Innkeeper
You don't have any proof to give to the militia other than Edmond's information and you can't afford to wait around and hope things get better. You need to act now, so you tell Edmond that you'll pay for the assassin.
"Okay, but this is going to be expensive AND once we do this I don't want to hear any shit about you having second thoughts because you feel guilty. Are you absolutely sure you want to do this? Edmond asks.
" I'd be lying if I said yes, but this is something that has to be done. You won't get any complaints from me. I just hope your lizard can do the job."
"Well I hope so too, because if not, we're both going to be in for a fight if we have angry succubae after us. I want five hundred gold by tomorrow."
"Five that's a lot."
"That's fuckin' cheap to hire the best! You're only getting a discount due to the fact that this is something I was thinking about doing anyway! Now if you don't like the price "
"No, I can get it. When's the job going to be done?"
"Tonight if possible, but I suspect it might take my boy into the wee hours of the morning since he's dealing with other worldly beings and all. If he hasn't done it by the time you come by with the money tomorrow, then he's failed and you can keep half of your money because I'm a nice guy. How's that sound?"
"Erm good I guess, but I'd rather he succeed."
"I'm sure he will. So is our business done or did you still want to see the fight pits? I'm sure Olaf's eating his competitior right about now."
"Eh, that's okay I should be getting back."
"Suit yourself."
You're able to get a coach back to inn, naturally it's a lot later now and everyone is asking you where you've been. You explain that you forgot to do something at campus for a class, which seems to satisfy as an excuse.
For the remainder of the night, you're preoccupied with your decision. Wondering if it's going to fail or not. You barely get any sleep and the next day at your classes you can barely concentrate. You basically wander the day in a haze until it's time for you to go pay Edmond.
When you enter the Troll's Breath, Edmond points to his office and you follow.
"Told you my boy could do it. Now aren't you glad you made this decision? You got my money?" Edmond asks in a friendly tone.
"Yeah you mean that's it? It succeeded?"
"Of course it did! I figured you already knew it did given that you're closer to the Flying Griffon and are friends with all those Klyton militia folks I mean it's pretty big news! Flying Griffon Massacre they're calling it! "
You've been so caught up in your own worry you haven't been paying much attention to outside discussion or events. You feel a sense of relief, but then you question the word
"Massacre?"
"Yeah the demons are dead and Frank is going to jail. Seems that the militia think he was making human sacrifices to summon up the demons and it all got out of hand."
"Wait, why would they think all that?
"Eh, well apparently my boy had some problems understanding the differences in the terms disfigure and dismember, so he killed those human barmaids in a rather gruesome fashion, but on the bright side it completely puts all the blame on Frank. They figured he or the succubae killed the barmaids and then the succubae tried to rebel against their master he was forced to kill them. Being an unlicensed mage certainly doesn't help him. In any case the heat doesn't even trace back to us as long you don't start acting suspicious around your militia buddies, which I trust you won't."
"Yeah "
You're a little in shock as the realization that you've just participated in murder. Granted you weren't doing a good thing anyway, but disfiguring is still a lot different than murder. You don't say anything since you promised that you wouldn't whine about having a guilty conscious afterwards.
Edmond takes your money and makes you stay until it is all counted. When it is, he says you can leave.
"Oh one more thing. I hear you're going into medicine. Very useful profession, I could use a competent doctor every once in awhile; gods know that drunk that I currently have on my payroll is barely useful. I hope I can call upon you in the future if I need to."
And there it is, the "catch" for doing business with a criminal. You could kick yourself in the head for actually believing that this was going to be a straight up transaction. He may not be extorting your inn; he's just hanging a "favor" over your head in the future. Somehow that's almost worse.
There's little you can do about it now though, you head back to the inn where your patrons and staff are all talking about what happened at the Flying Griffon. Rita in particular speaks to you about it.
"Sheesh, I didn't know you were going to go to that extreme, but can't say those bitches didn't deserve it. That's what happens when you work with demons right? Who knew Frank was a mage? Well at least we don't have any competition anymore."
Rita's callous talk about the Griffon barmaids makes you angry. In fact all of this was Rita's initial suggestion and while you listened to it, that doesn't mean she shouldn't suffer the negative consequences for it too. You snap and grab Rita by the arm roughly and pull her into the cellar. Flameflower and Sunshine are down there drinking your wine supply.
"Erm uh (giggle)" is all Sunshine can utter when getting busted,
"If you two halfbreed bitches don't get upstairs and start doing some actual work for a change you're gonna get some of what Rita's about to get! MOVE!"
You don't need to say it twice, your tone is enough to sober them up and get them moving.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? You better let me go, and what the hell do you mean I'm getting something? You better not be implying what I think you're implying. You so much as start grabbing my tits and I'll scr "
You don't let Rita finish; you just slam her up against the wall as hard as you can with your hand over her mouth.
