The Morality System

I arrived at Beer and looked around. Not a lot of people around, same as last time. I spotted James in the corner with his hood up but instead of shuffling his cards or performing a card reading, he was playing cards with someone.

The other person also had their hood up with their light brown hair sticking out. Their clothes were midnight blue. They were dressed like a rogue with form-fitting clothes, dagger holsters at their hips, and bandoliers of throwing knives crisscrossing their body.

It was Nico. She and James were playing a game with James' fantasy tarot cards. I walked up to the table. They glanced up at me and kept playing their game.

I checked James with my Evil Eye, as I checked everyone with it. He was good. I always had Evil Eye on running in the background. It only ever messed up my vision when I was looking directly at an evil person. Otherwise, everything looked the same.

When I was looking at an evil person, it was like I could see their thermal signature superimposed over their normal features. Somehow I could see both at the same time. Still, it could be disorienting when I didn't expect it.

"Why is your hair so much longer than yesterday?" Nico said.

"One of my abilities makes it grow really fast. What are you playing?" I said.

"Fates Drawn," James said. "The object of the game is to get rid of all your cards before the other person. If the game ends and you still have cards in your hand, then what the cards represent will happen to you in real life."

"Interesting. Sounds scary," I said.

"It is," Nico said. "That's why it's so fun." She put down her last card. "Fates Drawn bitch! Show them."

James revealed the 5 cards still left in his hand. One was a goat barfing gold, another was a jester farting on a king, another was a King ordering an execution, another was an image with a bunch of different fantasy races all shaking hands, and the last was the eye that I got last time.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means I'm terrible at this game," he said.

"No, what do the cards mean," I said.

"I know what you meant. I'd just rather not discuss my fate with you," he said.

"What if I gave you 5 gold?" I said.

"Fine. Gold first," James said.

I slid the gold coins across the table. I sat down. It felt weird standing over them. I had to sit down next to Nico because I wanted to be across from James when he explained the cards.

James pointed to the first card. "The Barfing Goat. It means a boon will come to you from an unexpected place." He pointed to the next one. "The Mocking Jester. It means you will humiliate someone in power, either accidentally or intentionally."

He pointed to the next one. This one was upside down. "Order of Execution. Upright, it means someone in power will send someone to harm you. Reversed, which this card is, it means someone in power will send someone to harm someone around you. This could be someone you know or a stranger you see it happening to."

He pointed to the next card. "Communion of Cultures. It means you will become aligned with someone from a different culture. Or it can be interpreted literally to mean that you will become aligned with someone from a different race."

He pointed to the last card. It was reversed. "The Eye. Reversed, it means that someone around you or that you know is being watched."

He picked up the cards and shuffled them back into the deck. "Happy?" He said.

"Actually, yes. That was surprisingly very helpful to me," I said.

"I'm glad," he said with a dead face. Sarcasm. How cute.

The Barfing Goat could refer to the fact that I plan to hire James and pay him more than Dorian did. I wasn't sure what the Mocking Jester was referring to. Unless it meant James was going to accidentally be rude to Abigail, with her being a princess.

The Order of Execution being reversed could refer to someone sending people after me for taking down the mercenary branch of the Red Tail Fox Company in Ravenhold.

The Communion of Cultures could be referring to James meeting Marcy. And the reversed Eye could refer to people watching me as a potential suspect in the destruction of the mercenary branch.

"Guess what, James?" I said with a devious smile.

"What?" James said.

"You now work for me," I said.

His jaw dropped open. I closed it for him by pushing up on his chin. He swatted my hand away. "Don't touch my face!" He said.

"Sorry, you just dropped your jaw, so I thought I'd pick it up for you," I said.

He gave me the stink eye. "That's very clever wordplay," he said. "But seriously, you're my boss? How? I did think it was weird that one of the lieutenants was visiting me." He looked at Nico.

"Because I killed your boss, and I have the money to pay you. You have two choices. You can work for me, or you can be unemployed," I said.

"I thought you were with the company. Why would you kill Dorian?" He said.

"I'm not. I tricked you. I killed him for shady business practices and general cruelty. And because I plan to end the crystal trade. So what will it be James, owner of Sprinkles, the cat?" I said.

"Are you going to hurt my cat if I say no?" He said.

"No! Of course not. That would be messed up," I said. "I may kill evil people, but I don't harm the innocent. Unless Sprinkles is somehow evil."

"He's not. That's a relief. Will you still pay me the same?" He said.

"No. I'll pay you double," I said. "You'll keep recruiting people as normal, paying people, and receiving crystal hauls if I need it."

"That, I can do," he said, shuffling his cards.

"Good," I said. I turned to Nico.

"You're still on board to join me right?" I said.

"Yes. What will you have me doing though? You won't make me kill people again, right?" She said.

"No. What I want you to do is find out everything you can about the Noble branch in Ravenhold and anything you can about the company at large," I said. I adjusted my pants again.

"Ok. I can do that. Where can I find you to give the report?" She said.

I whispered the location of the merchant guild hall into her ear. I didn't trust James enough yet to let him know where I'd be, but Nico didn't seem like a rat and with her skills, wasn't likely to get caught and tortured. That said, it didn't hurt to make sure.

'Will you rat me out in any capacity, whether you are forced to or not?' I asked Nico's soul.

'No. Snitches get stitches.' Her soul said.

"Ok, I'll meet you there," she said. She went back to playing Fates Drawn with James. I left the bar and went to my next thing.