Dreamer's Throne

Completely calm, despite the intensity of the cook’s glare, Garrett continued to speak as if he’d never been interrupted, his voice just barely loud enough for the closest gang members to hear him.

“I’m not sure about fresh goods—that is, meat, fruit, and vegetables—but I know where there are four sealed warehouses of staples. Flour, rice, oil, that sort of thing.”

“And? I know where the food warehouses are as well. Along with the guards watching them. If we so much as look at them, we’ll find our inn swarming with guards. Just knowing where the food is won’t help us,” Vester said with a dismissive wave.

Pushing back his chair with a screech, he had already half risen when Garrett’s words caused him to freeze in place.

“No guards. The warehouses are sealed, but no one knows what’s in them apart from maybe a dozen people. All of those people are much too busy dealing with the chaos in the palace to worry about them, though that will change shortly. We have a window of around three days if we want to do something about this, maybe less.”

Slowly sitting back down, Vester stared at Garrett, trying to make him flinch, but he was met with the same calm look the young man had carried since he first entered the great room. Without understanding why, the cook found himself shaken, and his gaze was the first to drop. Playing with his now-empty glass, he shot a glare at Garrett.

“You expect me to believe there are a couple warehouses filled with food just sitting there, waiting for us to come pick them up?”

“No. They’re waiting for the crown prince to distribute them as relief supplies to the slums. Unfortunately, that’s never going to happen. Given the situation in this city, they’ll either be seized by the army, traded to the nobles for support, or stolen by merchants for resale. Unless, of course, we step in first and help them achieve their original purpose.”

With a start, Ryn realized that at some point during the conversation, nearly all the gang members in the great room had come closer to them, crowding around to listen to Garrett’s quiet voice. Tugging on Garrett’s arm, she saw his reassuring smile and was able to relax slightly. Looking around at the large audience that had gathered, Garrett was about to continue his explanation when Vester interrupted him again.

“Listen, if you know about these goods, I’m sure others will too. There are probably a dozen people already eating them. Unless there are a few dozen guards, there’s no reason why the goods are still there.”

“Like I said, anyone know about them is too busy to bother with them at the moment,” Garrett said, smiling. “Ryn, would you mind fetching my paper and quill?”

“O… of course!”

Dashing out of the room, Ryn was soon back, a few pieces of paper and Garrett’s pen clutched in her arms. Thanking her with a nod, Garrett took the paper and began to draw a simple map. His education in the palace had included extensive history about Insomnium, giving him a clear grasp of the city’s layout. Sitting on the edge of a large swamp that lay southeast, the city had thick forests to the north, with high mountains beyond them and plains to the west and south. A large river that flowed down from the snowcaps carried water through the city’s center, splitting it in half. The western side of the city held the palace, the noble’s mansions, and most of the high-end merchants, along with the city’s main garrison.

Historically, most of the threats to the city-state came from either the plains, in the form of enemy armies that wanted to take over the city, or from the monsters that occasionally followed the flowing river down from the mountains to try and kill their way into the city, leading to most of the city’s military might being focused along the northern and western walls on the west side of the river. On the other side of the river, stretching to the east, was where the adventurers lived and worked, and where most of the city’s goods were manufactured.

Under Garrett’s pen, the map quickly took shape, forming a reasonable sketch of the city. Filling in the city’s slums, which were to the south of the nobles’ districts and separated by a thick wall, Garrett finished up and blew gently on the ink to dry it. All the gang members were craning their necks to see what it was he was drawing, but there were too many people for everyone to get a good look, so the crowd kept tightening around them until Vester, Ryn, and Garrett were hemmed in on all sides. Flipping the map around so it faced the cook, Garrett tapped on a spot along the eastern river bank.

“This is approximately where we are, correct?”

“Yeah, roughly.”

“There are a series of warehouses right here, where the eastern bank docks start. The four warehouses are there.”

Staring down at the place where Garrett’s other finger rested, Vester’s eyes bulged out and he nearly spit out the mouthful of wine he’d just taken. Choking, he wiped his lips and shook his head at Garrett.

“Are you insane? That’s well outside our territory. Do you know who controls that section of the docks? If we so much as walked by there, we’d get chopped up into little pieces and fed to the swamp.”

