His paws slapped against the cobbled street in a hurried pace as Skrakch passed by plenty of startled faces without stopping. The Ratling raced towards Kristoff’s warehouse, cursing loudly with every step.

He forcibly shoved his way through the bustling crowds, pushing aside men, women and children alike. All of them looked at him as though he were some demented fool, muttering to himself, his fur bedraggled, as he ran.

Half of the curses were aimed at the torrential downpouring of rain, but the other half were reserved for “that idiot Halfling prick.”

Thankfully, it wasn’t a long jog from Kuosh’s food stall, but even the short dash had the Ratling panting from the exertion when he finally reached the alchemical laboratory.

With the falling rain warping his vision, Skrakch likened the building to a slumbering beast, surrounded by the abandoned or destroyed buildings of its leftover meals.

‘But that might be the hypothermia talking.’

Making his way to the warehouse's back entrance, Skrakch yanked the wooden door open with all his might, and tried to ignore the wave of mud and filth that splashed over his ankles.

“Gods Below damn you, Zacha-!” The Ratling started to yell as he stepped into the fairly cramped space Zach had claimed as his ‘office’ before wrenching his head backwards.

As a flash of steel crossed by where his nose had just been, Skrakch turned his anger-filled glare at the throwing knife that was wedged into the warehouse’s door.

“Right back at you, Squeakers, you’re lucky I’m still a bit tipsy or that would have gone clean through your left eye!” Zach retorted, lowering his outstretched arm that had held the knife.

The Halfling was lying sprawled out on one of the four cots he’d managed to fit into the admittedly cramped space. Despite that, Zach somehow still managed to look like he was as comfortable as a newborn babe. Maybe it was something to do with the silken sheets he’d insisted upon to match the plump goose down pillow.

It didn’t hurt that Zacharias was the only one of the companions that had actually changed his outfit recently, the Halfling wearing a bright purple shirt with an open collar that displayed his mess of chest hair.

Combined with his scar covered face, the thief looked like a crossbred of a noble fop and a hardened criminal…

‘Which is oddly fitting for the prick.’ Skrakch thought to himself as his eyes wandered over the office space.

More curiously, Skrakch noted that Meekknuckle and Winifred were in the midst of sweeping up the mess they’d made of the place, Meek sweeping up glass and Winifred tidying up the leftover splinters of Zach’s desk. The diminutive Goblin was whistling tunelessly to himself as he hefted the broom to and fro.

And while Meekknuckle had the decency to look up at Skrakch’s entrance, Winnie seemed more focused on figuring out how to hold her broom one-handedly than in stepping in to help.

“Are you shitting me?” Skrakch practically hissed the words as the Ratling slammed the door shut behind him, glaring at Zacharias even as a puddle formed underneath his feet. “Did you really just try and kill me, you useless bloody prick!?”

Zacharias let out a groan and placed his free arm over his eyes before responding. “Come on mate, if I wanted you dead, you wouldn’t be standing there to shriek at me, eh? Just a little bit of a laugh, innit? You take shit too personally.”

“Prick! Moron! OAF!” Skrakch yelled, before shaking loose a spray of water from his fur, much to the annoyance of Meekknuckle, as the Goblin took the brunt of the spray.

“Why Rat Man yelling this time?” Meekknuckle asked, seemingly happy to have an excuse to stop his sweeping. “You louder than usual, too!”

“I’m with them,” Winifred added on, tossing her broom to the side with a dismissive grunt, all while still eyeing the pile of splinters at her feet. “It’s been a little over an hour since we last saw ye, how’d ye get a burr stuck up yer arse in such a short time, Skrakch?”

Shooting a glare towards his companions, Skrakch let out an angry laugh. “Ah, of course. -I’m- the one being dramatic, not this foolish idiot. Clearly.”

Skrakch waved one of his hands towards Zacharias, and finished in a calmer tone. “You’re right Winifred, you’re right. I shouldn’t be yelling at Zacharias, all he did was take the Purene Ruby for himself, cutting us all out of the profits. But you’re right, that’s not worth getting angry over, right? After all, we all know just how much you adored wearing that ball gown!”

Winifred finally looked over at that, the brunette scoffing audibly. “Are ye serious, Skrakch?. Even Zach is nae that stupid.” She finished, eyeing Zacharias as the Halfling fixed a beaming smile at her. “…Tell me yer nae that stupid, Zach…”

Letting out a yawn, the Halfling in question didn’t bother standing up from his cot, instead propping himself upwards on one elbow as he faced the others.

“Of course I didn’t go behind your back and sell the Ruby, lads!” The thief confirmed with a smile, before continuing. “I’ve just decided it’s better not to sell it at all.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

Zacharias lifted his free hand, and with a roll of his wrist, plucked the artifact in-question from thin air and held it out towards them, the blood red Ruby practically glowing in his palm. “Kuosh couldn’t shift the damn thing anyways, and I’ve come to realize it’s not like I need the gold anyways.”

Skrakch let out a snarl at that, pointing a claw towards Zacharias. “Then you ask us first, you don’t just go stealing from us all, you-“

“Please Squeakers, you barely even helped on this one.” Zacharias laughed, as another twist of his wrist had the Ruby disappearing from sight. “And since when do you care about gold coins? Last time I checked, you tended to just steal anything you wanted to buy.”

