"Good afternoon man, get you a drink? Or a room?" The human bartender asked. His attitude acted like he didn't want to be there, his face pained and his body moved slowly. His moves were automated, grabbed the cup and popped the cork of a brew before he stopped himself. "Ah, sorry about that, I've been here since last night."
Carl pulled a seat under him and sat at the bar. He looked around him, not many people were inside. A few patrons with a half decent meal while the majority was empty. He nodded his head and hummed with his attention.
"Well, you guys don't seem busy this afternoon." He crossed his arms on the table and leaned into the counter. "I'll take whatever the hell you have in that cup."
"On the house, I would've poured it out otherwise." The man leans over the basin of water and rubbed a wet towel on his face.
"Thanks, I also have a room, either under Bumi or Carl the Famous."
"Yeah, a person stopped here last night for the deposit." He reached under the counter and dropped a key in front of Carl. "Requested the furthest room on the second level."
"Again, thank you."
"I just do what I'm paid for. Tell me though." The bartender leaned on the back counter with his legs slightly forward to cross over. "What's a fire genasi doing in Baldur's Gate? You heard about the recent attack didn't you?"
"It's what brought me over here." Carl took a few chugs and relaxed in his chair. "Usually a city this big that's hit this hard has few resources to spare. So outsourcing adventurers are the norm, easy jobs to keep the area settled."
"The heroes has this handled, it's a little petty theft right now but nothing too major."
"That's how it starts." Carl lifted up his cup. "I heard the curse has been lifted out of distant lands, a goblin fortress was cleared. And yet no soldiers to occupy that land and defend it. You know what that means?" He took another drink.
"Not a clue." The bartender didn't look as easy anymore. His grip was tighter on his biceps and body restless.
"Whatever this Absolute hid is now going to come out of the shadows. They'll hit while Baldur's Gate remains defenseless. That's why I'm here, to strike down any rebellion like that." Carl laughed as he finished his drink. "At a fee of course."
He became uneasy, the grip he held around the counter tighter. His face slightly shivered from whatever his thoughts spoke. "The Hero is still around with the Lord by his side. They'll make sure nothing happens, especially with new adventurers around." He tried to reassure himself.
Carl rolled his eyes and placed the drink on the counter. "Just ponder that for the night I guess." He snatched the keys off the counter and walked up to the second level.
He made sure to lock the door behind him and place the chair from the desk under the knob. He unstrapped the sword from his hip and placed it next to the head of the bed. With a sore groan he dropped onto the cheap bed. The sun hadn't set yet, but his body felt the stress that a day normally brought.
The genasi pulled the list of names and explored it more. Quick details of the person, speciality, and where to find them. Nothing concrete of exact meaning but a day of searching could find anybody here. It's also not like these people had to help the millionaire out for any reason. Even the small cliff notes wrote a slight bargain, rather than a solid deal.
His fingers twirled around the natural slight curls of his beard. His tongue stuck out enough to attach to the side of his upper lip. Then his knee began to pounce in place.
"What the fuck did I get myself into." He placed the note to the side of him. He shoved his hands into his face and muffled the shout he tried to suppress. "Is that what the bitch meant?" He questioned himself.
"What bitch?"
In an instant he grabbed the pillow and chucked it to the new voice. He rolled off the bed with his sword unsheathed and prepped. His eyes peered the entire room and looked for the voice.
"Well, call it payback for scaring my friend downstairs." The voice spoke again, this time from another angle.
"All I did was tell the truth. Thinking we're safe is what will kill everybody."
"In that case put the sword down, I know where you are but you still can't even see me." Again the voice was on another wall.
Carl's body refused, he knew how much this one action could tarnish his credibility. Yet he was also not stupid enough to fall because of this. He forcefully dropped the sword, his face tightened his upper lip and glared. His eyes narrowed and scanned the room. Without his sword, he was still a blood hunter, deadly.
The tall dresser door up and out came a man in all black with gray trim. He recognized those interlace style chest armor, and the hood that obscured most of his face. Even in the sunlight he was barely visible, a longbow strapped to his back and daggers on his sides.
"I know exactly how deadly you can be without your sword." The man spoke like he read his mind.
A pulse of his veins through Carl's forehead bulged out. His hand engulfed in flames, he wouldn't need to cock his arm back to fling it. A common thief barely above the rest of his kind. Yet he wasn't in the typical green that the local gang was known for. He was different, possibly more dangerous.
"You don't need to fear me. Sorry for the intrusion but I had to show you my skills. So you knew it was really me." His head slowly nodded at the papers.
Carl didn't break eye contact and grabbed the paper. One eye focused on the mysterious man as the other surveyed the paper. Right on the bottom, words he never saw on there before. Anderson.
"Who the fuck are you? I know damn well these weren't here a minute ago."
"You don't get to my level of skill while having your name plastered everywhere." The man grabbed his hood and lowered it. His obviously dyed hair cut short, with jagged clean shave lines decorated the back and sides. The sharpness of his blue eyes were a match.