His eyebrows rising, Garrett looked around at the gang members, nearly all of whom were having the same reaction as the cook’s. A slight furrowing of his forehead was the only sign that his emotions were shifting, but it was gone as soon as it happened, leaving the watching gang members wondering if they had imagined it. Shaking his head, Garrett pulled the map back to his side of the table.

“Excuse me. I had assumed Ghoul’s Tooth was a big enough gang to deal with this sort of thing. If I was mistaken, pretend I said nothing.”

The murmurs surrounding the table instantly halted, and the entire room froze as every eye turned toward Garrett, but the young man continued to speak as if he hadn’t noticed the change, or the growing animosity.

“I recognize the territory is outside your normal sphere of influence, but I thought the prize would be big enough for you to be interested. It seems I didn’t properly grasp the limit of your ambition.”

“And what limit is that?” Henrick’s voice echoed from the hall, shattering the frozen air in the room.

Falling back with a sense of panic, the crowd made way for Henrick and the two lieutenants who walked up to the table. Grabbing the map, Henrick looked at it with narrowed eyes, occasionally shooting little glances at Garrett, who just waited quietly. Realizing Garrett wasn’t going to answer his question, Henrick frowned and shook the paper.

“What is this about?”

“He wants us to go into Swamp Shark’s territory and steal four warehouses full of goods!”

Worried the situation was about to slip out of control when Henrick’s expression began to darken, Garrett wracked his brain for the right way to move forward.

“Technically that’s correct,” Garrett admitted, “but that doesn’t present the full context. There are four warehouses among those in the eastern bank docks that should be both full of food and untouched. I’d estimate that we have a two-day window to get to them before the military comes down and seizes them or an enterprising merchant decides to resell them.”

Listening to Garrett explain the situation once again, Henrick stroked his mustache, clearly thinking through the idea. The current state of the city made goods like this worth their weight in gold, and no matter how dangerous it might be, he couldn’t help but be tempted. However, he hadn’t climbed to his position by being foolhardy, and as Garrett finished explaining he asked his first question.

“How do you know that they’re untouched?”

“I don’t, I just know they were untouched before my accident.”

“It’s been a full week since then. If they’re really unguarded like you said, chances are they’ve been all snatched up,” Henrick said with a disappointed sigh.

“They haven’t been opened,” Ryn said, her voice so quiet that Garrett nearly missed it.

When everyone at the table looked at her, she flashed a small smile, keeping her trembling hands hidden in her pockets as she pretended to be confident in the face of their scrutiny.

“Garrett had me go and check. I was able to get a look in one of the top windows and check most of the doors. Those warehouses are packed with large pallets and all of the doors are locked and sealed. Even the windows are sealed. Not even a mouse could get in there.”

“Ryn is correct,” Garrett said, nodding his head. “The buildings bear a seal that most people, especially in this part of town, would never consider violating.”

“Wait, you mean…”

Trailing off, Henrick’s eyes came alive at the possibility as he realized what Garrett was saying. Across the table from him, Garrett could see the greed starting to grow on the innkeeper’s face and he knew he’d achieved his goal. Lowering his voice, he spoke with a guarded expression, further reinforcing the idea running through Henrick’s head.

“You’re correct, sir. The same one who was ordering the business I talked to you about before was in charge of this as well. No one in their right mind would touch goods with that seal.”

“Unless they knew what we know,” Henrick said quickly, cutting Garrett off before he could spill the secret. “Let’s do it! Gorn, bring Master Garrett along, we have some planning to do.”

Awe was clear in the gazes that rested on Garrett as the gang members watched Gorn pick him up and carry him back to the office. The fact that he’d been able to remain entirely calm in front of their boss was part of it, but hearing the way Henrick referred to him was what really sealed the deal.

For the rest of the day and into the next the inn buzzed with low-key activity. Most of the gang members stayed in the general area, not really doing anything, just waiting to see if they would be called up, but a few of them were sent out one after the other. Occasionally they would hurry back to report something to Henrick, who was in the office, and then another person would be sent out. As the plan came together, Henrick even sent Ryn out to lead a group to visit the warehouses, sneaking through the back alleyways into the Swamp Shark territory.

