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Post by Zeno on Jun 7, 2013 9:31:24 GMT -5
Gokoro caught the pouch and immediately opened it, counting the contents to make sure he had gotten the right amount. Counting five platinum coins, he nodded and slipped the pouch into a buttoned pocket in his sleeve. Now that he had been paid, he turned and headed back toward the stairs.
Before he ascended the stairs, however, he stopped and turned his head ever-so-slightly to the side to glance at Chameleon. "Your name was... Chameleon, right? Since it'd be a hassle if things went sour, I'll give you a warning right from the start... I don't usually have partners, because if they piss me off, I tend to just snap and kill them, so..." Gokoro turned his head fully to stare hard at Chameleon. "...don't tick me off on this job..."
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Post by deadsent on Jun 7, 2013 9:35:44 GMT -5
Chameleon smiled under his hood and pushed it back, "Mr. Gokoro," Chameleon's face shifted and warped until it matched Gokoro's perfectly, "You won't even know I'm there."
With that he changed his face back to the plain one and put his hood back up. Gesturing for Blanc and Noir to go first he began to ascend the stairs until they reached the surface. The two women opened the doorway and bowed to each side of it.
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Post by Zeno on Jun 7, 2013 9:40:34 GMT -5
Gokoro watched as Chameleon transformed into himself, narrowing his face. So... that was why he didn't recognize him from any bounty posters... The guy could've been anyone... However... "I can already tell you are going to get on my nerves..." Gokoro muttered as he followed the shapeshifter and the two girls up the stairs, out into the alleyway where they had entered.
"Like I said, I've had dealings with the Eastern Pirates in the past, so there is the off-chance that I am known to them. Although I'm not known to take partners very often, it has happened before. You could change your face to some rough-looking fighter, and we'll get into their base under the guise of looking for possible bounties that they may be offering."
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Post by deadsent on Jun 7, 2013 9:48:02 GMT -5
Chameleon turned and began to walk down the alley to a place where they could leave without being noticed, "That sounds like as good a plan as any. But once we're in what do we do? We can't exactly go slaughtering our way through the halls. Well, I'm sure you could but I'm not of a mind to turn this mission into a blood bath just yet."
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Post by Zeno on Jun 7, 2013 9:53:21 GMT -5
"As much as I would love to just go in and smash the foundations of the building and crush everyone inside it, our assignment is to find evidence. So, once we're inside, we look for evidence. You look pretty stealthy, so I'm sure you'll be able to kill our escort quietly without a problem. Men like this are very confident in their power, and they don't believe someone unwanted can find them. Having someone escort their visitors is purely to guide them, not to make sure they don't cause trouble."
As they left the alley, Gokoro gestured for Chameleon to lead the way. "Once we're inside, you kill the escort, and once we've hidden the body, we'll be able to move around freely. If someone asks us who we are and why we're there, we will simply tell them that we are there to help the boss by killing some of his enemies."
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Post by deadsent on Jun 7, 2013 10:09:33 GMT -5
Chameleon nodded and took off at a brisk walk towards the slums hoping it would be so simple.
The slums were a long distance from the market and very close to the local warehouses and other such things that the "civilized" members of society didn't want near them. Broken paths and winding paths among the filth and refuse of the city. Chameleon strode with silent purpose looking for one building in particular. His head moved left to right beneath his hood until finally he found it. An old broken down, even by the low standards of the area, hovel, "This is it, the entrance."
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Post by Zeno on Jun 7, 2013 10:19:54 GMT -5
Gokoro followed Chameleon, seeing as the shapeshifter seemed to have some idea where they were going. Gokoro had been in the slums often, since that was where the bounties tended to hide, but he had never gone to find an underground gang of drug dealers. Soon enough, they reached the place, which didn't look like much at all. Chameleon announced that it was the entrance, and Gokoro nodded, walking toward it.
