uncommon around here, what with everyone being a free spirit and all.

While you might just be thinking with your dick right now, you'd still rather have a bit of privacy.

"Okay, Annah you got my attention, but if we're gonna do this, we need more privacy." You say.
"Of course, let's go back to your place." Annah replies.
"My place? That's a little far. Can't we just go to yours? Your roommate is in class right now."
"Eh, I'd rather not. Without going into too much detail, I tried to have company over once when she wasn't around and she pitched a bitch about it. And given what I've got in store for you, it's going to be real obvious I've had someone over. Hell, we might not even be done by the time she gets back."

You smile a little at that remark.

"Is that right? Well maybe we can spare the extra time to go back to my place. We're taking a carriage though." You say.
"Good, we can start on the way there then." Annah says.

So after quickly catching a carriage and getting inside in, Annah is true to her word and wastes no time in getting started.

By the gods you have missed her mouth…

When you reach the Laughing Devil, you almost just want to fuck her in the carriage rather than pulling your pants up and going to your room.

However you manage to do it anyway and are practically running with one hand holding up your pants and the other grabbing Annah's hand who is keeping up with your pace and going on about how she's going to do all those things that you had those whores do, but do it way better.

You still don't know how she knew about some of that stuff, but you're eager to see her prove herself.

You manage to get to your room and you've got your dick in her before you even get to the bed. In any case, once again Annah isn't fucking around (so to speak) and proves just what you've been missing all these years.

You seriously don't remember it being this good before. Not that it was ever really bad with her, but this is something else. She's either learned something in the time you've been apart or she's been holding back all this time.

It's so good in fact that you actually feel genuinely drained and get sleepy soon after you climax.

"By the gods…I love you…" you utter and then drift off.

You later...

You wake up and find that it's now nighttime. You groggily look around and don't see Annah. You call out to her, but there is no answer.

You sit up and after stretching a bit, you suddenly have a horrible realization.

"Oh shit. Shit! Shit! No, no, no, no. Fuck!" you say as you immediately go to the loose floorboard under the dresser where you keep your hidden savings.

You continue to curse yourself for being so stupid and not realizing something was up from the start.

And then you find that your savings are still there. Even the blade trap you have set hasn't been disturbed. You then breathe sigh a relief as you put everything back.

While Annah didn't rip you off, you guess that she just didn't want to stick around. You figure that she had to get back to the university to get prepare things on her end. Or at least you thought she did until she comes walking back in the room.

"Oh you're finally up sleepyhead. Given how long you slept, guessing you haven't had that sort of loving in a long time. Not surprised." Annah says.
"You're still here." You reply.
"Of course I am. Did you not want me to be?"
"No! I do. I'm just surprised."
"Why? What, did you think I was going to do, rob you blind while you were asleep and leave?"
"Heh, no…"
"Pfft, liar. You DID think that. I bet you checked all your hiding spots in this room after you woke up."

Your silence confirms her accusations.

"It's okay, I probably would have done the same. I came on so strong I guess it would be natural for you to have some suspicion." Annah says.
"Actually, at the time I wasn't thinking at all except the obvious. In fact the only worry I had was that you might be fucking with me and were going to just leave me at the university with a massive hard on." You reply.
"Nah, I'd never do that to you."
"So where did you go?"
"Oh I just came back from speaking to your inn owner Hank. Told him that all about the cheap talent that's going to grace his inn this weekend. He seemed receptive to the idea. Kept staring at my tits the whole time, I'm assuming if I hadn't mentioned that I was your girlfriend, he would have tried to touch me as well. Ugh, he's gross. But in any case everything's set on this side, I just have to speak with Nature's Revenge and a few others and this place will be party central."
"You didn't need to speak to Hank, I would 've done that, but thanks for saving me the trouble. You've certainly been more than helpful today."
"Well…I suppose I do have an ulterior motive of sorts."
"…oh well I guess you're telling me to my face at least. Alright out with it."

Annah sits next to you on the bed and holds one of your hands. This must be serious.

"I need your help on a job." She says.
"…that's it? I thought you were going to ask for something unreasonable. Wait, are we trying to rob a bank or city hall or something?"
"No, nothing like that. Just need you to crack open Jenny's safe."

Now you're totally confused. Annah smiles and explains before you can ask the obvious.

"I've tried several times to get into the thing while she wasn't around, but no luck. I'm just not skilled at it like you are. I need an expert." Annah says.
"Well that answers one obvious question, but why other one would be why? I mean not that I particularly care I suppose, but I was under the impression you were somewhat friends with this girl."
"Eh, we have common interests in some regards. She's a typical rich kid doing illegal shit every now and then for kicks, but lately she's been sort of a bitch to live with. Which brings me to my other reason of why I'm doing this. I'm leaving the city so I figured I wouldn't leave empty handed."
"Wait, you're leaving the city?! Why? Where are you going to go? Did you intend on telling me?"

