“It’s a bit heavy isn’t it Khalazza?”

“Heavy is good. Heavy is reliable. If it doesn’t work you can hit him with it.”

Tsabrak practiced a couple of maneuvers with the hand crossbow. He was  impressed with the craftsmanship. At that moment the door opened and in walked a massive, rough looking, and extremely ugly orc carrying two heavy sacks of coins he had just collected from the Djinn’s Wish casino.

Tsabrak was annoyed “Yes Gorgeous?”

Gorgeous Glurn looked at the weapon saw  that he’s interrupting.

“Sorry Tsabrak, I hope that I am not interrupting.”

“Oh of course you’re not interrupting Gorgeous, I put the do not disturb sign on the door because I wanted you to join us.”

“What are you doing Tsabrak?”

“I am baking a cake Gorgeous, not that it’s any of your business. Put the takings down, and be on your way”

Glurn put down the coins. Tsabrak waved his hand at him implying he should leave. Gorgeous isn’t too bright and continued to stand there looking stupid. Tsabrak went to turn around but can see that he hasn’t left, so he turned back.

“Is there anything else Gorgeous, a cup of tea perhaps? No? Well in that case could you kindly sod off and shut the door behind you?”

Tsabrak turned around to Khalazza with a slight shake of his head.

“Not too bright but he hits like a stone giant. OK I’ll take it. How much do you want for it?”

“Nothing.” Said Khalazza

“Ok, so what do you want for it?” Reiterated Tsabrak.

“I want you to do something for me.”

Tsabrak nodded for him to go on.

“There’s a fight in a couple of days.”

“Yeah.”

“Make a bet for me with the bookies. If you place one down for me we we’ll call it even.”

“Why don’t you put one down yourself?”

“Well there aren’t too many bookies that will work with me, and I already have an outstanding debt with the house.” Khalazza leaned in closer. “I got a hot tip. I know something most don’t. Why don’t you put a few coins down yourself?”

********************************************************************************************************************

Nazmyr stood in a training room and observed a massive dwarf fighting a sparring partner.

“Two hundred and sixty pounds, that’s pedigree! He doesn’t look bad, does he?”

“Oh no my lord, he looks great.” Replied Ghaundan.

“Yeah great.” Said Llaulmyn.

Ghaundan continued “He’ll kill him, he’ll do you proud my lord.”

Nazmyr looked at Ghaundan “Do you think that’s what people should do for me, do you Ghaundan, do me proud?”

“That’s what you deserve my lord.”

“Pull your tongue out of my ass Ghaundan. Dogs do that, and you’re not a dog, are you Ghaundan?”

“Taken back by the change in tone. Err no, I am not.”

“However, you do have all of the characteristics of a dog Ghaundan, all except loyalty. And people like dogs Ghaundan, for the principal reason that they’re loyal. So, I don’t quite know where that leaves you, other than repugnant.” Nazmyr paced for a moment “There is a problem. Which one was it that kept the four grand from the Chaulssin job?”

There was an uncomfortable silence.

“Don’t let me ask again. I would like answers, but I am not in the mood for asking questions, get busy gentlemen, or off to Nyarleth’s Farm you go. Oink, oink, know what I mean?”

Llaulmyn took a step to the side and moved his eyes in a sideways action implying the guilt lies with Ghaundan. Ghaundan caught Llaulmyn.

“You son-of-a…”

Just before Ghaundan could finish his sentence, one of Nazmyr’s henchmen, Elpragh, stuck gag in his mouth. Jhalavar, another henchman, slashed Ghaundan’s hamstring with a short sword, causing him to buckle. Elpragh pulled out a burlap bag and some rope.

“You know what to do with that don’t you Elpragh?” said Nazmyr.

Nazmyr then turned his attention to Llaulmyn “You’re a ruthless bastard Llaulmyn, I’ll give you that.”

Llaulmyn’s eyes filled with panic. The short sword struck again.

“Feed them to the pigs Elpragh.”

*****************************************************************************************************************

Gorgeous Glurn is head butting a heavy punch bag. The sound that emanates is disturbing, and distracts Tsabrak.

“Is he allowed to do that?”

“It’s a fight club match Tsabrak, not a tickling competition. These guys are out to hurt each other.”

Gorgeous Glurn shouts from the ring “Tillin, can I have a drink?”

Tillin looks over his shoulder and then points to himself.