"Change your appearance," he told the shapeshifter as he stepped up to the door and knocked on it, almost hard enough to knock the door off its hinges. Rushed footsteps were heard inside, and then a voice asked, "Who's there?"
"Gokoro and my new partner," Gokoro growled softly. "We are bounty hunters looking for bounties. Captain Morrigan of the Eastern Pirate Court informed us that we could find work here..."
There was silence from inside, and then the door opened, revealing two men who could be nothing but criminals. If they decided to disguise the base as a rundown hovel, the guards should at least dress like homeless bums... One of the two, a snot-nosed punk with many piercings, looked from Gokoro to Chameleon. Then, he slowly nodded and gestured for them to come inside.
"Head down here," the punk said, walking over to a trap door in a corner of the hovel, which had only a table with a bottle of Dwarven whiskey on it, and two chairs. He opened it up, revealing a long staircase leading down to a door. "Melric will lead you to the boss," he muttered, jutting his thumb in the direction of the other punk, who had about as many scars on his face as the first punk had piercings.
Melric gestured for them to follow, and then headed down the stairs. Gokoro nodded to Chameleon, and then followed.
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Post by deadsent on Jun 7, 2013 10:39:14 GMT -5
Chameleon took the order and gave his face a few more scars and made it sharper and more brutish. It was a temporary guise, only having to get him by the doorman. Once inside he followed Gokoro down a trap door and to meet with a heavily scarred man named Melric. As they descended the stairs Chameleon kept a constant eye out for side rooms or any other place where he could hide a body. Finally he found one, they passed a room full of barrels that smelled of ale. Checking around making sure there were no witnesses he slid up behind Melric, dagger in hand.
Like lightning he clamped his hand over his mouth and buried the dagger into the base of his neck, quick, silent and efficient. Catching the corpse as it fell he dragged it into the side room, "Close the door and find an empty barrel while I strip him down."
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Post by Zeno on Jun 7, 2013 10:44:55 GMT -5
Impressive... Gokoro didn't say it out loud, since he wasn't the type to give praise for something so simple, but Chameleon showed that he was very experienced with these things by the ease and grace with which he dispatched Melric, dragging him into a room full of barrels.
Gokoro closed the door and started looking for an empty barrel. Some were obviously full, but for the ones that looked empty, Gokoro rapped his knuckles against them to see how much ale they contained. Finally, he found a barrel that was only about one sixth full. He picked it up and carried it over to Chameleon, setting it down.
"By the way, for the duration of our stay in this base, your new name will be Crow. There is a bounty hunter, who usually does work for the Eastern Pirates, who goes by that name. You kind of look like him right now, so it might work."
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Post by deadsent on Jun 7, 2013 10:53:02 GMT -5
Chameleon stripped off all of Melric's clothes and began to change into them, storing his old stuff away. Taking a moment he looked over Melric with great care in order to perfectly take his form. Taking a deep breath he began to shift and change every part of his body until he finally looked exactly like his victim, "I'm good with that. Though now it would seem I'm Melric. Now lets get this guy nice and tucked away and put the barrel as out of the way as possible. I don't want him getting found while we're here."
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Post by Zeno on Jun 7, 2013 10:57:54 GMT -5
Gokoro smirked as Chameleon took Melric's appearance. This was even better, he supposed. Giving a scoff of amusement, he walked over to the near-nude Melric, grabbing him by the back of the neck and lifting him up. He carried him over to the barrel and opened it, before dumping the corpse head-first into the barrel, tilting his head when he saw that he didn't fit. Even if Gokoro had tucked in his legs, his upper body was too long for the barrel.
Grunting in frustration, Gokoro pulled the corpse out of the barrel again, grabbed him by the neck and the hip, and then bent him backward, snapping his spine in half and neatly folding his body and legs, before stuffing him into the barrel again, and putting the lid back on it. Then, he picked up the barrel and stashed it in the back, behind several other barrels.
"Let's go," he told Chameleon as he left the room. "I suppose it would be best if you lead the way, as you're supposed to be an employee."