Annah goes on to tell you that she's getting bored of Klyton and wants to see more of the world. She says that when she first came to Klyton she initially wanted to live here for the rest of her life, believing it to have everything she'd ever want. She then says its funny that masquerading as a university student caused her to learn more about the world and how she wants to see more of it.

So that's why she's leaving. As for telling you, she said she went back and forth on whether or not if she should since even though you weren't together any more, she got the impression that you might be inclined to talk her out of leaving. Running into you when she did and your reaction to her advances sort of solved that personal dilemma though.

"I want you to come with me." She says.
"Annah…" you start to say.
"I know, I know, you're not a traveller and you hate it, but you'll be with me. That should certainly take some of the sting out. And I know…I know in the past how I was always nagging you. I think you'll find that I've changed a lot since then."
"Well that is true."
"I mean I want us to start completely over together and part of that would be leaving this city and going some place else."
"Where would we go?"
"I dunno, anywhere. Hessla for starters? The point is I want you to come with me. I mean…I just don't see it as a bad idea given how we obviously feel towards each other."

Well Annah always does get right to the point on how she really feels about you. Maybe she's right, maybe you could use a change of scenery. You've certainly saved more than enough to move and live comfortably elsewhere. (You assume Hessla is probably cheaper, if that's your first destination)

"Okay, Annah. I'll come with you, but that sort of makes this getting elven musicians and shit here sort of pointless."
"Not really. I mean I still need some time to get ready for the trip and I imagine even with your meager belongings you might not want to just suddenly jump on a carriage. Also, this weekend is still going to be the best time to go rob Jenny's safe since she's going to be home the rest of the week. I can also convince her to come with me here to enjoy the show. So while I'm here with her, you can go clean out her safe and take a few other items as well."
"So what exactly did this Jenny do to you?"
"As I said, she's been a fucking bitch and even if I wasn't leaving the city, I'd probably be moving out soon anyway. Trust me, she's got this coming."
"Hey, I'm not judging. So of course I'll need some more information on the lay out of this place."

Annah goes into great detail about her place of residence and everything you'll find in it. She mentions the safe itself is under the bed, but points out that Jenny has a few nice pieces of jewelry in another more accessible box on her dresser. When you ask if she knows what's actually in the safe, Annah says as far as she knows there are some valuable family heirlooms in there and probably a few gems and coins as well.

"Jenny might come from money, but she's a bit of a hording cheapskate, somewhat like you in that regard. As I said, under different circumstances, you'd probably get along with her." Annah say with a chuckle.

Annah then tells you that when you're done robbing the place; meet her back at the Laughing Devil and you can go from there.

In the meantime, Annah says she better get back to the university to get the rest of this plan in motion.

You spend the rest of the week more or less taking it easy and mentally preparing yourself for taking another trip. You didn't envision yourself leaving Klyton like this, but you're starting to look forward to the idea. Maybe your dick's not so dumb.

Annah comes to meet you the day before with a few bags (and Checkers who is still the furry little demon dog that growls at you when she sees you) stating that Nature's Revenge will be coming tomorrow night along with a few other amateur bard types, but definitely better than the chick spouting shitty poetry on a regular basis. She says word is already spreading around the university and there should be a large crowd.

"So it's a all set. As you might have noticed I've brought some bags with me, I figured you won't mind me staying here tonight. It'll save time." Annah remarks.
"Of course not, but what about Jenny?" you ask.
"Oh I already told her about the big gathering tomorrow. I told her I'd meet her here and as far as she knows I'm just staying at my boyfriend's place tonight, which isn't a lie. Oh shit. I forgot my key to the house to give you."
"Hardly a problem. I can pick the lock."
"You're so talented. I'll be so glad when we're out of this city. I'm bored of it already. Come on, make me less bored." Annah says and begins caressing and kissing on you.

You see no reason to decline this request and spend more quality time with Annah for the rest of day (and night).

You wake up the next day a little later than usual and find Annah going through her bags. You also hear the sound of music and mild revelry in the distance.

"Shit, is that the band? Am I late? Fuck I gotta get going!" you say.
"Relax, Nature's Revenge isn't even here yet, that's just some opening act and it only just started. If you were late, I would have woke you up." Annah says.
"Yeah…still I should get going."
"Jenny's not even here yet either. You've got time." Annah says and stops what she's doing, goes over to the bad and grabs your cock.

"Again? But…shouldn't I really get going?" you say.
"As I said, you've got time. You can skip the foreplay." Annah says and before you can reply, she's kissing and getting on top you.

Well no point in arguing with her when she's like this…

After spending even more quality time with Annah (which took longer than you meant to) you're putting on your pants, grabbing your pack with tools, steeping over Checkers (who has been sleeping most of the time she's been here) and rushing out the door.

"Be careful, I love you!" Annah beams while lying naked on the bed.
"Yeah…and you stay exactly like that when I return." You reply and close the door.