"Bitch I wouldn't touch your gold digging fuckhole with a ten pole. You think those girls deserved to die? Oh no, you just felt that they needed to be disfigured; well maybe you need to be mutilated. Take your ass down a few notches."
At this point you grab a nearby candle and start holding it need Rita's face. She pulls away and tears start.
"Oh what's the matter? Don't like being a victim? Well how do you think those girls felt in their final moments?!" you say and throw Rita to the floor.
"I fucking caused that to happen! And guess what? So did you. So if you're not going to feel bad about it, you're at least going to feel bad in other ways. I'm lowering your pay and if you don't like it, tough shit, you can quit. I can get some other shallow whore to do your job, you're not special. And if you're getting some sort of bright ideas about reporting me to the militia or some shit, remember what happened at the Flying Griffon? Well I can make that happen to you too."
You leave on that threatening note, while Rita tries to compose herself. You're a little surprised that Rita's "tough girl" act was broken so easily, you're also surprised at your own actions. The scary part to you is that it was easy and how you feel a lot better now.
You exit the cellar and a few moments later Rita follows. This leads to a few whispers amongst your staff. Everyone assumes that you and Rita must've had some rough sex. Your mother even approaches you about it.
"Far be it from me to interfere with your personal life, but if you're going to insist on having sex with the help, I'd appreciate it if you at least took Rita up to your room and NOT anywhere on the business premises!"
" okay mom."
"(Sigh) I mean (Sigh) Rita? You could do so much better! Sure she's pretty, but the girl is a shallow gold digger and not even a very good one! Couldn't you at least picked Eliza? I could've understood that, she's sweet. Or how about a nice girl at your college? You know like one with a bright future ahead of her? (Sigh) I just hope for your sake you didn't get that little tart pregnant!"
You just nod and agree with your mother the whole time. It's better if everyone thinks that you were fucking Rita rather than the truth anyway.
With the Flying Griffon closed down, business picks up and you don't have as many financial worries any longer. You're not out of the woods yet though since now you're in your final stages of your education, which means medical school as well as having to get a job actually working at a hospital. The only problem with that is being an intern doesn't pay all that well and you certainly can't do that AND work at the bar.
Your mother reassures you that you shouldn't worry about it as she'll be able to hire a couple extra people as well as being able to help with the rest of your tuition.
In any case it looks like your days as an innkeeper are over.
"Okay, but this is going to be expensive AND once we do this I don't want to hear any shit about you having second thoughts because you feel guilty. Are you absolutely sure you want to do this? Edmond asks.
" I'd be lying if I said yes, but this is something that has to be done. You won't get any complaints from me. I just hope your lizard can do the job."
"Well I hope so too, because if not, we're both going to be in for a fight if we have angry succubae after us. I want five hundred gold by tomorrow."
"Five that's a lot."
"That's fuckin' cheap to hire the best! You're only getting a discount due to the fact that this is something I was thinking about doing anyway! Now if you don't like the price "
"No, I can get it. When's the job going to be done?"
"Tonight if possible, but I suspect it might take my boy into the wee hours of the morning since he's dealing with other worldly beings and all. If he hasn't done it by the time you come by with the money tomorrow, then he's failed and you can keep half of your money because I'm a nice guy. How's that sound?"
"Erm good I guess, but I'd rather he succeed."
"I'm sure he will. So is our business done or did you still want to see the fight pits? I'm sure Olaf's eating his competitior right about now."
"Eh, that's okay I should be getting back."
"Suit yourself."
You're able to get a coach back to inn, naturally it's a lot later now and everyone is asking you where you've been. You explain that you forgot to do something at campus for a class, which seems to satisfy as an excuse.
For the remainder of the night, you're preoccupied with your decision. Wondering if it's going to fail or not. You barely get any sleep and the next day at your classes you can barely concentrate. You basically wander the day in a haze until it's time for you to go pay Edmond.
When you enter the Troll's Breath, Edmond points to his office and you follow.
"Told you my boy could do it. Now aren't you glad you made this decision? You got my money?" Edmond asks in a friendly tone.
"Yeah you mean that's it? It succeeded?"
"Of course it did! I figured you already knew it did given that you're closer to the Flying Griffon and are friends with all those Klyton militia folks I mean it's pretty big news! Flying Griffon Massacre they're calling it! "
You've been so caught up in your own worry you haven't been paying much attention to outside discussion or events. You feel a sense of relief, but then you question the word
"Massacre?"
"Yeah the demons are dead and Frank is going to jail. Seems that the militia think he was making human sacrifices to summon up the demons and it all got out of hand."
"Wait, why would they think all that?
