Fable - Ask A New Noose

[Oralie]

Oralie didn’t waste any time in grabbing the rope when Aleric asked for one of them to do so. Nor did she waste time when it came tying the man up. Oralie began to process of tying the man’s wrist to his ankle. She had position in a certain way by laying him on his side and having him hunch his back forward.

She thought of how they had tied the legs of a wild deer together when she was in the guard. The venison had been a welcome treat on their first journey back from the North. Although, Oralie hadn’t gone back for a second deployment after finding out her home had been destroyed so carelessly.

Oralie looked at Aleric when she had finished and raised a dark brow in confusion.

“Is the money special in that particular vault?” Oralie couldn’t imagine that cleaning out one vault would even dampen the wealth and privilege this man had.

Cosmo Aleric

 

[Cosmo]

Cosmo continued to let them do most of the physical work, while she found a nice seat on a nearby barrel. Even though they were doing all of this in some grungy back alley. The way that Cosmo carried herself as she sat down would have made one think she was sitting in the nicest restaurant of downtime Vel Anir.

Her eyes did brighten at the mention of a vault, but they did dim after a moment of thought.

"How so, Al? Even if he does have access, what's stopping him from turning us in as soon as he gets the chance." She asked curiously.

The idea of robbing a vault did...excite her. The challenge that such a specialized and secret vault might bring was enough to make her absolutely giddy. She did not even primarily consider herself a thief, but she just loved accomplishing the things that she was not supposed to, or that people said were impossible.

She could not help but release a light giggle as she watched Oralie tie the man up. She bet that he normally enjoyed being tied up. Yes, he definitely seemed the sort.

Oralie Aleric

 

[Aleric]

"There is no money in the vault." Aleric said with a simple, confident smile.

It was news that most thieves never wanted to hear. Most, well, all of them were pretty much in it for the coin. Motivation never went much beyond the next meal, the next high, or the next place to lay your head. The triple crown, was what folk called it in The Gutters.

Slowly he walked over towards an old rickety chair in the room, plopping himself down there and slinging an arm over the back. "It has contracts, deeds."

How did Aleric know any of this?

Prison of course.

Harrowgate had been the best form of education he could have asked for. Constantly surrounded by criminals of all sorts, Aleric had managed to learn many interesting things. Not the least of which had been from a man who had formerly worked with the Avalon family.

"From what I understand, they lead back to Cerak, Teth, The Bayou Reds." Pirates, smugglers, criminals. "The sort of folk our good Anirian Government frowns upon."

His smile widened. "There's a lot of things someone could do with paper like that."

 

[Oralie]

She was a bit slow on the uptake, glancing over at Cosmo every now and then to see if maybe understood what was going on. She did her best to piece together what Aleric was alluding to. Contracts and deeds, something that the Avelon family would want to keep hidden.

Was it blackmail? Perhaps a life-long threat of being able to sentence the entire family to jail, or worse, death? Perhaps to keep them quiet? Perhaps to get money from them whenever they needed?

Oralie didn’t understand, and she hated that. A deep frown and huff showed her displeasure before she crossed her arms over her chest. Based on Cosmo’s question, these papers could keep them from getting turned in.

“What if he’s willing to die to keep things secret?” Oralie inquired. Even with torture, it could be months until they got what they wanted from him.

Aleric Cosmo

 

[Cosmo]

Cosmo's face wrinkled up in discussion at the revelation. Ew, property? Deeds? That was not shiny or pretty at all. Besides, what the hell did she need a building for? She much preferred golden wealth rather than...imaginary wealth. After all, she could take a match and light up a building in a second, but you can't just burn gold.

"Um, that's...goood?" She asked hopefully.

She really did not understand where Aleric was going with this...maybe they would then sell all the deeds for gold. That made sense.

It really did not matter, either way. She was going to trust Aleric with all of that stuff.

Instead, she whipped her head around at Oralie and laughed.

"Torture? That's so barbaric honey. If we have too, then give me a week and some drugs that I keep back at my place. I'll have him begging to tell me every little deep dark secret."

It was really simple, and it removed all the painful screaming. Just put the man on a euphoric high, let him experience the best pleasure of his life then remove the pleasure but not the drugs. He will be begging for another taste in a few days.

Aleric Oralie

 

[Aleric]

Aleric's head rolled to look at the unconscious and bound man, his eyebrow perking. Then he slowly turned to look back at Oralie. "I'm going to ask you an honest question."

He chuckled.

