Chapter Three-Hundred Sixty-Seven

Teemo does his best to not snort at Tupul’s resolve.  “The boss and I like your spirit, Tupul, but don’t go pledging to the cause without knowing what we’re asking.”  The elf still looks pretty firm in wanting to try, which is his prerogative.  I just wanted to make sure he’s been warned.

The group slips into the shortcut and soon arrives in the secret war room, which has a lot fewer amenities than the public one.  Most of the intel I gather is for sharing, but sometimes a secret meeting like this is needed.  Still, there’s plenty of chairs for people to sit at, so soon all sets of eyes are on my Voice.

“Alrighty… so, Tupul.  We want you to be a triple agent.  The thieves asked you to get info on the Hold.  We want you to get us info on the guild, which means feeding them what they want so you can get into a position to get us what we want.  That’ll mean you acting like you’re embracing the guild, instead of only reluctantly doing what they say.”

Tupul’s face sours, earning him a chuckle from Teemo.  “That’s why I said to wait to hear what we wanted, heh.  We have a couple secrets to try to filter to them that might get their attention, but it’s up to you if you want to do it.”

The eyes turn to Tupul, who looks too lost in thought to realize he’s the center of attention.  After a minute, he slowly speaks, still deep in thought.  “...How would I climb the ranks?  The only info getting to the guild from the Hold is by dead drops, and I don’t know where they’re dropping.  Bernuth is handling that for my group, and if I gave him any information, he’d take all the credit.”

Teemo smoothly answers.  “He’ll get fired, then you step up into his place, both as your cover, and as the informant.  He can’t stick around to accept the information from your group, as it’d be suspicious for him to stick around, and might risk their entire operation.”

Tupul looks especially uncomfortable as he replies.  “How will I replace him?  I’m not very strong…”

This time, Teemo smiles wide and gestures at the others gathered.  “They’re going to help.  With them by your side, you’ll probably be the highest leveled person in your group by the end of the week.”

Even Lucas and Fiona nod eagerly at the idea of helping him grow, and I can see Tupul’s resolve firm once more.  “Ok.  I’ll do it.”

“Great!  We’ve got a couple tidbits to gamble with, but I think our best bet will be in making them think you have the ear of the mayor, though that’ll come after you climb the guild’s ladder a bit.  They’re still interested in the Hold, yeah?”

Tupul grimaces.  “I mean, yeah, but they’re also getting interested in… in you, I guess.  Bernuth and the others were unhappy about the latest orders out of the guild, to start joining adventuring parties and watching you closer.”

“Yeah?” asks Teemo, his smile widening.  “Then I think this’ll be even smoother!  They should know you’re friends with Freddie and Rhonda, two of our earliest delvers.  You’d be perfectly positioned to go on delves and keep both of your covers, as a hauler and for the guild.  Hauler Tupul is getting dragged along by his friends, guild Tupul is gathering information on the Boss.  You’ll need to feed them little lies about Boss, but he’ll be acting the same around the other thieves, so they shouldn’t notice anything different.”

Tupul looks confused, so Teemo continues.  “Them and the Earl all think the Boss is an idiot, an innocent little dungeon who doesn’t know how the world works, and we’re going to try to keep it that way.  So you feed them the info we want, you gain some levels, and once your boss gets fired, you step up.  Then, not long after, you get to feed them the Mayor’s secret and really get their attention.”

“That’s the step that I don’t get,” admits Tupul.  “How do I go from delving to meeting and making friends with the Mayor?”

Teemo smirks and glances at Larrez.  “I think you already have, you just don’t know it yet.”  Tupul follows Teemo’s gaze.

“...I thought the Mayor was a high elf?”

Larrez snorts and smiles.  “I am.  Miller has been teaching me how to disguise myself.  I’ve been working and developing my disguise as Larrez for a while now.”

“Lar… oh.  That seems… kinda obvious?”

Rezlar shrugs.  “Yet you didn’t put it together until we told you.  Olander not only keeps his name, but carries around a glaive, and people almost never figure out who he actually is, either.  It’s easier to believe a coincidence than to think some noble is chatting with you, right?”

“I… guess…?” Tupul admits.

“Anyway, once they think you’re in with him, we’ll have the excuse for you to be able to feed them a modified version of the plans for the Hold.  If all that doesn’t get you read into whatever their plan is, nothing will.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

Teemo shrugs.  “Probably drive them out more directly and rely on our friends to undermine whatever consequences the Earl tries to leverage.  I bet the word of the Crown Inspector will carry more weight with the ODA than the Earl’s, and if we raid the thieves guild, we’ll have plenty of evidence to lock them up.”

“Then why not just do that now?” insists Tupul.

“Because it has a large chance of getting messy and the Boss wouldn’t be able to do much to stop it.  With the way things are playing out at the moment, it still has a chance of getting messy, but in ways we can handle.  This way, we can get leverage without having to break anything.  Trust me on this one, Tupul.  More than just as his Voice but as his Herald.  The Boss knows how delicately change needs to happen to not just cause chaos.

“Though on the subject of change, have you given much thought about how you’re going to fight?  There’s the classic daggers, but it looks like you’re borrowing things right now.”

The elf sheepishly nods.  “Yeah, I… I’m not sure how I want to actually fight… or even if I want to actually fight.”

The idea of him still figuring out his class has me thinking, especially with him agreeing to be our triple agent.  There’s a certain flavor of the rogue archetype that I think might be right up his alley.  Teemo picks up on my musing, and gives Tupul a considering look.

“How do you feel about sneaking?”

Tupul shrugs.  “I haven’t had a lot of practice with it,” he admits.

“Try to do some and see how you like it.  Boss has a really odd concept that you might like, that blends both the sneakiness of rogue stuff with the desire to have a more mundane life.  It won’t be a new base class, I guess, but I’d bet you can advance into it without any trouble, once the time comes.”

Tupul looks confused yet intrigued at the idea, which I think is a good sign.  That’s pretty much all I have to talk with them about, so Teemo gets them through a shortcut to Voilet while I poke at the idea of a ninja, and how to help Tupul become one.

Sneakiness is paramount, definitely.  If he doesn’t like sneaking, I don’t think it’ll work.  I think there’s a good chance he’ll like it, though.  He’s generally not a fan of attention, which is the first step, really.

Weapons are going to be the next big determining factor.  Historically, I’m pretty sure they were peasants, which is why the weird weapons.  They couldn’t just go to the smith and get a sword, even if they somehow had the money, so they had to improvise a lot.  The hook and weighted chain are cool, but I feel like you’d need metal affinity to really leverage something like that.  Farming implements are a pretty common choice, too.  I wouldn’t be surprised if a butcher’s cleaver would work as well, but I honestly don’t know.

There’s also the classic throwing weapons.  From the kunai daggers to the classy throwing star, there’s a lot of ninja ranged options.  He could even take a page out of my book and learn to use the compound bows.  I’m pretty sure a ninja peasant would use a normal shortbow or something, but if he wants archery, why go halfway?

Claw weapons are an option, and I could even try my not-hands at designing something like the assassin’s blade.  Probably a bit gimmicky, but if I integrate them into some archer bracers, it’d mean he’d always have a weapon handy.  Or he could learn unarmed fighting.  Rocky would probably like to teach him, though I dunno how well a ninja would take to boxing.  Onyx’s style sounds more like it though, and I’d be shocked if a ninja doesn’t come with shadow affinity.

I doodle and take notes for how to make a ninja as the group delves, having my own fun as they have theirs.  The hardest part is in narrowing down the idea to a single class.  There’s so many ideas baked into a ninja, thanks to pop culture, that it’s difficult to narrow down.  Believe it.