I woke up from my dream to the sound of a woman screaming. It came from downstairs, or possibly outside of the building. I got up and looked out the window.

Indeed, there were people outside. Three men cornering a woman with a torn dress, who was hugging a fallen figure on the ground. Even in the low light of glowstone filled street lamps, I was black liquid covering the street. Someone had been stabbed.

I stood there by the window, watching the scene play out before my eyes as I wondered if I should do anything. From the looks of the three men standing, they were zero-leveled thugs with rusty daggers and clubs. Basic cannon fodder for early gameplay, a way for players to gain some quick experience and possibly earn some coin. It was possible that I could take one of them down, possibly even two if I caught them by surprise, but the thought of killing something was still revolting to me.

But I could go outside and see if I could help to de-escalate the situation at the very least. I grabbed my coat and the room key, and headed downstairs and out of the inn. Once outside, I glanced up and saw other people watching through the windows of those three men. If nothing else, my actions may inspire others to join in if things didn’t go as planned.

I took my knife out of my pocket, holding it casually hidden against the length of my forearm and walked up towards the thugs, taking in a few deep breaths to calm my nerves.

“Hey you! What’s the deal here?” I called out, trying my best to sound as tough as I could. Two of the men turned their heads to see who had shouted.

“None of your business, boy! So scram!” One of them shouted back, flashing a dagger at his side. Welp. I was scared. I had never been in a fight in my life, and only threats to my health had been that I couldn’t get enough to eat. But my heart was racing with adrenaline, and I couldn’t stop myself from responding.

“Three nameless lowlives threatening a woman in an alleyway during midnight. Could you guys get any more cliche?” I took a step forward. “Now if you turn around and walk away, I am sure that we can all forget about this thing.”

The men laughed at me, and I could feel myself blushing from embarrassment. Lucky for me, it was pretty dark, so my flustering went unnoticed.

“And what if we don’t?” The one who had talked previously jeered at me. Even his dialogue was predictable. If I ever got back to the real world, I would have to create more varied basic thugs. But still, I was alone against three men, and their knives were much bigger than mine. Perhaps I could reason with them.

“Just look at the windows. You have woken up the entire street, and people are watching how this plays out. You have already stabbed one man, and if he doesn’t get treated, he will die.” I took a breath and continued. “This doesn't have to end badly for anyone else.”

They looked at the windows and exchanged looks, clearly thinking what I had said. Then my very own chatter bug split from the group and walked towards me, pulling his dagger from its sheath. He got within arms reach of me, looking down on my face, and said: “I think it does.”

I knew that if I said something, it would be over for me. So I remained silent and tried to stare him down with the level of confidence I honestly didn’t know I possessed. Or was it defiance? In any case, I wouldn’t be bullied away by some level zero thug.

The staring contest went on for long enough for me to think that I had impressed the thug with my courage under the odds. But I wasn’t so lucky. The thug drew his arm back, ready to knock me out, and at that moment, my body acted on its own accord. I twisted my hand, securing my grip on my knife, and before I knew what was going on, I had plunged it to the abdomen of the bully. He drew in a gasp of breath and I felt his fist striking me on my back. I winced in pain, but pushed forward, drawing the steak knife out of the man’s stomach and stabbed him repeatedly in the chest. The serrated edge of the blade left nasty wounds, and the warm blood splashed on my face every time I pulled the small knife out.

The man fell over on his back, and I lept on top of him, raising my hands up high, holding the knife pointed down. I looked at the man I had been fighting with, and his wide eyes were filled with fear. I clenched my teeth and stabbed the man to his throat.

Blood sprayed in a fine arch, covering me in red. I stood up, looking at the thugs defiantly, trying to meet everyone’s eyes at once. Judging by their reaction to my sudden assault, they looked frightened. But I was sure that soon enough they would collect themselves and it would be over for me. Why did I have to act?

But before anyone could act, I heard clapping coming from further down the alleyway. Was someone looking? I glanced in the direction of the sound, and saw a very ugly man, wearing a long leather jacket, slow clapping and walking towards me.

“Stay right there!” I shouted while brandishing my knife “Stay right there or you’ll end up like your pal right here”

“Easy there, boy. I just want to talk to you” The man said, without even slowing his steps.

