The avian Guildmaster of the Golden Compass Society fluffed up into a happy puff of blue and orange. “Shady!” he beamed. “Shade-Of-the-Candle, it has been too long!”
“Hey, Telekain,” said Shady, tossing her tricorn hat onto his desk. “I like the new digs. Ol’ Kresthianze’s skull has never looked better.”
“I was thinking of some silver fittings to hold it in place,” said Telekain. “Too extravagant, do you think?”
“Nah, go big or go home, I say,” replied the tabaxi, with a grin.
“Maybe,” said Telekain. “But I know you better than to think you just randomly dropped into my offices. Looking for work, perhaps? ‘The Lightbringers’ may have gone their separate ways, but you know you’re always welcome here.”
“Not work exactly,” said Shady. “But you’re one of the best information brokers I know. I’m looking for some intelligence.”
“I don’t know how much of THAT you’ll find here, adventurers are not known for it,” said the bird, and made a click of a laugh in his throat.
“I’d resent that if it weren’t completely true,” Shady replied with a smirk, and sat on the corner of his desk. “But seriously tho, I’m trying to find out what’s up with a shipment of munitions going from here to Dragonwatch Keep. I thought maybe if you could put your ear to the ground—”
“Munitions? You mean like 200 tons of alchemist’s fire?”
“That’s… very specific,” said Shady. “But it sounds promising. What do you know about it?”
“My dear Shady!” said Telekain. “It was one of my teams that confiscated it!”
“Oh really!”
“You and your merry band of misfits aren’t the ONLY skilled adventurers in town, you know,” replied the Guildmaster, with no small amount of preening. “I’ve been cultivating quite the collection you know.”
“Uh huh.”
“But yes, two weeks ago now, one of the Lady Patrician’s scouts discovered a gunrunning operation out of a hidden cove near Saltar’s Port, and asked us to see if we couldn’t discreetly take care of it. It was a… mixed success. Most of the gunrunners escaped to sea with their wares, but they were forced to abandon an overladen barque. You probably saw it being brought into dock.”
“That ugly black-painted thing, looked like it would fall to pieces if the pilot sneezed?”
“The very one!”
“I’m amazed you could fit 200 tons of anything onto that deathtrap.”
“Just so,” said Telekain. “That’s why they abandoned it. Anyway, it was enough that the Keep paid us for the commission, even if we didn’t exactly dispose of the gunrunners.”
“Why isn’t there a public bounty on these guys?”
“That, you’d have to ask the Lady Patrician,” said Telekain. “I think she may be worried about reprisals if it went sour, they’re an imposing lot, with something like four ships. Well, three now, I imagine.”
“Reprisals? Phooey. Half the Sea Lancers are sitting around port bored… well except for Ainsworth. We could wipe out three ships of gunrunners in an afternoon.”
Telekain gave a shrug-like wave of a talon. “Like I said, you’d have to ask her, all I know is what I’ve heard.”
“Hmm,” said Shady. “So where’s this cargo of alchemist’s fire now?”
“In the Keep’s storehouse I would imagine,” said Telekain.
“Then why did you bring it up when I mentioned a shipment going to Dragonwatch Keep?”
“Because that’s where it was earmarked to go,” replied the Guildmaster. “Dragonwatch Keep was slated to buy it, and for a very good price, I’m told. Until Cardinal Maraldo stepped in.”
One of Shady’s ears flicked. “Maraldo? What about him?”
“Well you know his keen interest in piracy, smuggling, and the like,” said Telekain.
“Oh yes,” said Shady. “I know.”
“Well he knew about the shipment almost before we did! He must have a remarkable network of informants. Anyway, he brought the matter up to the Council of Lords and argued that the shipment was too valuable to just sell off, so they nixed the deal—much to the Lady Patrician’s annoyance. I suspect in her mind she’d already earmarked just where all that gold was going to go, only to get pipped at the post.”
Shady pondered this for a moment, as a predatory grin began to slide across her face. “Now THAT’S interesting,” she said.
“Hmm?” said Telekain. “What?”
“That’s very interesting,” she said again, staring into a corner and idly scratching the tip of her chin with a claw.
“What? What’s so interesting?” demanded Telekain. “Do you know something you’re not telling me?”
Coming back down to earth, Shady leaned forward and booped Telekain’s beak. “If I did know something I wasn’t telling you, would I tell you I knew something I wasn’t telling you?” She hopped to her feet and collected her hat.
“Shady! What IS it?” said Telekain. “After all we’ve been through, don’t I—”
Shady grinned. “If you don’t want me to lie, don’t ask me questions I can’t answer,” she said. “But I will say this: you answered my question beautifully. Thanks, Scissorbill, I owe you one!”
“If you were really grateful, you’d stop calling me ‘Scissorbill!’” Telekain shouted at her retreating back, but Shady was already gone.
CHARACTER LIST:
Shady
Lady Patrician
Dragonwatch Keep
Captain Dryden Ainsworth
Wharfmaster Fean Wavecrest
Sea Lancers: Kia (Captain of the Recluse)
Sea Lancers: Sterling (Captain of the Silver Corsair)
Sea Lancers: Adric (Captain of the Blue Fin)
Telekain
Gunrunners
Cardinal Maraldo
CHAOS: 4
THREADS LIST:
Steal the alchemist’s fire
The privateers’ rivalry
The L.P.’s intrigues
Ainsworth’s botched security vs. Shady’s spying
Gunrunners
Next Scene: A chat with the Lady Patrician
[…] Continuing from where we left off… […]