In a finely furnished hotel suite of one of the top hotels in Paulflint, was an elderly Capyban reclining on one of the many leather couches. The view from the nearby large window that showed a vista of the night lights in the city was a major contribution to the steep pricing of the suite, but the Capyban cared not for the view.

He was still feeling chilled and quite tired after haven taken the griffon express in from far away and his aching bones called for a warm bath, but Delmond refused himself the luxury for now. For before him was a few small boxes that he used to hold a conference call as he took in the reports of his branch managers.

“We are still having issues with our attempts to introduce our brand in the eastern ranges Delmond, most of the local market for food produce is saturated by the Festifanq family, who has been noted to aggressively spend in marketing as of late,” reported a rumbling and deep female voice from the communications box in the middle of the lot.

“Just remember Grengorla, to make sure to keep yourself and our employees safe, the Festinaqs are sure to escalate matters if we keep holding with our low prices,” replied Delmond as he messaged one of his hands with the other. “Hire some muscle if you need it, but keep the same prices no matter what, we can still eat the losses for a few more quarters yet. Now Blain how about your end?”

“Nothing much here boss, our takings are steady as usual, but I have concerned reports from the smugglers on our payroll that it has been harder to bring through the Fallridge tea over the borders with the conflict going on,” replied squeaky voice from the leftmost communications device.

“Alright… hmm just up their pay for now, and I think we should start to stockpile some of the produts and resell them on the open market once demand rises just in case the conflict worsens, any inputs?” asked the elderly Capyban. He was already sure that it was a sound idea, but nevertheless he trusted his three branch managers and any advice they were to give him on the matter.

“Hard to sssay.. but I alssso believe that the matter could get worssse, in favour of the angel’s forcesss,” replied the right most box in a raspy toungue. “They will then pusssh into the Union and make it even harder for our smugglersss to travel safely. I think we sshould do asth you ssay, but then pull them back after a few more big runs. Jusst in case.”

“Hmm.. I’m inclined to agree with you on this one Zenon… Blain, Grengorla what’s your take?” asked Delmond as he leaned back into the sofa to wait.

“Agreed,” replied the Blain.

“I also agree, our employees safety should come first. The smugglers are very skilled workers and hard to replace if we were to be crass about it,” replied Grengorla.

Gregorla’s rude truth only caused Delmond to twitch his white-whiskered nose before nodding himself in agreement.

“Alright Blain, then I leave the raise to you and then… let them carry just two more big runs and include a huge bonus for each, before we let them have holidays or redeploy elsewhere. Let the choice be up to the smugglers, cause they sure as Realms have raked in enough for the company to deserve a holiday,” Spoke Delmond before smiling at the thought of the profits they have made over the tea.

“Alright Boss, should I contact them now?” asked Blain’s communication device.

“Please,” replied the Capyban with Blain’s communication artifact dimming down to confirm that he had cut off communication from his end. “Now how’s your end Zenon?”

“Metal and lumber pricess are in high demand here bosss, ass the Union is throwing out weapons and armour contracts all over the place in Melakahn like you had predicted. The pricess for raw materials are still favourable from the Dancer’ss landss due to our high relationss with the Stobarts enterprisess. But we are haemorrhaging influence and goodwill with them,” Zenon Reported dutifully.

“Well, remind them if you have too, that Stobart himself made a soul contract with me for a fixed price agreement, and that the Browns will not fluctuated our own prices for war-profiteering,” replied Delmond with gritted teeth as his anger began to rise up. “Remind whatever representative of Stobart you are dealing with Zenon, that I am a main director on the board of the Union’s western merchant committee and I will consider any fluctuations upon the agreed prices a display of gross negligence and possible treason against the Union in times of war.”

“Haha! Thatsss them told bosss, I’ll happily relay your wordsss,” replied Zenon before the communication device that was connected to him was dimmed as it switched off.

“Night boss, and hope you enjoy your visit to your family,” spoke Gregorla before she too, signed off.

How in the Realms did she find out? She’s on the eastern front of the union for Devine’s sake, and she still found out about my movements. Must be someone snitching to her in headquarters. But I was sure I was careful this time.. wondered Delmond before releasing his musk of Joy. For it was a small pastime of his to try and elude his most well-informed employee of his whereabouts, of which he was only successful but a scant handful of times in the nearly century-long friendship he has had with his Moss-giant branch manager.

“Boss, a message for you,” spoke a quite little voice from behind Delmond. The figure then detached from the shadows to reveal itself to be a small humanoid that was wrapped from head to toe in grey and green rags with nothing but the slits of the eyes to even give a clue as to their race or gender.

“Shivalteek?” Delmond asked as he quickly sat up with a jolt of energy running through him. For any developments that concerned his kin, of which he had to spend a fortune to hide and expunge from the intelligence networks of brokers to keep them safe from harm, was of grave importance to the Capyban tycoon.

“Who else boss,” replied his bodyguard in a toneless and androgenous voice along with a small hint of humour in the killer’s eyes.

“Then hand it over Green,” asked Delmond in frustration as he reached and arm over the back of his sofa towards his diminutive bodyguard.

His bodyguard then complied by fishing within a secretive fold of their rags, before holding out another communication device to Delmond. But this one was inlaid with many more precious jewels and was covered in finer mana-circuitry embossing than the ones he had deployed recently with his branch managers.

