“You know, most people would see a large shelf overloaded with books and try not to touch it… never mind try to climb the damn thing.” Richard was just a bit annoyed as he walked through the relatively peaceful looking neighborhood.

“But, but… I wanted to see the big book at the top. It had all the pretty umm… drawings on them.” Meran, of course, was following along, though the little halfliing had lost some of his endless sugar rush and was busy trying to keep up while rubbing his head, which had a small bump on it.

“I believe you mean the engravings, Mr. Lulantople.” Master Mulfow interrupted with that side note as he led the little group through the back streets of the Suldoren District. As amused as Richard was about the old man calling Meran a ‘Mr.’ and using the halfling’s last name, he wondered what kind of store was out here in the back streets.

Thankfully, the neighborhood didn’t look like one of ‘those’ places, where you had to walk around with one hand on your concealed weapon and another on your wallet. However, Richard noted that the area wasn’t as well to do as Master’s Mulfow’s neighborhood either. Though the neglect wasn’t that bad, there were some signs that poverty was setting in among the residents: the lack of new paint on some houses or stores, the lack of upkeep on the open air sewers, the frequent potholes on the streets, and even the random person sitting around doing nothing in the middle of the day.

“Where are we going, Mr. Jaeger?” Meran’s piping voice interrupted Richard’s musings.

“Once again… to a store belonging to a friend of Master Mulfow’s.” That was true enough, but Richard didn’t elaborate further. Richard had no intent on discussing financial matters with the little guy, especially since he doubted the halfling understood too much about money.

“Oh… Are there going to be a lot of people, like over there?” Richard was looking at where Meran was pointing and at the people standing there. Of course, he also noticed Master Mulfow stopping and staring at the scene ahead. The building didn’t look like much. It was a wooden, two story affair with wooden shutters on its windows and peeling paint on its brown colored walls. There was a small sign hanging above its door with a magnifying glass on it. All in all, it looked like an average store of some kind.

However, the thugs standing in front of the door were definitely not part of the decor and screamed ‘trouble,’ especially since they had long daggers sheathed at their waists. The two men, one of them bald and the other one with shaggy, black hair, looked like muscle bound bruisers, and the alert way in which they were scowling in Richard’s direction with their blocky faces told Richard most of what he wanted to know.

Sliding up to Master Mulfow, Richard asked, “Does this friend of yours… umm… how do I say… deal with some unsavory types?”

Master Mulfow looked up at Richard with a grim face. “Unfortunately, yes. I’ve discussed the foolishness of such business dealings with him before, but unfortunately, with some businesses suffering under the council’s taxes, he feels that he needs to… widen his market so to say.”

Richard sighed and asked, “So, how do you want to deal with this?”

Master Mulfow bit his lip for a second and replied, “Follow… how do you say… follow my lead in this.” With that, the old man walked forward while adjusting his glasses and his green colored overcoat, trying to look serious.

The thugs almost immediately went on guard, putting their hands on the hilts of their daggers and turning towards Master Mulfow. The bald headed one loudly said, “The store’s closed. Come back laters.” Richard immediately didn’t like the fellow’s attitude.

Master Mulfow replied in a calm, collected voice. “I have come to meet with my associate. If you would be so kind, I would like to enter please.”

The bald headed thug scowled and once again spat out, “I tol’ ya its closed ol’ man. Now get!”

Richard stood a bit behind Master Mulfow with his arms hanging off to either side. However, he wasn’t just staring at the foolish meeting. His inventory was already pulled up off to his right, and he had already selected ‘Stone Projectile.’ All he needed was an excuse to start the mayhem.

Master Mulfow just adjusted his glasses one more time and quietly, yet sternly said, “I have no reason to ‘get’ as you so quaintly put it, and neither do I have any reason to be speaking with a bunch of rock for brains, second rate ruffians. Now, once again, I am politely asking you to step out of the way.” By the end of the request, the old man was lifting his right hand almost purposefully.

