To Rebuild a Mageocracy

Eleven

^^ Zaya the Death Knight ^^

— Arcata, Dungeon District —

The Thieves' Guild was often misunderstood to be an organization that flourished on exclusively stealing things. Of course that was not true, because no organization could possibly subsist itself purely upon stealing. A steady, stable, safe method of sale for stolen goods was required, clients willing to hire Rogues were required, connections with the governing forces of the region were required, and an infrastructure woven of all of these things together made up the support structure of the Guild, acting as the safety net for Rogues around the world. The Guild was an international organization, with no one leader, but rather a collection of Tier Seven Rogues and Dark Merchants that shared profits and losses to ensure the continuation of the Guild, and made decisions for the forward growth of the Guild, such as when to crush competitors, and whether to absorb them into the fold. That being said, the decision to take over Arcata's underground and choke out the Order of Mana's resources was around fifty years in the running, and a sudden alteration of that situation, via a World Message and whispers of a Dungeon Merchant's Guild, was enough to make the old Rogues and Dark Merchants move like snakes, swiftly moving to strike the new Champion of Muradin before she caused more chaos than she was worth.

Zaya, a Tier Six Mage/Rogue titled 'Death Knight' for her necrotic magic and combat capabilities, watched from the rooftops across the street as her subordinate, Aric, an Ink Creeper Rogue, ran into the Tavern that was the source of all this trouble. His response to her order had been emotionless and calm, as always, agreeing to kill his target within the hour, but she'd been suspicious of his movements already; she'd sent their crew to control the area the day before and received no progress report afterwards, besides whispers that he'd been defeated by a Tier One Champion, which she didn't believe at all. Now she watched his panic as he gathered his family and rushed them into the building, and sighed softly in disappointment. "He was such a good Rogue... very dependable, even though he was only Tier Five, managed to hold a whole district all on his own, never failed to send us our cut... such a shame."

"Should I kill him?" One of her subordinates, a small and skinny girl with long black braids, spoke a simple truth: Betrayal was met with death.

The Death Knight shook her head slowly. "No... let's see what happens. If he truly switched sides, the fact that she beat him might be true... or if our luck is shit, maybe Anitra the Storm is still alive, and this was all a Ruse? Would you like to fight the Storm Mage on your own?"

None of the four Rogues on the rooftop seemed eager to tangle with one of the most feared Tier Six Champions on the Continent, and the idea that she was still alive was a sobering thought.

"I thought not. So we'll wait and see." She nodded and settled down on the edge of the roof, watching the tavern below carefully.

Around an hour of waiting later, a stream of people poured out of the building, running apparently for their lives, because as soon as the last one was out, the entire building crumbled into itself, turning into a ball of what looked like clay before shooting upwards into a loose humanoid shape, slowly but surely shaping itself into a visage of Muradin.

The Rogues, frozen in place in shock, stared at the manifestation of a Deity upon the face of Nonith for the first time in at least three centuries, and most of them quickly lost interest in dealing with this issue on their own. Now was the time to run. Then, their skills activated, calming them, and their brains started to notice details of what was clearly a Statue, not a real Deity; the visible silver double doors at the center of the statue/manikin's feet being the most obvious, but the fact that the Mages Robe was still slowly moving as if in a gentle breeze was deeply unsettling.