The Ghost Shepherd

The First Paycheck

Blackie pulled out a nice monocle and said, “Let’s see here...the Draco you are carrying is 240 lbs and It can be sold to the government for 800 E. Coins, all you have to do is put it in the conveyor belt at the back of the room and you will be done.  The money is deposited into your account and you lose 200 E. Coins immediately!!”

“It is the safest way though”

“Are you so rich that 200 E. Coins doesn’t catch your eye? ‘We’ of the Goblin Race.. love! money… every coin or even a fraction of it makes me hard if you know what I mean”

“Weird”

“Nothing weird about it kid, Anyways… You fought hard to kill that draco, put your life on the line so YOU, my friend, deserve a fair price.  The real price of the draco on your shoulder is 936.50 E.C and not a fraction less”.

Sly was captivated by the entrepreneur spirit of Blackie and started to nod at everything the little guy said.  

“Damn right it is”

“That store over there, Next Level Armor will pay 850 for your Draco and the restaurant on the right hand corner 890.  Not too bad but still not good enough”

After proving to Sly that the prices he determined from the beginning were right on point, the two of them proceeded to travel back to the surface and on the south side of the Bunker there was a female Cryomancer with her partner standing besides a land vehicle with a big trailer on the back.  

“Boala 936.50 if you sell it to Sister Mary over there”

“Sup Blackie! what is a big shot like yourself doing in our humble abode”

“Business!! My Friend here has a Draco for sale, are you interested?”

“Friend? Sure, because is you, I can pay 4 E.C per pound”

Sly closed his fingers into a fist and was about to say hell yeah but tried to play it cool and said, “Nice, I also have a 3 Star Draco with a core.  Do you take those too?”

Blackie hit Sly in the gut and then grabbed him by the collar, “ That is a bad business practice kid, I am your business partner and you should not try to exclude me from a deal, capiche!  Now let me see the Draco you never mentioned before...”

Sly was surprised that the tiny creature that didn’t even reach up to his waist could pack such a wallop.  The 2 halves of the draco appeared on the floor and the goblin proceeded to inspect them, he grabbed the top half and then put it together with the other half and saw the sharpness of the cut. When the line was superimposed and magnified 1000 times with his monocle, he was able to see that a few cells that were still alive were trying to heal.  It was ridiculous, how sharp the weapon had to be to cut the cells so perfectly that they could be put back together and healed.

“I give you 1500 E. coins for this one. Let me see the core”

Sly handed over the core and the E. Coins were deposited into his account.

Chin ..  Chin

His bank sent him an email that the money was deposited and that he was now 2460 E. Coins richer.

“Make sure to upgrade your space folder to double the size, you can’t be carrying around a draco over your shoulder, it is stupid and makes you look like a newbie.  Also, you should consider hiring a carrier, they are worth every E. Coin.  Go to the information desk down stairs and send a request for Eternal Darkness’ Steelforge and tell her Blackie send you and that I said, ‘You are welcome’.  See you next time kid… oh yeah here is my personal ID make sure to contact me if you need anything, there is nothing I can’t get or sell.  As long as you have the money, from information to Lord class DNA or Cores just say the word.  Now off you go ".  

"Thanks!!"

Sly had a smile from ear to ear and went to spend some of his cash on the many shops he saw on the first floor.  

Blackie and the other two merchants stood there watching Sly's silhouette fade away into the distance.

"What's the deal with the newbie Blackie, you wouldn't overpaid the way you did if there wasn't a way to profit later on, can we get in on the deal, is Eternal Darkness involved? "

"Kekeke, You know the rules, if you want info then you gotta pay the appropriate fee" said blackie rubbing his thumb and index finger together.  

"Alright you money grubbing goblin, what's the appropriate fee... don't forget that I just did you a favor"

" No no no… the one who did a favor was me, now for the fee, if you want to know why I am here then the price is set at 1,000,000 E. Coins "

" Puff… if you don't want to tell me is fine, just don't humiliate me"

"That is the appropriate fee !!!  Sigh...  I have said too much. Do yourself a favor and give him a good price next time he comes selling Argonians" 

Blackie disappeared from where he was standing like a ghost leaving behind two people and two dracos with their cores on the floor.  The woman used the Ability Freeze on the dracos while the other person picked them up and loaded them into the land vehicle in a well practiced motion.