Richard went on alert when he noticed the hand motion, but the thugs just scowled even more, with the shaggy haired one snorting in amusement. “What’cha gonna do, ol’ fool? Talk us ta death?”

“No, but I am quite certain that I can introduce you to death.” Within a second of the old man’s reply, a dozen tall, stone spikes about Richard’s height erupted out the ground right between Master Mulfow and the thugs, almost angling up towards them!

Richard stepped back momentarily, stunned as he was by the sudden spikes. He had been expecting ‘something,’ but nothing… nothing like this.

The thugs weren’t any better as they flinched and back pedaled against the building shouting, “Magic user!” and “F#@K!” Of course, they had nowhere else to go, as they were soon ‘pinned’ up against the building.

Richard was left staring in amazement at the spikes, guessing it was a higher level ‘Earth Elemental’ spell, but he was more amazed when Master Mulfow said in a cold voice, “Now that I have your attention, gentlemen, I will ask once again… Will you step aside, or do I have to explain myself further?”

The shaggy haired thug, who had stone spikes bracketing his neck stuttered, “Suuu… suu… sur... surree…” The bald one was a bit busy staring cross eyed at a spike that was less than an inch away from going up his nose.

“Thank you.” With a slight twitch of the old man’s head, the spikes immediately lit up a golden color… and withdrew back into the ground as though they were returning back to where they had come from. Master Mulfow then nonchalantly walked over to the store door, while the two thugs collapsed on the ground on either side of the door and crawled backwards away from the old man.

While ignoring the scared men, Master Mulfow turned around as he opened the store door and asked, “Coming, Mr. Jaeger?”

Richard stared at the scene a bit dumbfounded while he had his short sword partially drawn out from his inventory. Unfortunately, Meran was the first to speak. “Ooooh... How did you do that?” Richard felt like asking the same question as he walked towards the door while glancing the nervous looking thugs, who were still sitting on the ground… though a decent distance away from the door.

All Richard heard as the old man entered the store was, “With practice…”

Shaking his head somewhat in disbelief, Richard wondered what else the old man had up his sleeves… or even how advanced his ‘Elemental Earth’ spells were. Unfortunately, as Richard walked through the doorway, he decided all those questions would have to wait.

The inside was about what you might have expected from a mom and pop store out in boonies with a clutter of random things hanging or piled up here and there in shelves, wooden bins, and even on small display tables. Signs with what looked like prices stuck up in weird angles from the different ‘things’ that included various skins, furs, bones, metal ores, pieces of armor, weapons, bottles and pouches of ‘stuff’, and god knows what else. Most of the light was from a couple of glassless windows that had daylight spilling through their closed wooden shutters.

Unfortunately, there were two more men inside the store. One looked like another dumb thug, this one with blonde hair and a bearded face. The other person… well… he was a bit on the chubby side and had a double chin and a florid face that Richard immediately identified as belonging to some kind of mid level mafia bum. Unlike the thugs, who were dressed only in a mismatch of leather and linen tunics and pants, the midlevel boss also had a brown and blue coat on, no doubt trying to seem respectable.

Unfortunately, the entire scene inside the store kind of ruined that attempt. The man was holding what looked like a metal/bone club, while there were destroyed displays around him and trashed merchandise covered the store’s floor. The scowl on the boss’s sweaty face made him look like a panting bull dog, but Richard didn’t laugh. Any asshole that was willing to tear up a store in broad daylight without worrying about the consequences deserved at least some careful handling.

Once Meran had slipped into the store with an “Eeep!,” Richard quietly closed the door.

Master Mulfow, who was further inside the store, yelled, “Tolnoy, are you alright?”

The midlevel boss grunted and cursed, “Who in Velis’s dark hell are ya and what da’ ya want?”

At the far end of the store, a muffled voice desperately shouted, “I’m here Arcmaes! Help!”

