Chapter 495: Next
Assassin’s Guild HQ, Vallum
Once the monstrous Derek Hunt left, Nyx dismissed all the Vice Leaders of the guild. All that remained in the meeting room were Maven, Mara, and himself. What they needed to discuss didn’t need to be heard by the lower members. The disfigured elf gazed at Mara and shared a knowing look with the woman. They were in a predicament that the guild had never found itself in before—at least, not during Nyx’s long life as a member.
“Are the two of you just going to sit there?” Maven asked with a sneer. “We have to figure something out. We have to do something about that bastard.”
However, before either of them could answer, the doors to the room swung open and a dwarf with a shaved head and a golden-brown beard that reached all the way past his chest entered. He was wearing a full set of plate armor and had a massive war hammer strapped to his back—the butt of the shaft almost touched the ground, while the top of the hammer was well over a foot taller than the dwarf was. The short, dwarven man walked around the table, leaned his hammer against it, then hopped up into the empty seat beside the other Guild Leaders.
“What the holy hell is going on around here? We having a secret meeting? One without the Vice Leaders?” he asked, but didn’t bother giving anyone a chance to answer. “Did the three of you feel that dreadful aura not long ago? Was that you, Mara? It almost woke me from my nap… almost. Or maybe it was just a dream…” He then looked over to Nyx and said, “Holy hell Nyxy boy, put your mask back on. You’re going to scare the ghosts half to death like that.” The man then flicked his wrist, and a jug appeared on the table. He grabbed it with one hand and put it to his lips—turning it up and taking a big gulp. After letting out a belch, he said, “Great stuff. Not quite as good as the king’s ale, but it’s getting there.”
“Braxton…” Nyx muttered, then reached up and put the mask he was wearing before back on his face.
“Ah… that’s much better. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to hold this brew down with you like that,” Braxton said. “I’d offer the three of you some, but I only brought enough for me.”
“We don’t want any of your nasty ale, old man,” Maven said, then he looked back to Nyx and said, “Can we get back to what we are going to do?”
“Hey!” Braxton said with another belch. “Don’t make me put you over my knee like ma used to do with me. I can, and I will.” After that, he looked around and saw that he didn’t get the reaction that he wanted, and continued, “Wow. Something interesting really must have happened. What was it? Did a bug crawl up each of your asses? Wait, that aura from before wasn’t Mara upgrading one of her skills, was it? And why aren’t the Vice Leaders here again?”