She was perched atop a beam, facing westward, protruding from one of the many towers of the Tenebryll chapel. Below her, the maze of the city sprawled out in all directions, people travelling through the congested streets like the blood of a living creature.
Lights illuminated the many streets, banishing the dark from the city of Darkness in a contradictory manner that brought a slight smile to her face.
She had been assigned her mission in the city days prior.
The city was made of two parts. The upper, well known section that was widely considered a holy land for devotees of Tenebryll. The lower, a crime ridden hell entombed in eternal darkness that perfectly encapsulated the spirit of the city and the deity.
Normally this was an arrangement that worked for the population of the city, and the Guard didn't care about the undercity as long as the upper city was safe, but recently the balance had begun to become skewed to one side.
The crime syndicate known as the Night Prowlers had recently exploded in size and consequently began expanding their operations to not just the lower city, but the upper city and also surrounding territories.
Learning of the threat, Tess had been dispatched with one simple mission: kill the heads of the syndicate and plunge them into anarchy.
In the short time she had been here she had learned one name: The Three Anchors.
She clicked open a pocket watch that hung around her neck and looked at it. Inside lay the last words her mother had said to her, a constant reminder of why she had chosen the path she had.
"Shadowform," she muttered as she stood, pulling her hood onto her head. Shadows smothered her body, changing her entire being into one of shadow. Her new form danced down the chapel, blending in with the shadows cast by the intricate architecture.
As she neared the floor the shadows began unravelling, and by the time she touched solid ground her form was fully human once again.
There was a wide open space in front of the chapel with multiple lanes connecting to it from the west, a street structure mirrored on all sides of the chapel .
She pulled a note out of her pocket as she crossed the space. Scrawled on the paper was both the name and address of the Three Anchors, a bar and casino that was allegedly a front for syndicate dealings, managed by the adolescent son of a syndicate chair.
She joined the throng of people filtering through the North-Westernmost street as she headed for her destination.
The layout of the city was divided into sections around the chapel at the centre. The nearest section to it, the one she was currently in, was the consumerist district. The buildings here housed markets by day and were havens of various vices by night.
The bar she was looking for was found on the opposite end of the street, found non-discreetly on the corner where it watched over the production district, an area she suspected the syndicate to be heavily involved in.
As she weaved a path through the crowd she thought of the importance of the mission she had to complete. Despite how it seemed, her failure could have severe implications for the future of Rovinia.
If the syndicate wasn't neutralised right away then they would spread like rats all around the nation, building undercities in every location they could, resulting in an eventual civil war between forces of the syndicate and the Guard, leaving Rovinia on its knees.
As she reached the bar, she pushed the door open with her shoulder as she took down her hood.
She scanned the room as she entered. Running along the wall to the right of the door stood a counter, split in two by a divider on the staff side. From what she saw it acted as a drinks bar and a chips booth. Dotted around the room lay two types of tables. Smaller tables collected companions around it, offering a seat while they enjoy their beverages. Larger tables gathered competitors, hosting a variety of games with money staked on their outcome.
On the far side of the room stood a grand balcony, customised with different colours and materials. Standing on the side of the balcony was a door, adorned with a golden pattern. Tucked away underneath, almost intentionally hidden, stood the staircase that granted access to the exclusive area. The staircase was guarded by two bald men, identical from the distance between themselves and Tess.
She moved to the counter and handed a single gold coin to the person working at the chip booth.
"How would you like your chips split?" she was asked by the worker.
"How do you split them?" Tess asked in response.
"Our smallest amount is equivalent to ten bronze coins. Then we have chips representing twenty and fifty bronze coins. Then, we have chips for a silver coin, five, ten, twenty and fifty silver coins. Then a chip for a gold coin."
Tess calculated the exchange between chips and coins. "I'll take ten chips of five silver, and five hundred of the smallest amount please."
Once she had received her chips she said her thanks and headed to a table.
She chose the one nearest to the balcony, and sat down as close to the balcony as she could. From here, she could hear snippets of the conversation being held up on top of it.
Before the game began, the cards were spread across the table, revealing the entire 52 card deck to the players.
The cards belonged to one of four houses: the Lion; the Bear; the Hawk; and the Salamander. They were also shown in order, numbered 1 to 10, then followed by the Priest, the Magus, the Lone and the Unified.
The dealer waited until all 5 players were satisfied before picking them all up in one swift motion and shuffling them to a satisfactory level. He then dealt them out one at a time to each player.
