I sat in the office in the Merchant quarter and looked out at the stormy night sky. Lightning flashed in the distance, the wind howled around the house corners causing the wood to creak; he was late, but then given the weather I couldn’t blame him.

The door finally opened, and a drenched Ezekiel walked in. He grinned broadly as he walked over. “Worked like a charm” I nodded and accepted the bag Ezekiel handed to me and studied the contents. Gems, all uncut but clearly of exquisite quality. I took a deep breath to steady myself as I handed them over to the appraiser. “What can you tell me?” He took the gem bag and had a rather surprised expression, as it was heavier than it seemed.

He removed a diamond from it and studied it. Even from here I could see it was unusually clear, almost like glass, despite not being cut. He took out a magnifying lens and studied it intently, mumbling to himself as he did. “Why this is one of the best gems I have ever seen. The clarity and carat are both top grade, and that’s before cutting. If this got into the hands of a master jeweler, it’s value would skyrocket tenfold. Quite the steal, if I do say so myself.” He put the gem back in the bag and returned the bag to me not even bothering to check the others. We didn’t need to. They all came from the same source, after all.

I turned towards Ezekiel, “And the core?” I asked. “Uh… Which one?” “The dead one, you fool.” Ezekiel shrugged. “No clue, one moment it was there. The next it was gone. Same as when the Core brings the Gems. One moment there are none, next they are all in her paw.” I sighed, for the life of me I couldn’t understand why the Core was so interested in dead cores. Was there something I was missing?

I shook my head, I it was a useless conjecture at this point. There were other things to worry about as things had changed rather drastically for the worse after the strange Decree by Rubolgs messenger. The entire town was in chaos as over 400 cores had just vanished back to their dungeons. This had left much of the infrastructure of the city tattered, no more light in the streets, no more clean water being pumped into people’s homes. No more self-cleaning streets or Guardians that kept the local thugs from breaking the law. just to name a few.

Not to mention 100’s of other cores scattered around the territory had gone rogue as well. The supplies of goods from the resource dungeons had dried up. The cores inside had been freed and immediately ceased to be the good little resource producers they had been taught to be. And had instead armed their dungeons to the teeth to avoid recapture. What in the world had transpired to make the great Rubolg do something like this? Hundreds of people would starve, get sick or worse.

Even the dungeon that was used for executions, owned by the Lord of the city itself, was now a bustling Deathtrap that was at high alert at all times. Anyone entering would get attacked once the Sanctuary dropped, that was for sure. Not that entering it would do any good, with the Decree guaranteeing a year and a day’s freedom. And to top it all off the guild’s most prized Core. “Yrsha the Diviner” who had been such an asset to the guild for over 15000 years was gone. And she had vowed revenge for her many years of imprisonment and sworn a blood vengeance on Inlas. For what reason Inlas had incurred the Cores’ wrath I did not know. But that seemed rather extreme for the usually calm and refined Core.

This entire situation was a mess, but it was also an opportunity to make a killing and all because of this deal with that Core. It was an opportunity, an opportunity I had to take advantage of. With my mind made up, I rose from the table and returned the bag to Ezekiel. Then tossed him another, this one full of gold “You know what to do, I hope?” The greedy little man nodded. “Just say the word” he said and hurried out. Slamming the door shut. Tonight had turned out very lucrative indeed.

“So what should we do about them?” One of the others asked I looked over at the two people sitting tied to chairs beside me. “Take them to their rooms and put guards at the doors. can’t have them warn the Core.” Rael and Mordred nodded and pulled Lady Magna Yndali and her bodyguard Mandol out of the room. Ezekiel had been a veritable font of information since I stumbled upon him drunk thanks to the guidance of Lady Inlas.

Oh, he had been reluctant to tell at first. But that man was easy to read, he had no loyalty to anything but money. And because of my long and successful career, I had a lot more money than I honestly knew what to do with. Once he spilled the beans he had essentially betrayed his employer, a minor noble and well-respected merchant.

