99. Pack Rat: Ruku

We discussed ways to approach the upcoming meeting. Tabitha wanted Nyx to impersonate her, and she followed in secret, casting her voice using a Skill. We dismissed that as the enhanced hearing and smell of the rats would probably pierce that deception as she would have to be close, and she still had open wounds. They may also have high enough hearing Skills to pierce the sound casting.

Tabitha wanted to find out how Rotte had figured out the Black Shadow was in town. She assumed it was a lucky guess. I was not so sure. If the Blacksteel knife had been seen, that was a big clue. Tabitha was interested in making alliances and had made several on her journey here. She was also negotiating with a smuggler ring we had raided a year ago. The raid had only partially succeeded, netting goods and a few low-level personnel. This was twisting my head around. She appears to be building a criminal network to take on the Empire. I was having trouble getting my head around it. I had already had too many shocks this evening.

We decided to go in force and see what happened. So here we were, approaching the Pact Rat meeting place by walking down the centre of the street. The Pack Rats were in the worst of the slum area of Obalno. Some of these buildings didn’t look like they should be standing. My Sonar had been picking up rats since we entered the slums, and I am sure some of them belonged to the Pack Rats. The streets were just muddy tracks through the improvised shacks.

Modrica and I were on the flanks, with Tabitha and Nyx in the centre. Tabitha decided Nyx would be visible and intimidating. Nyx was in the form of a huge black sabre-tooth cat. It was very realistic to look at. The wind ruffled the fur. There was saliva dripping from a tooth, and Tabitha could make this low growling sound that intimidated me. I can’t imagine what it would do to rats.

Yet Nyx was also very disturbing. She was there visually and in my Spiritual Senses, but there was no sound or smell and nothing on my Sonar. It was disconcerting for me. I imagine the Pack Rats will find it equally disturbing, especially with their heightened smell and hearing. When Nyx hardened some of her shadows for Tabitha to touch, my Sonar picked up small flickerings, but that was all. Nyx left no tracks.

We were met at the entrance of an old workshop and guided inside. There were about twenty people inside, all with rats. There was a table in the centre of the room but no chairs. The rats stayed close to their bonded partners. Some of the people showed physical similarities to the rats. The most common were enlarged front teeth for gnawing. Rodents had to continually gnaw at things to keep wearing down their constantly growing teeth. Some had ears similar to rats, and others had hair that looked like fur. These were the hardcore Pack members, the inner circle.

Rotte stepped forward. She had two rats with her. Did she have a double bond? She addressed Tabitha, “The Pack Rats greet the Black Shadow.”

Tabitha had a thick black hide cloak over her armour, and the hood covered her face in shadow, but I know she was enhancing the shadow in her hood as my Darksight couldn’t fully pierce it, and I am sure most of those present had some form of night sight. I have no idea how she saw anything past that lot, but she seemed very aware of everything going on around her. Maybe that was Nyx. Maybe it was another impossible Skill.

“You wanted to meet. You have an issue with the Seadogs?” Tabitha replied.

“We do, but are you really the Black Shadow?” Rotte asked.

“I am all you are getting. Would you prefer me to be the Black Butcher?” Tabitha took a step forward and slammed the Blacksteel war knife into the table so fast I couldn’t follow it, and I have Physical Perception almost at 50. It must be a combination of high Agility with a synergy of skills. I noted she used her good arm. All the Pack Rats flinched to some degree. Once the shock was over, there were varied reactions. Some were greed, some were hopeful, and some were fearful.

“We don’t wish to offend you. We wish for an alliance, or at least a common enemy defeated. I do have to ask, what is the Sabre-tooth Cat? Our bonds are wary of the unknown, and it is confusing to the senses.” Rotte was curious, and it was obvious the bonds were more than just wary.

“You all have your bonds, so I bought mine,” Tabitha replied. “You are rather privileged. Most people never sense her.” Her implication was clear, and the unspoken “before they die” was very clear. “It is causing tension. I will send her away.”

Before anybody could respond to that, the room suddenly became dark, a flash of darkness that obscured everything and then went away. When it had retreated, Nyx was no longer beside Tabitha, and the knife was nowhere to be seen. Rather than easing the tension, I caught several people who glanced behind them and checked Nyx wasn’t there. Tabitha was establishing her superiority.

“I understand you have a problem with the Seadogs?” Tabitha asked the leading question.

Rotte was still trying to get a handle on what had just happened. Tabitha had really unbalanced them. We were meeting in their own building, and they had the numbers, yet she had turned the tables on them and was acting in charge. I saw Rotte frown, I am not sure what she expected, but this wasn’t it.

“Yeah, we have a problem with the ‘dogs. You halved their numbers the other night, but the best of them are still around. Did you take out their pad last night?” Rotte queried.

“I don’t like being attacked,” Tabitha stated in a flat voice that was also a warning. There were some nervous murmurings from those around the edges, especially as nobody could find where the Sabretooth cat was. The unseen threat just seemed to back up her words. From what Tabitha said earlier, Nyx had very few direct attack skills. She was very good at misdirecting attention and distracting people when the real threat was Modrica and me. The distraction would make us even more effective if it came to a fight.

“Nobody is going to attack you despite some foolish talk. We want to work together.” Rotte sounded like she was reinforcing her commands to her subordinates as much as talking to Tabitha.

“Tell me about the Seadogs,” commanded Tabitha.

“The Leader is an Orc called Mrož. He's almost as big as her.” she pointed to Modrica. “There are eight of the strongest in the leadership. There were eight. There are now five. They saw us take out one,” she pointed to Modrica and me, “and another mercenary group took out two others. I assume you hired them?” It sounded like the Canine Queen’s fight as they had two strong opponents in their fight, and those two caused most of the injuries.

Tabitha didn’t respond to the question but continued to as her own, “Where are they holed up?”

“There is a cave a little up the coast. They use it to send boats out to some ships that do their smuggling, and they fence the incoming goods.” She replied. “There should be plenty of good stuff in the cave. We can split it.”

“What will you do after the Seadogs are no more?” Tabitha asked.

Rotte smiled, “We will take over!”

“Have you dealt with a Smuggler group before? You haven’t, I know. I also know you are very good at acquiring things.” Tabitha said. “We can work together to take out the Seadogs and split the loot, but in order to be allies, I want information and some items out of Northport. I can’t go myself, but I can arrange to smuggle you in and out.”

“You want us to do a heist in the Empire? Shit, you’ve got balls.” Rotte said. There were a lot of murmurings around us.

“I know what I have and haven’t got,” Tabitha said, and you could hear her amusement, “but I need more than small-town thieves as allies. We have several weeks to dispose of the ‘dogs, and I am probably going to deal with their smuggler friends as well. Taking down the ‘dogs is the trial task. Then we can consider what being allies means. You have the ‘dogs being watched?”

“Yep,” Rotte said.

“This is Modrica. You can pass messages through her.”

There was a bit more discussion on some details and a share of the spoils. Tabitha said as we had already halved the Seadogs, we would split the remaining half 50-50, which would have ended 75-25 to us. They weren’t happy with that, as only three of the nine big hitters, including the boss, were taken out. I think Tabitha let them save some face, and we ended up 60-40 split.

We left and stopped just outside the slum at an all-night tavern for a drink while Nyx put every rodent within two blocks to sleep. Or maybe she killed them. I am not sure. We then stopped for the remainder of the night at a Safehouse I didn’t know about.