I hardened my gaze as I stared down at the goblin cook. To be so brazen and forthright about his plans to acquire illicit goods seed far too bold for such a scher. Perhaps so Skills from [Social] had fiddled with Alterez's intended opener. Although he appeared calm, supernatural senses from my Skills detected more than a shred of anxiety that had not been there before.
"I'm not paying for your habits," I replied in a hard tone. I didn't want to dismiss him out of turn, but I also wanted to establish clear boundaries.
"Peace, friend!"
Alterez's ears twitched slightly as he held up his hands with palms facing in a universal sign of non-aggression. His ears, much like the rest of him, were entirely hairless, and roughly shaped like those of a fennec fox, except a long V had been made from the tip to almost where they sprouted out of his head. As such, it almost looked as if he had two sets of ears, but such was completely natural for goblins. Sothing about special sensory organs in the tips, and moving them closer together or further apart detects air pressure or magnetic fields or sothing.
"Why, I would never dream of implying or indeed asking that you do any such thing. I rely wish for you to accompany for added security. The world can be a dangerous place for a small and weak goblin such as myself, and I would not want to run afoul of prejudice or miscommunication with a new plug."
"Oh heavens have rcy! A drug deal where violence could ensue and terrified bystanders may flee for their lives. I guess you have twisted my arm, so I suppose I must aid you to help your friend."
Skull gave her sarcastic support for this venture from the safety of my shadow, and admittedly, I had yet to learn this aspect of society's underbelly, so I could hardly ask for a more experienced individual than Alterez to show the ropes. However, I was not about to do it for free. I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall, looking non-committed but still thoughtful about the offer.
"One silver coin for my protection, increased to one gold coin if violence ensues."
Alterez bead a hearty smile that sohow eluded the pitfall of smugness, although I could still detect traces of the emotion wafting off him. My [Social] Skills were really working overti to give all manner of covert clues about the little hellion.
For most people, my fee would be slightly more than modest, but to such a skilled and refined chef, it would be chump change. Adventurers tended to have Skills for increased perception, and sotis those also impacted the sense of taste. Ergo, picky eaters that live on an economy of scale much higher than the average person can afford high priced food on the regular, and Alterez held a coveted position that found him well-compensated for the premium food he provided.
"We have a deal then," he stated with triumphant satisfaction as he held his hand out for to shake.
He bead a wide smile, the eeriness amplified by his goblin mouth being far wider than those of other races and each tooth being like those of a shark. Goblins have two rows of such sharp and triangular teeth, and with as often as they get knocked out from one venture in folly or another, perhaps it was best for them that they grew back quickly. I shook his hand sowhat reluctantly, unsure as to what devious shenaniganry I had agreed to.
"I need to let Chooka know that I may be ho late tonight. That should give you enough ti to finish cleaning up around here before we depart," I said as I gestured vaguely at the surprisingly few dirty dishes around the kitchen. I guess I had expected a goblin to have heaping mounds of filthy plates and unscrubbed pots, but there would be no way he could keep this job if he were lax at keeping things tidy.
"Ya, sure thing. You kiddos kiss each other goodbye or whatever while I clean things up here. We can leave in ten, yeah?"
I nodded in assent, and promptly made my way out of the kitchen and over to the service counter in the main hall where Chooka would be stationed. Indeed I found her there as expected, and she happily processed paperwork as she humd a lody that was probably popular twenty years ago.
I grabbed her by her slender tail that had been swaying back and forth lightly to her tune, and with a surprised yelp, she found herself yanked back into my arms that waited to envelop her. The trap sprung to satisfaction, but her arms, tail, and one leg quickly wrapped around in turn as she twisted in my grasp, and soon it appeared that the hunter had beco the prey. She maneuvered over to a wall, pinning while lifting up to her height, such that we may see eye to eye.
"Oh darling, I love where this is going, but I'm working right now. Perhaps we could resu this later tonight and see where it leads," she whispered to with a suggestive grin growing on her features.
"Chooka, love, the light of my four moons, nothing would make happier."
"But…" she continued, knowing sothing more would follow such praise.
"I may be a tad delayed as Alterez has asked for to escort him and ensure his safety as he travels to acquire new product."
"Oh, a night out with the boys, eh? Just as long as you don't pick up any nasty habits along the way, I'm fine with it. Did you at least get the little rascal to pay you for your protection?"
"I didn't get into the normal minutia of my contracts and bore him with all the brass tax, but yes, I did."
She squeezed tighter as her smile, which had withered slightly at hearing how I may be delayed, ca back in earnest. However, sothing diabolical had crept into her visage, the kind of look that suggested she was up to sothing.
