A Risky Proposition

Author: UO Team

It took him a minute to spot her in the crowded tavern, but as soon as he did it brought a smile to his face, and he joined her at the table. “Hey…looks like you got here a bit faster. I could only get anything useful out of a few…and even that wasn’t too much since most weren’t interested in talking at all. It seems that no boats departed from Papua at all, and nobody should’ve been able to utilize the Serpent’s Pillar at the time we came across the wreck. I’ve also heard word that it’s not the first unexplained wreck…there’s apparently droves of them in places where a ship was never even sighted. Unfortunately, we can’t find any information on the inhabitants…and the one I saved still isn’t awake.” Running his fingers through his hair, Isaiah exhaled exasperatedly. “How did your search turn out?”

Isabelle smiled over to her fiancee, and took a drink from her mug of ale. “Well, apparently a pretty face can win out over a rugged sailor’s brusque manner!” She gave him a wink, her tone teasing and playful. “Some of the crews who pulled in salvage ships are talking all about it, and it looks like a lot of them are loaded with goods…clearly stolen items, and they suspect they are pirate vessels. But the more important thing…nobody can find where the items were stolen from. None of our ships that went missing have those items listed on their manifests.” Isabelle frowned as she noticed the look of intense concentration on Isaiah’s face. “Hey, are you listening? I thought it was important…”
Isaiah had been enthralled by Isabelle’s story at first, but something else caught his attention…he gave her a meaningful look, and said softly, “Keep talking…about anything.”
Isabelle gave him a curious look, but continued, as Isaiah did his best to listen in on a conversation he heard from the next table over…
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“Well, it’s no’ that yer weren’t the first we thought o’…but maybe we assumed yer jes’ lost yer nerve after that ‘ole mess with the scion, y’know?” The man grinned through a set of rotting teeth, looking at the smartly dressed fellow across from him.
“Lost my nerve? Who do you even take me for? And did you really think this kind of word wouldn’t get back to me? You nearly sent lambs to the slaughter is what you did, you twit. Nobody else can possibly handle this job.”
“Oh, so yer saying yer can? Can yer back that up, boyo?”
With a bit of an irritated hmph the man straightened his doublet slightly, pursing his lips as he pondered. “I can do it…whether it’s worth my while is another matter. What exactly are you offering?”
The rotten-toothed man grinned once more, and slid a small bag across the table, which the other opened and suppressed a whistle. Inside were several of the largest gemstones he’d ever seen, along with a note listing what the remainder of the payment was…as well as more details on the item to be stolen. With a few laughs under his breath, he looked across the table. “A bit presumptuous to hand someone like me this much, and even the instructions before I even accepted, isn’t it?”
“Oh…well, she knew that yer’d take the job. And she right, ain’t she boyo? Yer up fer it, ain’t yer?”
Rubbing his chin for a moment, the man only replied after a long moment of contemplation. “Tell whoever she is that it’ll be done. And I expect to get everything entitled here…and we’ll see if more is needed based on how much trouble I run into.”
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Isaiah made sure that when the smartly dressed man stood from his table he had his attention on Isabelle, to look like he hadn’t been listening. Truth be told, he’d lost interest about halfway through…irritated that it turned out to have little to do with the matter at hand. Giving his fiancée his undivided attention, he smiled to her. “Well, it doesn’t look like we’re going to find much more out here…maybe we can find something out at Skara Brae or perhaps Trinsic.” Taking a final drink of the ale, he stood. “Vesper was always a bit too breezy for my tastes…”

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