Something has to be done and the best way to do it is to kill Jake. Not like you were ever friends with him.

"Look, we can't do nothing and if you aren't fond of diplomacy, then we need to kill Jake. So who are these independent assassins you know?" you ask.
"Really only know two and out of those two, only one is a proper assassin and I don't know if it's even possible with him." Tom says.

Frustration increases…

"Okay, so tell me about the guy who isn't a proper assassin." you ask.
"He goes by the name Olaf. He's actually an ex-Talon associate but after the fight pits closed down he went back to working as a leg breaker for Mr. Reynolds full time. You familiar with that man?" Tom asks.
"Vaguely. Some sort of moneylender with connections in high places so the militia doesn't fuck with him. Actually, I think I remember my mother telling me my father's family was in debt to him at one point."
"They did with the inn. Actually I even worked for the man briefly before I joined the Talons, but that's ancient history. Olaf is a big ass ogre who pretty much retired undefeated during his fighting pit days. He's older of course now, but I don't doubt that he couldn't take care of Jake and scare everyone else into submission. Hell, he probably could scare Jake into submission too. He'd probably even do it for free or at the least very cheap. He really likes hurting people."
"Sounds good, so what's the catch?"
"Well obviously Mr. Reynolds isn't going to just let him go wandering off so we'd probably have to pay him and that's what isn't going to be cheap. Plus, knowing Mr. Reynolds he'll have some other weird stipulation. You'll probably find out when you talk with him. Could be anything."

This is sounding complicated already. You almost hesitate to ask about the other one.

"Okay, so what about this other guy. The real assassin?" you ask.
"You familiar with Sotakians?" Tom asks.
"Just stories of them being lizard people that live in the swamps and fight with elves all the time."
"Well, the old boss, Edmond actually acquired an egg and raised a Sotakian from a hatchling. Trained him to be a very literal cold-blooded assassin bodyguard. We all just called him Scales, but he never really had a proper name. He was very loyal too until he had some unknown disagreement with Edmond and just took off. Ed never told anyone to go get him either. Just said to let it go."
"That doesn't sound very useful if he disappeared to parts unknown."
"Oh he didn't go far. He actually lives in the Klyton sewers. Abandoned part granted, but he's actually part of the reason why the militia doesn't patrol down there that much and only in certain areas. Ol' Scales isn't very welcoming to intruders to his home."
"Well how's this lizard going to be of any help then?"
"Most of the time when Scales got a little obstinate Edmond showed him the broken egg that he hatched from. Not sure why it worked. Maybe it was a reminder that Edmond was the one who helped hatch him or something. Still have the broken egg just in case, you know? Maybe if someone approached him with the broken egg, Scales might be willing to listen to that person. Dunno, who would have the balls to go risk it though."
"That vicious huh?"
"Let's just say, Olaf USED to have an equally bad ass barbarian buddy by the name of Silence. Silence didn't like it when he lost a staring contest to Scales and things got violent. Olaf and Silence were best friends and Olaf didn't even ATTEMPT to attack Scales when he ripped out Silence's throat in five seconds. He just left the room and I can't be certain, but I think he might have even cried. Of course nobody was going to ask. Olaf certainly brutalized folks more than average in the fighting pits over the next few days after that though."

So those are your choices and they both sound shitty. Honestly, you wish you could just take care of Jake yourself, but Tom is probably right about the fact that something like that isn't really your specialty, but talking to others and trying to convince them to do what you want is apparently a newer one you've acquired or at least one you've been thrust into.

You hire Scales

You must have lost your mind, because you can't believe you're actually considering this.

"Fuck it, give me that egg." You say.
"Seriously?" Tom asks.
"Yeah, I'm serious. I know enough about Mr. Reynolds through my dad that I don't want to have deal with him. And as you said, he's probably going to have some sort of weird catch as part of the agreement he isn't going to reveal until afterwards. At least with the lizard I'll know where I stand right away." You say.
"I guess that's one way of looking at it. Okay kid, I'll get that egg."

Tom heads over to one of his safes and after unlocking it, he takes out two green pieces of an oval shaped object, which he then puts together and hands to you. The broken egg is rough to the touch and more solid than you thought it would be.

"While this isn't as delicate as one might think, still be careful with it. You sure about this? I mean I still don't think this thing with Jake is that serious."
"It's gotta be taken care of and besides, maybe I'll just be charming enough to convince Scales to join us again."
"You think big kid, just hope you're right."

Tom proceeds to tell you where he thinks Scales makes his home. It actually isn't too far from the forgotten sewer entrance. Tom goes on to say it might be dangerous just getting to Scales, since that part of the sewers has been non-functional and abandoned for as long as he can remember.

Armed with this knowledge (And a broken egg) Tom wishes you luck before you leave.

On your way out, you're stopped by Zalmora and Vaughn.

