Grisly Sight (storyline)

[Kender Bard]

Swinging gently in the breeze were the hanged bodies of thieves.

The guards, having heard of what happened in Khelek, had a brutal answer - as hot blooded as the thieves' had been to Khelek. They pulled every thief out of jail and hung them. Oh they all denied it of course. It had been done in the night with nary a witness. But the people knew in their heart of hearts what the truth was.

A guard had gone to a bar and drank his lips loose. Now everyone knew about what had happened. Some looked at the bodies with dread - others with hope. People began to whisper and grow increasingly nervous. Look out for thieves. Not only will they rob you blind, but kill you too.

Sashi narrowed her eyes and frowned. With how busy the guards had been in keeping the populace from turning ugly, she was surprised any of them had time to tighten the noose.

[Northen Light36]

The bodies don't stay there for long. Not willing to let the bodies of their friends go unburied, a handful of the guild cut the bodies down in the night and take them away for burial. Mat, ruling the Ilyamen guild while Echo's still healing, has a struggle on his hands to keep the guild from responding with more bloodshed.

Instead he sets the guild to work responding to the guards attack with more cunning. First, the guild spend their nights breaking into the houses of the poorest citizens, taking nothing but leaving pouches of coper and silver behind.

Those too old to be out stealing and leaving gifts spend time in the inns and taverns, talking to anyone who'll listen, reminding the population of how young the hanging victims had been, the youngest only 12, and how often the Ilyamen guards had abused their authority. Rumors that those hung were not all thieves, that some were victims of rape by the guards and hung to silence them are carefully spread. "If the guards have started to hang children for a spot of petty theft," the rumors whisper, "what's to stop them hanging the next person who calls them names or fails to get out of the way of the guards soon enough?"

Between the whispers and the gifts, Mat hopes to win the support of Ilyamen's common and poor classes.

[Deleted]

The sight of the thieves hanging there and then the rumors reaching her ears was more then enough to make Aueril nearly loose her cool. She paced up and down one of the hallways of Aslan's home, head spinning in furious thought.

The thieves had been removed quickly, so she could only assume that the guild went ahead and took them down. Not to mention all the rumors popping up; all of this had the thieves guild written all over it.

Pinching her the bridge of her nose, she moved to look out the window. Once she had command of the seat, the first thing she was going to do was get those guards who did this in here to see her.

[Devon]

Aslan sat in his office watching Aueril pace around. Sighing he ran a hand through his hair and shook his fist, "Damn those guards, I hate to pass over leadership to you in the middle of this ordeal, but I am still going to go ahead with what we discussed. We'll both deal with this, you as your entrance to leadership and me as my exit."

[Kender Bard]

The guards meanwhile were doing all they could to keep the order. For a little while, they fanned the flames of the rumor, arresting those that tried to assault patrolling guards with rotten fruit. But when the poisonous words finally reached their ears, they decided to play just as dirty of the thieves - going to the upper class and merchant classes, reminding them to be careful of all the recent thefts. And murders. The the guards were doing their best but it was so hard with all the commoner rabble making it difficult to protect wares and homes.

Angered, some of the merchants began to deny wares to any who spoke ill of the guards, calling them unpatriotic to Ilyamen, and threatening to turn them in for treason.

The upper class mostly perpetuated their own rumor mill - talk of the thieves committing all sorts of heinous crimes, and of the poor guards who struggle on valiantly to protect them.

---

Sashi looked at several letters that had come to her. Petitions, almost all from upper classmen, asking for additional bodyguarding work against thieves and murderers and the like. "This is getting crazy," she commented to Lukas.

[Deleted]

Aueril looked at Aslan. "That is all well and good, My Lord, however, something must be done. I want to see the ones who did this," her eyes were cold fire and she strode over to where Aslan sat.

Carefully, she took a seat across from them. "With this over my head, I'm having to pull back all my workers from the outter wall."

[Northen Light36]

Those denied the ability to buy food soon find theirselves gifted with food, clothing and toys for their children if they have any, along with heartwarming apologies from the guild for the cruelty of the upper classes and promises of protection.

Those promises are upheld too. Anyone in real danger of arrest or attack is quietly smuggled out of the city and given enough food, money and supplies to start new lives, with the guild sneaking messages of reassurance to friends and family.

[tuo]

Lukas sighs and rubbed his forehead. "Do we even have enough mercenaries to answer all of these requests? Ones that aren't going to be rougher with commoners then they have to be?"

[Devon]

"all right I'll get those guards in here," Aslan said. "We're going to have to put out a lot of fires so to speak, I think the first thing to do is publicly condemn those guards."

[Kender Bard]

Sashi frowned and carefully arranged the petitions. "According to my math," she muttered, "we have enough here to hire out every free hand in the guild. In short, a small militia to the upper class. What interests me is that the lower class are... extremely quiet. No asks for help - not even for pittances. Not even asking for free. That's really odd, given the circumstances."

She glanced at him. "We can't turn them down - hell we can't turn down most of them. Some of them are paying up front. If we turn our nose up to this many jobs, then they'll find some way to get us all disbanded and kicked out of Ilyamen. We need to take at least half, and that will still hire out the majority of the guild. Strictly to the upper class."

[Northen Light36]

"Or you could take a higher offer to go somewhere else... say... Talen'sul, Ronduin or Naurorod," a voice says, drawning attention to a cloaked figure in the shadows. Mat had been watching the merc guild for awhile. "Say, five silver and three gold?"

[Deleted]

Aueril nodded. "Yes; I'll prepare a letter to be sent to the guards. I want them here as quickly as it can be managed."

She paused for a moment. "I've also taken the liberty to send a letter and payment to the mercenaries. I think that we will need their help to bring things under control."

[tuo]

Lukas was about to answer Sashi before looking at the newcomer and barely keeps his eyes from widening at the price mentioned. "T-that's quite a hefty sum. Why would you be willing to pay so much for something like that though?" He asks while almost itching to scan this person's thoughts out of curiosity.

[Northen Light36]

Mat looks at Sashi and Lukas, his eyes gleaming in the little light that gets under his hood. "Because I have people to protect," he replies simply. "And because we happen to have a friend in common and I'd therefore prefer to discuss this like civilised people, rather then have to get into conflict with you." Mat looks at the two mercs and nods to himself. "You look like good people, and our friend confirms that. I'm asking you not to help with the mass murder of innocents." With a regretful note to his tone, Mat mutters, "There was enough of that in Khelek."

[Kender Bard]

Sashi's eyes darkened a little. "So it's true - the thieves really did commit a mass murder in Khelek." She crossed her arms, a growl bubbling in her throat. "What's to stop you from doing it again here? You get us out of town - the only real competition - and you'll have free reign of the city. You can kill off all the guards again or maybe rumor-poke the peasants into doing it for you."