"Eh, well apparently my boy had some problems understanding the differences in the terms disfigure and dismember, so he killed those human barmaids in a rather gruesome fashion, but on the bright side it completely puts all the blame on Frank. They figured he or the succubae killed the barmaids and then the succubae tried to rebel against their master he was forced to kill them. Being an unlicensed mage certainly doesn't help him. In any case the heat doesn't even trace back to us as long you don't start acting suspicious around your militia buddies, which I trust you won't."
"Yeah "
You're a little in shock as the realization that you've just participated in murder. Granted you weren't doing a good thing anyway, but disfiguring is still a lot different than murder. You don't say anything since you promised that you wouldn't whine about having a guilty conscious afterwards.
Edmond takes your money and makes you stay until it is all counted. When it is, he says you can leave.
"Oh one more thing. I hear you're going into medicine. Very useful profession, I could use a competent doctor every once in awhile; gods know that drunk that I currently have on my payroll is barely useful. I hope I can call upon you in the future if I need to."
And there it is, the "catch" for doing business with a criminal. You could kick yourself in the head for actually believing that this was going to be a straight up transaction. He may not be extorting your inn; he's just hanging a "favor" over your head in the future. Somehow that's almost worse.
There's little you can do about it now though, you head back to the inn where your patrons and staff are all talking about what happened at the Flying Griffon. Rita in particular speaks to you about it.
"Sheesh, I didn't know you were going to go to that extreme, but can't say those bitches didn't deserve it. That's what happens when you work with demons right? Who knew Frank was a mage? Well at least we don't have any competition anymore."
Rita's callous talk about the Griffon barmaids makes you angry. In fact all of this was Rita's initial suggestion and while you listened to it, that doesn't mean she shouldn't suffer the negative consequences for it too. You snap and grab Rita by the arm roughly and pull her into the cellar. Flameflower and Sunshine are down there drinking your wine supply.
"Erm uh (giggle)" is all Sunshine can utter when getting busted,
"If you two halfbreed bitches don't get upstairs and start doing some actual work for a change you're gonna get some of what Rita's about to get! MOVE!"
You don't need to say it twice, your tone is enough to sober them up and get them moving.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? You better let me go, and what the hell do you mean I'm getting something? You better not be implying what I think you're implying. You so much as start grabbing my tits and I'll scr "
You don't let Rita finish; you just slam her up against the wall as hard as you can with your hand over her mouth.
"Bitch I wouldn't touch your gold digging fuckhole with a ten pole. You think those girls deserved to die? Oh no, you just felt that they needed to be disfigured; well maybe you need to be mutilated. Take your ass down a few notches."
At this point you grab a nearby candle and start holding it need Rita's face. She pulls away and tears start.
"Oh what's the matter? Don't like being a victim? Well how do you think those girls felt in their final moments?!" you say and throw Rita to the floor.
"I fucking caused that to happen! And guess what? So did you. So if you're not going to feel bad about it, you're at least going to feel bad in other ways. I'm lowering your pay and if you don't like it, tough shit, you can quit. I can get some other shallow whore to do your job, you're not special. And if you're getting some sort of bright ideas about reporting me to the militia or some shit, remember what happened at the Flying Griffon? Well I can make that happen to you too."
You leave on that threatening note, while Rita tries to compose herself. You're a little surprised that Rita's "tough girl" act was broken so easily, you're also surprised at your own actions. The scary part to you is that it was easy and how you feel a lot better now.
You exit the cellar and a few moments later Rita follows. This leads to a few whispers amongst your staff. Everyone assumes that you and Rita must've had some rough sex. Your mother even approaches you about it.
"Far be it from me to interfere with your personal life, but if you're going to insist on having sex with the help, I'd appreciate it if you at least took Rita up to your room and NOT anywhere on the business premises!"
" okay mom."
"(Sigh) I mean (Sigh) Rita? You could do so much better! Sure she's pretty, but the girl is a shallow gold digger and not even a very good one! Couldn't you at least picked Eliza? I could've understood that, she's sweet. Or how about a nice girl at your college? You know like one with a bright future ahead of her? (Sigh) I just hope for your sake you didn't get that little tart pregnant!"
You just nod and agree with your mother the whole time. It's better if everyone thinks that you were fucking Rita rather than the truth anyway.
With the Flying Griffon closed down, business picks up and you don't have as many financial worries any longer. You're not out of the woods yet though since now you're in your final stages of your education, which means medical school as well as having to get a job actually working at a hospital. The only problem with that is being an intern doesn't pay all that well and you certainly can't do that AND work at the bar.
Your mother reassures you that you shouldn't worry about it as she'll be able to hire a couple extra people as well as being able to help with the rest of your tuition.
In any case it looks like your days as an innkeeper are over.