Limitless Path

Beth led them down the street, finding it paved in some kind of material she was unfamiliar with in the center with plenty of trees and greenery along the edges. The lane they walked down was meant for pedestrian traffic, though that didn't necessarily mean slow traffic, as they found when someone sprinted by them in a blur. Well, what would have been a blur to most, but Beth and Blood were pretty clearly able to see the young woman even at the crazy speed she was moving. It wasn't that common, however, as many others were walking, moving at what would be a decent jog without stats, and one of them grumbled when the sprinting girl passed him.

They made their way between three- and five-story buildings before turning in towards the center of the city, where the buildings rapidly transformed into skyscrapers. Many cities on higher mana density world made use of building high rather than wide as it was more efficient to have a tall but small footprint mana shield blocking the occasional flier versus trying to wall off a few dozen square miles of city area and defend it from the more numerous ground-based beasts. The buildings in the very center of the city were fifty or more stories tall, with people and businesses packed together tightly. The only concessions to defense in this dangerous world were the first few floors of the structures being armored, with thin slits for windows or some first floors lacking windows entirely, making them much more difficult to assault.

The CRA Hall was the only notable exception to building high as, per usual, the building took up quite a massive footprint on the north end of the city. It didn't matter where they went, the general layout was always the same, though the size could be a bit different. In this case, the front building of the Hall was eight stories tall and a bit broader than their 'home' Hall. Beth walked up the black brick steps to the main door, noting as she passed through the propped-open double doors that a slightly cool feeling washed over them, the cool air being held in the lobby by a set of runes.

The floor of the lobby was a mix of black stone with gold inlays, the walls painted an off-white with gold accents at the corners. All three counters were manned, with people coming and going at each of them, as well as a number of guests or visitors sitting in the central seating area, whether they were discussing something with each other or with CRA members. Beth walked across the polished floors to the front counter, which would be the one to deal with room rentals and more, getting in line behind two others. It was about ten minutes before it was her turn, and she stepped up to speak to a beautiful woman who likely had some orcish blood, considering her dusky green skin and the small tusks jutting from her lower jaw.

"How may I help you?" she asked in a surprisingly breathy voice.

Beth withdrew her emblem and flashed it to the woman, seeing her eyes widen just a tiny bit, though she quickly controlled it. "We'd like to ask about renting a room. I'd also like to ask, and maybe I need to talk to the Hall Master, about the situation with the governor and the Silver Hammers."

"Yes, right, one moment," the woman replied, taking just a second to regain her equilibrium. "We have a few rooms available, though they're all in the underworks. We have the one silver, five silver, and ten silver rooms available. Would you be interested in renting one of them?"

"One for ten silver a night, please," Beth requested, handing the woman a gold coin.

"And is this other young woman here with you?" the lady asked as she started to prepare a key.

"Oh, yes, sorry, can you get a key for her as well?" Beth asked after the gentle reminder.

"Of course," the woman replied, taking a minute to prepare two keys. "You'll be in room 6B30 for the next ten days. Just come up to the counter if you need any more time, but I'm sure you're aware of that."

"Yes, thank you," Beth replied, handing a key to Blood and then putting hers in her pouch, which she used as cover to slip it into her necklace. "Now, about the Silver Hammers situation?"

"Oh, yes, right," the woman hesitated for a moment. Finally, after shifting her weight from one foot to another and a quick glance away she said, "Apologies, I checked the recent information, and I do think anything to do with that situation will involve the Hall Master. Give me one moment to see if he is available."

"No problem," Beth replied, leaning against the counter with her left hip before turning to survey the room. She didn't Identify anyone, not wanting to appear rude during her first day on an unfamiliar world, and she just people watched for a moment. There was a large variety of people, though humans made up a larger fraction of the whole than any other one group. At least, those that looked entirely human; without actually checking who was who, it was very hard to tell if someone was half-human, or even a different species entirely. Blood was a good example, considering at this point she could dramatically reduce her lupine features; when she was wearing armor, she appeared almost entirely human to casual observation. Well, she continued to proudly display her lupine features, including her cute ears, which in itself was a bit of a deception, as telling the exact level of a sapient beast's humanization was tricky even with skills.

"Sorry for the wait," the woman behind the counter said after a moment, breaking Beth free of her reverie. "If you'd like to go up to room 8A10, the Hall Master is interested in speaking with you."

"Thanks for the help," Beth replied with a nod, giving a small wave with her arm to the side as she walked down the counter and back into the Hall. The layout was very similar to the Hall she was used to, as most were, and she brought Blood back to the elevators quickly. They hopped in a free unit and punched in the top floor, the doors barely having closed before opening a few seconds later to a nearly identical hallway. If there was one thing to be said about the CRA, it was that they really didn't go in for varying levels of ostentation in their public spaces. The private rooms, as Beth had already had glimpses of, were other matters entirely.

She strolled down the long hall, boots making very muffled thumps on the black and gold carpet runner spread down the middle of the floor. She glanced around as she walked, but the rooms were generally uninteresting, mostly some administrative offices and living quarters for senior members. It didn't take very long for them to reach the end of the hallway, turning to walk down another two doors before finding the one they were seeking. Without knowing what to expect, Beth held her emblem up to the plate at the side of the door, making a request for entry. There was a momentary pause and then the door swished open, sliding back into a recess in the wall and allowing the girls entry.

