Published at 22nd of October 2023 9:43 am

Book 3: Chapter 41

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A strange sense of peace had settled over the district, and after only a week, the army packed up and left. Garrett's plan was to lay low, avoiding drawing any attention to himself or the Klein family. Cynen had been pulled in to speak to the general in charge of the operation, but between Commander Larner's support and the favorable report that Major Kinsmith gave, they let her go with only a slap on the wrist. A week and a half after the undead incident, Cynen sent word to Garrett, informing him that the Council of Ten was going to be gathering. He had known that it was coming, and had been making his plans for some time, but he hadn't anticipated it happening so fast. As far as he knew, it was still two months away, but it appeared that because of the disappearance of the Brass Tiger Syndicate, a gang needed to be chosen to fill the space, to preserve the balance of the city.

They were to meet at a special location under the city called the Underworld Arena, and Garrett found himself quite curious to meet the other members of the top ten gangs in the city. He had heard a bit about them, but not wanting to go into the meeting unprepared, called Cynen to give him a full rundown of who they would be dealing with.

The ten gangs had been reduced to nine, one of which was the Grave Walkers, who he was intimately familiar with. The Ebony Association, led by Gero Twin Blade, was another, and though his interactions with them had not been particularly positive, Garrett didn't feel as if they were true enemies yet. To the south of the inn, on a small island out in the river, was Janus Manor, an old mansion owned by the Janus family. They controlled the shipping on the river and in the swamp beyond it, and their members were primarily sailors. Henry Janus, the last remaining member of the Janus family, was the leader of the gang, and was a mysterious figure said to wield supernatural powers. The last gang in the district was the Hunters gang, which was controlled by Arthur Tellson of the Adventurers Guild, and acted as the less savory branch of the official organization.

The other five seats were held by gangs on the other side of the river, in the noble district outside of the palace. Their influence stretched across the city. After listening to Cynen's explanation, Garrett realized that he had seen most of them at one point or another. Silver Song was less a gang and more a network of information brokers and innkeepers scattered across the city. Telbron, on the other hand, was a gang backed by the Merchant's Guild, its members forming the Black Market. Then there was Marble Griffin, a gang of retired soldiers who hung around the city gates. They operated as an unofficial militia, ensuring the defense of the city while also supporting the active duty soldiers.

The last two gangs held the first and second seat. In the first seat was the Moonlight Council, a gang formed of young nobles whose parents had tremendous wealth and connections but didn't want to be seen getting their hands dirty. They happily outsourced all of the things they didn’t want to do to their children under the guise of letting them learn how to get along in society. Directly under the young noble’s gang, in the second seat, was Rackham's Blade, a large mercenary organization employed by the Moonlight Council. Over time, Rackham's Blade had grown to be more like a gang than a mercenary group, and at this point, it was unlikely to ever see them out on jobs that weren't handed to them directly by the Moonlight Council.

After poring over the information that Cynen provided him, Garrett put a plan together and called Ryn into his office. She strode in and plopped herself down in one of the chairs on the other side of his desk, tucking her hair behind her ear in a smooth gesture. She had gained considerable confidence over the last month and a half, and Garrett found himself happy to see it. Though she had always walked with considerable pep, much of her nervous energy had faded, replaced with a sort of calm certainty that he liked to be around. He gave her a brief overview of the situation and shared his thoughts on who they should bring with them.

"If it's okay with you, I'll have you come to this meeting, and we can bring one guard as well," Garrett said. “Who do you think we should take?”

Biting her finger, Ryn's forehead furrowed as she thought the question over.

"It's a shame Viper isn't with us anymore," she said after a moment of thought. "What about Pax?"

"Pax, Maren, Kinsley, Estel, and Asher are all going to be busy," Garrett replied, shaking his head. "They've got a lot to do over the next few weeks, and I don't want to disrupt them."

"That leaves Abbius as our next choice," Ryn said, causing Garrett's eyebrows to rise slightly.

"Oh? Explain that."

"Abbius is more likely to follow directions to the letter, and he's considerably more protective than Leff, Helger, or Maximus," Ryn replied, checking off her reasons and the names on her fingers, “which is what we want in a guard.”

“What about Obe?”

“Obe is still busy organizing the school. Did I tell you that we've started recruiting teachers?"

"No," Garrett said, "but that's good to hear."

He had been following the progress through the bits and pieces of information filtering from the dream flower network, but for the most part had just been leaving it up to Ryn and Obe.

“Speaking of school, did you ever find that young man I mentioned?”