You run past the crowds in the Laughing Devil which are cheering some bard on stage and go outside where you run into three tattooed androgynous looking elves with wild colored hair carrying instruments and exiting a nearby carriage. You're guessing that this is Nature's Revenge.

Not really giving a shit about them, you just push past and get in the easily accessible carriage and tell the driver to take you to the university.

Eventually as you get close to the destination you get out since Annah's old home is off campus, not actually on it. When you finally get there, it's indeed a nice home, but not overly fancy. You've probably passed it a few times not really giving it a second look.

After a quick perusal of the outside surroundings, you're guessing the Jenny has already left so you quickly get to work on picking the lock, which is easy for you of course.

You get inside and immediately head to the location of the safe since you want to be in and out of here as soon as possible. Pushing the bed slightly, you uncover the safe and get to work.

It's actually not too complex, but you're not surprised Annah couldn't get it open. She never was adept at it, hence why she's gotten you in the first place.

You crack the safe and indeed find quite a bit of coin in the safe. You find a couple of small objects that may or may not be valuable though. Seems like Annah thought there was more in there than there actually was, still, it's not a bust by any means.

As you finish dumping the contents into your pack, you're about to check the rest of the house, and that's when you suddenly hear the front door open! What the fuck!? Did she actually come home already?

You didn't even remember to bring your weapons with you since you were in such a hurry, not that you wanted to turn this into a murder in the first place. You figure you got two options at this point, either hide or try to escape out a window.

You hide

You quickly scramble from your prone position and look for a hiding spot. Your hope is you can somehow sneak past Jenny and run out the front door. You run into the other bedroom, which you presume, used to be Annah's and hide in the closet.

First thing you notice is that Annah is leaving a shitload of clothes behind, but then again it would be impossible to pack everything. The second thing you notice is stout wooden hangers one of which you grab as a weapon just in case.

Meanwhile, you hear giggling and footsteps of what sounds like two people rather than just one, and the lower sounding voice of the second voice sounds male.

You stand in the closet listening to Jenny and whoever the guy is and hear them get closer, though eventually their voices trail off in a different direction and given what they're laughing and talking about, it sounds like they're heading towards Jenny's bedroom, which is a relief to you.

When you hear the throes of ecstasy, that's when you make your move and quickly nip out of Annah's room, past Jenny's room and soon out the front door, with nobody the wiser.

You put a lot of distance between yourself and Jenny's house and eventually you manage to catch a carriage and go back to the Laughing Devil.

When you arrive, the place is the busiest you've ever seen. The merriment is even spilling outside a bit. So much so that you notice Klyton Watchmen milling about nearby which makes you a bit nervous. You head inside as fast as you can, fighting through the crowds.

You see Nature's Revenge up on stage performing some sort of minor magical act along with one of them playing music. Its very colorful and interesting, but right now you just want to find Annah and get the hell out of here.

You manage to make it to your room, as just as you do, Annah grabs your ass, scaring the hell out of you.

"Hey handsome, you get lucky yet?" Annah remarks holding a drink in her other hand.
"What the fuck! You startled me! And after…nevermind let's talk inside and do it quickly." You remark and start guiding Annah inside.
"Alright, alright, I see you want to get to celebrating again."

Annah hands you the drink she's holding when you get inside.

"What's this for?" you ask.
"To celebrate, I mean you were successful right?" Annah asks.
"Yeah, but…"
"Well have a drink then. I mean I know you don't do it a lot, but I think the start of our new lives is call for it. I'd drink with you, but I think I might have had my limit. Any more and I'll be dancing naked through the streets! Hey remember that time I nearly did that in Teckleville before you stopped me?"
"Yeah, but…"

Annah at this point shoves the drink in your hand and takes your pack out of your other hand. She opens it up and smiles.

"Heh, I knew you'd be able to do it." She says and then kisses you on the lips.
"Hey Annah I…" you start to say before being interrupted again.
"Wait, I know how YOU really want to celebrate…"

Annah begins taking off her clothes and getting on the bed.

"Annah, I'm trying to tell you, I really think we should get out of here right now. There's Klyton Militia about outside and it's a little disconcerting that your friend Jenny came home while I was in the middle of robbing the place."
"What? I didn't even see her leave. In fact I thought she was still out there."
"Well no, she apparently came home with some guy and I had to sneak out."
"Nobody saw you right?"
"No."
"Then there's nothing to worry about, come on lover, I got my own lock that I want your pick in."

At this point Annah turns around on all fours and turns her head to the side to give you that "What're you waiting for, start fucking!" look. Without thinking about it anymore, you down the drink in your hand, toss it aside and start to unbuckle your pants.

You manage to get a few minutes into it and you start to feel woozy. At first you just think that you're just getting too much of a good thing too fast, but then your vision starts to get blurry.