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Post by deadsent on Jun 7, 2013 11:07:21 GMT -5
Chameleon watched as Gokoro broke the real Melric's spine to make him fit, it was a brutal but effective method. Leaving the room Chameleon began to head down the hall towards where, he hoped, the boss's office was located. His hope proved right, the boss's office was at the end of the hall and to the right passed a few more closed doors and about a dozen more punks. The door was open so he stepped forward into the room, "Boss, there's a man named Gokoro here to see you. Says Captain Morrigan of The Eastern Pirate Court sent him to us for work."
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Post by Zeno on Jun 7, 2013 11:20:05 GMT -5
Heh, shapeshifters were something. They were not only able to take on another's appearance, but it seemed their entire body, organs and everything, changed as well, given how his vocal chords seemed to have changed to match Melric's voice. Or so Gokoro assumed, since he hadn't actually heard Melric say anything.
The boss was sitting at... well, Gokoro supposed it could be called a desk, though it looked more like a simple table. There were some pieces of parchment here and there, but there was mostly just alcoholic beverages littering the table. He looked from Chameleon to Gokoro, his eyes narrowing.
"Gokoro?" he asked grumpily. "I've heard of you. You've killed quite a few of my associates."
"Your associates should have avoided getting bounties on their heads," Gokoro said, narrowing his eyes. "Don't be mistaken, I do not work for the Eastern Pirates or you out of a misplaced sense of loyalty. Money is all that matters to me. The only reason I haven't destroyed this place is because I haven't seen a bounty poster with your name on it, and I have been told that you have some enemies with a price on their heads."
"Heh, brutally honest, eh?" the boss asked, rising from his chair. He walked over to a drawer in the back of the room and opened it as Gokoro approached the table, looking over the parchments on the desk. While the boss grumbled to himself, rummaging through the drawer, Gokoro picked up one of the parchments, looking it over. It was a letter, apparently, from a Captain Ironhide, who would be delivering a shipment of 'Happy Blues' in three days at the harbor.
Gokoro rolled up the parchment and held it behind his back, wiggling at Chameleon as the boss turned back to him, walking over with a stack of pictures in his hand, which he held out to Gokoro, who took them. "These are all people I need gone. The bounties are written on the back of each picture."
"Understood," Gokoro said with a nod.
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Post by deadsent on Jun 7, 2013 12:44:13 GMT -5
Chameleon took the letter and slipped it into his pocket. Bowing while the boss was talking he turned and left. Once he was clear of the boss's room he took out the letter and quickly read it. A delivery at the harbor. This was a great find, but a terrifying one as well. If they could get the drugs into the harbor and past customs then they had someone on the inside. They'd have to get in there to see how far up this went though.
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Post by Zeno on Jun 7, 2013 13:00:00 GMT -5
"Well then," Gokoro said, pocketing the pictures. Since this guy wanted them dead, there were probably others who wanted them dead, too, so he'd keep the bountry posters for future use. "I'll come back as soon as I grab one of them," he said as he turned and walked toward the door. He knew the chances of him ever coming back were very small, but he still felt a need to act as he always did, stopping at the door and glaring at the boss over his shoulder. "And if you try to cheat me... I'll kill you."
With that, he left the office as the boss opened his mouth to respond. As Gokoro closed the door behind him, he walked over to Chameleon, staring hard at him. "No doubt, they have people in the customs office, and in the city's military, who have all been paid to turn a blind eye to things. It's like I always say: Money is the only thing that matters in this world."
Gokoro hummed, his eyes closing in thought. "Our second objectives were to find out their connections in this city, destroy the shipment, and sabotage relations between the Plague Guard and the Eastern Pirates..." He was well aware that he was talking about this in the middle of their base, but he was talking so low that he was completely certain that no one could hear him. Hell, he wasn't even sure if Chameleon could hear him.
"Let's move," he ordered gruffly as he made his way back to the stairs.
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