No News is Good News.

1st Malleus, Rowen, 605 AR.

The party was starting to make a home for itself now in Five Fingers. Gaunt was renting a shop from which he could ply his trade. With the patronage of Mr. Kaydor there was a small if steady stream of merchants and lesser nobles coming in to enquire about his goods and service, for he specialised in unique and delicate items of fine craftsmanship, novelties for the rich one might say. The rent was high but he usually made enough to cover it by selling one or two items while repairing others. The shop was on the fourth floor of a largely residential building, the landlady, like all landladies everywhere, was something of a tyrant. Below there was a tailors while the ground floor was occupied by a café, though its food was sometimes questionable. The protection money was paid every month to a gang belonging to Riordan. Though this irked the party there was little thy could do about it, especially if they wished the continued luxury of living.

Aoima began to acquaint herself with more higher class gentlemen and was often seen on the arm of many a wealthy merchant and young lordling eager to be seen with such an educated and wondrous beauty. She also began to spend increasing amounts of time at the Halfmoon Club, rather taken with its owner Nestor, whom she enjoyed polite conversation and occassional flirting with. Viktor who had continued to work as a watchman for various warehouses soon resigned and one day while talking to Vimes in a wine sink saw Tok, greeting his old friend he enquired as to the others of their party, learning that things were going well he followed Tok back to the shop and was once again reacquainted with all his old comrades.

The Druid continued his lectures in the public gardens of the Nobles District and was attracting quite a following amongst the more educated of the area.

Ogrim regularly attended the Cathedral of Morrow to pay visits to his good friend the Cleric who of course was administering to the needy of the city, as well as having to regularly clean and repair the cathedral and churches of the city from regular Thamarite abuse.

Sam Vimes continued to assist the Shankers and apparead in regular street battles, extortion, racketeering and other criminal activities. He impressed Walter so that he was introduced to Walter’s superior, a one Chester Berk. He struck a cord with Chester and was well liked. He had found his place and was enjoying the lifestyle, often drinking and gambling the days away with his gang mates at the Leaky Bucket.

One evening while sitting about the shop, which had acquired a sign out side informing the general public of Guant’s Emporium and a second sign advertising the headquarters of The Reapers Company, the party was drinking and talking after the close of the trading day. There came a knock at the door. Heading over Thalan opened it. There was a gobber there with a set of harnesses and a big white envelope. He asked if they were the Reapers and then finding that they were handed over the letter in return for a silver piece.

The letter informed the party that they were to meet Kaydor the following evening to discuss a rather urgent matter. The party, ever happy to do business with Kaydor and to earn his continued favour and the wealth it might bring decided to attend the meeting. The following day after concluding any outstanding business the party met up at Kaydor’s mansion, weapons were not permitted as per usual. There also seemed to be several more bodyguards walking about the premises than they had previously seen. The reason for this was soon revealed, the party was soon granted entrance to see Kaydor in his office. He was dressed in a very fine eveningwear outfit. It surely must have cost 500 crowns at least. Turning to them having made use of a mirror to do up his bow-tie, Kaydor informed them in a rather angry mood that the needed to slanderous pamphleteers silenced, and silenced in a discrete way. He informed them that these vile jealous and slanderous dogs were muddying his good name with vile rumours of criminal activity and witchcraft. Not only this but thy cast aspersions to his relationship with the Lady Asenath Sacrrow. The Lady was indeed a friend of his and often a business associate, but nothing more, certainly not the filth that these writers were spreading. He promised them 750 crowns apiece to take care of the matter and persuade the authors of these lies to stop. The party discussed it for a little while, there was concern over having to kill them but if they could be intimidated or injured slightly then they were sure that would do. The took the job. Thanking them greatly he told them that his Butler had all the details in a file and that he would see to the matter for now. Bidding them good evening he accompanied them out. Entering from the front door was a woman, tall and raven haired, an image of beauty and refinement clothed in a scandalously low cut, clinging and lkeg revealing purple and black silk dress. This was the Lady Asenath Scarrow whom Kaydor was accompanying to the Opera that night. Greeting the party she proceeded to thank them for helping Mr Kaydor and mentioned that she had heard much about them over the last week or two. She hoped that she too might find some use for their skills in the future. Guant was pleased by this prospect for she was not only attractive but rich and had connections throughout the city. The party then proceeded to help Thalan put his tongue back in his mouth and lift his jaw from the tiled floor where it had been quite happily resting at the sight of Miss Scarrow. His hear beat for joy at here mere presence, he had seen an image of pure beauty and was forever changed. The Butler handed the file over to the party as they left. It turned out that the printers of the pamphlets were located on Crab Beggar Island, a horrible poor rundown seedy little backwater of the city. Thus an ideal place to set up relatively unnoticed for nobody cared about the place and its inbred locals.