"The fuck…shit…" you say and slide out of Annah and fall backwards on the floor narrowly missing Checkers who barks at you, being annoyed that your nearly fell on her.

As your body goes numb and your vision now starts to darken, you genuinely think you're dying. You see Annah stand over you and then everything goes black.

Later

You wake up with a really bad headache. In fact most of your body aches, but you don't feel very weak and manage to sit up. Sunlight is coming through the window, so it must be daytime and your eyes are certainly feeling it.

You manage to stand up and through the squinting, you notice a piece of paper on the nightstand. You notice there's writing on it and after rubbing your eyes a bit; you read it even though you have somewhat of an idea of what's happened.

Asshole,

If you're reading this then I've already left the city and you're awake. I wasn't sure if I drugged the drink too much, but I took a chance. I'm just glad you decided to drink at all. I wasn't confident I'd necessarily be able to knock you out by hitting you in the head.

If you haven't checked already, you'll find that I've emptied your savings and taken everything you stole from that house you robbed yesterday. I could have ripped you off that first night we spent together, since I found the hiding spot while you were sleeping, but then I wouldn't have been able to use you one more time would I?

I suppose you're wondering if I planned all this out, well no not initially. I really was getting ready to move on with my life and leave the city, but running into just presented an opportunity I couldn't pass up. Sweet revenge. Revenge that I kept toying with for years and finally had the guts to go through with.

Honestly, I'm a little surprised that you fell so easily to my charms as well as my lies. I mean there never was a Jenny. That was just some woman's house I broke into recently and could never get the safe open.

I guess you had more feelings for me than I thought, or maybe I'm just that good. But I hope it's the first because that means you might be having strong feelings of betrayal right now.

I never forgot that night you threw me out. I never forgave it either. And fuck your lame ass apology you tried to give earlier about it.

Hopefully this will give you some sort of taste of what I felt that night and if not, well at least I got your loot.

And after all this, you're still my first love and probably my only because I can't trust anyone ever again. This is what you've done to me.

Annah

P.S.

Don't bother going to Hessla to try to track me down, I didn't go there.

You sit down on the bed and lie back trying to process all this.

You got fucked in more ways than one and the worst part, you don't have anyone to blame but yourself.

Your dick was dumb after all.

You feel like you should be angrier about this and you are pissed to some extent. Maybe even a little hurt, but small part of you can't help but admire the fact that Annah pulled your strings so flawlessly. She must have been seething for years and still managed to keep it from you since you really thought she was over it. Some damn fine restraint on her part.

Not much you can do about it anyway at this point. You suppose you could go to Hessla anyway since she might have been lying about not going there, but it'll be long walk since you don't even have money for a carriage there, of course that can be corrected pretty quickly.

But what are you really going to do, if you do find her? Kill her? You're not going to do that even with as mad as you are, you know damn well you wouldn't be able to. You've never even hit her (except slapping her ass during sex) the whole time you were together and she was bitching at you constantly and arguably that was worse than what she just did to you since it was ongoing.

Maybe she deserved her revenge, maybe you've just got a soft spot for her, or maybe you just can't be bothered. Whatever the case, you won't be chasing her down.

As for what you're going to do, you guess you need to build up your coin all over again. She didn't take your tools or weapons, so that's a plus. The whole reason why you were leaving Klyton was to start this new life with Annah. Now that that's off the table, you might as well stay a little longer. Who knows though, maybe you will leave one day.

You get dressed and gather your tools of the trade and exit your room ready to get to work.

As you're doing so, you run into Hank who is telling his various employees to clean up the mess in the main room with the stage. He sees you and walks over.

"Well I have to say, you came through. Got those elven bitches to agree to perform here once a month. With as many people that were here last night I made more money than I have in a month. Consider your rent lowered." Hank remarks.
"Oh. Thanks. Told you I'd do it." You reply.
"Hm. Where's that girlfriend of yours?"
"Ah, she took off. Just wasn't working out y'know? She bitched a lot."
"Oh. Yeah I guess I can understand that. Who needs that buzzing in your ear right? Still, she was sweeeet. I bet you had fun with her while it lasted."
"Indeed."
"Not as fine as those elven bitches though. Fuck, one of them had lips that could make a man cry and that one was fucking wild let me tell you."

You give Hank an odd look.

"What elven bitches are we talking about exactly?" you ask.
"Nature's Revenge! The lead singer. She was a fucking beauty. I mean I know elves tend to be pretty, but fuck. I wasted no time in putting the moves on her after their set and she was already giving me head. Fucking hell it was great!" Hank remarks.
"Uhh, Hank, all of them were guys."
"What? Nah, you're fucking with me."
"Hank, I'm really not. I'm serious. I mean I know it's hard to tell sometime with elves, but they were definitely guys. All of them."

Hank's former happy expression drops and he sits down in a nearby chair with a hand over his mouth.