"Does our guest here really look like the type to withstand torture?" It wasn't the first time Aleric had seen a noble in a state like this. Though the uppercrust of Vel Anir had far more chance than anyone in the Gutters, they too suffered from the labors of the law.

More than once had one of the Nobility ended up in Harrowgate. More often than not they had been soft things, easy to break and easier to toss away. But then, that was why they had been sent to the prison in the first place.

So they could be fed to the lions. "I'm confident we'll have all the answers we need."

He told the two of them.

"If not." Aleric shrugged. "We'll see how long our friend lasts."

 

[Oralie]

Oralie felt her face grow hot. Neither Cosmo nor Aleric had scolded her, but still, she felt silly for not understanding the flow of ideas in the room. Of course, it’s not as if Oralie had been born on the streets like Aleric had. Neither had she experienced a life that Cosmo did.

Both of them understood this underground, seedy world far better than she did. Still, it was hard to admit to herself that she was a fool and she sounded stupid. She had never handled failing very well, even as a child.

She looked at the man, all tied up, and then her gaze moved to Cosmo.

“I am unsure if I even want to ask what drugs you’d use.” Oralie said honestly. Anxiously, she bit her lower lip, and then looked at Aleric. “I think it’s best if you two handle this part. I think I’d hinder your progress rather than aid it.” She’d watch and remember everything the two of them did, then, one day, she could do the same. But for now, perhaps it was better left to the professionals.

Cosmo Aleric

 

[Cosmo]

Cosmo giggled at Oralie's worry as she made her way over and trailed a finger along the unconscious man's collarbone.

"Funny enough, nothing technically illegal. Just common...concoctions that are in my line of work. Mix them with people that actually know how to use them and people are like putty in your hands...I'll show you sometime." She shot Oralie a mischievous wink.

She turned her attention to Aleric and nodded in agreement. He was right in that regard, whether it was through torture or Cosmo's preferred method. This man did not seem to be a bulwark of mental strength and fortitude. If he was, then this would not have worked.

"So, we just going to do it here in the back alley, or do we have somewhere more...private?"

Oralie Aleric

 

[Aleric]

Aleric glanced at Oralie for a moment, nodding in affirmation of her words.

If she didn't want to participate, then he wouldn't make her. He wasn't the Robber, who made his rats do his dirty work. "Here is fine enough."

He had thought about taking the man to another location, but the little cubby hole would have to do. The further they carried the welp the more chance there was someone would see, not to mention the fact that something else could go wrong.

"Just close that door." He said with a gesture to the small wooden plank that hid the room.

Then he made his way over towards the unconscious man, taking a place right besides Cosmo. He gently nudged the man's face, slapping him once or twice before he spoke. "Wakey wakey, we have a conversation to have."

Aleric said, offering another gentle slap to the face before the man suddenly began to stir.

First his head began to lull, shifting from side to side, a groan escaped him, and slowly his eyes flickered open. He looked up at the three criminals, frowning for a moment.

"I-who are you?! What do you-Wait, I know you!"​

He said, pointing at Aleric. "You most certainly do!"

The Hanged Man declared happily. "And that's exactly what you're going to tell me everything I want to know."

 

[Oralie]

Oralie did as Aleric said, going over to the door and closing it. She stayed by the entryway, one hand firmly gripping the doorknob. If anyone tried to come in, Oralie had every intention of blocking their path.

Cosmo Aleric

 

[Cosmo]

Cosmo giggled slightly as she moved behind him to always stay out of their poor victim's line of sight. She whispered in his ear a sweet nothing, before quickly moving to the other shoulder when he tried to look around and see her.

She danced over to take a seat on an abandoned box as she chose to enjoy Aleric at work.

"Best hurry, sir. I heard he likes to start with the eyes. He's the last thing you will ever say."

She explained, but not in an overly threatening tone, but more like a girl reciting some sort of story or poem she heard around a campfire.

Oralie

 

[Aleric]

The man's confusion did not abate, and he slowly looked at Aleric, then to Cosmo. His lips thinned for a brief moment, as if what was actually happening finally settled in his mind. "What...what do you want to know? Is it money? Is that it? I have plenty, I can get some right now if you just untie me. More than any of your gutter rats will have ever seen!"

Aleric leaned towards the man, chuckling quietly.

"Insulting the people holding you captive? That's not really a good way of starting off." Slowly he reached back behind the small of his back. With a jerk he pulled free a knife, the blade cured and with an odd ring at the end of it's hilt.

"Please, I didn't...i don't...I-I love the gutters!" He said quickly. "I come here all the time! Patronize the bars and use the-"

The merchant looked to Cosmo pleadingly. "Please just tell me what you want to know!"