"Brass tax, eh? I am sure you will be alright though. I am sure you would say that this is the kind of job that will take brains, not bronze, right?"
"Exactly!" I replied earnestly, thankful that she understood . "The bronze will only need to co out if soone would benefit from a blade between the ribs, but we hope to keep things civil."
She pressed herself fully up against , trapping utterly between herself and the wall as we shared a passionate kiss for a few monts.
"You are just so adorable sotis and you don't even realize why," she whispered into my ear as her devilish smile lightly brushed against my neck, a few quick kisses peppering as she let loose a bombing run of them all the way down to my shoulder.
She held my gaze for a mont afterwards before she unceremoniously chucked off towards the kitchen in such a way as to throw off balance. I managed to tuck into a roll and spring back up to my feet.
"Have fun, my love! I suddenly rembered that I have so shopping I need to attend to this evening," she said with a cheery smile on her face that belied her mischievous machinations.
And with that, she turned back to the counter to continue with her paperwork. One quick glare at the room helped all the onlookers rember that there was much rrymaking and feasting to continue indulging instead of staring at the scene at the counter.
I returned to the kitchen with the nagging feeling that I had made so sort of mistake, but for the life of I could not figure out what I had done. I had seen that smile before, the one that leaves as the butt of so joke, so no doubt she would be up to sothing tonight to that end. I could feel so mirth and suppressed laughter bleeding through my connection with Skull.
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"Anything you want to share with the rest of the class there Skull?"
"Oh, it is nothing. I am sure you will find out soon enough."
"What did I ever do to deserve such an unruly [Dragon Knight]? I will have to punish you later tonight to teach you so discipline."
"Only if you have the 'bronze' to succeed. Test your 'tal' against and we will see who kneels to whom."
Alright, alright! Even Skull was picking on now. I did not know what I had done or said wrong, but I would no doubt be enlightened in inescapable detail as to my incorrectness in the near future.
Now arriving back in the kitchen, the place was spotless. Every surface has been cleaned and sanitized to perfection, complete with a strange and twinkling glow all over the place, no doubt due to so costic Skill to supply the effect. Alterez lingered near the door with enough knives strapped to him to supply a small army. These were not the wicked looking blades of a cutthroat, but the tools of his profession. Still, they worked just as well on living flesh as aged at, so people would think twice about ssing with the little hellion.
"Right then, lover boy, let's go." He stashed away a hip flask and we departed promptly.
Out in the alleyway, he proceeded to provide with a lecture on the finer points of things related to scoring drugs as we walked along.
"Never walk straight to the plug, they will spook and run. You gotta take a andering path, give them ti for their lookouts to see you and report on your coming. It also gives them ti to see if you are being tailed," he finished as he pulled out a cigar, cut off the tip, and lit it up. "Ah, nothing beats a good stogie on a night out. Also, I can use it to covertly blow smoke signals about my intent, such as any changes in how much I want to buy, or like, if I know I am being followed and need help slipping away. Everything was set up beforehand with a broker, including what signals we would be using with one another." He took another puff before he continued. "The broker sets up the eting and manages all the lookouts, informants, and both figurative and literal magic behind the scene to make sure the fuzz is none the wiser."
He blew a smoke ring and blew another one back through it as he walked past it.
"See that there, that ans I am here to buy product," he continued nonchalantly as we continued to perambulate through the various back alleys of a residential area.
"A very sophisticated operation, I see. I had assud the riccen would have put a stop to such dealings."
Alterez grinned up at as he took another puff. "Oh, they certainly try to maintain a monopoly on the underworld of Berkerin, but as of late, there has been a new ga in town that has secured so turf of their own. They prod and poke at one another, but no true war has erupted as of yet. I don't think the relative peace will last for long though."
"And where does that put you?"
"There are pros and cons to each side winning. The riccen don't allow any of the harder stuff to hit the streets, so I would lose access to so of the good stuff if they won. However, I could see this city falling deep into decay if the other side wins, and I kinda like it here, so I don't want that to happen. Even us goblins have standards when it cos to a proper city and its underbelly, and the riccen are rather fair in their dealings."
"And who exactly is this 'other side'," I asked as we squeezed between two houses that were built no more than a foot apart.
"Oh, you'll see for yourself when we get there. I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise for you. You don't see their kind in cities all too often. But, as a goblin, I guess I don't have much room to say that so other creature is an oddity in a civilized society."
"And how and why exactly did a goblin such as yourself end up here of all places?"