In the meantime, Raol received a message and a video from the assassin who went to monitor Sly and didn’t even flinch at the scene of him eating the brains. He thought that Sly was a gourmet but in his opinion the liver was the way to go.  

“Bring me a Ksellid’s liver and bottle of aged wine, red should do it” said Raol while salivating, “ I wonder how his liver would taste.  I can’t wait”

Raol called another of his subordinates to approach Sly and while swirling the wine inside the glass said, “ helped him unload the two dracos and get close to him”  The subordinated nodded before heading to complete his mission but by the time he arrived, the two dracos were being sold and to his bad luck it was to people that were pretty well connected. 

The subordinate frowned but couldn’t go back empty handed, he fool around acting like he was watching the screens while observing his mark from the distance.

Sly passed close to him and continued down the ramp without a care in the world. He was having a conversation with his chip that had changed her opinion on Blackie and realized that knowing the right people was a must and that her host luck was excellent. 

Sly proceeded to the Bar on the first floor and sat in a corner of the room by himself while a sexy looking young waitress came to take the order.

Sly looked her over and his heart raced, she was a human with curves in the right places and a smile that could empty your wallet.  

“Welcome, It’s Happy hour on all the hard licor all day everyday, Buy one, get one free.  So what would it be”

“Do you have a menu I can look at”

The Waitress smiled and pointed at a sign on the wall that read:

The Kiss of Death……. 2 E.C

Drunk Goggles………...4 E.C

Lobotomizer…………. 6 E.C

“You don’t have anything a little less... strong?”

“Only the Ale made from Calamot”.

Calamot was an Herb with a nice fruity taste that could be fermented into a strong ale that was refreshing and contained a high degree of alcohol for those inexperienced drinkers A.K.A Novice hunters that had just left the city and were just trying to make their quota.  

“I’ll Have that and let me have the Frost Slink Tartare”

“Sorry, the what?”     

“It says here you guys have Frost Slink available”

“Oh you want the nuggets”

“Yes, just bring me the meat rare and hold the breading and all other stuff” 

Har Har… 

Sly thought he was being funny but all he got in response was a confused waitress and crickets.

Frost Slinks were swimmers, the meat was almost translucent, really lean and if it was cooked properly, it was flaky and went well with many forms of starch, especially fries. 

The cook in the kitchen had been working at the place for ages and had encountered many weird requests, he knew that there were people that were purist and didn’t like to cook their food under the assumption that cooking it changed the chemical composition of the nutrients and would decrease their nutritional value.

The Chef sent the meat cut so finely that it looked almost like a paste.  The plate was only accompanied by a lemon to squeeze on top and that was it.  It did not look appetizing to the waitress but she still served it with a smile.

“Here you go sir”

“Thank you”

The Razor sharp teeth made an appearance and Sly’s charm took a dive in the beautiful lady's book.  The meat was devoured in seconds and then 4 more plates were requested until his stomach was bulging with satisfaction.  The ale was also downed without any problems and overall, it was a very decent meal. 

Sly imagined himself as a top hunter and was unable to stop smiling looking like a demon which in turn started to scare the working staff in the room. 

In his daydream, Sly was in the penthouse of the most exclusive tower in the City of Hope and he was enjoying a buffet of exquisite meats and drinking expensive wine accompanied by models that were feeding and pampering him non stop. 

“Wake Up!!!” the voice of K.C got him out of his trance and into motion towards his next destination, the information desk.  He wanted to put the request for Steelforge and then inquired about the many groups recruiting members to hunt before doing as told and increasing the size of his space folder.  After his day-dream, all he could think of was how many E.C’s he could lose by not being able to bring the corpses with him, he was now hooked on the high life.