[Vladimir/Triple Bounty members] Stepping out from the Shadows

[Linwelin]

This RP is following the events of the "Triple Bounty" mission, and thus only those on this mission can participate.

With the recently acquired bounties from his last mission, and because he is the only registered bounty hunter among the group of captors, Vladimir was given the chance to make use of a persona he'd constructed decades ago in the city of in Heldenburg: 'Shade', the bounty hunter known for his capturing and shadow-stalking abilities. It had been years since he'd last actively submitted a bounty under this alias, but today would be a much larger haul than his usual petty thieves. The bounties were the duo Roadhog and Junkrat. Though both of them were certainly worth more than their current bounty compared to their skill, a 500 gold total bounty was nothing to scoff at.

Vladimir turned to address the group, "When we do find the local Hunters Guild hub, let me take the lead. This is one area that I have a decent amount of influence. I can prevent things from going...poorly. You see, with the Guild of Galas'nor being predominant in Ternadan, a lot of the Hunters Guild's work instead goes directly to us, leaving local hunters with little renown. So Galas'nor isn't exactly a well-received presence."

After a bit of asking around, the group managed to find the Hunters Guild hub in Ternadan. It was a small operation, with some scattered tables in the main room for client and hunter discussion. The front desk was similarly simple, with a single staff member, an old man, resting on his elbow in boredom. In fact, the guild members' entry into the hub seemed the most exciting event of the day. The man at the counter looked up, a little bit of a spiteful tone in his speech. "Well, what an honor. What can I do for the illustrious Guild of Galas'nor?" It seems that your arrival wasn't what surprised them, but who you represented. just as Vladimir had warned, your Guild emblems gave rise to some unrest.

Vladimir spoke up first, ignoring the spite. "We captured someone for interrogation, but found out he and his partner had bounties on their heads. We'd like to claim that reward." He motions to Maeve to bring Junkrat forward with Roadhog's mask, being the 'Keeper of the Cell', so to speak. Quite a find, that portable hole.

The man spat into a spittoon at his feet, still leveling a hard gaze at the group. "Well, since you folk aren't part of our establishment, you'll need pay the necessary fee. It's a 20% cut for outside hunters using our claim and transport system."

This was the first Vladimir had heard of a 'transport system', but he'd bring that up in a moment. First he had to right the man's assumption. "What makes you think we aren't rightful hunters?" The rogue says as he takes a small, silver badge faceted with a sapphire from his pocket and slides it across the table. "It's been a while, but I'm still active." The man's eyes showed surprise as he looked over the the piece. His eyes held surprise as he looked back to Vladimir.

"It's real. Though I haven't seen a badge of this design in a very long time. It's been around 20 years since we changed the style of our badges." His gaze turns suspicious, seeing that Vladimir is hardly above 40. "That would make you a pretty young starter to reach a Silver-Sapphire rank at that point in time. What's your alias?" The man's voice was now more accusatory than taken aback, and the small number of hunters in the building had now gone silent to watch the spectacle.

Vladimir smirks at the man, happy to have a veteran before him, "I go by Shade. Silver-Sapphire rank. I'm here to claim the duo Roadhog and Junkrat." The announcement was followed by murmurs around the group and another shocked look from the man at the desk.

[Ella]

Maeve Gallagher

"Galas'nor does not seem to be a well-received presence in many places." Maeve commented, recalling a few times before when people had rejected her help or said hurtful things to her just because they had noticed the guild emblem on her. If the guild had not been so full of interesting people, she would have left it after hearing so much ill-will towards it. Surely, the issues others had with the guild were the cause of individual members rather than the entire guild itself. She would do her best to rid the guild of its bad name and hopefully do something about those who were giving it the bad name it had.

Before entering the bounty hunter's guild hub, Maeve had found a spot hidden from public view to pull out her newly obtained portable hole and pull out their prisoner. She did not desire others to know of what she carried. Such a device was dangerous in the wrong hands, and how Junkrat and Roadhog had gotten their hands on it made her worry. If others knew she had it, they may try to steal it from her. And so, she pulled out the bound and gagged Junkrat, refolded the hole and slipped it back into her pouch, and pushed the man out of the dark alley and towards her guild mates.

When Vladimyar motioned for her to bring the prisoner forward, she did, poking the man's back with one of the daggers she carried. As Vladimyar had requested they let him handle everything here, she did so. She kept her eyes on the the two as their conversation unfolded.

The tigress eyed her white-haired companion when the man at the desk said how long it had been since the particular badge Vladimyar produced had last been seen. If her guess at his age were correct, it would mean he was still only a teenager when he reached whatever level this silver-sapphire rank was. She was assuming that it was not something one obtained in a mere year or two, which meant that man had either been trained as a bounty hunter from a young age or he was older than he looked. Or he was lying and the badge was not actually his. A feeling of disappointment swept over her, but she chose to keep silent and continue listening on.