Aleric waited a moment, and then slowly he brought the knife down. He placed it's tip at the man's knee, gently slashing the end of it into the seam of the man's inner thigh.

"The Avelon family vault, the real vault, Geoffrey. How do you get into it?" The calm in his voice was extraordinary, as though he were asking a baker how much bread he had left for the day. The smile on his face was the same. Cool, collected.

"What? We don't hav-" The knife slipped, cutting into the man's flesh and drawing up his thigh. "NO! No no please-It's just. I can't. My father would-"

"Your father isn't here." The blade slipped higher, cutting slowly into the skin and causing red to begin to drip down the man's leg. "How do we get in?"

The blade drew higher, slipping towards that which all men valued most. "I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! PLEASE! I promise you I don't know! It's combinations! COMBINATIONS! There's no key! Just three combination!"

He shouted in an utter panic, the knife coming to a sudden stop just an inch short.

 

[Oralie]

Her eyes closed shut, gritting her teeth hard. Her lips were drawn tight against each other. At first, she couldn’t look. Oralie couldn’t describe it, really, but somehow, she felt on edge.

Like when she had gotten into a fight with some big-mouth Anirian soldier in her unit. It had started from a simple misunderstanding. Oralie felt as if her being corrected was uncalled for, especially when the Anirian had corrected her on something she had done correctly— which was, ironically, digging a fire pit into the ground so that way they could stay hidden in the night.

Worked great in more windy grasslands, the two deep holes connected and made it so smoke wouldn’t get everywhere. And they could still cook their food.

It was supposed to be a time of reprieve.

But Oralie, as proud as proud could be, couldn’t let the correction roll of her back. So she argued and somehow or other, the two women ended up in each other’s faces. When they were broken apart by the leader, the Anirian had promised “you’d get it, just wait, you’re gonna get it!”

The next month, Oralie was plagued with sleepless nights. Making she her back was up against a wall or rock, making sure she kept that Anirian in sight, always. Sleep-deprived and anxious, she hadn’t realized that she was more scared of that Anirian soldier than the enemy. Likewise, she hadn’t realized that the soldier, after making the threat, had felt the same way, that perhaps Oralie would attack before she would due to the threat.

They made up, and both had the best sleep— at least the best one could get out in the Savannah.

Oralie opened her eyes and turned around to look, to watch Aleric.

She said she would watch, and watch she would.

Cosmo Aleric

 

[Cosmo]

Cosmo's eyes showed with delight as she watched Aleric do his work. It was only now that one with see the hints of spitefulness that resided in her, covered up by the carefully manicured appearance that she worked so hard on.

She wasn't evil or necessarily bad, but what normal person wouldn't like to see the rich suffer just a little bit for all of the shit they did to those beneath them. They all could stand to be knocked down more than a few pegs.

"Stop wasting our time. Or we will make sure your son will never have his father come to help him." She pointed her look down towards his crotch so that he understood exactly what she was implying.

Technically, that could be misunderstood as them just killing him, but she wasn't being that aggressive, yet. Was she?

"If there are three combinations then give them to us. Or who else has them?"

Aleric Oralie

 

[Aleric]

The man's head turned towards Cosmo, his lips pressing closed as he looked around the room. His eyes caught on Oralie, desperation in the way that he peered at her. As if she might offer some sort of mercy.

Yet Aleric's hand swiftly smacking across his face drew his attention once more. "Focus."

The Hanged Man said.

"Answer the good ladies questions." He said simply, and the blubbering noble slowly began to sob. Tears falling down his cheeks and running into his moustache. A small wracking breath filled his lungs as he cave an answer.

"I-I-I only have one." He admitted, clearly unable to take any more. "My-my father has another, and the last is held by my sister."

Aleric's jaw tightened. "What's the combination?"

A long, quiet sob echoeed from the man's lips as he slowly began to speak. "Thirty two left, eight right, fifty eight right, and then seventy six left. B-but please you don't know...you don't know what you're doing. M-my fat-"

Before he could finish, Aleric slammed his fist into the man's face. Sending him to the floor with a soft thud as he once again lost consciousness.

 

[Oralie]

Aleric had been right. This man couldn’t withstand much torture. Oralie was glad of that fact.

Of course, there did pose another problem. Or rather, too more problems. One by his father, the last by his sister.

“Thirty-two left, eight right, fifty-eight right, seventy-six left.” Oralie repeated once the man was out cold, this time not by her own doing but by Aleric’s. She moved away from the door, going over to then just check and make sure the man was still breathing. He was.