"Hank? You, okay?" you ask.
"I…but…she couldn't… I mean I would have known… by the gods…"
"What?"
"I…I fucked the elf in the ass." Hank whispers, with his eyes darting around making sure nobody else is listening.

You nearly have to stop yourself from laughing.

"How the hell did you not know, if you got that far?" you ask.
"I dunno! I mean I just…I was drunk okay! She or he or whatever wanted to get fucked in the ass and I wasn't thinking with anything except my dick at that point. Oh shit, I feel sick…" Hank says.
"Yep…thinking with your dick. Gets you into trouble every time. Though I gotta say, hasn't gotten me in quite the same trouble."
"You can't tell anyone!"
"Okay, okay, I'm not gonna say shit. However, I think I'd like my room to be free."
"What?!"
"You heard me."
"Fuck you. Just fuck you."
"Sorry, I'm not a free spirited elf."
"Shhhh! Keep your voice down!"
"So free room then?"
"Yeah yeah sure! Just don't say anything!"
"Sure thing, but how are you going to keep your elf from talking?"
"Fuck. I'm gonna have…shit, I need to talk to her, I mean him, I mean…damnit!"
"I'll leave you to it."

As you leave Hank with his dilemma, you think to yourself, things could always be worse.

You time passes...

Year 23

"Here you go, but Hank you really need to start going easy on this shit. It's getting a little harder to get. It's almost as if the Klyton medical school is starting to realize their Numb supply is getting stolen." You say giving Hank his fix.
"Can't you just go steal from the hospital?" Hank asks.
"Well yes I could and I have, but they got their shit a lot more secure. Probably better than some jewelry stores. I start making that place a regular target and the price is going to go up."
"Up? You're already getting free fucking room and board!"
"And you're still fucking that elf that you don't want anyone to know about."
"You know, I've been thinking more about that and I'm starting to think that T'ra'ni is right and I shouldn't be ashamed of who I am. I mean why should I? It's no big deal."
"Hm, well that fine that you're discovering shit about yourself. Personally I don't give a shit, but I've gotten very comfortable here and I'm saying I don't want to pay any fucking rent and if you try to make me, you aren't going to have to worry about if I'm going to blab about your sexual habits, you just won't be getting any more Numb. I got other customers and there are always other places I can find to live."

Hank looks a little surprised by your hardened approach on this. You're not sure why, it's not like you two are good buddies or something. You're his fucking dealer and he's hooked on the shit you can easily get for him.

"You're a fucking asshole." Hank replies.
"Yeah well, be that as it may, this place isn't doing all that bad since I arrived. I don't see you starving and besides androgynous elves, you're swimming in college pussy and getting your drugs. So I say things are going to stay as they are for now." You say.

Hank wants to say more, but he just gives you a dirty look and walks off. With that bullshit out of the way, you head to your free room. Before you even get there, you see a woman lingering in front of the door. She doesn't look like one of the college crowd that comes here now, or a merchant or possibly a wannabe bard.

She's dressed in pragmatic clothing more suited to one skilled of the ways of a rogue. In some ways she looks a little like an older version of Annah.

In other words, a woman of quality.

"Ah, there you are. I was waiting for you and didn't want to just surprise you by waiting inside your room. You know, you really should get better locks on the door. I'd think someone like you would know better." The woman remarks.
"It's not usually a problem. Besides, I learned a long time ago that it often doesn't matter how good the lock, if someone wants in, they're getting in." you reply.
"True. I guess you would know. Anyway, I'm Zalmora."
"Hm. Is that supposed to mean something?"
"No, though I know you've sold shit to the Bloody Talons in the past, surprised you haven't heard any of them talking about me in passing. Or more likely bitching about me."
"I don't really have long conversations with Talon assholes. I generally just want them to buy their shit and go murder an old lady or whatever it is they do nowadays. In fact, are they still even around? Last I heard a shitload of them got killed two months ago in a big Klyton militia raid. Including their leader Jake."
"Yeah, the Bloody Talons are indeed no more. Oh sure there's a couple of them still lingering about trying to keep what's left of the rabble, but I anticipate that even that will be gone by the end of the year thanks to the militia."
"Well, that's what they get for being so high profile and generally being a bunch of unsubtle idiots. Wait, were you in the Talons?"
"I was. And it's all true, they were a bunch of unsubtle idiots. Wasn't always like that of course when we were the Crimson Talons, but well shit happens. Perhaps that's how I managed to stay undetected since I was probably one of the few that was still a professional. Kind of like you in that way right?"
"I guess. So why'd you stay?"
"Love I guess? I mean Jake was a bloodthirsty asshole that was a terrible leader, but I think he cared about me as much as he understood it anyway. And he had a certain charm, at times."
"Sounds like a true love story. Anyway, what did you want? Are you here to buy or something?"
"Actually I was wondering if you'd be interested in doing a job with me. I'm well aware of your skills and I think it would go a lot easier with your assistance."
"I'm sure it would, but I don't partner with anyone."
"You don't? I thought you had a girl you routinely partnered with all the time. Wasn't she your girlfriend or…oh wait…bad break up?"