[Linwelin]

"Shade!? HA! And I'm a Korinthian counsel member!" There are a few chuckles throughout the room at the man's retort. "That man's been out of the business for decades, and he's based in Heldenburg. He never took a bounty outside that region in the years he was a hunter, and that region is on the opposite end of Korinthia from here. You're full of it."

Vladimir had been expecting some backlash, but to deny this heavily was a surprise. While the old man recounted his reason for disbelief, the rogue turned to Maeve as she brought in their marks. "Thank you, Maeve. Keep an eye on him for a bit longer, I hadn't expected this much denial." Vladimir smiles at the tigress with gratitude before turning back. He noticed the concern and wariness in her eyes. Being a newer member of the guild, that she was hearing that not everyone loves our work would be a bit upsetting. It was certainly understandable.

Vladimir rummaged through his pack for a moment, producing a tome for the man. "And who's to say that, in these decades, I've not changed my location? This is the collection of all my claimed marks, signed by both myself and the guild in recognition." Vladimir leans in with both hands on the desk, one sliding forward the posters of Junkrat and Roadhog. "I would appreciate it if I could add these to the list now."

As the old man turned the pages, he was slowly in awe. "This is legitimate...it's as though I'm looking at a small bit of bounty guild history. Save for a few for advancement, none of these bounties are impressive, all small time crooks at 50 gold or less. But there're over a hundred of them here, all spanning years" The man then looked at the posters Vladimir slid forward, with the same alias signature marking the bottom left corner. "I eat my own words, you're him. I must say, these two marks are quite the step up, Shade. It's a nice way to return to the business." He takes the posters and stamps them accordingly, then returns Vladimir's effects. "It'll still be 10 gold for transport. Portal usage doesn't come cheap."

Vladimir was relieved, but now confused again at the mention of transport and portals. The man saw his confusion, and recognized he was talking to an older member. "Ah, of course, you weren't part of the guild during that change. The bounty hunting guild has become a regulated organization. Since we were working so closely with guards and prisons, we've come to an agreement with local government. They've contracted wizards specializing in transportation to the small hubs like this, whose job is to teleport captured marks directly to the closest main establishment of the guild. In this case, our portal in the back will be sending Junkrat here directly to Ceren, the capital." The man looked around a moment in sudden realization. "Where's Roadhog?"

Vladimir listened in wonder at how much the small guild he'd taken part in for money had grown. To actually have such a sponsorship and network set up was amazing. But at the mention of Roadhog, Vladimir grew a bit sheepish. and looked back toward Maeve, "Mind explaining what happened? He wasn't in my view at the time."

[Ella]

Maeve Gallagher

"Seeing that he was losing, he decided to try to kill us all by suicide. This is all that was left of him after the explosion." As she spoke, the tigress pulled Roadhog's mask out of her bag with her free hand and held it out for the man to inspect. She poked Junkrat in the back with her dagger. "At least, it was either suicide or this one killed him in hopes of killing the rest of us." If that was how it was, this man truly was a terrible person. Killing his own partner in order to escape or get the whole prize to himself was an unforgivable act.

[Linwelin]

"Noting that, the posters didn't really do these two justice. This little guy here is a trap and explosives fanatic, and the other one was extremely hardy. He could take the duress of three men and still stand fighting. It was a strange encounter, to say the least." Vladimir continued Maeve's explanation. "They weren't foes we could go easy on for capture's sake, and one ended up dying. Luckily the notice was 'dead of alive'." The rogue slid forward 10 gold pieces and pulled back his writ collection. "Now how about we finalize this exchange?"

"Ah! Right, yes. Well." The man was a little sheepish in his response, regretting questioning Vladimir's credibility. He took out a stamp from a drawer beside him, inked it, and confidently pressed it to the bottom right corners of both posters. "There ya go. Just bring them to the vault in the back, and you'll be paid appropriately. You can hand off Junkrat to the guards on the way back, they'll prepare his transport. As for the helm, we don't have use for it, feel free to keep it as a trophy, or toss it." He then extends his hand. "Welcome back, Shade."

Vladimir clasps his hand, "Thank you. Ah, I haven't gotten your name yet. I imagine I'll be back in the near future."

The old man laughed, "I s'pose you will! The name's Sam." He does a single, firm shake before they both withdraw their hands. "I must say, it's a shame you folk are with Galas'nor. Competing with business makes it hard to stay friendly, I admit."

"Is that the only reason?" Vladimir asked, a little surprised. "The way you spoke, I figured there was bad blood."

"Nope." He says bluntly, "We're just competitive folk. Though how much of the business you all have taken is definitely noticeable. Both those ogres, for instance. Both Silver rank bounties that folk around here would have loved to cash in on."