He also now had a broken nose. Deep purple bruises under his eyes were starting to form as rivulets of red streamed down his nose and stained his mustache and lower lip and chin. She glanced at Aleric then at Cosmo.

“One down, two more to go.” It looked like this was going to be a much longer ordeal than expected.

Cosmo Aleric

 

[Cosmo]

Cosmo didn't really bother with remembering the numbers. She made a valid attempt, but Aleric and Oralie were far more likely to keep those numbers trapped in their brains than she.

She gracefully swung her legs off the box she was sitting on and got to her feet with a light smirk on her face. Her eyes fell on the unconscious man before shooting Aleric a knowing look. They could not leave him here. If someone found him, then their whole plan would go down the gutter.

"Can we go after the sister first? I hope she is pretty...that would make this more fun."

This man had been a rather disappointing fop, and the father would likely just be an old, disappointing fop. Cosmo was hoping that the sister may have received her looks and personality from an interesting relative.

Aleric Oralie

 

[Aleric]

Aleric tried to run through what he knew about the rest of the Avelon family, which unfortunately wasn't all that much.

Once upon a time he had made it his business to know the lower nobility. The big names, the Great Houses, were always far too dangerous to go after. It was the Minor Houses that made good targets, those who didn't have enough connections to send Dreadlord's and the Guard after you.

Those who were almost as shady as those running the Gutters.

"We can go for the sister first." The Hanged Man said, a slight bit of annoyance clinging to his tone. Though obviously not for Cosmo.

"We'll need to find some things out about her." He said, glancing towards the unconscious Geoffrey. "I highly doubt she'll be walking into the Gutters too."

Unfortunately. "Ideas?"

He had a few of his own, but he wanted them to know this wasn't a one man show. It never would be.

 

[Oralie]

Oralie stood up, walked around Geoffrey like a vulture would do to a dead animal. Her index finger traced over her lower lip as she thought of the information they had received, pacing around Geoffrey a few more times.

Their next target was the sister.

Oralie had no information, no knowledge on this influential family. And from Cosmo’s words, it seemed they didn’t know anything either. Aleric was also at a dead end. So how to draw someone out without getting the whole family involved?

“He comes here often. A regular at the Painted Rat. We need a name at the least, but he’s going to be out cold unless we get some alchemist salt to wake him up.” She continued pacing. “Teto might know something, but things could get suspicious if we go back into that bar, too many eyes there.”

Oralie stopped pacing and knelt down in front of the passed out man, wiggling out a particularly interesting ring off of one of his fat fingers. “Look, this ring has been on that finger for a long time,” a ring of purple would probably be forever stained on that index finger of Geoffrey’s. She held it up, inspecting it. Pigeon-blood ruby, a rare stone, but a stone— from what she had learned on the streets— that meant dangerous things. The gold ring was ornate, and on the inside of the golden band was the family’s name etched in fine handwriting.

“I’d imagine his sister has one like it. Or a similar piece.” Oralie wasn’t certain, but she felt like the chances were high. Family heirlooms to be worn and touted about in public, perhaps? “We keep this, get hers, that’s how we lure out the Father.” She haded the ring to Aleric.

A good plan for the last piece, but they were still working on even finding the sister.

“Patronize the bars and use the…” Oralie mumbled. “Brothels? Do you think he meant brothels?” Bronze eyes immediately went to Cosmo. “You have many friends, many connections in those places? You think he had a favorite that he’d complain to?” Oralie had learned from Cosmo that, despite her original beliefs on why men visited brothels, was that it wasn’t for sex as sometimes it was just for the companionship. Some men wanted to drop their facade and be vulnerable with a beautiful woman and complain about how hard their life was, being rich and having a full belly every night— oh the horror!

Cosmo Aleric

 

[Cosmo]

Cosmo was nodding along with Oralie's analysis and only broke into a more wicked grin when she finally mentioned the brothels.

"Oh yeah, I can ask some of the girls and guys. They will definitely know more about Geoffrey, but they will likely know just as much about the sister...We get around like that. I will ask a few to even follow her around some, see if we can't learn her routine."

While not as common as their work in bodily pleasures and therapy, there were many that came to them and paid the prostitutes for information. Of course, Madam Levisque was always careful about what they all gave away, not wanting to anger the wrong people.

"If I have a week or two, then I and the other roses can certainly have some information on her."

The roses were any prostitute that worked at Madam Levisque's 'Eternal Garden'. One of the premier brothels that still remained in the city.

