No Undercover Work for Sarevok
- "Should have killed the little thug," Peri said. "Now he'll just run off and warn his bosses."
- "I don't think so," Sarevok said. "He's a low-ranking Night Mask, and they wouldn't take kindly to that he has talked to us. He will keep quiet and hope that they never realize where we got the information if we strike at their base."
- "Night Masks? The local thieves guild?" Imoen frowned. "Would they be that ruthless? I mean, that Mae'Var Peri told me about tortured his underlings, but the others didn't approve of that."
- "You have to understand that calling Night Masks a thieves guild is a stretch," Winski said. "Traditional thievery is the least important branch of their activities. They are smugglers, extortionists, kidnappers, slavers, assassins. In the open face of the city they are opposed by the city council, run by the ten leading noble houses, but in practise they control directly three of those houses... and the others also employ them behind the scenes whenever the need arises."
- "The child pleasure slaves are legal prey here," Jelena said, her eyes sorrowful, "but where the real profit is, of course, is in the countries where they are not. Peddling them here is just a part of the business..."
- "You think?" Peri said. "Of course they wouldn't tell that to a little thug like that guy, but you may have a point. He did say that it is not their own operation, that they are just used for the operational organization. Someone is paying them for capturing and smuggling the slaves in."
- "In retrospect, perhaps you could have acted a little less... dramatically, Sarevok," Winski said. "Infiltrating that business may be sort of challenging if they know that a well over 2 meters tall man with a growling voice and glowing eyes is displeased with their activities."
- "I could not make nice with those disgusting filthy toads even if I wanted to," Sarevok replied. "My contempt would leak from me and I would feel compelled to squeeze their miserable life from their bodies, sending them to where they belong."
- "Mental note: let's not assign any undercover work to Sarevok," Winski said dryly. "I am not completely sure that I would fare better... yes, Twiggy?"
#Perhaps I could help. Remember, we snakes can be very cool if we need to be. I could lend you some coolness.#
- "Point taken," Winski said. "Twiggy promises to help me if it comes to that. We will see."
- "I actually ran a thieves guild for a while," Peri said. "In Athkathla, when I was collecting money for traveling to rescue Imoen. I said that if I heard of any slave trade or extortion, I'd personally kick the culprit's ass, and I had all the assassinations OK'ed by me. I hate to be the goody-goody guy, but this is just... sickening. What right do they have to travel to some other country and capture some helpless kids, then sell them like cattle? Yes, I'm in."
- "But who could possibly... I mean, even if an adult did feel an urge to... you know... with a child, how could they actually do it?" Imoen said. "Children are not ready for that and can't choose... it would wound them like what Irenicus did to me... and he did not have a soul."
Peri sighed.
- "Immy... do you still think there is some sort of atrocity people are not capable of?" she said.
- "Reiltar was fond of hurting people he was... 'making love' with," Jelena said, her voice dripping with sarcasm when using the expression for the primal activity.
- "And in many countries the privileged, be that privilege inherited or bought, gives many people the conviction that they are above any moral or other laws, that whatever they want to do is right," Winski said. "Come to think of it, that is a philosophy I promoted, though in my case the privilege was bought by being brilliant and exceptional."
- "And yet you didn't approve of pettiness and wanton cruelty," Jelena remarked.
- "When I was a kid I thought that evil people have this ugly leer and an evil expression on their faces," Imoen said in a listless voice. "And when we have traveled... and seen a lot of evil... we see that evil can be beautiful and charming, alluring... and worse than that, just... ordinary. Just perfectly normal, like anybody else. An average, nondescript man or woman leading an average, nondescript life can harbor evil."
- "That is a good thing to keep in mind when we try to get into the heart of this child slaving business," Winski said. "We may be surprised what kind of people are involved in it. I'm sure that Jelena is right. I met people in Sembia... respectable people who... well, Reiltar was a respectable person. That should tell you something. But how do we find out more?"
- "Fresh shipment, he said," Peri commented. "I wonder where they keep the children. It is not illegal so perhaps they are in some of their warehouses. Or in a brothel they run."
- "Now THAT doesn't narrow things down much, I'm afraid," Winski said.
- "This makes me impatient," Sarevok said. "I feel an urge just to tear their hiding holes apart one by one until we find the children and free them."
- "Sure, and then we are off to Kara-Tur, and they just ship a new load of them here," Peri said. "Think, Sarevok. I'm sure you can if you just breathe calmly a few times. Let's make a plan."