“Aye, and what about me?” Winifred cut in, her tone dangerously low as she glared at Zacharias, taking a step towards the Halfling. “I’m the one who did the legwork on that heist, I’m the one who got us in the door. Without me, you lot would nae even have dreamed of stealing something that valuable.” She tried to clamp her arms across her chest, realized her mistake and settled for glaring at the Halfling with narrowed eyes.

Finally deigning to sit upright on his cot, Zacharias gave a quick nod.

“You’re right about one thing there, Winnie. Before that night, I wouldn’t have had the stones to risk it all. Hells, even afterwards I let myself get distracted by the idea of a pretty little pile of gold coins.”

“Dinnae forget that you did nae seem tae mind cosyin’ up tae that rich bastard,” Winifred pointed out with a gleeful smirk.

Zacharias snapped his head around to glare at her. He still visibly bristled if anyone dared to bring up what had happened in the nobleman’s bedroom.

“But I already have more gold than I know what to do with,” Zach spat the words out as he rose to his feet and walked up to Winifred, even as he craned his head back to stare the Chosen brawler in her eyes. “And you know what? Turns out gold has a limit, because there’s always a bigger fish. But if we -use- the damned Artefact, maybe that won’t always be true, eh?”

Winifred scoffed audibly, glaring back at Zacharias for all she was worth. “That may be true of you, Wee Man, but that Purene Ruby is just another payday tae me. I already have all the power I need, and if ye dinnae back down I’ll be happy tae show it tae ye! One arm or no I can still take ye down without so much as breakin’ a sweat!”

As Winifred and Zacharias stared each other down, Skrakch watched from where he was leaning against the door with a frown on his face.

‘As painful as this is to admit,’ Skrakch mused as he rubbed his chin in thought, ‘Zach has a pretty good point.’

‘It doesn’t take a genius to know that the amount of cheap flasks and potions we’re churning out here would be making an absolute killing.’

“So…” Skrakch drawled out the word, a smirk crossing his face as Winifred and Zacharias refused to look away from one another. “I’m seeing one obvious way to fix this issue!”

“What?” Both of the idiots snapped back at the Ratling.

“Zach doesn’t need the gold, so why don’t we let him pay each of us off. Since we’re such good pals, we can even offer him a discount rate!”

“Are you serious?” Zacharias countered, shooting a glare towards Skrakch. “You don’t even need the gold, you little-“

Cutting off the Halfling before he could get started, Skrakch pushed off the wooden door and walked over to Zacharias to drop a damp arm over Zach’s shoulder.

“Sure, I don’t -need- the gold, that’s why it’ll only cost you… Well, what’s a priceless artifact worth, split four ways?”

Slapping Skrakch’s arm away, Zacharias returned to his cot with a thump. “Sod off, you and Meekknuckle barely did anything. Plus, the Goblin doesn’t need gold anyways.”

Still glaring intensely at Zacharias, Winifred let out a small grunt. “That’s true, so I’ll agree tae the Wee Man under three conditions… Firstly, I get a thousand gold coins from yer pockets, today.” She said, holding up one finger.

“Secondly,” she continued, holding up another finger, “ye have tae treat Meekknuckle tae whatever he sees and wants for one year,”

The Halfling sat in thought for a moment before shrugging, “Easy enough, how much can a dried up piece of snot want anyways? He’ll cost me less than a hundred coins in a year, mate.” He replied, waving a dismissive hand in Meekknuckle’s direction.

“…And thirdly, we all get a use of the artifact before ye take it all for yerself” Winifred finished as she held up a final finger. “And before ye start yer grousin’, I think I’m being more than fair. There’s folk in this shitehole that’d have ye hangin’ from the city walls fer goin’ behind our backs like that,”

“Wait, how would that work?” Skrakch interjected, as he tilted his head in interest. “I thought the Purene Ruby was something that could only be used by one person.”

“Nae, or at least that’s nae what the rumors were.” Winifred shrugged as she made her way to the only remaining chair in the room. “Supposedly the last owner was paranoid of losing the damn thing, to the point he did nae let anyone even look at it.” She flipped the chair around with her one arm and sat down on it backwards.

“We’re nae talkin’ about yer regular artifact here remember. This thing’s different. If what people say is true, the last owner’s son was sneakin’ around on the sly, usin’ it fer his own gain outside of Daddy’s knowledge. It’s all hearsay I’ll grant ye that, but what matters is, we can use the thing ourselves… maybe?” Winifred finished, though without much confidence. “If yer askin’ me, it’s worth a shot. What else have I got tae really lose?”

As the Rogues fell into an uncomfortable silence as they each stared at Zacharias, the Halfling seemed unperturbed as he thought over the proposition.

“Fine, fine.” Zacharias eventually agreed, bringing out the Purene Ruby with a flick of his wrist. “But either the snot ball or Squeakers has to use it first.” He added, nodding at the Goblin and Ratling in turn.

Skrakch and Meekknuckle both perked up at that, shooting each other a glance.

“But why Meek first?” Meekknuckle asked, finally finishing up his sweeping now that everyone had settled down. “Small man never think Meek worth much… why he say Meek get first go?”

“Isn’t it obvious ya little wart?” Zacharias laughed. “If it turns out the artifact does attune to its user, you two are easier to get rid of!”