“What do I look like to you Glurn, a damn waterboy?”

Tillin looked at the waterboy. “Hey, look lively.”

Tillin and Tsabrak walked over to the remnants of a caravan where they keep training gear and do administration for fights.

“Look at it.” Said Tillin “How am I supposed to run this thing from that? We’re gonna need a proper office.”

“He looked at the caravan again and sighed. “It is quite pitiful. I want a new one Tsabrak and you’re going to buy it for me.”

“What’s wrong with this one?” protested Tsabrak.

Tillin ascended the staircase and his foot went through one of the stairs and the door came off at the hinges as he tried to open it.

“Oh, nothing Tsabrak, it’s tip top, it’s just I am not sure about the color. “

Tillin passed Tsabrak a piece of paper.

“Here it’s all arranged. You just gotta pick it up. Here’s an address.”

Tsabrak looked at the address and frowned. “It’s that campsite.”

“That’s right, you’re buying a caravan, and caravans live in campsites.”

“They aren’t pikey, are they?”

“I don’t know what they are, all I know is they have a caravan, and we want a caravan.”

“I hope they’re not pikies. I hate damn pikies.”

“You’re sensitive, aren’t you Tsabrak?” said Tillin as he gave Tsabrak a sack of coins. “I want to see change.”

Tsabrak begrudgingly took the sack of coins. He knew the half drow or ‘pikies’ could not be trusted. Because they are half drow, they are permitted to permanently stay within Rilauven, but because they are treated like second class they live a clannish life style in a camp on the outskirts of the foreign quarter. Tsabrak decided to take Gorgeous Glurn just in case Tillin’s arraignments fell through.

“Gods what’s that?” Said Gorgeous Glurn.

“That’s what we are looking for.” Said Tsabrak.

“It’s a campsite. It’s the pikey campsite.” Gorgeous Glurn was clearly upset. “What are we doing here?”

“We are buying a caravan.”

“Off a pack of pikies? What’s wrong with you? This’ll get messy.”

“Not if you’re here.” Tsabrak said confidently.

“Oh, screw you Tsabrak you never said anything about pikies.”

“Calm down, we are buying and then we are off.”

“Oh, you bastard, I hate damn pikies.”

Tsabrak and Gorgeous Glurn walked into the camp. There was group of children playing and one ran over to Tsabrak.

“Hey mister who you looking for?”

“Eridain.”

“Do you want me to go and get him?”

“Good boy.”

There was a pause, the boy didn’t move.

“Well are you going to go and get him?”

“Yeah.”

“Well what are you waiting for?”

“The five gold you are going to pay me.”

“Oh, sod off, I’ll find him myself.”

“Three.”

“You can have a gold.”

“Oh, you’re a tight bugger aren’t ya?”

A man shouted from the background. He’s a young with a hard but friendly face. He’s covered in dirt and facial hair, and his trousers are done up with string. But he’s wearing expensive shoes and matching gold bracelets.

“What are you doing Neceash? Get out of the way boy. Are you Tsabrak, have you come about the caravan?”

“Eridain?”

Eridain walked over to the Tsabrak, cleaning his dirt covered hands with a hand towel. When Eridain noticed Gorgeous Glurn he took a step back.

“Would you look at the size of him, Gods man how big are you? Hey kids how big is he?”

One of the kids shout “Biggest orc I’ve ever seen that’s for sure!”

“Would you look at the size of his muscles?! And look at the size of his fists. Hey Mum, come and look at the size of this fella.”

A group of kids run over and crowd around Glurn start to feel his arms. Gorgeous Glurn played the game and raised the kids on his biceps. Eridain’s mum came out to see what all the fuss was about.

“Would you look at the strength of that fella? I bet you can fight a little can’t ya? You look like a fighter.”

Eridain’s mum scolded him “Get out of the way Eridain and see if they would like a drink.”

“I could murder one.” Said Tsabrak.

Eridain’s mum scolded him “There won’t be any murdering done around here, I don’t mind telling ya.”

“Would the big fella like a cup of tea?” Said Eridain.

“Don’t be silly Eridain, an orc didn’t get that size from drinking cups of tea. Offer him an ale boy.”

After pleasantries, and agreeing to the final sale of the caravan Gorgeous Glurn hooked up two rothe to the caravan. As they started to ride away the axle snapped and wheels of the caravan came straight off bringing it to a sudden stop.