The next day having breakfeasted well, and having to listen to Thalan drone on about the wonderful Asenath Scarrow, the party chartered a boat to take them to Crab Beggar Island. The ships owner was surprised by their choice of destination but it was their money and their time so why not. Vikto had required some convinving to take the job on but after being told the people were evil and doing bad things he quickly gave in.

The arrived on the rather dingy and downtrodden island. The locals much resembeld tgheir surroundings., depressed and rather gray. Paying the boatman and telling him to wait for them the party headed into the rats nest of streets and allyes that criss crossed the poorest of the cities islands. The locals responded to a flas of silver and gold and were quick to inform the party as to the location of the printers. They were located in a basement below a small block of apartments. The stairs lead down to a rather well reinforced metal door. This was qucikly dealt with by Ogrim who delivered a few well placed kicks and blows with his mighty shoulder and iron clad boots. Entering the printing works they at first found what appeared to be an office come living area, desks chairs and cots mingled amongst the vast sheaves of paper with hasitly inscribed notes and broadsheet layout plans. Other than that the room was empty. The party proceeded to the next door, lcated to their left. Thalan, Viktor and Ogrim opened the door with a bit of effort and entered the second room, the other began to leaft through the chests and draws in the office. The second room was filled by a large clockwork contraption, no doubt the printing device itself, and all the other assorted paraphanalia. The entered and began to search, quickly noticng two rather cowardly looking printers hiofing in the corner, billy clubs ready to defend themselves. An almighty boom then filld their ears. Jagged pieces of metal smacked into Gesira and Viktor, knocking them forwards. Looking behinf them they saw that the third printer had hidden on a ledge above the door and hand unloaded a blunderbuss into them, fortunately their greatcoats saved them form any real harm except a few bruises and scratches. Thalan in his hurry fired and missed while Viktor swung up his warhammer ctahcing the fellow in the leg and bringing him to ground level. A few kicks later and he was out of it. The other two printer spurred on by their friend's actions launched at the party but were quickly sundued. Ogrim, Tok and Gaunt quickly got to work on dismantling the press, searching for any useful parts. Thalan continued his investigations into their files. Unbeknonst to them Vikto had taken the blunderbus man outside into the office. Having regained conciousness he bit Viktors leg and made a break for the door. Viktor was fatser and caved in the mans skull, ending his journalistic career. Proceeding to the press room where the others were bound he used mekanics torch to heat up the head of his warhammer, convinently emblazoned with a Menofix. He them proceeded to brand the nefarious types, much to the dismay of the others party members.

Having concluded their work the party left the back up the stairs, where they met an old lady, carrying an umbrella, none felt inclined to tangle with the crone who proceeded to give them a verbal bashing on all the noise they were making. They got back in their boat and returned to the nicer parts of th city. The following day they went to see Mr Kaydor who paid them accordingly, and promised them more work in the future.

Getting to Know the Neighbours

2nd Gorim, Cinten, 605 AR.

The party had a meeting at 2.00pm to go and see Mr. Sebastian Kaydor, entrepeneur, philanthropist, patron of the arts and general alround swell guy. Dressing in their realtive best they all set out for the meeting. Kaydor possessed a large and impressive red brick house on Captians Island, it had a fence of wrought iron and a small garden out front. Knocking on the door the party was recieved by Kaydor's butler who having enquired to their business let them in and told them to wait in the foyer until Mr Kaydor was ready to receive them. Weapons were not permitted so they had to leave the at the door, the Butler assured them that they would be quite safe. There they sat for a good half hour until finally yhey were admitted to Kaydor's study after he had finished conducting some business with a group of Hooga merchants. They had noticed apart from the usual servants that one would expect to fins in a house of this size, that there were also a number of heavily ste and well armed gentlemen, no doubt bodyguards.

