Neighborhood of Twin Songs, former headquarters of The Faithless...
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Standing on a balcony of a warehouse in the Twin Songs district of the Outer City, Diamond Urchin sips a mug of mulled wine and surveys her new territory, and not for the first time. Months have passed since she survived an attempted coup on her home turf of Brampton by her ex-husband Straightstick, kingpin of the Faithless. With the help of Yarl Blacktongue and the Rivington Rats, she was able to stop the coup, killing Straightstick and sending most of the Faithless back to the mud. She and Yarl agreed to co-rule Twin Songs, a very profitable neighborhood. She smiles and watches the river flow toward the city, ever churning, ever bringing barges from cities upriver, like Elturel and Scornubel, as well as ships from the Sea of Swords. Even in the dead of winter, there was good coin to be made.
"How in the seven hells can it be this fucking cold this far south?"
Diamond Urchin raises an eyebrow and ignores the frost in her neatly trimmed beard, even as she ignores the gang member known as 'Crying' Cyrus and his incessant whining. "I mean, gods be damned, my bones are gonna snap if..."
"Yer bones are gonna snap on the toe of me boot if ya don't shut up!" she growls. Cyrus swallows hard, wipes the snot off the end of his nose, and promptly shuts up.
"What is the tally for last week?" she asks, sipping her wine, watching the river. Cyrus rummages inside his coat and pulls out a small notebook, handing it to his new boss. Diamond Urchin opens the notebook at the marker and scans the scrawls on the pages, shaking her head at the horrible handwriting. She grunts in satisfaction and hands the notebook back to Cyrus.
"How's the new girl coming along?"
Cyrus glances at her and hopes it's okay to speak. "She's doing alright, I reckon. Yarl seems to trust her, so that's good enough for me."
As if on cue, a pretty young woman, her black hair tucked inside her cloak, ascends the stairs to the balcony. She nods to Diamond Urchin, ignoring Cyrus, and stops at the railing on the balcony. Stomping up the stairs behind her is Yarl Blacktongue, the kingpin of the Rivington Rats and Diamond Urchin's business partner.
"Go fetch us two mugs of warmed wine," Diamond says, not looking at Cyrus. The man snorts snot back up his nose, spits over the balcony, and turns away, going back inside, mumbling something like "at least it's warm" as he goes.
Diamond smiles and nods at the young woman and at Yarl. "This must be our newest recruit. Hazm, is it? Yarl tells me you are a local. Born and bred right here in the Gate. Who were your parents, child?"
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"I'd give me left nut fer a cup of hot cider," growls the steersman of The Otter, a barge out of Scornubel, far to the west.
"If I had a cup, I'd trade fer yer nut 'cause both o' mine done froze off!" says the man standing beside him, and both break out into fits of laughter. "At least you'd have one good 'un!" the steersman says, followed by hoots and guffaws.
Hunched over and wrapped under a woolen blanket for warmth, Telurion ignores the pair, reading the note in his hand for at least the hundredth time. It doesn't make any sense to him, but he's going to figure it out, one way or another. He was told in Elturel that Talian sailed for Baldur's Gate, and it looks like he has just arrived. Now, if he can only...
"Hey! Help us tie off, eh?" shouts the steersman, and Telurion stands up, shaking off the blanket and the icy sheen with it, and moves to the side of the barge as it passes under a very wide and expansive bridge. He is amazed to see buildings and stairways built onto the sides of the span. Colorful streamers and flags hang from them, unlike anything he has seen.
Not too much farther along, the Otter slows and pulls alongside a short pier. Three figures are huddled around a steel barrel, warming themselves by the fire inside. Two of them come to help with the barge, throwing Telurion a rope, and then guiding the barge to a spot where it can be tied off. Telurion is about to ask why they have stopped short of the city, when the Otter's captain, a squat man by the name of Flint, walks up to him and says, "Time to earn the rest of your keep, boy. Here," he says, handing Telurion a wooden crate. "Take this to the warehouse over yonder. A man by the name of Trueshot will give you a sack of coin. Bring it back and we'll be square. Savvy?"
Telurion looks to where the captain is pointing. He sees a two-story warehouse with a balcony near the top floor. Three figures stand on the balcony looking out at the river. At the bottom corner of the warehouse, a man leans against the wall near the only door he can see.
"That be him. Head on over," the captain says.
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Alright fellers! We are back in action!
This post introduces two new characters, Hazm (Rex) and Telurion (Edeldhur), and re-introduces Yarl Blacktongue (Computer +1). Those three players may post freely. I am working on another post for our three other characters; hope to have it up very soon.