You don't reply.

"Okay, I see. Yeah I suppose that might put a crimp in your trust level which is probably low enough seeing our line of work and all." Zalmora remarks.
"Not to mention I don't even know you." You add.
"Well does that matter? I'd argue that familiarity is one of the more minor factors in whether you can trust someone or not. I mean there were a few times in the Talons where apparent friends backstabbed each other."
"I suppose that's a valid point. However, it's still a factor never the less. I mean just speaking on a professional level, I know I'm good, but I don't know how good YOU are. I just know you were in the Bloody Talons and given what I knew of most of them doesn't speak highly."

Zalmora chuckles a bit.

"Something funny?" you ask.
"Yeah. Never thought MY skills would ever be called into question. That's good though, means you really are a professional and serious about your work. Look, I'm going to go ahead and tell you what the job is. Kenzer's Gems and Jewels." Zalmora says.
"Kenzer's huh? I just got done telling someone that the Klyton hospital has better security then most jewelry stores and of course now you're telling me you're hitting the one exception. Place might as well be a bank. In fact a bank might be easier. Still, you got my attention so you might as well come inside and tell me of this mad plan."

You open the door and you both enter where after mentioning something about your room, she goes into detail about the plan.

The plan is actually surprisingly simple. It's just a basic break in with more attention on the security and locks. She says that she's actually been casing the place on and off for a year and even acquired special dwarven thieving tools to help in her task.

Her main concern is possible magic protection which seems like a given and partially asked for your help since she knows your area is the university which also houses the college of magic and was wondering if perhaps you had any access to or perhaps even acquired anything that might bypass such things.

You explain that you've always sort of stayed away from the college of magic despite lurking around there a couple times out of curiosity. You say you've toyed with the idea pilfering from there before since it never seemed like the place was any better protected than most of the other parts of the university, but you were always a bit paranoid that you'd pick up something that might just give you a fate worse than death.

Zalmora nods at your words.

"I see. Well would you have any problems with me poking about the place?" Zalmora asks.
"What the college of magic? No. I mean you don't need my permission." You say.
"Yes, I know I don't, however I know its in your territory so to speak, I don't really want to cause any potential problems."
"Heh, well gotta say, I'm not used to this sort of professional courtesy from anyone before, let alone anyone from the Talons who were often telling ME to get the fuck off their territory whether I was working there or not. In any case, you'll get no issues from me. Though I'd be careful fucking around in there."
"Risks of the trade. I imagine you'd know something of that."
"True, though I think I make more coin selling the various hospital drugs I steal. If I actually knew how to make the shit, I'd probably just do that instead because its far less work especially since there's practically no competition. Unless you count the various Green Lotus dealers and they certainly don't count."
"Yeah the Talons were once in the drug trade. Not sure why we stopped really. I think the new leader at the time Tom wanted to step away from it since it drew too much heat. Then again Yellow Devil causing addicts to melt would certainly that. Sort of figured when Jake took charge we might get back into it, but still a bit too organized for him I think. Honestly I think he would have just preferred leading a gang that ambushed travellers on the roads."
"Hm. Well he certainly might have lasted longer. You act like a mad dog, you'll eventually get put down like one."
"Indeed. However, I'd say staying put and getting too comfortable like a fat lazy cat is likely to get one eventually grabbed by the scruff, put in a bag and thrown in a river."
"Okay, I feel like that was directed at me."
"More of a warning. Not sure if you realize it or not but security has increased a lot in the city. Granted a lot of that might be the fault of the Bloody Talons making such a mess of things, but the reasons don't matter. What matters is, things are getting harder for people like us."
"Didn't you just say that's the risks of the trade?"
"Yeah, but there's also anticipating getting out of the way of trouble you can't handle. Not saying that time is now, but it's coming soon. And this nice comfortable set up you have might all come crashing down even if you're careful. After all, with the Talons out of the way, attention is going to focus on the next biggest criminals in the city and I'd say you'd fit the bill."
"Duly noted. Well if you're done with your warnings, I have things to do."

Zalmora looks at you and starts to leave, but you can already tell she's not done talking. Story of your life.

"So you're not interested in partnering up?" Zalmora asks.
"Why are you so interested in partnering up with me? I mean I get some of the reasons that you've explained, but this is still pretty damn sudden. I mean there's still a trust issue here."
"Well because as you pointed out robbing Kenzer's isn't going to be an easy job and it would probably be better to have an extra pair of eyes and hands around. And…maybe this is going to sound odd from someone you don't know, but you're obviously a talented thief and maybe I just like a little social interaction from time to time from another one in our business."
"So…what then? You miss your Talon buddies? I can't help with that. They were a bunch of idiots and I was never in this to make friends. Unless you're saying you're missing your boyfriend. If that's the case, well…as you've gathered I'm not exactly trusting on that front either however I'm not going to say no to a tumble I suppose."