Kaydor welcomed them into his nicely furnished office. It was large with big bay windows, bookshelves lined the walls as did painting, several of Kaydor himself. Greeting them he inquired to how thery were finding life in Five Fingers. The idle chit chat continued and finally they got down to business. Kaydor needed some help reaquiring certain goods that had been taken from him, or rather that were ntio being returned to him. He had provided the money for various Jack parts that had been imported itno the city for a friend. This friend had then gone bankrupt and Kaydor as a creditor wished the Jack parts returned. However the problem came when the wharehouse owner refused to let the good be removed utnil all the paperwork had been completed and that he go word from his superiors. Thjis was unacceptable to Kaydo who had even recieved soem abuse from the foreman and his cronies when he tried to claim the goods earlier. He wanted the party to aquire the parts for him, for which he would pay 500 gold pieces, provide a small shop for Gaunt aswell as spread the name of the Reapers and attempt to send some business Gaunts way. Finding this acceptable the party quickly concluded business with Kaydor and went on their way to inform the others.

Viktor in the meantime was enjoying his new job acting as a nightwatchman for wharehouses. The pay was better than the last place and he was helping to prevent crime. His boss came over to him and informed him that they had had some trouble as of late and were expecting more. Gangs working for Captian Riordan were expected to make a raid on some of these wharehouses, they being run byt Captain Hurley, thus more men would be drafted in.

Vimes was doing well with his new freinds. He had had a few encounters with some gangs working for Riordan, there had been a couple of street fights in which he had shot dead a man and injurred several others. Walter came over and informed him that Riordan was causing trouble and that they expected a hit on some properties of Hurley's, he was to go over to some wharehouses in Dockgrav and keep an eye on them lest trouble break out. Over he went and bumped into his friend Viktor who was also emplyed there. They the nbegan to catch up on what had happened over the last few days, Sam also invited him back to the Bucket for a few drinks, which Viktor readily accepted.

Aoima the Elf to was looking for employment, searchin about she soon found an establishmen in the Emerald Distric of the city. A certain establishment belonging to a Madame Lafette, a club for gentlemen to unwind and relax. It was called The Lamp House. Being an elf Lafette was sure that Aoima could make a fair amount of money for a certain market. Thus she was provided with a room and baord at the hpuse. It was a nice if simple room, a large bed and dressing table, chairs and wardrobes. The hosue itself was large, pwerhaops with 20 or so other women and a few heavies and barstaff. Though of all her neighbours it was the tall darkhaired woman that caught Aoima eyes, she intimidated and frightened many of the others, even the heavies out front didn't like her too mcuh. She was tall, dark haired with aquiline features and often dressed in black and red silk dresses wwhic hwere often figure hugging and lowcut. A beauty if a frightening one. Asking others about her she discovered that she was called Melise and had come from Cygnar some months ago and catred to gentlemen and some women with a more special and exotic taste.
Exploring the Emerald dsitric Aoima soon bumpedinto an Elf in the street who had just caught a pickpocket attempting to relive him of his brudensome gold. He introduced him self as Nestor Vyleth and he was delighted to make her aquaintance. He informed her that he was the propietor of The Half Moon Club, a bar designed for the small elven communtiy in the city and he hoped that she would visit sometime. She promised she would.

Tok, industrious as ever, decided to put his skills to use, he gathered large quantities of water in barrels and had them transported over to Bellow Island. Here he would help to quench the thirst of the labourers in the steel mills and foundries. The air was thick with acrid smoke and the smell of sulphur. This bothered him not one jot. Hours passed and despite hi very cheap rates for a mug of the clear pure liquid he did not receive many customers. Eventually a site foreman came over and spoke to the gobber. “Tell me have you been in Five Finger long?” he said. “No” replied Tok, “Ah I thought so,” said the foreman. He then proceed e to explain that though water was indeed in short supply in the city and something of a delicacy designed only for the wealthier of society, that there was vast quantities of cheap and readily available beer. Thus he would not get far with his current plan. The foreman purchased a mug from the gobber and went about his business. Tok decided to and his current venture and went to see Aoima.

Tok found Aoima talking to Sam Vimes, who being a member of a Hurley gang was perusing the Emerald district in safety. They decided to had off to the Half Moon Club. The club itself was located in a small back street just off the edge of the Emerald district. Abovw the reinforced steel door hung a moon with, Laris to be precise. Aoima knocked on the door and it opened slightly, a doorman, an Iosian elf , looked the figures up and down, only Aoima was allowed to enter, this club was only for the elves of the city. Vimes was fine with this but not Tok. Whilst the doorman w busy talking to Aoima, Tok moved through the gap and entered the club. Quickly followed by Aoima. The club was a modest affair several tables and upholstered booths set out around a room with a large bar at one end, behind which Nestor stood. Sitting about the room were a dozen or so elves, two Nyss were talking in hushed whispers in the corner and shot venomous glances to Aoima. Tok marched on and up to the bar in the hopes of ordering some sort of beverage. Shocked by this he was grabbed and dragged out of the establishment and threatened with death is she return uninvited. This left Aoima to talk with Nestor. She quickly learnt the lay of the city and who was who after a few drinks. Thanking him she left and returned to her companions. Having concluded business with the club they went upon their way. Aoima back to her new home at the Lamp House. Vimes returned to his gang and Tok to his friends at their shared apartment.