“Joe Trilby? Yes. He was quite surprised when we added him to the roster. I gave him a job working as a runner for Obe for the time being, and told Obe to make sure he had enough time off to attend the classes. I’m still trying to figure out what is so special about him and his sister, but I’m coming up empty.”

Giving her a faint smile, Garrett just shrugged and avoided answering.

“Thanks for handling that. We'll take Abbius with us to this council meeting. We are not going to be in one of the main seats, so we should be able to slide by without too much trouble. Mostly we're just going to support Cynen and the Grave Walkers."

"Are we going to try for the empty seat?" Ryn asked. "You know, the one that Paskal and the Brass Tigers held? It comes with a lot of advantages.”

“Do you think we should?"

"Honestly? No," Ryn said, crossing her legs and leaning forward. "I think it sounds like a whole lot of trouble. We don't need whatever drama comes along with the seat, and if we get it we're going to have to defend it against challenges, which sounds like a waste of time to me."

"Indeed," Garrett said with a nod. "That mirrors my thoughts almost exactly. I'm content with having a strong ally on the council in the form of the Grave Walkers. We’ll just have to ensure that they are able to maintain their seat, though given Cynen’s growth I don’t think that will be a significant challenge."

Looking like she was about to ask a question, Ryn hesitated for a moment and then scratched her chin and stood up, deciding not to broach whatever subject was on her mind. Instead, she took something out of her pouch and placed it on Garrett's desk. Looking at the bar of soap that she had put down, he raised his eyebrows.

"What's this?"

"This is a bar of soap that's popped up recently," she said. "A competitor of sorts. The quality is just as good as ours. In fact, they're almost indistinguishable."

Putting down his quill, Garrett reached across the desk and picked up the bar of soap. It had a crude crown stamped on the top, but otherwise was exactly the same as the soap that they had been selling. Looking at it for a moment, he nodded and put it down.

Across the desk, Ryn's eyes narrowed. "Aren't you nervous about it?" She asked.

"Nervous about what?”

“We're about to have a bunch of competitors."

"And?" Garrett asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Shouldn't we do something about them?" Ryn asked, her voice clearly frustrated.

"No," Garrett responded. "We don't need to do anything about them. Believe me when I say our customers are loyal. They'll only buy Ryn's Royal Soap. So as long as other companies aren't using the same packaging, we're going to be fine. Though that does remind me, we need to find an alchemist nearby.”

“There are a number of alchemy shops up near the Monster Emporium. In fact, most of the alchemist's shops are located in that area. Makes it easier for them to process and acquire the materials they need."

"Excellent. If you're not busy, maybe we could go today," Garrett said.

For a fraction of a second, Ryn paused before she nodded.

"That's fine, but this time we're taking guards," she said, remembering the last experience they had had visiting the market.

"Sure," Garrett replied. "Let's see if Coleridge wants to send a few men with us."

Two hours later, Ryn, Garrett, and two burly awakened mercenaries stood on a small street that extended from the Monster Emporium. A wide variety of shops, ranging from upscale to ramshackle, were packed in on either side of the street, each boasting a sign proclaiming its alchemical expertise. Garrett scanned the street for a moment, before choosing one of the shops seemingly at random, and had Ryn push him inside, while the two mercenaries stood at the door.

When they entered, they heard the tinkle of a bell in the back, and a moment later, a tired-looking young man with a pair of half-moon glasses and unruly blonde hair stuck his head out from the back room. "I'll be with you in a moment," he said. "Feel free to look around," before vanishing once more. The shop wasn't very large.

The room was filled to the brim with materials brought from the wilds outside of the city. Most were held in boxes or jars, but many were simply scattered across a series of shelves that ringed the room. There was barely space for Garrett's wheelchair to squeeze through the aisles and rather than risk getting stuck or accidentally knocking over some of the precariously piled materials, Garrett elected to stay in front of the counter while Ryn walked around the small room. It was a good four minutes before the shopkeeper made his appearance once more, wiping his hands on a cloth as he walked out from the back room.

"What can I do for you?" he asked, taking off his glasses and sticking them in his pocket.

"I'm hoping you can help me with something," Garrett said. "I'm looking for the cause of a particular kind of rash."

Raising his eyebrows, the alchemist looked between Garrett and Ryn, who had walked over to listen to their conversation.

"Shouldn't you go to the healers for that?"

"No, it's not dangerous enough to go to the healers," Garrett said. "It's just an annoyance, and mostly I'm just trying to understand how it happened. I've observed it on an individual who operates in the swamp, but I'm not sure where the rash is coming from, and I was curious to know if you had any ideas. It produces wide red spots with open sores at their center, appearing mostly on hands."

Thinking for a moment, the alchemist pulled a book from under his counter and flipped through it, eventually stopping on a page with a few sketches. Spinning it around, he pushed it across the counter for Garrett to look.