The boss guy turned around, looking behind himself and yelled, “Shut up, ya dung eater!” Then, facing towards Master Mulfow again, Mr. Bulldog Face snarled, “Get yer ass out of here, ol’ timer! I don’t think ya should be stickin’ yer head into things that don’ concern ya! Mos, get rid of ‘em!”

Master Mulfow sighed and mumbled, “Do these people never learn… yes… yes… it seems I must.”

Richard wondered what the old man was mumbling, just as he saw the blonde haired thug come rushing forward like he wanted to shove the Master Mulfow out of the store. Before Richard could shout out a warning, Master Mulfow’s arm was extended and a ‘Stone Projectile’ shot out, flying faster than Richard could track it.

Richard’s eyes widened as the old man’s ‘Stone Projectile’ literally blasted into the thug’s chest, splattering blood and flesh outwards and throwing the beefy fellow backwards. For a second, it looked like the thug had been shot at close range with a .44 magnum. Richard suddenly had a sinking feeling that shit had just hit the fan, and… Master Mulfow of all people had been the one to start things this time around.

From further in the store, Mr. Bulldog Face shouted, “What the hell! Gods Damn you!” right before his head was encased in what looked like a layer of soil or rock… Richard couldn’t tell in the chaos. Almost immediately, the asshole began stumbling around, running into shelves and knocking over things while clawing at the clump of material encasing his head.

Richard felt his jaw drop again in shock, but he didn’t have time to gawk at the effects of the new ‘Elemental Earth’ spell. He heard angry sounds coming from outside, and he instinctively turned around and shoved Meran out of the way just as the door was flung open!

Richard didn’t even hesitate. His short sword was already extended forward and he was already pulling his hunting dagger out of his inventory, when he saw the first thug try to rush through the door. A quick thought coated the sword with poison even as Richard rammed it into the belly of the bald thug, who bulled his way forward… right into a few feet of steel.

“OHHHFFFGGGHGHGHHHH!” The man’s pitiful gurgle was cut halfway as Richard viciously plunged the hunting dagger into the thug’s neck while staring into the dying man’s scared eyes.

As the thug’s body bowled over Richard tackling him down towards the floor, blood sprayed all over Richard’s face and body, putting a coppery taste in his mouth and almost blinding him. For a second, Richard could only make out muffled yelling as he fell and frantically scrambled to make sense of things.

As Richard hit the hard floor and the first thug’s body slammed down on top of him, he gasped, trying to breathe. Blinking through the blood covering his eyes and face, he was horrified to see the last thug suddenly loom over him, snarling and holding a dagger. Richard had just enough time to choke out “F#$K,” before the last thug’s face was… suddenly sandblasted!

One second, the shaggy haired man was scowling at Richard with his ugly, square jawed face and the next… well… it was pretty much a ruin, like someone had ripped off large parts of his skin, hair, and flesh including parts of his nose, lips, eyelids, ears… Well, you get the idea.

The faceless horror shrieked, “ARRHFFFFFFEEEHHH!” and stepped back out of Richard’s view. Richard, who was staring up in disbelief, flinched from hearing the pain laced scream and desperately pushed at the dead body lying on top of him. With a final heave, it finally slid off, still gushing blood from all its open wounds.

Coughing up the dead man’s blood, Richard rolled over and puked up a mix of red and white vomit, as he tried to breathe normally. He felt numb from everything, and his vision was shaky… but he knew it wasn’t over yet as he still heard the screaming from the mutilated thug. Dragging himself to his feet, Richard saw Master Mulfow and some skinny fellow wrestling with the midboss guy further in store, while Meran was frantically dodging the flailing, faceless thug while screaming, “AHHHHHHHESGONNAAKILLLLLMMMEEE!”

