"Captain's" Log, Eighth Entry

Geldris. The Golden City. A nexus of commerce and wealth from all corners of the disc. An arena and stomping ground for the rich and callous, where their lessers always foot the bill.
 
It was a shithole the last time I saw it, and it's a shithole now. Can't say I'm shocked. Gold and blood flow through this city in equal measure.
 
This is a bad place, and everytime I've come here there was always trouble. Suppose I shouldn't have expected this time would be any different, but I'm unfortunately one cursed with optimism. Being a Norn sailor in my former profession, you'd think I'd be used to this city, and a part of me does feel right in my element here, in the alleys and byways, amid the pulse of life in the crowds. But there's always been something that never felt right about this place. At this point, I'd say Geldris and I have a love-hate relationship. When I'm in the moment, I love the excitement and the thrills, but I always end up hating the feeling I'm left with when all's said and done.
 
It seemed like business as usual when we made port. Captain Molniya offered to show us a place in the Copper Hake we could get drinks at, and it was there we found ourselves in the company of a half-triton. Wei, their name is, from the islands that dot the seas off the Geldish coast. I haven't had a chance to ask much more about them yet, but they mentioned helping the Tantsor out of a bind once, and I had a good gut feeling about them. We made a decision to tell them about our business here when we got distracted by a commotion in the market.
 
Some huge beast, biggest chin I've ever seen, was loose amid the stalls, a bunch of fools with spears and chains trying and failing to get a handle on it. Someone had clearly paid an exorbitant amount of money to acquire something they didn't understand and couldn't control, and now it was trying desperately to get away, damaging property and endangering civilians in the process. So, a typical day in Geldris.
 
Being the kind of people we are, we naturally leapt in to do something. It got a bit hectic, but we managed to save some people, though they might be a bit worse for wear after the experience. When the dust cleared, the creature had escaped, and Wei had the captain of the sellswords trying to wrangle it trapped in some kind of magical vines. Knew I had a good feeling about that one.
 
Brave as it was, that stunt angered the guards. Their employer wouldn't be pleased, they said. I wanted to avoid getting into a fight with the powers that be on our first day, but I didn't particularly relish the idea of wasting time trying to bust out of the brig, so I made a decision that seemed wise at the time. It could have gone smoother, but we all got away, at least.
 
Things got complicated after that.
 
We got split up in the escape, but Birb mentioned he had a system with Caeli: meet back where we got into the city. When we got back to the new skyport, the Tantsor was still there, but Sasha was holding the line against some mercenaries with a lion emblem. They were asking about us. In retrospect, it seemed like a very manageable situation, but at the time, all I could think was that the Captain and his crew were in trouble because of us, that we had an obligation to help. The others must've had similar ideas, because we got the drop on them, and...
 
I keep going over those moments in my head, obsessing over what we could've done differently. There were five of them for the five of us, but we probably could've handled twice or thrice that if it came down to it. Three of them are dead now. Three sets of parents robbed of their children. Maybe he was right, when he said I couldn't change. That I wouldn't know how to do anything else, that I'd always have blood on my hands.
 
I can only imagine how the others are feeling. Chuck seemed to approach the situation as a sort of problem they could potentially fix, and it hurt to see them come to terms with the fact things weren't that simple. Caeli seemed more concerned about how Birb was feeling than the situation itself. And Birb himself... he's a better person than me, I think. A stronger person. I hope this doesn't weigh too heavily on him, down the line.
 
We learned from the survivors that our new enemy is a powerful merchant in the Golden Phoenix, name of Taka Akahiro. Didn't appreciate us "stealing merchandise." There are a few more things I can do to that shitbird that he won't appreciate either, when I find him. We retired to the Cutpurse to lay low, talk things over, think about our next move. It helped, I think. It's good to know we're on the same page with Wei about this, and that we've all agreed to be more careful going forward.
 
We were still talking when there was a knock at the door. Someone found out about our little escapade, and an associate of his (Jearston?) was sent to invite us, that we might have a conversation with him, get some help with our little problem. We could use all the help we can get, so we followed him to the next room over. It was that damnable key, I learned later, that lets him take us places, cross vast distances. The locale we found ourselves in appeared to be a smokers' lounge.
 
Fittingly, our new "friend" is called "Mr. Smoke," and if that's his actual name, I'll eat my hat. Apparently, he'd been spying on us since we got here. How to describe him? He's elegant, shady in both the literal and figurative senses of the word, and he really has a thing for the color purple. He's dangerous and powerful. His face is a silhouette, shrouded in shadow even in the stark light of day. I couldn't get a good read on him, and that makes me nervous.
 
Mr. Smoke describes himself as an entrepreneur, because of course he is. His activities have not made him friends among the upper echelons of Geldish society, because of course they haven't. Our new pal Taka is particlarly unhappy with him. He fed us some spiel about how he cared for the people of the city, how our actions marked us as individuals who might be able to help him bloody his rival's nose, rescue Birb's sister, and liberate a bunch of captive creatures, all in one fell swoop.
 
It was all horseshit, of course. Nobody in this city whose gotten as far as he has offers to help out and expects nothing in return, and only a fool would trust a man who hides his face like that. The thing is? The way he talked about helping people, about sticking it to the rich assholes in Geldris, it really resonated with me. It was a familiar, comforting notion, the exact kind of opportunity I've been looking for. Part of me really, really wanted to believe him.
 
Then I remembered who this all reminded me of. The thought of nearly falling into a trap like that again makes me feel more nauseated than the first time I was skysick.
 
I'm lucky my friends had clearer heads than me. Wei and Caeli pressed him until he took us to his "collection," the biggest hoard of magical artifacts I've ever seen in one place, and revealed his actual motive: Akahiro's in possession of a missing gauntlet from a suit of Azutonian armor, and Mr. Smoke wants to complete the set. Our breakout would serve as an ideal distraction while our generous benefactor retrieves it.
 
All that talk, and he wants us to be pawns in his game. Just a glorified pissing match between two rich fucks. Gods preserve us from the whims of the affluent and careless.
 
He's letting us stay in one of his places while we deliberate over his proposal. He says we can leave if we like, but I have my doubts. We're split on how to deal with this.
 
Wei doesn't trust him, and I don't blame them; this guy's bad news. Birb takes that position a step further, says we should reject his help on moral grounds, that it's wrong to get tangled up in this. Chuck, on the other hand, is willing to go along if he can really help us save Birb's sister. Perhaps most perplexingly, Caeli seems the most accepting of the situation, and all the risks that it entails. She's sharp, and I trust her instincts, but damn if I don't have some concerns about her.
 
Maybe I'm too close to this, and my judgment's clouded by my experiences, but I have to go with Caeli and Chuck on this. Doesn't mean I like it. Birb and Wei have got the right idea, but I don't know if we can pull this off without help. I've suggested we talk to Mr. Smoke about handling this bloodlessly over breakfast, to see how he reacts, but I don't know how it'll go. I can't help but fear there'll be blood in the gutters before we're done here.
 
We'll see.