Gorgeous Glurn looked at Tsabrak “I don’t think it’s supposed to have done that.”

Tsabrak went to inspect the damage.

Eridain shouted “The deal was you bought it how you saw it.”

Tsabrak was about protest but Eridain didn’t give him a chance.

“Look, I have helped ya as much as I am gonna help ya. You still got your rothe and I suggest you use them before you’re not welcome anymore.”

Tsabrak attempted to be reasonable “Just give us the money and you can keep your caravan.”

“Why the hells do I want a caravan that’s got no wheels? I am not going to do that.”

Gorgeous Glurn stepped menacingly toward Eridain.

Eridain stepped up to Gorgeous Glurn “Where do you think you’re going? You want to settle this with a fight? I’ll fight you for it!”

Tsabrak looked at Gorgeous Glurn. Gorgeous Glurn raised his eyebrows.

The two fighters start pacing. It looked a bit ridiculous, Eridain’s slender half drow frame was dwarfed by comparison to Gorgeous Glurn. Gorgeous Glurn saw an opening and took a swing. It was an impressive punch, but Eridain is was a bit quicker and sidestepped the strike. Eridain, with his hands still at his side, did nothing to retaliate. Gorgeous Glurn lashed out and grabbed Eridain by the throat and groin. Picked him up like a sack of spuds he threw him against the caravan. Eridain quickly jumped up and brushed himself off before he started to pace again, hardly even looking at the monstrous orc.

“You want to stay down my friend.” Warned Gorgeous Glurn “I promise you, you want to stay down.”

Eridain ignored the warning and continued to pace. Gorgeous Glurn grabbed him and put him in a headlock and charged him into the caravan door. There was a terrible noise.

“Now you stay down boy or you won’t be coming up next time.”

Eridain raised his head and got back up again. He did not appear any worst for the ware. He brushed himself off once more and started jumping up and down like he was warming up. After throwing a few shadow punches, her removed his shirt revealing a heavily tattooed and scarred torso. Underneath these embellishments was a physique that warranted some respect.

“This is sick.” Said Gorgeous Glurn. “I am outta here.”

“You’re not going anywhere my friend. You stay until the job is done.” Demanded Eridain.

Gorgeous Glurn raged and rushed in, Eridain stepped to the side and caught the monstrous orc under the jaw. Gorgeous Glurn crashed to the ground, blood streaming out of every orifice in his head.

*****************************************************************************************************************

“What were you thinking of?” Shouted Tillin. “Why in the hells did you put Gorgeous Glurn into a fight match two days before a match?”

“He was half his size. Tsabrak pantomimed a man that would reach his navel. I didn’t expect him to get hurt.”

“You put him into a fight. What the hells did you expect? A grease down and a shiatsu?”

“Who took the jam out of your pastry?”

“You took the jam out of my pastry Tsabrak, you did.”

“You said get a good deal so…”

“Tell me the correlation between a infirmed fighter and a good deal?”

Tsabrak paused unable to answer.

“How are we going to explain to Nazmyr that this fight isn’t going to happen?”

“We replace the fighter.”

“Oh what, and hope he doesn’t notice? And who are we going to replace him with?”

“Krondalor “The Cleaver?” Or “Mad Fist” Malaggar?”

You’re not exactly Mr. Current Affairs, are you Tsabrak? Mad Fist went mad, and the “Cleaver” was found chopped to bits in an ally.

“What about Clam Hand Jaers?

“Got his fingers caught in the till. He’s no good to anyone.”

“Why not?”

“A fighter isn’t a lot of good without any knuckles, Tsabrak.”

Just then Tillin had an epiphany “Hold on!”

“What?”

“Let’s use the pikey.”

*****************************************************************************************************************

The Narbondel had dimmed half way by the time Tillin and Tsabrak walked into the Wicked Garden pub.  It was decorated in an old Vilani style with rough cream-colored walls, dark wooden beams, and stained-glass windows.  Strategically placed candles completed the scene. There were a few patrons but the establishment was far from busy. Tillin and Tsabrak walked up to the bar and Tillin addressed the bartender.

“We are here to see Nazmyr.”

“I am very busy at the moment.”

Tillin began to get frustrated “Am not asking you to break sweat. I am asking you to get Nazmyr.”

“Who?”

“Nazmyr.”

“Never heard of him.”