Pulling his halberd out of his inventory without hesitating, Richard lined it up with the faceless thug and shoved it right into the man’s belly… pretty much disemboweling him and leading to another round of gurgling shrieking. Ignoring the gut wrenching sounds, Richard continued shoving the halberd’s tip as hard as he could into the man’s abdomen even as the thug grabbed the weapon’s wooden shaft and shook it desperately trying to get himself free.

It took a dozen seconds for the thug to finally collapse lifelessly on the floor, but those gruesome, dozen seconds embedded themselves forever in Richard’s memory. The sight of the man’s blood, flesh, and entrails spilling out while he screamed and clawed at his bloody, pulped face was a nightmare given life. When it was over, Richard finally let go of his halberd and stumbled backwards almost in a daze before collapsing on his ass on the bloody floor of the store.

While trying to wipe the blood from his face, Richard looked at Meran, who was halfway up a shelf and was hefting some kind of large chunk of ore like he was going to throw it. The halfling’s face was frozen in an expression somewhere between terror and surprise…

Richard stared at the halfling for a bit before grunting out, “Seriously… What is with you and climbing shelves?”

It took some time to… clean things up. Richard was unfortunately stuck with the messy job of hauling the dead bodies to the back room of the store, while Meran dealt with the blood stains using a bucket of water and some rags. Still, they didn’t say ‘pools of blood’ for no reason. Eventually, leaving Meran to finish up, Richard walked over to Master Mulfow, who was sternly talking to his ‘associate,’ who had bruises on his face and arms and was dressed like a old school shopkeeper, wearing a now smudged, white linen shirt and a brown apron over his brown, linen pants.

“Now, Tolnoy, do you see what your foolish involvement with those other thugs has brought you?” The old man’s voice had an angry sound to it that Richard had never heard before.

The ‘associate,’ who seemed to be a skinny, grey haired fellow with a triangular face muttered, “They aren’t thugs, Arcmaes. Fergur and his people keep things peaceful around here. They’re doing what’s needed to keep the council’s goons out and to keep the peace.” Pointing to the midboss fellow, who was lying on the floor glaring nearby in his tied up and gagged state, Tolnoy spat out, “Unlike these bastards. They’ve been comin’ around demandin’ protection money from me and sayin’ it’s that or I’ll be a dead man.”

Master Mulfow sarcastically cut in, “Yes… and unfortunately, I’m now involved in this. So, I do believe you can be happy now.”

Tolnoy muttered, “I didn’t plan on draggin’ you in to this Arcmaes, but I thanked the Gods when I heard your voice.” Flinching as he rubbed his sides, the shopkeeper continued, “I thought they were gonna kill me this time around…”

Richard decided to butt in, not wanting to let the two men drag things out. “So, what can we expect now. Are more of the idiots going to show up? How do we get rid of the bodies? And the neighborhood… there’s no way no one would have heard nothing…”

Tolnoy looked up at Richard, eyes narrowed in annoyance. “An’, who’re you to be asking?”

Richard suddenly felt his left eye twitching in anger. He was covered in blood and gods knew what else, while standing in a store after killing a man in broad daylight to save some moron, who may or may not be involved in something shady… and who was being an ungrateful little shit after having his life saved. “Listen to me you…”

Before Richard could go further, Master Mulfow cut in, “He’s a friend of mine Tolnoy, and he’s right. We have issues that need to be settled.”

Tolnoy scowled at Richard before turning back to Master Mulfow. “Don’t worry Arcmaes. The people around here won’ say anything to anyone that comes snooping, especially about these goons. About the bodies… Fergur an’ and his boys’ll take care of it since they technically owe me… but you’re right about other issues. These dead morons have friends, who may decide to cause some problems later. I’m just going to have to hope Fergur can deal with them…”

Richard wasn’t exactly filled with confidence. This Tolnoy seemed to be depending on some local neighborhood thug named Fergur to deal with everything, and unless Fergur was the ‘God Father,’ Richard doubted three… possibly four dead men could be explained away that easily. In Richard’s experience, that’s how gang wars usually started. He whispered, “Wonderful…”