Zalmora sighs at you.

"Fine, you're an asshole like everyone else in this trade then. Thanks for what information you did provide and apologies for wasting your time."

Zalmora at this point turns to leave for real this time and there's a part of you that wants to stop her, even though you think it might be more trouble than its worth.

You let Zalmora go

No, you went down that road before. Not going down it again especially not with someone you know practically nothing about. And you certainly aren't going to take the risk of robbing Kenzer's. There are easier targets, no need to take unnecessary chances.

You just hope she doesn't fuck things up for you when she goes poking around the magic college.

You return to your usual routine.

A couple days later a big explosion is heard from another part of the city. You don't know what it is until much later. Turns out that it was Kenzer's jewelry store.

You eventually get the story of a failed attempt at robbing the store in the night and apparently the one involved died in the explosion. Burned body parts were found amongst the destruction. You can only guess that was Zalmora.

Hell of a way to go, but given you didn't think it was a great idea anyway, you're glad you decided not to go with her.

Once again you return to your usual routine.

Year 24

"Hank. Hank. HANK!" you shout.
"Huh, wha?" Hank sputters while waking up and drooling on himself.
'Here. I got your latest supply of Gray."

Hank fumbles to get the bag a couple times, but eventually he does. He then says something about you know where his safe is and just take the money from there, before he shoves the pills in his mouth.

You thought he was bad on Numb, but ever since you had to start stealing a poor substitute used mainly on people with the plague, he's gotten a lot worse. He even offered to blow you for a fix once. It was pretty pathetic.

The Laughing Devil is barely functioning like it used to anymore. Long gone are the wild parties filled with college types. Now it's starting to become a hang out for the dregs of the city.

Granted half of the people are your customers, so you're probably a big part of the problem.

The bigger problem is it's not exactly all that great to live at anymore. At one time you were just living here for free because the owner was dependent on you. Now, it's pretty much acting as a front for your activities since Hank has really fallen behind in running it proper.

Not to mention you're starting to get paranoid that the whole place might get raided one day. Klyton is just becoming more of a problem to operate in everyday. You start to think that maybe its time to leave.

Of course, you do have a pretty good set up here. If you took more of a hand in cleaning it up a bit, you might be able to continue to go unnoticed. It would be like owning your own inn without having to actually run it.

You fix up the inn

You've worked too hard and grown too accustomed to your life style here and you're not about to be scared off. You just need to make some severe changes. The irony that you're actually going to work hard to keep an inn open isn't lost on you.

First things first, you need to get rid of Hank. The guy is too far gone now to run this place properly and even if you could get him clean, you wouldn't exactly have a hold over him anymore. In fact, he'd probably start trying to reassert himself again.

Which means you need someone new to run the place, or at least do all the actual "inn" shit. The problem is Hank hasn't been able to keep many steady employees ever since his severe downslide. In fact the ONLY person that's still hanging around with him is Amanda, the awful poet that he was sticking his dick in on a regular basis when you first got here.

You're not quite sure why she still hangs around. She doesn't do poetry anymore and you're fairly certain she's not still fucking him either. She's not even a junkie. As near as you can figure, she's just living here for free and helping out with keeping the inn running so it doesn't get shut down and she's living on the streets.

You don't think you've ever talked too much to Amanda before, but today that's going to change.

You wait until Amanda is seemingly not busy and then approach her as she's taking a break.

"Another hard day of work, am I right?" you say sitting down at the same table.
"Huh? Yeah." She answers.
"Sucks how much you have to do around here and you're practically doing it all yourself."
"Life's tough all over."
"True, but Hank could at least help you out more than he has. I mean it's his fucking inn and the guy is just letting the place go to shit. I remember when this place was really popular."
"Would have been better had that not ever happened. Just made things worse, sort of like you."
"Pardon?"
"You've been living here for years now and you have never said two fucking words to me before. Now all of a sudden you're speaking to me? What the hell do you want?"
"The fuck's with the hostility?"
"You fucking ruined my life that's why! YOU were the one that invited all those other poets and musicians to perform here, which showed me, how I don't even have as much talent as a bunch of fucking college kids. Then on top of everything else you turned Hank into a brain dead zombie and made this place into a damn drug den. So now because I have no other fucking skills whatsoever, I'm stuck here trying to prop up Hank because he's practically all I fucking got at this point and making sure this place stays afloat, that is if the militia doesn't raid the place one day soon."

Well you sort of weren't expecting that rant. In fact you expected Amanda to be a meek girl with esteem issues, but seems like there's more that meets the eye. No matter, you can still work with this.

"Well, consider this my way of making amends for troubling you because I've come up with a plan that might benefit the both of us."
"What're you talking about?"