"Eh, I got old, I guess. After I grew out of being young and dumb, I looked around at all that goblins had achieved, which is to say, nothing, and I decided I wanted sothing more. Goblins are creatures of chaos that prefer to steal and murder than to build anything for themselves. They live in shit and filth and struggle to survive. Plus, the boss is usually just the biggest and anest guy around, or a hobgoblin, which is far worse, so I decided to get away from all that. I've died enough tis of stupidity, and I don't think I have any more freebies until ol' Gubberloodoo cos to cart off to the afterlife for good. Ergo, my good sir, I have decided to grace you good civilized folk with my prestigious intellect, devilish good looks, and exquisite cooking skills until next I bite off more than I can chew."
That got dark a little faster than I expected, so we each took so ti to reflect on these revelations as we continued along and scanned our surroundings. I had a few Skills going to sense my surroundings. No one followed us on the streets nor along the rooftops. Every now and then I would catch signs of soone scurrying off into the darkness, but they must have had contested with Skills of their own for stealth, for I could not distinctly identify their features.
Bekerin doesn't have anything that other cities would call slums, but we soon found ourselves in the poorest part of the city. They still had a proper sewage system and there were not heaping piles of trash anywhere, but the hos were smaller, crowded, and overall not as aesthetically pleasing to look at. Alterez filled in on more details about the city underworld and how that related to the local governnt. It essentially boiled down to the idea that cri would always exist, so the governnt tolerated such things as long as criminal organizations obeyed certain rules and didn't interfere with the nobility.
The Duke prides himself in making sure everyone who lives here has proper employnt and that wages and work hour limits allow everyone to get by without having to struggle for every last al. A lot of gold had been poured into cleaning up the city after he assud power so thirty years ago. His father had not been so dutiful in tending to the city or its people, and a great deal of corruption and hedonism had been purged in the past three decades. While not a perfect city, it was rather progressive. The Duke had found his efforts rewarded with a flourishing trade city with a low cri rate, so the people loved him and had pride in their ho.
In short, with this being perhaps the most 'dangerous' part of the city, the most anyone may risk when walking around alone at night is having a drunk puke on their shoes. Between the city guard and the riccen gang that mostly controlled the city's underbelly, violent cri was stopped with extre prejudice and a notable lack of adherence to the judicial process.
"We've arrived," said Alterez as we approached a store that sold magic wands. I don't think any self-respecting mage would be caught dead with those these days, so it must serve as a front rather than a distributor of stylish arcane accessories.
I placed a few [Observers] around the place, a Skill that allowed to remotely view things from the perspective of a fixed position. It could rotate in place as needed, but it could not move vertically or horizontally. I had another Skill, [Overseer], that could move, but it had limited sight range as if everything too far away appeared shrouded in fog, so I opted not to use it at this ti. A few more Skills provided sensory chanisms for sound, sll, and a few other esoteric diums. I wanted ample ans to detect anyone snooping in on our little operation.
The wooden door to the place was of solid design, but unadorned and only hinting at the last vestiges of paint having ever been applied to it. Alterez opened the door, seemingly indifferent to the rugged appeal of the establishnt, and together we walked inside. A single lamp near the counter to the left illuminated dusty shelves lined with boxes that have probably gone untouched for decades, each one housing a pristine but otherwise outdated wand. With no one to greet us, we walked behind the counter, into a backroom, and down a long flight of stairs to the basent, probably at least half a floor again under the one we just ca from.
The basent was barren save for a table with four chairs and four individuals who presumably had been sitting in them playing cards monts before we arrived. These four stood around the sa height as Alterez, which is to say, not quite to my waist. Their leader wore blue pants, a white shirt, a black leather jacket that was unbuttoned, and sported a pompadour that jutted too far forward to be practical. The leader drew forth a switchblade, and when sprung, I observed that it was in fact a comb, which he promptly nonchalantly administered to his hair while the other three ekly waited for him to finish.
"So, word is you are looking to buy. I may have the product if you have the coin," said the figure as he stepped forward two steps to et us.
As he did so, the light from the ceiling illuminated his figure better. Short legs, short arms, a tail that hung to the floor, large eyes, and scales on a bipedal but otherwise lizard-like body.
"I should have known kobolds were behind the newest stuff in town," replied an unperturbed Alterez. "I have the coin, let's see the product."
I crossed my arms and assud a nonchalant and imposing stance of a loyal goon with a slightly dour look on my face. Inwardly, it took all my willpower to not laugh at the scene. These kobolds, little lizard people with stubby limbs and long bodies, were too cute to be taken seriously. They looked like overgrown geckos or skinks with color patterns varied between them such that no two looked the sa. With sharpened senses from my Skills, I could sll the glue that held on the pompadour wig. One even wore a flat cap and had so fresh gri sared on his clothes to look like a quintessential street urchin. I struggled mightily to take them seriously, but I kept in mind that they would not have made it in a city like this if they didn't have so serious muscle backing them up.
"Let's get down to business then, yeah?"
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