Carl extinguished his flames and at surface level relaxed again. "Talk." He demanded.
"Right now all you need to know is I'm Anderson. If we make it through the heist and continue this relationship, I may let you know the rest." He slowly grabbed the daggers from his sides and dropped them. "You don't need to trust me as a person, but as a companion to your crimes... You better trust my skills."
"Let's say I trust you. Talk to my boss and warn him about you, what happens then?"
Anderson walked to the door and examined the chair around the doorknob. "Who do you think got Bumi's name to what it is?" He laughed quietly and moved the chair to the side. "No parent would name their kid after what killed them."
He pulled open the door and looked out to the hallway. "Trust me, I'm your break in specialist on this." He closed it and turned back to Carl. "But I came to you quietly for a reason. I need something also in those safes."
"And what the hell is that?"
"They have sealed documents of my own master in there. A mole took them and hidden them inside under a fake name. I know the name and where it is."
"Why not tell Bumi this? Pretty sure he would've made an exception."
"No Bumi's a jackass beyond anything else. He'd stab your kneecap to slow you down while he escapes." He reached in his armor and pulled out a small rock full of cracks. "I want your promise that the detour to my records will be taken."
"I'm not going to promise something without the details. I can't just lead my boss down the opposite hallway and get caught. I rather not face this mysterious hero directly." Carl eyed the side of his desk without turning his head, then back at Anderson. Sure enough it was the rock that Bumi provided, except it wasn't glowing.
"It's on the same path, but I need to be protected while I pick the lock. Which means I need you to defend me while you grab the lockbox. Got it?"
"How will I know what I'm looking for?"
"I'll show you exactly where it is, it's more of a matter of finding the ledger, the name, then the corresponding safe. I can't do that while I deal with the master safe."
"What if I don't? You aren't exactly paying me."
Anderson shrugged and tossed the rock into Carl's hand. "You do or you don't. I'm coming with you either way, you just either get that for me... Or somehow my hands slip too much."
Carl bit his lip to hide his true intentions. "Fine."
"Good." Anderson pulled his wrist in and his daggers suddenly appeared at his hips again. He shrugged with his smirk. "Don't look for me. I'll find you." His body shifted into a human in regular clothes. His hair now brown and dirty like he just got out of the mines.
"Fucking magic." Carl spat. The door closed while he just stood there in anger. "This whole jobs getting fucked." He looked into the rock that now glowed blue, firmly grasping it and he held it up to his mouth. "Thanks for the warning about this Anderson fuck. Almost destroyed this whole job by killing him."
Carl tossed the rock into the wardrobe. He wasn't tired but the stress got to him. He left the sword and chair where it was and fell into the bed. Still, when he closed his eyes his body fell into slumber.
The night went by without a chance to see the dark skies. By the time his eyes opened back up it was daylight again. His room was the same as when he went to sleep, and as far as he could tell; nobody tampered with anything.
He swung his legs around the edge and rested his arms on his thighs. He grabbed the paper from the desk and looked at it again. The Anderson name was gone, no indent or indication it was ever on there. It was annoying how good he really was to Carl. His past tempted and teased him with the comparison between the two.
'Did he do the same as me? Or was his talent just that good? Nobody that would lower themselves to a petty crime like this with that skill. Or did he owe Bumi something or hold real blackmail like me?' The questions were endless on this stranger, and none answered. Carl couldn't answer without doubt if that was even his real face he showed. The hair at least obviously wasn't.
Carl looked at the first person on the list, the genetic freak. Carl didn't know what to expect or what the beast entirely looked like. His first sighting of it could've been a mistake in vision. He wasn't human or a tiefling, he saw plenty before and this wasn't it.
He refocused his thoughts and collected his materials. And made sure to collect the rock from the wardrobe. Last thing he needed right now was for that Anderson fellow to steal it from him. He closed the door and locked it behind him.
As he walked down he noticed this time it was another bartender. Probably the other one that the man from before mentioned. A small human girl, pale and sick like he mentioned. Her hair was a mess and poorly in a ponytail. She was slow at her job as well as clumsy.
He slammed his hands on the bar counter. The sound echoed loud for the girl, her whole body jumped from the water bucket. She stumbled back and into the rows of alcohol. Her frightened stare met the dark determination of Carl's.
"Nobody enters my room, got it?"
"Of course sir, of course."
He lightly patted the counter before he pushed himself off and to the door. Same streets, same people, same expectation. Carl wasn't going to let the same mistake happen again. His edge was now always on guard in every room. Bumi's servants or Anderson could pop out of any corner.
Carl still maintained his job and made his way to the church of many gods. Baulder's Gate was the home to many races. As such many gods had to reside somehow in the space. It wasn't big enough to dedicate to each person that resided and traveled here. A safe space, a building that cast aside the differences. At least till they left the church then anything went.
