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Archives: Failed Storyline: Adventures of Granite and Ooke

Chapter 2: Assistance

    At the Mercenaries’ Guild Hall, Minsk was taking a cat nap, lying out in the sun of the courtyard with his three half-wolf companion around him to alert him to the arrival of any visitors. He had been up late last evening finishing his last mission, by hauling in a weaselly little man who owed the wrong people a lot of money. Instead of coming clean, the guy made a run for it. He hadn’t gotten very far.

    One thing about being a mercenary, was you often enough found yourself working all kinds of weird hours. Often times traveling all through the night or sometimes staying up all night just watching a supposedly ‘safe’ location that some criminal thought to hide out in. The thing was if a hunter waited long enough, his prey eventually made a mistake that would get themselves caught.

    As of yet, his superiors hadn’t approached him about any new business. Either things were slow at the Mercenaries’ Guild (which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing), or they were simply just letting him sleep.

* * *

    Granite and Ooke made their way to Raiden’s Mercenaries’ Guild. Granite pushed open the door and as she walked in, she glanced to Ooke. “What was the name again?” she asked.

    Ooke thought for a second. “I don’t recall there being a name on the post,” he replied. “Perhaps we could just inquire with in and they’ll know who is best suited for my problem,” Ooke said, while thinking more along the lines of how much these leaches would try to suck out of him. The group of dogs grab his attention for a second, he thought about how nice it must be to not have a care in the world.

    Inside the door was an open courtyard that allowed the sun light to illuminate the spare foliage. A few trees and bushes mostly, but there was the occasional flower here or there. Under one of the trees, half in the shade and half in the sun on a bench, was a dark skinned man in black leather armor. He appeared to be snoozing away the day basking in the sunlight. Between the entrance and the man lay a large greyish black dog. On the opposite side of him were two almost identical black dogs only slightly smaller than the one in front. These two lay entwined with each other basking in the sun.

    The grayish colored dog’s ears perked up at the entrance of the two dwarves. A low growl escaped the dogs throat, before Minsk, without opening his eyes or moving in any way, gave the dog a quiet command, “Easy.” The dog stayed alert but was more at ease knowing that its master was awake.

    The twins, Midnight and Twilight, didn’t even register the entrance of the strangers they were so exhausted from the late night’s adventure. The two of them had been the ones to chase the “mark” down, tripping up his feet until Minsk caught up. Minsk’s command to Dusk woke them up, but they obeyed it as well. The two dwarves were not acting threatening so they closed their eyes and seemed to go back to sleep.

    Granite passed the man and his dogs without a second thought. It was the guild clerk she was looking for. The female dwarf entered the main hall and sought out the clerk responsible for organizing jobs. Behind his desk, the clerk’s eyebrows raised as he recognized the young dwarf woman coming to speak to him. “Oh, Granite, welcome back,” he said. “Have you decided to join the guild?”

    “No,” she replied. “Actually, I’ve come to hire a mercenary. My friend had a few important items stolen off him, and we need someone who could possibly track down the thieves. Maybe someone who has access to some magic, or knowledge of thieving circles that the goods might get fenced in.”

    “Hmm...well, I have someone who might be able to help you. He isn’t a mage or a thief, but he is good at tracking down stolen things and missing people,” the clerk replied. “In fact, you just walked by him on the way in. His name is Minsk, he’s the dark fellow with all the dogs.”

    “Oh, alright,” Granite replied, a little surprised at the different approach he offered. She took it though, and turned to meet Minsk. “Thanks!” she called back to the clerk.

    Granite walked up to the mercenary and his dogs. Glancing back and forth between the three canines, she realized they looked a little more wolf-like than the average dog. “Excuse me,” she said, politely trying to get Minsk’s attention.

    Minsk opened his golden eyes, to look up at Granite. A position she probably didn’t run into very often, a human looking up at a dwarf. He swung his feet off the bench to sit up without removing his stare. “Yes, how can we help you?”

    “My friend had some important things stolen from him, and we need help tracking down the thieves. The guild clerk suggested that I hire you,” Granite explained.

    “Yes, that sounds like the kind of thing that we...” he motioned towards his three companions, “are very good at.” His golden yes lit up with his curiosity piqued. “Chances are that those who have stolen from you have bounties on their heads. My fee would be eighty percent of the bounty.”