“I can hear you just fine from there! Now stop!”

Oddly enough, the man did stop. It wasn’t far enough for me to gain a good head start if it came to running away, but at least he wasn’t in the arm’s reach.

“What do you want!?” I barked, trying to sound as tough as I possibly could.

“I want to recruit you to our little group. You see, a slot just opened up.” He pointed at the guy, still gurgling at my feet. My stomach turned after taking a look at him, and I almost threw up. To get my mind out of the sight, I focused back at the man talking to me.

“Why?” I simply asked through my gritted teeth.

“You see, you killed one of my men there. So to compensate for his life, you will come with us and work to repay your debt.”

Well, that was odd. I didn’t know what to make of the offer. Either this brute was honestly trying to recruit me, or more likely, they would take me to a dark alleyway and stab me to death. But on the other hand, if I refused, they would likely stab me here and now.

“What’s in it for me?”

“Oh, we’ll tell you once we are away from the prying eyes. So what will it be now? Will you come with us, or do you want to try to be a hero?” The man sneered.

So refusal was out of the question. Gotcha. And this was my world. If I would be in control and this would be a situation I would put in front of my players, there would most likely be a quest or a quest chain to be gained from these guys. I just hoped that my logic of running the game and the world by extension would carry over to this reality.

“You better make it worth my while,” I replied, trying to keep up the tough-guy persona I had put on for these NPCs.

“Ha!” He barked and shouted at the other muggers. “That’s the spirit! C’mon lads, forget about Jimmy! We’re done here!”

I followed the men as they fled the scene, crisscrossing across various alleyways for an hour, apparently trying to confuse my sense of direction. What a pointless effort. Even if I couldn’t track the route which they took me, once we made it to our destination, I knew exactly where we were. It was the cheap side of Numeri, close to a barbershop that practiced some questionable medicine, and not too far away from a souvenir shop, which I knew to be an Assassin’s guild front.

We stood in front of a building that was so rugged, I wondered how it was still standing. The supposed leader of the group who had recruited me knocked on the door three times and stood back to wait. Soon the door was opened slightly, and a bald head poked through, checking the street before letting us in.

If the building looked like it had seen better days from the outside, the inside was a complete mess. Moldy furniture was stuffed in a small living space. They apparently had an indoor toilet as well, meaning in this instance that their latrine was dug inside the apartment, and the stench was eye-watering. Few more people were lounging on couches, a couple of them eyeing me out suspiciously.

The leader went in taking a chair, and his lackeys pushed me deeper within, most likely wanting to keep an eye on me. I couldn’t blame them. They didn’t know me, and the only reason why I was here was that their leader was stupid enough to not to notice my bluff. Speaking of the man, he was waving me over and pointing to a chair in front of him. So. The questioning would begin.

I took the offered seat and casually checked the house down. “What a.. nice place you got here,” I said with a hint of sarcasm in my voice. Maybe a bit more than just a hint.

“It’s a dump and you know it. But we are safe here for now” He said.

Safe? Was this guy a total idiot? Only way this place could have been a more obvious hideout for thugs was if they painted “Criminals live here” in front of the building. I was honestly surprised that they weren't already arrested. But on the other hand, for all the law enforcement knew, these people could have just been squatting here. Okay. I’ll give them a pass on this one.

“So. What exactly is it that you want from me? It must be something, seeing how you didn’t simply stab me.” I asked, focusing on the man. “And what do I call you? I noticed that we skipped the introduction part”

“The name is Onyx” Ah. So we were using our made-up names then. Got it. “And the stabbing is not out of the question yet. It all depends on your answers. So first question. Who are you?”

I thought of the question for a heartbeat. This was an opportunity for me to make myself a new. And since ‘Onyx’ here didn’t give me his real name, I didn’t feel inclined to do so myself. “Niko” I answered simply, before continuing. “And get to the point, please. I’m tired and I want to know if I can sleep here safely”

“Alright then, Niko, I see you got some balls, killing Jimmy there. That was brutal. And we need tough and brutal guys here. Are you a fighter?”

Crap. If I lied, they could ask me to prove that somehow. And if I didn’t give them a satisfactory answer, they would have no reason to keep me around. But I had just killed ‘Jimmy’.