You explain you want to clean this place up since she's right to be worried about the place getting raided by the militia. You also tell her that she doesn't need to prop Hank up either since she could easily just run the inn herself seeing as she's practically doing that now.

"So wait, are you suggesting that I kill Hank? I don't think I could do that even if I never had the highest opinion of him to begin with." Amanda says.
"No, you don't kill him right away. YOU marry him, THEN you kill him. That way you'll get the inn without any hassle." You say.
"Fucking hell, that's pretty fucking cold. I mean shit, I just don't have that in me I don't think."
"If you had it in you to blow that sleezy fucker on a regular basis, along with continuing to work a thankless job just for a roof over your head, pretty sure murder shouldn't be an issue. Besides, just look at the guy. You'd be doing him a favor at this point."
"Oh fuck you, you're a fucking thief and drug dealer. You're in no position to judge me! And I'm not a murderer."
"Okay fine I'll do the fucking deed. Figured I might have to anyway. Hell I'll even make it painless. I'll just give him something lethal and tell him it'll make him feel better. Boom. Mission accomplished. Then you can just continue running the place with free reign. Does that make it easier for you?" You remark.
"I suppose, but I still don't see how this makes things better for the inn. I mean it's still a drug den."
"Yeah, I'm going to take steps to help you clean up the place in that regard. I've sort of realized that I started to get lazy and began shitting where I eat. I need to keep my business separate from this place. I'll try to also get the college crowd back in this place."
"Ugh. Hate those pretentious fuckers."
"Yeah well rich kids with coin to waste like to drink so it's worth it."
"So what's all in this for you again?"
"I don't like moving and I like living here for free too so I feel that helping you achieve ownership of this place should cover my rent for a lifetime."
"Well I suppose that's reasonable. So, I need to get married huh? Never thought it would be under these circumstances. I'm just wondering what priest is going to be willing to do it though. I mean most of those Joachimite fuckers are so puritanical that they might refuse based on Hank being so zonked. And I doubt if Hank will be up to walking to city hall. We might have to dry him out and if we do that, he might not necessarily be in the frame of mind to marry me."
"Nah, I actually know of a priest who's perfect for this. So do we have a deal?"
"That's it? There's nothing else involved is there? I mean you're not going to ask for sexual favors are you?"
"No, hadn't planned on it."
"Okay. Deal. But I don't want to know about what you're going to do to Hank exactly and I want his body taken care of because that's not something I want any part of."
"Fine. As I said, I'll take care of that. Right then; guess I'm off to get the priest and sort all that shit out. The sooner we get this rolling the better."

With the first part of your plan in mind, you head to the Welcome Mat where you hope Virgil is still living.

When you arrive, you see the place is still the same shithole it's always been, though it probably isn't much worse than the Laughing Devil at this point. Thankfully Trobart isn't around to give you any shit.

You go to Virgil's room and knock. When you get no answer, you just pick the lock and open the door. You find him predictably passed out.

"Virgil! Virgil! Get up you old drunk! Got work for you and probably some free booze on top of it." You exclaim.
"Huh? Wha?" Virgil sputters.
"Hm, funny how that bit of information woke you up immediately. Seriously, get up I need you for a wedding."
"Wazzat? Weddin'?"
"Yeah a wedding."
"K…wait you gettin' married to dat girl you run around wit?"
"Oh no, I'm not getting married at all, this is for someone else."
"Oh good. Dat girl was a bitch."
"Hah, yes. Yes she was."
"So who you marryin?"
"I told you, I'm not getting married, I need you to marry two other people. Now enough with the questions and let's go!"
"Alright! Alright! Fuck. Dere better be a sizable donat…(hic!) donation fer Joachim."
"Yeah, yeah, there will be, now come on."

You help Virgil up off the floor and begin to help him out his room. No sooner have you started doing this when you hear a bunch of noise followed by shouting.

"IN THE NAME OF THE KLYTON MILITIA THIS PLACE HAS BEEN MARKED AS UNLAWFUL IN THE EYES OF THE LAW!" you hear a voice exclaim.

You can't believe this. This is exactly what you were working to avoid at the Laughing Devil and you get caught up in a raid upon your return here!

You immediately drop Virgil and try to run out the back way of the Welcome Mat, but the militia already has that covered as well when several of them bust in the back door.

You turn to run back the other way, and thanks to a few of the militia being overly enthusiastic about their job, you get a poleaxe to your back and then trampled on by several heavy boots when you fall to the floor. This results in severe head trauma which doesn't kill you immediately, but you do go unconscious. A coma in fact.

If someone was a kind soul that was checking, your life might have been still saved by a healing potion or even medical attention. However the militia just assumes you're just one of the many law breaking casualties and they toss your unconscious body on the cart with the rest of the dead after they've taken the living into custody.

You aren't unconscious for too much longer however and at some point during the journey to the mass grave they dump you in, your life slips away altogether, sparing you from being buried alive.