Posted by Tommy Tanaka on 5/10/2008, 10:32 pm, in reply to "The Gamer In Trouble"
Meanwhile, the Leader took Tommy on a circuitous route through a small maze of back alleys until they came to a warehouse door. The Leader knocked three times, the door opened and the Gamer was ushered inside a darkened room save for a set of lit sconces leading down a flight of stairs ahead of them. Once all had entered, the door was closed behind them and the Leader directed Tommy down the stairs into a fairly comfortable room lit by a single candelabra sitting atop a small table. Across from an open chair sat a thin man with slick jet black hair and a goatee donned in dark brown robes smiling at the Gamer.
Pointing to the open chair, the man said, "Please, have a seat. I see that you have decided to answer my summons, Master Tanaka, good. I am Maltheaus, Guildmaster of the Deeping Dale Thieves Guild. Welcome to my home away from home, simple though it may be. I was wondering if you could be so kind as to tell me where my little Thief and your companion Neven has run off to?"
Tommy shrugged, leaning casually against a wall. "I could be that kind, certainly. I usually would be, even given how rude your lap dog was in passing on your invitation. What I can't do, however, is give you information I don't have. I was actually getting ready to go looking for him myself when your minions showed up. So if you aren't responsible for his disappearance… Curiouser and curiouser. I suppose it's possible he spotted one of your agents and went into hiding. That would fit his personality. Or he could have run afoul of Venger or one of his agents. Or… Not really enough information to engage in meaningful speculation. I assume you *do* have people out looking for him?"
"I will ask the questions, good sir, and YOU will answer them!" replied Maltheaus with a snarl, "Personally, I think you are a fool and a liar to tell me that you do not know where your own companion is. The young girl who travels with the Wolfen has not left her side since the moment you arrived here. I suspect that Neven is somewhere nearby and you are merely trying to protect him. Fair enough."
Maltheaus clapped his hands twice and the stairway door above them opened. The Gamer could clearly hear the sound of several boots heading into the room, "I want Neven because of the trouble that his abrupt departure has brought me back in Deeping Dale. Some of his fellow miscreants believe that he committed some act of defiance against me and that his departure is a symbol of resistance. A few thieves have abandoned Deeping Dale because of his actions, others have turned against me and now I find myself locked in a thieves war that your little friend's return to Deeping Dale can easily bring to an end."
Bridging his fingers as ten Men in Black began to file into the room from the stairway, the Deeping Dale Guildmaster of Thieves concluded, "Once I find Neven or you reveal his location to me, I am going to bring him back to Deeping Dale and show the rebels that their symbol of resistance is nothing more than a sniveling coward. And then I am going to execute him and hang his head from a pig pole in the heart of the Thieves Quarter as MY symbol of what I can do to all who resist me."
Maltheaus then rose to his feet, "So, I shall ask you one last time. Where is Neven? If you do not tell me, I shall instruct my men to torture you until you talk. And then, they are REALLY going to go to work on you. So, what say you, Master Tanaka, are you willing to cooperate or not?"
Tommy listened to Maltheus' ranting with a growing combination of amusement, dismay and aggravation. This was the quality of the Thieves' Guild leadership? “Oh my. I don't even know where to begin. I had imagined that you merely had some overzealous followers, and that anybody who managed to rise to the rank of Guildmaster would be reasonably intelligent. Obviously I was mistaken, so perhaps I am a fool.” He held up a finger in warning, and if he was aware that his fingernails were substantially longer and sharper than they'd been a moment before, it didn't show. Matter-of-factly, he continued, “The first person who moves towards me dies. Don't any of you doubt that for a second. You've had your say, Maltheus, and now I shall have mine. A guild exists for the benefit of its members; not to allow its putative leader to act like a petty tyrant. It does not starve its members, then beat them because they are too weak to perform their duties. That is the behaviour of a fool, a bully and a coward.” The Gamer focused his attention on the Men in Black. His eyes glowed and his voice dropped an octave. “And you. Do you truly believe you're better off under his” - he waved dismissively towards Maltheus - “leadership? Do any of you actually believe that this rebellion within the ranks will do anything but grow if he succeeds in killing Neven? Do you feel confident in a man who, in his attempt to capture a single runaway Thief, willfully antagonizes the agents of Dungeon Master, the leader of the Shadow Riders mercenary company, the High Lady of Stormhaven and the people the government of Deeping Dale is looking for an excuse to thank for saving them from war? You think an internecine thieves' war is bad? Imagine a world where every had is turned against you. A world where your own family would turn you in for a coin, or to save their own necks.”
Tommy turned back to Maltheus. Perhaps it was just the light, but he seemed much larger as he growled, “That is where his leadership would take you. A man who thought he was so clever to threaten the deaths of my friends to bring me to him when all he had to do was ask. A man so stupid that he threatens torture to get the truth he already has but refuses to accept, and can't even think to use the simplest magic to verify the answers he's given. So Maltheus, what will it be?” He grinned, and his teeth were oh so very sharp. “You can still turn this around. Back down, call off your hounds and leave me and my friends alone. Or you can find out how many of your men will die trying to take me down, and watch your petty empire crumble around your ears regardless of what happens to me. Because that's the choice before you. No more...” He chuckled, flexing his clawed fingers. “No less.”
Message Thread:
« Back to thread