Vladimir thinks for a moment. "Well then how about this. Similar to me, allow Galas'nor members to register in the Bounty Hunter's Guild. I'm sure there're a few that would be interested. In return, we'll check our hunting missions with the Bounty Hunter's Guild to see if there is any overlap, and will process the rewards through you; we'll also hang bounty notifications in out guild on a separate board for visibility. We can iron out the details another time, but I believe the proposal is a solid one, as it will give the Guild of Galas'nor an easier way to turn in bounties, and give the Bounty Hunting Guild more renown. I'll have to discuss this with the Galas'nor seniors, first, of course." Vladimir turns back to Maeve. "Do you think that sounds fair?"

[Ella]

Maeve Gallagher

Maeve was not entirely sure what Vladimyar was suggesting between the guild would mean for the future. The only thing she could see wrong with it would be possibly having to pay extra fees by having to process rewards for bounties that were posted in Galas'nor through the Hunter's Guild. Galas'nor would most likely still require fees be paid for completing whatever missions were posted on their boards. How else would they be able to maintain upkeep of the guild? Still, smoothing out issues between the different guilds was a great idea, and if it helped the guild gain more respect, it would be worth it. She nodded her affirmation of Vladimyar's idea sounding fair. She could bring up the fee issue with him later so that when he brought it up with the guild seniors, they could iron out the issue.

[Linwelin]

Sam nods in approval, "If we have that sort of relationship, the Hunters Guild will also supply our entire bounty list, instead of just the few that your guild sees from people seeking help or revenge. I do like this idea. In fact, the lady beside you is also welcome to join now. She does not need to take the trial, along with anyone else that hunted these two with you, What are the shares that you two will have? Sam smiles back at the both of them, happy with this turn of events.

Vladimir thinks for a moment before responding. "125 gold, since there were four of us."

Sam grins, "Excellent! That would drop the lady here right into the second copper rank. What do you say, miss? Interested in joining?"

[Ella]

Maeve Gallagher

Hmm... Taking up bounty hunting. It could be fun. After all, such criminals should be taken off the streets and out of the woods. It could give her something to do on the side when doing guild missions or even when guild missions were slow in coming, assuming the Hunters Guild's missions did not slow at the same time. But honestly, her brawling career had gotten a little boring. Not many newcomers that could keep up with her came in very often and she had learned the fighting styles of the regulars. And with it giving her another excuse to get out of town more often, maybe she would even end up replacing brawling tournaments with bounty hunts.

"I think I'd like to give it a try." She finally replied after thinking it over for a few moments. "What are the rules and regulations?" Since it seemed Vladimyar hadn't been active in the bounty hunting community recently and didn't know about some of their changes, Maeve figured now would be a good time to ask, both for herself to learn more and for Vladimyar to find out if other changes were implemented since his hiatus.

[Linwelin]

Sam grins at Maeve's response, "Then give a try you will. Good, good, good. And the rules're pretty blunt. We're all brothers and sisters in here, and at times greedy ones. But despite that, no sniping marks, and definitely no killing one another. Credit goes where it's due, and as we've contact to official wizards, we can get to the truth of a dispute over a turn-in. Stealing someone's mark is cause for permanent expulsion." The man gives Maeve a stern look, pausing to make sure that statement was fully understood, simple as it was. "Second, you cannot do anything that goes against the benefit and good reputation of the Hunters Guild. Mostly this just means acting civil among the Korinthian authorities and rulers. Don't go breaking laws and making us look bad. We only have our stability due to governmental support, and if they stop backing us, we'll be small time again. Not to mention the loss of work for members."

At this rule, every hunter present shared a serious look, reminded once again of how important this statute is. They looked ready to jump at and suppress anyone who disagreed with the notion of protecting the guild's face. That slight aggression was mostly aimed at the Galas'nor group, as the reputation of some guild members preceded them. Vladimir, as a member already, was not pressured, but Maeve in the rest could tell they were still being sized up for which kind of Galas'nor member they were.

"Lastly, no exploiting any clients you may have. Excessive, unwarranted intimidation of clients will lead to expulsion as well. Other than that, there really aren't many severe restrictions. At least, you couldn't possibly break any other rule without first being warned. We don't take dues, nor do we take a cut of the bounties if you're a member. We're funded as though we were a Korinthian government facility, so there's no reason to take from your earnings. Any questions? Sam continues to stand there expectantly, and you can somewhat see from his expression that he feels he may have left out information outside the basics that you might want to know. It's a subtle expression, but it's there.

[Linwelin]

"I think that just about sums it up. Though if we can think of anything, we'll swing by and ask. I'll go talk with the Guild administrators that are present, and they'll contact you about drafting up a contract with all the details. Looking forward to it, Sam." Vladimir says with a sincere smile, offering his hand to Sam, which the other firmly grasps.

"Aye, it's great to have ya back, Shade. We'll see ya around!"

Vladimir leads the group out, having Junkrat passed over to the guards for transport.

I'll be posting the Hunters Guild info in the Custom Content tab once it's all gathered together.

Expect a bounty board to be posted soon, where people can select their targets for short investigation/capture scenarios.