The red drapes that surrounded the boarded up and damaged white walls still signified its importance. Not many people in the area batted an eye to it, their faith was still strong but time was slim. As Carl entered the room he noticed how empty it truly was, along with how small it was. A dozen gods surround three of the walls, mended chunks of marble and chips of statues.
One man stood by the door with an incense flail and white robes with red trim. The only other was that creature. He stood as tall as most goliaths and taller than any orc. His muscles are slightly smaller than one but still bigger than the buffest of men. His body gray like ash and broken horns rested back along the sides of his skull. A thick black truff of hair like an earth genasi ran braided down the middle of his head.
It finally dawned on him. The man is an earth genasi, he came directly from a sub race of his genasi people. Yet he wasn't the familiar scent of his nature, it was distorted, conjured and mangled from its origin. The body and face of an earth genasi, horns and fiend scent of a tiefling, muscles of a goliath, who knew what else this freak of a creature was mixed with.
The thing was gentle though, his grayed eyes carried no emotion to the statue he painted white. His fingers delicate to the tiny brush that filled in the slightly discolored repairs. He didn't seem aware that Carl entered the room. This was him, the perfect bait for the quest.
"Welcome traveler." The old man bowed and showed his wrinkled smile. "Please, keep the peace, stay quiet, and don't worry about my friend there. He means no harm to anyone, despite his looks."
"The one in rags, what's his name?" Carl eyed the man even more. He held no obvious possessions, tattoos, markings, even clothes of any value. Looked nothing more than a washed beggar.
"I honestly don't know, he came after the disaster and worked here to repair the statues. And since everyone is too busy on other projects, I couldn't turn him away."
"You even know what race he belongs to?"
"Other than the skin complexion and hair of an earth genasi, he never answered. All he said was Luzasi. Gibberish from head trauma." He chuckled without ill meaning. "I just left it at that until he wishes to speak more."
Carl started to walk to him with that same determined face. The man grew wary and grabbed Carl's arm. As fast as Carl snapped back to the old man, he didn't fear Carl. He was worried, and his eyes met with his and the creature's path.
"Please." The old man began to beg. "He might be here from the gods themselves, a collaboration between many for our own good. Don't bring disaster to his life."
"I don't plan to. I think I may know how to help him, he may be the answer I seek." Carl lied through his teeth but kept his face pure and honest.
The man trembled with his release but trusted Carl. A new traveler but shared a common relative ancestor. "I'll be watching, but if he doesn't go with you peacefully, please leave."
"I offer you my word that I won't bring harm to him. I only offer guidance for both of us."
"Hey, last time I was here there were only four gods in the Stormshore Tabernacle. Did you do this?" Carl asked.
The creature merely glanced a look down to him then back at the statue he was fixing up. It agitated Carl a bit but at the end of the day, his mind was simple. Probably couldn't house more than a dozen thoughts at a time.
"He was." The old man answered from a distance. "I could feel the energies the gods sent into his mind, he spoke to the one from the circus that molds stone. No words exchanged yet the imp knew exactly what he desired."
Carl peered closer to him, that look, the structure at which he did. It didn't feel like the creature gave off any holy intentions. The way his arms moved and the gazes of his pupils read like it was a duty. Not one of a holy love, but a forced obligation.
"You don't follow these gods. You follow one that isn't in this room don't you?" Carl watched closely to his eyes that once again glared down then back up. It was slight but the attention was different, a glimpse of shock rather than annoyance. "Whatever God you follow commands you to do this or it rejects the idea for you to do this." He watched the small twitch of his body to the ladder. "Your body tells you to destroy these statues, but now you don't."
"Da name's Ketojan." The creature spoke in a strange accent. His vowels were extended and spoke from his throat. Like from a lost fairy tale of an ogre and a princess in a tower. Each clown spoke of this fairy tale in the same tone that wasn't from known lands when speaking of it.
"My mind speaks in two voices and it fucking irritates me fucking head."
Carl and the old man looked at the beast in huge shock. His voice was almost comical just as the stories of old pretended it was. Maybe there was just a bit more head damage than they thought.
"Yeah my old god spoke of shite to destroy, but I don't want to do that. They deserve their peace as much as I or you." Ketojan continued to speak in that odd tone. "Ya fucking twat."
He put the brush and paint down and faced the fire genasi. "How do you know so much about Luzasi? None of these pricks know a damn thing."
"Luzasi... I work for a man that may have the information on your people. At least where to find them, but it's not free information."
"Ah fucking course it's not. Why would it ever be, now tell me what the hells you want from me."
The soft and out of this nation's actions the creature spat was not for someone of his size. An intimidating one from eyesight but had the tendencies of a big oaf."
"I'll call for you once the job is actually ready. If you see anyone baring" Carl reached in his pocket and showed the glowing rock. "one of these, you follow, no questions asked."
"Aye, aye, easy enough for even me. I'm not daft, I can see how you look at me."
"Then at least we are in an understanding, I'll see you soon."