To Rebuild a Mageocracy

Fifteen

^^ Lesser Empyrean Wayland ^^

— Arcata, Muradin's Tower, Anitra —

The five Rogues followed me like ducklings downstairs into the Market, then into one of the covered tents, where a set of simple stone stairs was revealed a wave of my hand. "These are illusory; this is the only time you will ever see them from this direction, as they will be hidden from now on. Simply walk down into them, and all will be well." I reapplied the hallucinatory terrain, then stepped down into the illusion calmly, leading the way into the Undermarket, where the Thieves would make their headquarters. "I intend for you all to use this place as a drop-off point, of sorts, where my new Dark Merchants would buy things off of the Thieves Guild's Members, and then sell those items to the Dungeon Merchants, who will sell them out into the world via the many portals that will soon spread outwards from Arcata like a plague. Any questions?"

One of them, the pale woman with the braids, raised a hand slowly. "Yes? What is our job, then?"

"I'm glad you asked!!! Your jobs will be mostly to be Liaison to the Thieves' Guild, bringing requests to them and receiving requests in return. You will be acting more as Managers than as Thieves, which may impact your Leveling, so I'll be providing a Tier Five Dungeon soon for your leveling needs. Your pay will be monthly, five gold a piece, but individual requests will often have payments, 80% of which you may keep as personal money, paying only 20% to the Guild as Tithe. You will also gather information alongside Aric when schedules allows, and deliver reports of anything you find to your Guild Master; they will deliver to my assistant anything they find useful to me."

"Okay... I was under the impression you wanted one of us to be the Guild Master?"

"And I do, I just don't know which of you is best suited for the job, and if someone else comes along who's more suited, I don't want to have already filled the position. For now you are all Senior Acquisitions Managers, and your jobs will be to deal with the Thieves guild and keep my newly acquired Merchants honest, to ensure they are following the rules. If they aren't, that is reported to the Vice-Guild Master, who will make a decision based upon the situation. More questions?"

The pale girl lowered her arm slowly, then looked at the others. "Alright... that seems easy enough. So all the Fences and Dark Merchants from the Thieves' Guild need to come here?"

"With the alternative being, stay away and be priced out of business as their profits dry up? I'd say yes? Now, what are your names, by the way?" I glanced between them curiously, as Aron stepped away and his mother and Aric followed.

Once we were alone, they all began to lower their masks, revealing their faces briefly before covering back up after saying their names. The Pale Woman had no mask to remove, but introduced herself as 'Zaya, The Death Knight', the small African woman introduced herself as 'Derrin, the Vine Creeper', and the two men at the back, apparently twins, called themselves the 'Tamri Twins', leaving only the fifth, a short man with blonde hair, who introduced himself as 'Mirin Attal, Baron of Arcata, Mastermind Rogue'.

"Ah, and there we have our first tentative candidate for Guild Master! Mastermind Rogue is a Planning-based class, yes? Relatively Int-focused?"

He nodded slowly. "Yes."

"Perfect! You don't have to tell me all your Stats or Skills or anything, but do you have a Truth Seeking Skill or something similar?"

"I do."

"Great! I'll have you working directly with me and my assistant to plan out any conquests of the Cities I'm pushing my way into; if you feel overwhelmed, that's fine, just let Aric know and we'll get it handled, no muss no fuss! Now, for all of you, to join the Guild officially, you need to sign a Geas Contract, do you know what that is?"