Gaunt, Thalan, Tok, Thrawcheld, the Kossite, the Druid, the Fellcaller and Ogrim sat about in the apartment discussing their plans for the retrieval work Kaydor has set them. They decided it was bets to go scope the place out first. This they did. Heading out across the city they soon arrived at the warehouse. It was a simple affair, one large warehouse with a 10ft stone wall around with a gate, guarded by hirelings. Tok and Thrawcheld were up and over the walsl while the others circled the perimeter. Quickly and stealthily the two cased the joint. It had various windows all high up on the walls and only one large door at the front. Guards patrolled regularly and there were various other inside the building itself. The two had managed to gain access to the site office and thumbed through the records to locate the particular merchandise. They also managed to ‘lose’ said invoices for the items the needed. The problem was how to get it out and away, for there was only one exit to the warehouse and its compound. Returning to the others the party headed off to the nearest tavern to discuss what to do next. It was decided a distraction was needed, this would be provided by the Druid. Tok informed them that there were several piled of old crates nand tarpaulins located on the far side of the compound if these could be set afire then it could buy them sometime Also he could create some fog and hide their activities. Thalan also was thinking he could use some of his sorcerers abilities top create some distracting noises out font to deal with the guards. The druid could then create a hole in the stone wall with his abilities over nature, through which they could move the goods. All they needed was a place to hide the items for a few days until things cooled down. Tok and Thalan thus went out and began to look for such a place. After several hours of searching they discovered an entrance near an old sewer culvert which they could store the Jack parts in. It was dark and went down for some way. Though there was evidence it was infested with rats (this was not a problem for Tok it was much like a buffet) nothing else appeared to live there, though they dare not venture too far down having hear the tales of monsters and fiends that inhabited such places in the city. The plan decided they waited for the cover of the following evening.

Vimes and Viktor were informed by their respective employers to turn up at the said warehouse, the target no less of their comrades. They were informed that a hit was imminent and that they were to stop all thieves, killing them id necessary. Thus they arrived early at the warehouse and began to guard it.

The rest of the party arrived later that evening and put their plan into action. The Druid caused the stone of the wall to part to form a doorway big enough for the others to get through. Ogrim was left on one side to help carry the items away quickly to the culvert which was only a few hundred years north. Some planks of wood which had been left nearby were leant against the wall so as to cover the doorway from the inside. The Druid then proceeded to the front of the compound. Thalan had used his powers to create ghostly noised a little way down the road and some of the guards had gone to investigate. The Druid approached and surreptitiously began to create some fog in the compound. Soon the compound and street were full of thick fog. Needless to say the guards were some what suspicious. Vimes and Viktor especially so. Patrols were increased. The Druid then moved on to the far side of the compound, and the door he had created there, He passed through and summoned fire with in the piles of crates. He then summoned fire again this time on the roof of the warehouse itself, only at the back as far away from the desire goods as possible. Panic erupted as guards ran about in attempts to extinguish the blazes. This was exacerbated by the Druid who simply created more. Within the confusion and the fog the party set out into the warehouse to retrieve the items. Through some good luck and excellent bluffing the party managed to repeatedly sneak by the guard unawares. Viktor once spied them but couldn’t quite make them out. Vimes too was oblivious to their presence. Feeling rather light fingered they helped themselves to a few more crates before leaving. All the items were stored in their hiding place and the party left to return a few days hence. The hole in the wall was resealed.

Though warehouse was set aflame not much was lost and thing quietened down again. Nothing was noted missing and the matter was left to accident. Vimes and Viktor went on their way having done a nights work. The others returned to their loot a few days later. The parts were all there and these they delivered to Mr Kaydor as promised who was most delighted. He provided them with a small shop on Chasers Isle as well as the 500gp owed. Having been impressed with their work he assured them that he would have other jobs for them in the future. The other items they stole turned out to be a dozen bottles of fine Caspian Wine. These they largely sold but a few were kept for their own enjoyment in a small celebration in their new shop.