    The dark skinned man then added. “Any booty that would be found would most likely be stolen property, and would have to be returned to its proper owner. At least some attempt at finding the proper owner anyway. So items that are found will not be up for the taking. The Mercenary Guild posts a notice that stolen property has been located, and those who have had things stolen from them must come here to claim it. In most cases, nondescript items are impossible to identify and are thus claimed by the Mercenary Guild itself.” He looked at the two dwarves, “If these conditions are acceptable, then I’m your man.”

    Granite looked back at Ooke, as this was his search. “Well, what do you think, Ooke?” she asked.

    Ooke moved close to Granite from behind and placed his hand on her shoulder. “I have no need for more then I lost. My gems, the rest will be yours. So I guess the real question is are you alright with twenty percent?” he asked to her. Ooke knew everyone of his gems by heart, and could list all forty-two of them at will.

    Granite couldn’t help the sparkle of excitement in her eyes when Ooke said she could have his gems. Oh, the beautiful things she could make with a new collection of jewels! He had a good eye for stones, she could see that by looking at him. “Yes, of course,” she replied.

    “Then we’ve got a deal,” Minsk said, standing up and holding out his hand to shake on it. “I am Minsk, This one in front here is Dusk,” with his free hand he stuck out a thumb pointing behind him, “and the twins back there lazing around in the sun are Midnight, and Twilight. Could I get your names, or, more importantly, what you would like to be called?” Minsk had already heard the female dwarf say the male dwarf’s name, Ooke, but he felt that a more formal introduction was in order. Especially when they were going to be putting their lives in each others hands.

    “I’m Granite Stoneheart,” she introduced herself to Minsk, and offered her hand up to the human.

    Ooke waited his turn to greet after Granite. “The name is Ooke Blackskull of the Stoneskull clan,” he said, deep and proud.

    “If you’ve lost gems, then we should get a move on. Items of that nature never remain in the hands of thieves very long.” The dark skinned human gathered up his things and adjusted their placement. “I’ll need to know where the theft occurred, thieves are typically very territorial, and that will give me a better idea of who we’d be dealing with. We should probably start at the fence in the area, in case they dumped them already.”

    “It was in the east market,” Granite replied. “We can lead you to the exact spot.”

    “The East Market, hmmm....” Minsk rubbed his beardless chin. “I’m not as familiar with the exchange routes in that area, but that shouldn’t be a problem. I know of the jewelers and money changers. That’ll give us a start.”

    Minsk headed towards the Mercenaries’ Guild gate that the two dwarves had entered through just moments before. “I have to warn you in advance. The easiest way to get your gems back from a corrupt jeweler is to buy them back. We can appeal to their finer morales, but if they are knowingly buying stolen gems, their moral compass may be a bit off.”

    The dark skinned mercenary clapped his hands with a loud snap. “Come on you lazy bums! It’s time to go to work!” With that the three wolf/dog hybrids sprung into action and headed out the door in front of him. “We’ll stop at the closest jeweler to the attack, and while I examine the gems with the shop owner, you can describe them without seeing them. This will at least attempt to show the man that we know what we are talking about. Does that sound alright to the both of you?”

    Those jewelers may recognize me as their competition, but I might be able to use that to our advantage, Granite thought as she followed Minsk and his dogs. “Fine, but I could be of some use, or hindrance when it comes to dealing with those jewelers. At the very least, I can afford to buy them back,” she replied.

    “It may depend on if they are dwarven or not,” Minsk added. “If they are, then they may trust you more, and you would have a better idea than me of what to look for. On the other hand if they are not a dwarf, they may think that the two of you are trying to con them out of the jewels they just bought.” The whole racial issue was a sad reality. Even though the races had been integrated for centuries, there was still distrust between them. Some thing about dealing with someone different than yourself, Minsk guessed.

    Ooke couldn’t believe his ears, buy them back... those gems belong to him in the first place! No doubt the people buying the gems knew the shifty characters selling them didn’t acquire them legally. So some might actually turn them away, and they might still be able to catch them still on the two crooks. Then again, it was not the cleanest market in Lodoss. Ooke followed the other two quietly.

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