“Well go in the back and see if someone else has. Say it’s Tillin.”

The bartender looked bothered by the fact he had to move but wandered off. Tillin looked at the pool table.

“You know what Nazmyr has done to people on that pool table?”

Tsabrak looked at the table. “What, potted more balls than any other player? What else can you do to people on a pool table?”

“Quite a lot if you nail ’em to it.”

A rather menacing looking drow appeared from the shadows

“You Tillin?”

“Yup.”

“Follow me.”

The drow opened up a secret door and beckoned Tillin and Tsabrak through.

They walked through a dark corridor. Tillin and Tsabrak both jumped at the unexpected sound of gun fire. The corridor turned into a room full of blunt faces. A circle of drow could be seen exchanging money with one another commenting on the performance of the contestants. One human covered in blood is dragged out the arena by his legs. Another human is still in the arena, he too is covered in blood and brain matter. The victor was escorted by his handler to a nearby seat. He had his head in his hands and looked as if he were having a nervous breakdown. A few faces turn around to examine Tillin and Tsabrak. Some frowned slightly but once they saw the newcomers being escorted by Arkiza they carried on about their business. Arkiza walked over to Nazmyr, taped him on the shoulder and whispered. Nazmyr acknowledged the drow’s message, gave his drink to a serving girl, and walked over to Tillin

“Do you like Tzameti, Tillin?”

“It’s not for me.”

“That’s unfortunate. Is Gorgeous ready for tonight?”

“We don’t have a Gorgeous anymore.”

“I don’t think I heard you correctly. You’re going to have to repeat that.”

“We have lost Gorgeous Glurn.”

“Well, where did you lose him? He isn’t a set of keys, is he? And it’s not as though he is inconspicuous is it?”

“I am not backing out.”

“You can bet your ass you’re not backing out.”

“We are changing the fighter.” Interjected Tsabrak.

Nazmyr wasn’t expecting anything out of Tsabrak. “Who’s the fighter and who the hells are you?”

“You won’t know him.” Replied Tillin.

An incredulous look came over Nazmyr’s face.

“No,” Tsabrak continued “There was an accident.”

“I’ll show you a gods damn accident!”

“You’ve still got your fight.” Tillin said reassuringly.

“No, I lose all bets at the bookies. You can’t change fighters at the last minute, so no, I don’t have my fight do I, you dolt!”

“You could take bets at the fight.” Said Tsabrak.

Nazmyr looked Tsabrak in the eye “Shut your mouth before I cut your tongue out of your head.”

He then looked to Tillin.

“Make sure your man goes down in the fourth. You’re on thin ice gentlemen and I’ll be there if it breaks.”

*****************************************************************************************************************

A group of merchants from Waterdeep were waiting to get into the venue when they got nudged aside by an entourage of drow coming through.

“Who’s that?” Asked one of the merchants to his friends as he pointed out Nazmyr.

“Horrible bastard, it’s his fight, made all his money in it.”

“I hear he doesn’t need to do this, but he’s got dark taste for fights and blood.” Said another merchant. “See those two with him? That’s criminal royalty right there. The one on the right is Sonnvis G’iarFe and the one on the left is Zegza Abrexy. Those guys make Nazmyr look like a skirt clinging thumb sucker.”

Tillin and Tsabrak were ringside with Eridain. “You got it clear?” Said Tillin “It’s the fourth round. I’ll tap you anyway to let you know when to go down.”

“Just make sure the man doesn’t kill me before the fourth.” Replied Eridain.

Tillin continued to give instructions “Keep them happy. Make sure they are kept sweet. The last thing I want is them bitching and moaning.”

The announcer took the center ring.

“In the blue corner I have the young and only unchallenged cutthroat of calamity, meaner than Beelzebub’s conscience cleaner. Give it up for the bone crunching one punch machine – Eridain!”

A murky sound of displeasure erupted from the audience.

“And in the other corner a man that needs no introduction to destruction, the solo warrior of the Anauroch, sometimes known as the Count of Carnage, or sometimes known as the dictator to the devastator, he put the ‘ e ‘ in eradicate, the ‘ o’ in obliterate and the ‘a’ in annihilate, you know this monster of a monster, the sinister prime minister…” Obsidian Flintforge”!

The audience went mad. It’s hard to tell whether it’s out of affectionate enthusiasm or just enthusiasm.