Upon receiving her cards, she discreetly curved up the corner to see what she had. The lion five and the hawk seven. She matched the bet of chips worth a hundred bronze coins as the dealer revealed the first three cards: salamander six, salamander nine, bear lone.
She glanced up as the cards were dealt. A man, who appeared to be in his mid-twenties, had entered the bar, flanked on both sides on both his front and back by guards discreetly carrying weapons that were brimming with elemental energy. The group moved with purpose, heading up the stairs to the exclusive balcony. Each member of the group was identically dressed in a black suit, the only difference being a lighter shirt worn underneath by the man in the centre. As they walked the man in the centre ran a hand over his neatly shaven beard, as though anxious about something.
She tapped the table as control came to her, signifying she was happy with her bet. Once the cycle of players was complete, the dealer revealed the fourth card, a salamander seven.
'A pair,' she thought absent-mindedly, her focus trained on the scene behind her on the balcony.
The game cycled once more, each player remaining satisfied with their bet.
As the dealer dealt the final card, a conversation began above her.
"Glad you could make it!" an old, male voice gleefully said. "Have you thought any more about my proposal since the last time?"
"It was certainly intriguing, but I'm not sure if it's very beneficial for us," a younger voice replied. Tess guessed this was the man who had just arrived.
She looked at the fifth card. It was the lone lion, granting her two pairs. She revealed her hand and studied the table. One of the other players had achieved a straight flush of salamanders, highly benefitted by the five common cards.
Realising her attention had waned, she tuned back into the conversation, where the older man was speaking.
"-about to finalise our plans, so it won't be long before we start to reap the benefits. Look, I'll be honest, your manpower is very appealing to us, and would almost guarantee our ascendancy. Eventually, we could even challenge for a seat at the international level."
"That sounds good, but what of the risks? What of the Guard? What of-"
"We have ways to deal with the Guard," he bluntly said, cutting the younger man off. "And, to be quite frank, I don't think they'll care if we expand our operation. After all, they never cared in the past."
She bet another hundred bronze coins in the next game, after seeing a hand of salamander three and salamander five.
The first three cards of the river were lion five, hawk five, and hawk seven. Once again she tapped the table as she listened to the conversation, not really caring about the result of the game.
"They never cared because you kept the operations to this city."
"It doesn't matter. We will expand, and we will be successful one way or another. It is our destiny.
The dealer revealed another card, a bear magus. Once again, each player declined to bet more money.
The final card revealed was a bear priest. Once again, she lost out to a flush.
The next cards she was dealt were the bear five and the lion priest.
The dealer dealt the first three cards as the younger man above agreed to the terms presented. They were a hawk two, a hawk nine, and a hawk lone.
Once more, each player declined to bet more money.
"What do you need my manpower for?" the younger man asked above.
"It's simple. We have the resources needed to rule, and you have the people to enforce that rule. Those who are destined to famine we control through our possessions. Those who do not rely on us, we make bleed until they beg us for relief."
A lion nine was revealed as the game continued. "Why do you keep talking about destiny?" the younger man asked.
"For I have seen it. I know we shall succeed, because it was shown to me in a dream."
Once more, no player upped the bet as the dealer revealed the final card, a bear nine. The player to Tess's right celebrated as he won with a full house.
Sensing the conversation was ending, Tess bet once more the same amount she had in the past rounds. Her hand was made of a lion ten and a lion priest.
"Naturally, since we are relying on you to provide us with manpower, we give you a seat on the syndicate as the master of arms, and thus command of our forces," the older man stated.
The three cards revealed were a bear ten, a lion magus, and a bear five.
"I humbly accept the position."
The fourth card was revealed. A lion lone.
"And now," the younger man began, accompanied with the squeal of a chair moving along the floor, "I shall leave. After all, it seems I have an army to prepare." He added a laugh before steps indicated him and his guards were leaving."
The final card was revealed. Fittingly, the final card that Tess would see revealed in this game was the unified lion, giving her a straight flush.
She hastily took her chips as the group walked past their table, before leaving the table, returning to the counter and retrieving her profit.
"Could you please tell me the closing time for the casino?" she asked the person who was serving her.
"Two in the morning, so a couple of hours from now," the person responded.
She thanked the worker as she took the money before leaving.
She stuffed the money into a coin pouch as she left the bar, before pulling up her hood and entering the busy crowd outside. She discreetly uttered the phrase "puppet" and summoned a small shadow rat which she directed to follow the group as she headed down the street back to the chapel.