This continued until dusk, when two dozen members of the gang gathered together for a brief meeting. After getting their orders, they split into small groups and left the inn, heading in different directions. Finally, after night had fallen, Gorn and Henrick gathered a few of their men and got ready for the operation, with Obe staying behind to hold down the fort. In his room, Garrett listened to Ryn’s report, his mind whirling.

She was sitting on her chair, one leg tucked under her, chewing on a piece of dried meat as she recounted her experiences. Waving the jerky in the air, she gave a dismissive snort.

“I showed them the best approach, but most of them wouldn’t know how to sneak if they were invisible.”

“Thank you, Ryn. Impressive work. From here on, it’s in their hands,” Garrett said, sighing. “Let’s hope they’re successful. I’m going to meditate for a while and then head to bed. It’s been a long day.”

“Yeah, it has,” Ryn agreed. “But exciting. I don’t know why, but it's times like this that I feel alive. I just wish they would have let me come along. Anyway, some of the guys are playing cards, so I’m going to go see if I can get a hand.”

Waving to her as she jumped up and strode out of the room, Garrett quickly sank into the Dream, hoping he wasn’t too late. A quick scan with Observe the Dream showed him that Henrick and Gorn were just about to leave the inn, so Garrett walked out of the room into the hallway. Tiny traces of fog had crept back into the hallway, but as he activated Dreamer’s Cloak and walked down the hall, they vanished again. Paying no attention to the Dream Flower that had appeared at the entrance to the great room, Garrett didn’t notice that another flower had grown on one of the tendrils that stretched into the great room.

He was shielded from the Drudge Wraiths that darted around the room thanks to Dreamer’s Cloak and arrived at the inn’s front door without a challenge, stopping only when he saw the thick fog outside. He could see the shadowy figures of Henrick and Gorn, along with the faint shapes of the men they were with walking down the street right outside the inn, and taking a deep breath he plunged into the fog after them, his senses straining to catch even the smallest threat.

You have discovered a new location: the Streets. You have gained 1 EXP.

EXP: 3/40

Waving away the window, Garrett padded along behind his targets, his eyes constantly sweeping the foggy streets. He hadn’t been outside the inn since he’d woken up, but the city he remembered from his life in the palace and among the noble houses was nothing like what he was now seeing. Faint buildings loomed in the fog, sitting like chunks of towering stone along the cobblestone road. Everywhere he looked, he saw the ever-present fog tangling with shadows that seemed both inert and alive at the same time. Occasionally as he passed by an alleyway Garrett would hear a sound, but he resolutely ignored them, focusing on the men in front of him.

Garrett was slowly coming to understand more about the Dream and the way it interacted with the real world, and the more he understood, the more confident he was in his choice to follow them out of the inn. His terrifying experience when he’d first entered the Dream had caused him to hesitate, but he knew that without risk, there was no real gain, and now that he had a chance to firmly establish himself in the Ghoul’s Tooth gang, he couldn’t pass it up.

Passing by a faint figure he could barely see, Garrett turned left, following Gorn and Henrick from a distance. He could see the innkeeper’s bright soul spark shining through the fog, but what gave him the most confidence in following them was the shining flower he could see sprouting from Gorn. Continuing to follow them, Garrett had nearly caught up when a faint movement from ahead of them caused him to freeze. Drifting out of an alleyway was a dark shadow in a hooded robe.

You have observed a Whispering Wraith, a nightmare that attaches itself to strong humans and feeds their vices with malicious whispers. You have gained 1 EXP.

EXP: 4/40

His breath catching in his throat, Garrett prayed that his Dreamer’s Cloak ability would shield him, because there was nowhere to hide. Sticking close to Gorn, he watched the robed figure carefully for any sign of aggression but was relieved to see that, far from approaching, it seemed hesitant to get close. There was a faint glimmer under its robe, and as Garrett looked closer he realized that the Whispering Wraith’s robe was wrapped around an Awakened human, partially cloaking their soul spark.

As Gorn and Henrick continued forward, the three flowers that had bloomed from Gorn began to wave their petals, as if finding something exciting. The Whispering Wraith’s reaction was anything but as it shrank back, nearly folding into itself. A shiver appeared in the air around the wraith as its head dipped, and with a look at Gorn and Henrick the Awakened quickly retreated into the alleyway to clear the way for them, leaving Garrett staring in astonishment.