Aleric Oralie

 

[Aleric]

Aleric took the ring from Oralie, letting it roll between his fingers together as the islander began to piece together a plan. He nodded along with her, as though confirming every step in his head. It was a good idea, especially because getting to the father would be the most difficult to step.

They just had to hope the bastard actually gave a damn about his children.

A frown touched his lips for a moment as Cosmo mentioned a week or two being necessary. His gaze flickering over towards the unconscious man. "Well."

He said, glancing over towards Cosmo.

"I can keep our friend here occupied for a week, I think. If that's enough time for you." But after that they would have to move fast. Oralie's plan was a good one, and probably the only way they could actually manage to pull this off. "Once we take the sister's ring and combination, we'll have to take the father's almost immediately after."

One child going missing for a while would raise suspicion, both? That would be cause to sound the alarm. "I can have a friend look into where he lays his head."

The Avelon Family mansion, he was sure, but Lileas would know better.

 

[Oralie]

“Get a name as fast as you can,” Oralie said. “Preferably without getting others involved. I could trail her if she does go outside.” She only trusted two people: Aleric and Cosmo. Although, perhaps it should be three: whoever was the person giving Aleric his information seemed to be reliable enough to trust as well.

Finally, she stopped pacing around the room, but she couldn’t help to tap her foot anxiously as she stood still.

“We will only have a week. More than a week, suspicions will probably arise…” Oralie pursed her lips. “I can make it seem like Geoffrey is still about, maybe running from his duties. We don’t know how often the family keeps their correspondence with one another.” Was it daily? Did they visit each other on certain days?

She dropped down, pulling off the other rings from Geoffrey.

“I’ll use these.” Her bright bronze eyes glowed with determination. “Spread his trail around if anyone does try to come looking.“ Oralie was quiet for a moment. “Anything else or are we done here?”

Cosmo Aleric

 

[Cosmo]

Cosmo nodded along with their declarations, a small frown appearing on her face. A week would be cutting it close. Finding the information would not be too hard, but getting the code out of her would be much harder...That is if she left it to the others.

"I can do it in a week...If she happens to be the social type, then I'll have the key and a new friend within the week." She added with a mischievous smirk.

While she was confident that she could pull it off, she kept up her flirtatious smiles to cover up a brain that was going into overdrive trying to map out her strategy. She would not be able to go about this one as lackadaisical.

"Alright, so I'll get the sister's ring, a combination, and maybe a little fun. You two will handle the father?"

Aleric Oralie

 

[Aleric]

Aleric nodded to Oralie. "Good idea, better than a trail I could make with just some words and whispers."

When Cosmo spoke up he shook his head. "Just remember, you don't need to get the combination, or her ring."

Though if Cosmo could pull that off it would set them ahead quite a bit in this little plan. The faster they could gather all the pieces the more likely they would be to succeed. Plans like this needed to operate quickly, or there was more chance of something to go wrong.

"If you can, do it, but, these people are..." He glanced at Geoffrey for a moment. "Dangerous, even if they don't look it. Don't do anything that might come back on you, alright?"

A genuine flicker of concern entered his voice. "A name is enough, don't push if you don't have to. We can handle it together if need be."

He glanced at Oralie for a moment, and then nodded his head to Cosmo's question.

"I'll find out where we can best approach the father. Once we have the sisters ring, we can bend his ear." Meanwhile Oralie would create a trail for Geoffrey.

"You can get a message to me the usual way." A system they had devised a bit ago using some of the urchins in the Gutters. "Otherwise we'll meet in a week at the old Revren Sawmill."

Abandoned now and right outside of Vel Anir. A good meeting place for if you wanted to stay hidden.

 

[Oralie]

“Together,” Oralie agreed with Aleric, and felt shame that even after all this time in Vel Anir, she struggled to get her words and the meanings in her head across to others clearly. She hadn’t meant for Cosmo to think they should take the burden of the sister all on their shoulders. But Aleric cleared that up better than she could have.

“Together we’re less likely to leave evidence or make mistakes. We cover each other’s soft spots from rocks with our hands.” Oralie paused. “It sounds better in Narra than in common.” She shrugged as if it couldn’t be helped, common really wasn’t that beautiful of a language.

Placing the rings securely into a compartment attached to her belt, Oralie glanced at Geoffrey. She had a sinking feeling, could feel it in her gut as if all her organs became hollow but too heavy at the same time. Why did she always have so much anxiety about these things?

Then again, her intuition was never wrong. The other shoe was going to drop, she could feel it. The brother had been too easy, and he’d be the only one that would be easy.