The referee congregated the with fighters in the center of the ring. “Now I want a good dirty fight gents.”

The announcer continued “So now it’s that time again…Let’s…Get ready to Rrrrrrummmmmble!”

The two came out to fight and pace each other for a moment. Then Eridain let one go. It hit Flintforge square on the jaw forcing blood out of his ears. He hit the mat out cold. The crowd was stunned. The referee tried to resuscitate Flintforge but nothing happened. He caught a look of desperation from Nazmyr and was eventually left with little choice but to hold Eridain’s hand up. Both Sonnvis G’iarFe and Zegza Abrexy were obviously not satisfied and got up to leave.

Sonnvis leaned over to Nazmyr “Thanks for the tip.” He said sarcastically.

Zegza gave Nazmyr a dirty look “I just said goodbye to twenty large because of you.”

Tillin and Tsabrak pulled Eridain out of the ring and made their escape. It was easy to get out, because the crowd found its own disputes as fists and chairs started to fly.

********************************************************************************************************************

Tillin snuck up to the outside of the Djinn’s Wish and carefully looked around, all seemed to be clear.

“I’m not going in the front.” Said Tillin.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea you going in at all.” Said Tsabrak.

“Unless you are going to transcendentally extract the cash from out of a steel safe, I can’t see any other way of getting it. Keep your eyes peeled.”

Tillin gave another look around as he made his way to the back entrance of the casino. He opened the door and let himself in. Everything seemed to be fine. He walked into his office, had a quick look around and made his way to the safe under the floor. Once the safe was empty, he rushed to the adjacent room to clean out the secondary safe. As soon as he entered to room something caught his attention. All of the drawers and cabinets were open.

“Do you know what Nemesis means?”

The unexpected voice frightened Tillin and he spun around to find Nazmyr standing behind him.

“You scared the life outta me.” Said Tillin.

“That is incorrect. Nemesis means a righteous infliction of retribution by an appropriate agent, personified in this case by me.” Said Nazmyr.

As if on cue, Jhalavar and Elpragh entered the room dragging the lifeless body of Tsabrak and dumped it in front of Tillin.

“What you gonna do with your man there?” said Nazmyr

The sight of Tsabrak’s body unnerved Tillin and he stood silent. Nazmyr continued.

“You’re always going to have problems lifting a body in one piece.  The best thing to do is cut the corpse up into six pieces and pile it all together. After you got six pieces you have to get rid of them, of course you can’t just leave it in the middle of the street, can you? The best thing to do is feed ’em to pigs. You gotta starve the pigs for a few days, then the sight of a chopped-up body looks like curry to a drunk. You gotta shave the heads of your victims and pull the teeth out, they’re bad for the little piggy’s digestion. Have you ever seen the size of one of their molars? They go through bone like its butter. You gotta have a few pigs though you need about sixteen they will go through a body that weighs two hundred pounds in about eight minutes that means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute, . . . Hence the expression greedy as a pig.”

Tillin remained silent, desperately weighing his options.

“Tillin, you have guests. Aren’t you going to offer us something to drink?”

“If I turn my back am I going to get a hole through it?”

“Don’t be silly Tillin, if I wanted you dead would I be talking?”

“Tillin walked over to the open liquor cabinet.”

“Go put the kettle on. Make us some tea.”

As Tillin prepared tea, Nazmyr spoke.

“You’ve provided me with a problem, which you’re gonna have to remedy. You’ve got quite the little operation going on here. From now on you’re gonna give me fifty percent of your take to make up for the embarrassment you’ve caused me. Oh…and as for these bags right here…consider them a down payment toward the restitution owed my investors.”

“I think you have let him get away with enough already.” Said Elpragh.

“It can get you into a lot of trouble thinking Elpragh, you shouldn’t do so much of it.” Replied Nazmyr.

Tillin was all too happy to agree with Nazmyr’s terms “Of course.”

“Of course?! Shouted Nazmyr “I wasn’t asking I was telling! Oh, and your pikey fiend is dead.”

“That’s funny I was thinking the same thing.” Said Tillin.

“What’s funny is watching the pikies run around trying to put the flames out on their children’s backs.” Quipped Nazmyr.

“It’s not warm blood in your veins is it?”Tillin mumbled under his breath to himself.

“What was that?” Queeryed Nazmyr.

“I said do you want sugar?”

“No thank you Tillin, I am sweet enough.”