“Report,” demanded Delmond as soon as he pressed his finger to the side of the box. His Bodyguard had already vanished from sight. With Delmond knowing her, she was already out of the room as she gave him privacy and avoided any wakes from scanning the information from her mind.

“Sorry boss, I’ve been compromised,” reported Shivalteek from the other end without his usual eloquence.

“What? How?! Are they safe?” shouted Delmond as he felt his blood pulsing in his temple and his musk of fear.

“Well boss, you wont believe it.. but it turns out the headman was the Fallen-hand and he, his wife and Grandmaster Xerneg have swore to provide protection to your son’s family,” reported Shivalteek with his own disbelief being transmitted clearly through the expensive artifact.

“Wait what?” asked Delmond as he suddenly felt confused by the dramatic turn of events. He had been expecting that the Firekin would’ve had to kill someone and blown his cover, not that the Ex-shadow minister and the Grandmaster-healer would just up and declare patronage of his descendants. The elderly Capyban wasn’t even sure if what he heard was real and kept his joy and elation in check before he could clarify the authenticity of his agent’s claims.

“How sure are you? What happened? Does my son know?” Delmond asked as he tried to keep his emotions from his voice.

“I was poisoned in an interrogation by the Fallen-hand and the Grandmaster brought me back, I think it was Royal toad boss. So I’m pretty sure. Plus now there is reason to believe the Scicidian ManaTinkerer is a master if he can intercept our communications boss, we should send someone to scout him on behalf of Brown enterprises if he’s an artisan of such a calibre. And rested assured, Lem doesn’t know anything, it all happened in Fallen-hand’s living room between the three of us,” reported Shivalteek.

Delmond needed a brief moment before he finally let this exciting news flood his system with happiness and relief, for there was no more need to worry for the safety of his family if the notorious Fallen-hand and one of the three Grandmaster Healers declared patronage over them. Maybe he could more openly visit them from now on instead of sneakily rushing about with the griffon-express at night. It was fast, but the flying played havoc on his old bones with the Elderly Capyban preferring a leisurely carriage ride.

“That is amazing news! Well except for the interrogation part, rest assured you will be well compensated for your troubles…. And seeing how its developed, do you want to become an official employee on our payroll and get posted elsewhere, or do you wish to be continue to be stationed at your current posting?” asked Delmond as he got straight to the point. For there wasn’t much need for the young and sharp Firekin to be posted in a frontier village as he guarded his family anymore, especially since his own kin had gained their formidable patrons.

“I’d like to stay posted here boss, I’ve gained some good relations with very powerful classers here and I have reason to believe that the village will be expanding into a great exporter of specialty livestock-based products and thus would like our company to maintain a monopoly when it does,” replied Shivalteek with his prepared pitch.

On the other end of the device, the normally jovial Firekin waited with bated breath. For he had a strong hunch that if he was to be the main company presence here when Pancreedy bloomed, he would definitely become a liaison officer or even a branch manager by coasting on the success that was sure to follow in the wake of Pancreedy’s expansion. This was based on the assumption that the bosses grandson had some sort of rare production Unsung class based on his dealings with Lem and how the Fallen-hand and the Grandmaster had easily thrown their lot in with the Brownwhiskers. There was a strong chance that it could also just be a rare healer class, but seeing as how both of Nosal’s parents were MonsterRancher and Tamer, it was highly unlikely to Shivalteek that there was no monster-based ranching skill in there somewhere.

“Alright Shivalteek. We will need to speak more to debrief over this matter when I get there, these developments sound very promising, now is there anything else? It’s getting late and I’m tired,” asked Delmond as he started to feel another wave of euphoria wash through him.

“Well there is a small matter boss… the Fallen-hand has requested a five-hundred gold loan from you personally, by name,” reported Shivalteek. “It’s for the expansion of the village’s industry and he wishes to go over the terms and conditions with you when you get here.”

“What?! Are you trying to kill me kid! You know how hard its going to be for even ME a Mithirl-ranked tycoon, to go up against the Fallen-Hand? How am I supposed to even get a good deal out of this?” asked Delmond as shock and surprise flooded him which jolted him up in his seat. He also squirted a hefty musk of fear at the prospect of attempting to haggle against the notorious Fallen-Hand that laid ahead of him.

“I think boss, you should try anyways, who knows you might even get a level out of it… but I think it’s better to concede and build better relations with the Fallen-hand. He told me himself that he’s planning to purchase a lordship, I don’t know if its just basic package or the full one,” replied Shivalteek seriously.

“Realms… I’ll think about it, thank you Shivalteek, you can sign off now,” replied Delmond.

He sat there alone and was even more shocked at the news he had just heard, with five hundred gold a paltry amount in comparison to the level of influence and wealth needed to procure a lordship. He now understood that the Fallen-hand only asked for the loan and to go over it with him as an gesture of curtesy and a means to begin relations with the Brown enterprises.

Delmond also now wondered how long had the Fallen-hand planned to use his business for his own needs in the expansion of the village Pancreedy into a town.

Because to buy a lordship and declare independence in the Union, even a minor title, Delmond knew that he only would stand a chance at doing so if he liquidated his whole business.