"Do the sores look like that?" He asked, gesturing to the book.

"Yes, that's exactly what it is."

"Sounds like you've got yourself a case of swamp rot," the alchemist said. "But why you're here and not at a healer, I still don't understand."

"Healing it isn't an issue," Garrett said, shaking his head. "The question is, why is it appearing? Only one of my men has gotten it, which I don't understand.”

“Swamp rot's not contagious," the alchemist said, taking his book back and flipping a few pages forward, "and really, to get it, you have to be pretty unlucky. I'd assume that he's been working out in the swamp recently, probably handling some plants. Avernus is a weed that grows everywhere in the swamp. Its leaves produce a sort of mild irritant that'll sting slightly if it touches you, but it's typically not bad. Mix it with tobacco, however, and it produces that swamp rot you're talking about. And it's not just tobacco. There are a number of things that can trigger it. As for getting rid of it, just wait a week. The sores should heal up on their own."

It was clear from his tone of voice and expression that the alchemist's mind was on whatever experiments he was running in the back and not on Garrett’s question, so Garrett thanked him, and they left. He could practically feel Ryn's curiosity as she pushed him down the street to the next shop they were going to visit, but she didn't ask, and he didn't say anything.

After four visits to four different shops, Garrett and Ryn headed back to the inn, giving the two mercenaries each a few silver as a thanks for escorting them. When they arrived back at Garrett's office, he took a few moments to pen a note for Carraway.

"This has to do with Parrow's factories, doesn't it?" Ryn asked, finally unable to contain her curiosity. Garrett just gave her a small smile and sealed up the note.

"Would you have somebody pass this to Carraway?" he asked.

It was late that night when Cynen arrived with a dozen members of her gang. While those who didn't possess one of the ten seats were limited in the number of people they could bring, there was no such limit for members of the table. Heading down into the sewer, the group made their way west into an area that Garrett had yet to explore under the western part of the district. Garrett's forces were mostly concentrated around the inn on the eastern side of the district, and now they were beginning to spread into the northern sections under the graveyard. This was a new area for him, and it was with considerable interest that he examined the relatively clean and well-lit tunnels. There didn't seem to be an undead presence in this area, and when he brought it up, Cynen nodded.

"You'll see the further we get," she said. "This section of the underground is really just an extension of the city above. It's used quite often, and though occasionally monsters do wander in, they tend to be taken care of pretty quickly."

Navigating the sewer with a wheelchair would have been difficult, except that between Ryn and Abbius and the dozen awakened from the Grave Walker gang, it was a simple matter to carry it down the stairs and through the narrow passages. It wasn't long before they started seeing other people, and turning down one particularly wide passageway, Garrett was surprised to see dozens of small wooden stands set up along either side of the passage. A wide variety of goods could be seen laid out, and the merchants who sat at each stand watched Cynen's group with wary eyes.

"You folks looking for tickets?"

One of the merchants called out, but Gale, who was walking next to Cynen, shook his head and flashed the token of the Grave Walkers, causing the merchant to shrink back.

"Do we need tickets for this event?" Garrett asked, but Cynen shook her head.

"No. Though others do. The tickets are so the smaller gangs can watch and keep a finger on the pulse of what is happening with the larger gangs. As one of the current seats, we're allowed to bring in a subordinate gang, so it shouldn't be an issue. We're almost there."

After traveling for another mile and a half through the large, twisting tunnels, they finally arrived at a heavy wooden door, guarded by a group of mercenaries dressed in uniform black armor and sporting badges that bore a bloody, curved blade.

"State your name and affiliation," one of the guards said, holding up his hand to stop them as they approached.

Cynen stepped forward, lifting her token and speaking quietly.

"Cynen of the Grave Walker gang. We're bringing one of our subordinate gangs with us. Garrett Klein of the Klein Family."

After verifying her token, the guard nodded and gestured to the doorway. "You know the rules," he said. "Just make sure that anyone you're bringing in does too."

The doors opened, and a wave of sound rolled over Garrett, causing him to blink in surprise. Whatever he had imagined, it certainly wasn't this. Inside the doors, there appeared to be a small city, two and a half blocks long and at least three blocks wide. The area they walked into was a giant room with buildings that stretched from floor to ceiling in five layers. A confusing maze of passages and stairways twisted and turned like a rat's nest in the space, and everywhere Garrett looked, there were people.

Seeing him gawk, Ryn laughed. She had clearly known what they were going to see, but had been waiting for Garrett's reaction. Patting him on the shoulder, she chuckled.

"Welcome to the underground."

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