“I’ve managed so far” I tried to answer as vaguely as possible. To add to the bluff, I grinned. I felt how the dried blood cracked around my mouth. It must’ve been an ugly sight.

“I see. Any experience in house robberies?”

“What are we talking about? Small houses, big houses, noble houses? I know my way around weak points and security to some minor noble houses” I should know after all. Creator and all that.

A smile crept up on Onyx’s face. It was an ugly sight, with some of his teeth missing. “Even better. We are planning a small heist in the upper-class area, and we need good people that can get through that. Jimmy had been scouting a place out already, but he didn’t get to share his information. So if you don’t want to end up like him, you better have something good for us.”

I had expected something like this. Upstart group of lowlives wanting a quick score. If they weren’t too stubborn on their chosen target, I knew a couple of places where I could guide a group through. But seriously. Laying out your intentions of robbing an upclass house to a complete stranger. How were these people still alive with this level of survival instinct?

“Well If you don’t have a target ready, I used to work as a chef in one estate, and know my way around the place.”

Onyx laughed as he heard that. “I knew I was right about you, boy! We had that one place in mind, but since that is out of the question now, tell us more!”

I noticed that I had the attention of all the occupants. Well. Not a big surprise. If what I said was true, which it mostly was, I was their golden ticket to a fortune. I smiled mischievously.

“It is one of the smaller estates, Rindell family.” I started explaining what I could remember. “Head of the family is an older man. Spends his nights and coin in the red light district, while ignoring his wife and children. One boy, one girl. Neither of them live in the estate. They do have some waitstaff. Chef and two housekeepers and a gardener who comes every week, or so it was when I left.” I paused for dramatic effect. “Now let’s see. Doors are locked with magic, and windows have alarm spells on them. They also have two private guards, one of whom always stays around the house when the master is doing his ‘business’.”

“If the doors and windows have magic in them, how do we get in?” Onyx asked, fully focused on my explanation.

“Good question.” I nodded at the man approvingly, and continued: “There are two ways in, that I can come up with.” There of course were many routes, but without access to magic, or enchanted items, the options were limited. “The first, and easiest way, is to sneak in during the night through a cellar. It too is warded, but they have the key in the backyard, in case of an emergency.”

“Sounds good. What’s the other option?”

“The balcony on the third floor” I leaned forward conspiratorially. “It is not warded, since the family thinks that the guards would spot people climbing the ladder to there, and it gets regular use and since they don’t bother to carry the key with them every time they want to go there for a smoke, it is even unlocked.”

Onyx’s crew seemed suitably impressed. But I noticed that something bugged our main man. Sure enough, he voiced his concerns.

“How do you know all this?”

“I told you! I used to work there. If you need information about the place, ask the waitstaff. We know everything that goes on in that house.” I leaned back on my chair, trying to convey a smug expression. “Rindell’s wife fired me for some idiotic reason a few weeks ago, and I want revenge.”

Ha! They bought that. Well. It was a believable story after all. And winding bull like that came easy to me, being a long time roleplayer. Improvisation is the key.

“Now before I tell you my plans of getting in and out without a notice, I need some assurances.” My voice got serious at this point, since even though it seemed like I had gained some favor with these men, I was not in clear by any means.

As the men looked at me, confused expressions on their faces, I continued my improv tu speech. “I know I am a new guy here and you don’t trust me yet. I know that we didn’t start our relationship on the best note.” The Murder of a gang member was considered ‘not on the best note’, right? “But I know the ins and outs of this place, and much more about the ongoings in a couple of other minor noble houses. With my knowledge, I can make you more wealthy than you could’ve imagined. So I need to know that you won’t betray me after I tell you what I know.”

I stared at them seriously, my heart pounding in my chest. Even if these guys were minor background characters, at this point they could still kill me with ease. And I needed disposable minions to gain money and influence quickly.

They exchanged a few quick looks among one another before Onyx turned his face back to me and nodded. “I see where you are coming from kid. If you pull us through this mission, you’ll be in for good. I know a potential gold mine when I see one, and you, boy, you are the real deal”

I smiled, trying to hide my real thoughts.

“Right. So first we need some tools…” I began explaining my plan of robbing the house, and my new crew listened intently.