To Plot Ill Fortune
Eleventh Day of the Tenth Month 293 AC
"You know... I think they might be laughing at us, Bronn. If they weren't dead, that is," Maelor motioned vaguely towards the gilded skull of the greater fiend he had killed two days prior, set on top of some accounting sheets like a particularly gaudy curio. His more fleshy compatriot had to stay in the corpse ferrying bag lest it stink up the shop. "Hell, maybe Kytons would find being dead all the more amusing. I promised I'd get the secrets out of their bones but we ended up selling the last scroll that could do that yesterday, Malarys is in the jungle of Sothoryos fighting lizard monsters and it's not like we can go off to buy another scroll. Word might get back to the Dervishes, leaving them to wonder just whose corpse we want to talk to..."
The sellsword snorted while leaning forward in his seat, such that the faint smell of hannann smoke wafted into Maelor's nostrils. "I think you are worrying your head over nothing, kid. So that thing that was selling off Ghiscari slaves was the same sort of grumpkin as the ones that tried to kill you today. They ain't like devils, where you have to pry open the universe's asshole to get them to serve anyone besides Hell. They're swords for hire. Other things for hire, too, I guess. Right, Sarell...?"
"Indeed," the fiend replied curtly, probably on account of the 'asshole' part of the comment. Once Bronn had figured out there was no way he was sweet-talking her into bed, he had started to carefully yank her chain, something the fury usually paid back in their thrice weekly sparring matches. To his credit, Bronn did not always end up black and blue, winning about two matches out of five which probably accounted for more liking on Sarell's part than any of his previous attempts at flirtation had managed.
"Alright, so maybe I'm just jumping at rats across the floorboards," Maelor admitted. "It still does not get us any closer at dealing with the Fakir. We can't just call in the Burning Dervishes on this, they might just start digging, and I don't want to just attack him with no idea on what he might have up his sleeves. Sure it sounds easy in principle, stage a robbery, kill him, steal anything that isn't nailed down and make all the loot vanish like it had gone into Viserys' cloak, but..."
"A plan rarely survives three heartbeats into battle," Sarell finished. "Any sort of contingency or alarm that might warn what passes for law-keepers in this city could see our entire purpose for being here undone. The enmity of a petty shopkeeper can be endured."
"
If that's all that is," Maelor replied darkly. "Shiny Skull over there implied selling off my body to Malarys would have served more to get close to him. I think someone's interested in us already, maybe in what they can't see as much as what they can." Looking at someone's enchantments was as common in the City of Brass as checking for obvious weapons in any other place. Seeing nothing meant weakness... or dangerously veiled strength. "I think we need another veil, not the magic kind, but a front. Find some thieves who'd be interested in a cut, only use fake names and glamours to talk to 'em. Set them up to take the fall if things go sour and the Dervishes are looking too closely at things."
"Bringing in people's a big risk," Bronn pointed out. "So far the most we've had to do with the locals was bribes for the Sultan's taxemen, good business for our buyers, and a fist to the face for the local thugs when they tried to sell us 'protection'. Not sure I'd trust the bastards with anything fancy..."
"I wouldn't use the Black Knives anyway, their territory covers the shop," Maelor replied. "We need nothing at all linking the honest upstanding business of Enchanted Outfitters with anything as crude as killing and robbing. Look, I'm not carving anything in stone, I just want to go out and look at our options."
"Alright by me," Bronn shrugged. "It's boring as shit playing shop guard for so long."
Sarell considered the matter for far longer. "Having some options to present Wisdom Malarys when he returns would be a commendable show of initiative, I will grant."
OOC: The 'no faces, no names' anti-divination trick works for you guys as well as your enemies, though ultimately it will be a vote if you want to go through with this or some other plan.