"What's that? Wait, is that an egg?" Vaughn asks.
"Yeah, I'm going to use it to try to convince Scales to assassinate Jake. Tom said Ed used to do it all the time." You reply.

Vaughn's jaw almost drops and expresses obvious disbelief.

"Have you gone completely barmy? I wasn't here that long while Scales was still around, but even I know damn well that the only reason why Ed even had control over that lizard is because he raised him from that egg! And you can see that didn't work forever. You go looking for Scales and you're going to find death!" Vaughn exclaims.
"Why do we need Scales to assassinate Jake anyway? I mean I told you that I think it's a better idea to just let Jake continue rampaging through the woods to take the heat off of us." Zal asks.
"Yeah, and I don't think that it's a good idea to just let disobedience within the organization to go unpunished like that. Besides, I also thought that given this Scale's reputation, maybe we could get him to join again." You say.
"Yep, completely barmy." Vaughn remarks.
"I agree…but the idea does have some merit. If we did get Scales back, we'd be in a lot better shape, muscle wise at least." Zal remarks.

Vaughn at this point just shakes his head.

"Okay, I can see this craziness is catching. I'm leaving before I catch it too. See you later, assuming Scales doesn't eat you, and Zal, I would think that you'd know better than to even entertain this idea." Vaughn remarks and walks away.

"So…are you coming with me?" you ask Zalmora.
"I didn't say that actually. I just said your idea has some merit. It's at least thinking in the long term. Scales could certainly track down Jake and kill him. I would imagine he'd also scare everyone else into coming back or even better a return to following the original plan of sending the spoils of their activities to us on a regular schedule." Zal says.
"You still really think our organization split up on the outside and inside the city is the best solution?"
"Yes. I really do believe that and I gave my reasons already."

While she hasn't offered to go, you get the impression Zal might be more inclined to help you if support her idea, but if Zal wants to help she can come with you with you needing to ask her. You're not going to barter with her or be some pawn just because you're sleeping together every once in awhile.

"Well I guess I better head out." You say.
"Oh. Right. Don't let me keep you. Just remember, Scales has never been a friendly sort and probably the best way to handle him is to defer to him as the alpha. If he thinks you're a threat, he's going to react accordingly. Then again, if he thinks you're too weak, he might just eat you, but I'm guessing not acting aggressively might help. Anyway, if you even think you're in grave danger, just get the hell out of there. Be careful okay?" Zal says and starts to leave, but before she does she kisses you goodbye.

That sort of makes you feel more worried than you were before.

You leave the Crimson Talon headquarters and enter the sewers. You never cease hating stomping around down here, but possibly stepping in shit or worse is the least of your concerns right now.

You follow the directions Tom gave you and finally get to the abandoned part of the sewers he mentioned. Actually it doesn't even look like the rest of the sewers at this point. The tunnel is partially collapsed or has great gaping holes leading to who the hell knows where. Beyond this first tunnel, you can only imagine that it's going to be in even worse repair.

Using your lantern and your natural agility you continue to make your way, hopping that all this hoping and jumping around isn't going to break the egg in your pack any more than it already is.

You go through a couple more old collapsed sewer tunnels and then you notice the man made structure is starting to disappear into a crumbling abyss. You also notice how weak the ground (or rather what's left of it) is in general. One wrong move and you're probably falling to your death. You cautiously move across what's left the stone flooring.

You're doing pretty well until you suddenly hear some noise behind you. At first you think it's something sinister lurking down here or possibly even Scales himself, but when you hear the word "Shit!" you know the voice immediately and turn around thrusting your lantern ahead.

"Zal?!" you call out.

Your light illuminates enough that you can see a figure far behind you half hanging over the edge of the abyss. She doesn't answer she's just struggling to get back up.

"Zal! What the fuck are you doing here?! Wait! I'll come help you!" you shout.
"No! You stay over there! This fucking floor is weak enough without both of us in the same area."
"Zal, you're gonna fall!"
"I'm almost back up, just keep going! I'll catch up!"

You go help Zal

She probably came back to help you, you can't just leave her to struggle.

As quick as you can, you try to make it over to Zal, who keeps telling you to go back.

"Zal, I'm not gonna just…fuuuuuuuuu…."

It's not a glorious or noble death falling off a collapsing walkway and into a large hole, but that's exactly what has happened to you.

As you fall, you hear Zal's voice echo your name in darkness until the sound dissipates leaving you only to fall in dark silence.

You fall for quite a long time, much longer than you thought you would actually. For a brief moment you think maybe you've fallen down a bottomless pit.

Such things are typically just heard about in myths and stories, but given the magical world you live in, who is to say they don't exist somewhere?

Of course that little theory soon comes to an end when you at last do hit the ground. Who knows where the hell you ended up, because you broke every bone and died on impact, but your splattered body didn't go to waste to whatever was living so far below the ground.