You didn’t just betray nobles in this city, not if you intended to live for every long. But he would get what was coming to him once his usefulness was at its end either way. Though he was obviously too stupid to realize entering the domain of “Deathtraps” without guild permission was a serious crime after all. One that he had unwittingly committed once more by proving his claim.

This was an opportunity, yes, but it was also a risk that would have to be planned out to the very last detail. I would capture the Core, as Lady Inlas demanded. The Core was to be captured and made compliant so that our great Lady would have her eternal avatar.

I felt sick think that Lady Inlas would have to sully her divine essence to purify one of Penumbras dirty creations to to gain a proper vessel. But that was just how it had to be. No man or woman on this planet was strong enough to contain her divine brilliance. So we had to make use of the more sturdy creations of the accursed Penumbra. Besides, apparently there was something special about this one that elevated her above the usual filth.

Smiling grimly, I grabbed a cup of wine as I continued to plan. Even as Lady Yndali was screaming she was innocent and demanded to be unhanded, they dragged her from the room.

Luckily for the good merchant she was a Noble, a minor one, but a Noble nonetheless, so it would take more than just this to get her convicted. But, once we had captured the core, we only needed to get her word for it. After all, if ordered to tell the truth about the deal a Tamed Core would have no choice but to comply.

Luckily I had good men to do just that, Rael and his party was loyal to the guild and had twice now been denied the glory of the capture. They were not the type of people to take loss well and would thus be more open to my… ideas, mostly at any rate. Rael had this strange obsession with honor, but as long as he thought there was no dishonor in this, he would happily leap at it. I just had to convince him of it. Luckily, my “Supreme Orator” skill would allow me to do so easily. Just as easily as it had allowed me to talk my way into the seat of guildmaster.

-----

I left the guard duty of Yndali and her bodyguard to Mordred and Erem. Something was off about all of this. I just didn’t know what. This entire plan to capture the core was making me uneasy. If they captured it the way the Guild Master proposed they would be nearly guaranteed to tame it, yes. But at the same time they would have used subterfuge and deceit, they would not have proved their power was stronger. They would not have won the Right of Taming through honorable combat as they defeated all obstacles between themselves and the dungeons Core Pillar.

The guildmaster had his own agenda; I was certain of it now. I couldn’t refuse the order to aid him. But I could at least make sure that the core would fall under the ownership of someone who would not be beholden to him and whatever he had planned. But for that, I needed help.

I found her at home, not surprised. She had practically been excommunicated from the guild in all but actual deed that day. With only her party members still showing any care for her, if she showed up at the guild she would either be ignored or harassed these days.

It didn’t surprise me her family were known to be Druids after all. And Druid was a class that could only be gained by worshiping Penumbra. However, even if she was a heretic, she also understood the importance of proving your might over the core to secure its loyalty. What the Guildmaster planned to do was to overpower the core by repeatedly try to tame it over and over until it was too exhausted to resist. That was not the way to do it, anyone with half a brain could see that.

Indella’s taming power, however, was a gift from Penumbra and Penumbra would want to protect her child from what the guildmaster had planned for her, whatever that was. Or so I hoped she would. so if I gave Indella the opportunity to tame the Core, then maybe, just maybe, she would succeed before the others would realize who she was. Provided we were careful about it.

I had told no one else on the party about my plan at all; I knew they all believed in me, but there was something off about how persuasive the guildmaster could be. Ezekiel was a greedy coward, yes, but he was also a Sworn Blade, whose loyalty was to extend from oath to death. That was the very concept of their order, yet he gave up on his Mistress far too easy for someone who would have passed the initiation rites. And if the Guildmaster could do that to him so easily by just speaking to him. What could that mean for the rest of us, how strongly were we all under his sway?

With that in mind I explained my plan to Indella at her kitchen table, her expression going from shocked, to scared then finally... I left her home shortly after, my mood as dark as the stormy night.