The Justified Nerves of a New Employer, Eartholme Options

[Will]

Kyvin took a deep breath; his heart was thumping as if he’d run from the Undergate to the Noble Academy on the surface. He felt clammy and sweaty. This was his first time hiring mercenaries. He remembered his supervisor Scyth’s words:

“Mercenaries just want to be pointed at something, given a good excuse to kill it and be back home before it’s too late to collect their pay. This isn’t the Second Age when Mercenaries returned from a job half done and killed their hirer for the pay anyway. You’ll be fine lad, we’re in the Third Age and you work in one of the finest Volksraad Towers in the Empire.”

With that re-assuring thought Kyvin took another deep breath, rolled his shoulders to release the tension in them and strode in as confidently as he could.

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The Mercenaries had seemed somewhat reticent to “kill things” or maybe they didn’t quite get the question. Maybe his joke about wanting to hire mercenaries happy to murder things had just fallen flat. Still, aside from the monumental screw up of forgetting to bring a hiring licence, it seemed things had gone as well as could be expected as he watched them head off to the Spires on their way to investigate the new mine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that day...

“What the Argoth happened!?!” Scyth banged his hand on his desk as he shouted. Kyvin opened his mouth momentarily, and then closed it again as he simultaneously both had nothing to say and realised speaking was not a good idea right now. It had been late afternoon when what had otherwise been mundane day had turned very bad for Kyvin.

First the Blauze healer had returned with a tale of a bloodthirsty murderer amongst the Mercenaries. Then some of them started returning, dead. He had completely misjudged those he had hired. Worse than that he had, along with the hiring Licence, entirely forgotten to consult the Bronze Mirror, the Seer’s Ledger of wanted criminals, before hiring to keep an eye open for outlaws. It seemed likely that some of those must have been wanted criminals.

There had been only one small Mercy, praise The Dragon. Those who had been slain by their fellow mercenaries had insisted on staking out the Volksraad Tower to set a trap for their killers. It would have been a blood bath but fortunately the murderous half of the group had wisely avoided returning to collect their pay.

“You realise that The Governor himself personally sanctioned this hire? This is going to look bad on your next Final Dawn review, Kyvin… Bad, very bad.”