What they found inside was an immaculately laid out room; from the desk to the seating area to the shelves spaced around the perimeter, everything was very precise and orderly. It was reflected in the man behind the desk, who sat ramrod straight and looked up at them from a set of documents he had been reading at high speed. He was a bit older than Beth was used to, though that likely had to do with the fact that his short hair had gone salt-and-pepper, and he was starting to display noticeable lines on his face rather than any sign of infirmity.

"You were the two inquiring about the Silver Hammers?" he asked, straight to business.

"Yes, that was us, Hall Master," Beth replied.

"Ah, call me Tad," he dismissed the formalities with a flick of his fingers.

"Alright, Tad, then we're here to ask about the Silver Hammers in general, and basically to say that we're going to be looking into it," Beth said.

"I don't remember assigning any missions for that fracas," he replied stonily, calling up several screens in front of himself and paging through some data.

"You didn't, as far as I'm aware," Beth responded with a shrug.

He stopped reading the screens and gave her a stern look, saying, "If I didn't assign a mission, then under whose authority are you pursuing this matter?"

"We got dropped off here fairly abruptly by the Lord of Traversal," Beth said.

"The Lord of Traversal, what does he-ah," Tad said. "Yes, of course, he does have an interest in their products. Well, I'm not sure exactly what you expect to contribute to the situation, but if you can solve it, it would save us a ton of headaches."

"We talked with Mortaine's local fixers," Beth said. "They explained it's some kind of fight between the governor and the Silver Hammers, spurred on because the Ascended that was watching over the routes left? Is that the gist?"

"Eh, it's a bit more complex than that," Tad said, standing and gesturing at the seating area with several couches and two armchairs. He walked around his desk and joined them there, taking the armchair by the side of the room where his desk was positioned. He sighed as he sank into the seat and leaned back for a moment, rubbing the inner corners of his eyes with the thumb and index finger of his right hand.

"What did you mean when you said it was a bit more complicated?" Beth asked after a moment.

"What I meant was you don't have the whole picture," he explained. "What's really happening is the governor is out of pocket, though not far enough out of pocket for us to step in and do anything about. It wouldn't really fall to the Black Hall to do it anyway, that's more a White Hall thing, but regardless, let me not get sidetracked.

"What's really happening in the background is that the Silver Hammers, and a few others, have the manpower to defend their convoys, or caravans, or whatever they're calling them this decade. The reason they aren't properly guarding them or, more to the point, sending as many as they had been has little to do with safety. The Ascended leaving and pulling the rug out from under everyone is a factor, but the governor is a bigger threat, at least to the Silver Hammers' wallet. She's taken the opportunity of losing her adult supervision to demand unreasonable taxes and I have heard, though we do not have proof of this, that she's been abusing audits to basically steal product."

"And none of this is our jurisdiction?" Beth asked with a raised eyebrow, getting only a sigh in response.

"Listen, girl, I'd love to run around punishing every petty middle-manager and mid-level bureaucrat that's gotten too full of themselves and starts abusing their position, but I'd like time to do something, anything, else as well," he replied.

"You're saying there's so much corruption out there, most of it somewhat minor, that it's pointless running it down? Is that right?" Beth asked, her tone a little hard.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," he replied tersely. "That, and the fact that this is all political bullshit. We have no obligation to the Silver Hammers, the various trade unions, nor to the government in charge of the planet, the Redwing Empire. If they can't keep their subordinates in order, it only becomes my problem when they really go out of control. If there aren't piles of bodies in the streets or hundreds of citizens missing, likely made slaves or worse, then I don't really have a place jumping into this."

"So, you're not going to get involved, but that means we can do what we want, as well," Beth said.

"How'd you figure?" Blood cut in, giving her a side-eye.

"He just said, like, five times that it's not his jurisdiction, which means it's not his place to interfere either way, whether things are going well or poorly for the governor's little criminal scheme," Beth said.

"Just so," Tad said with another small shrug. "I don't want to butt heads with the governor over small petty larceny, or even bits of grand theft, nor is it my place to. Not until it becomes much worse than everything I've heard so far leads me to believe it is. At the same time, if somebody from outside comes in and starts waving a big stick around, as long as they don't do anything really boneheaded in the endeavor, it's not my place to stick my nose in. You're both Silvers, you know we take on political problems when there's more at stake."

"Or when we've got more skin in the game," Beth replied a bit darkly.

"There's that, yes," he said. "I don't mean to come off as the cold, unfeeling pragmatist here, but so far, this is a 'Not my monkeys, not my circus,' situation, and I don't really want that to change. The paperwork alone would be a nightmare, plus I'd have to deal with senior members of Redwing, and just saying that started to give me a headache."

"Any other nuggets of wisdom you can share with us before we get started on this?" Beth asked.

"A few," Tad said, summoning a glass of water to his hand and taking a sip before continuing. "One, the two louts that Lord Mortaine has over at his building aren't corrupt, as far as I know, but best you use them as muscle. Don't expect one of those two to suddenly develop a flash of brilliance and solve the whole thing. Don't get me wrong, they're competent enough, but this has been going on for close to two months now and I haven't heard about them getting close to a solution.

"Two, the governor is an Empowered, though I never bothered to look into just what rebirth she's on. I wouldn't go looking for a fight with her, especially considering she can mobilize the military of this world to do…well, pretty much anything if she can convince the planetary parliament that it's an emergency. What I'm saying is direct confrontation, in terms of blade-to-blade, is not a path you would do well walking down here.

"Third and finally, I'll say that this has all the hallmarks, and boring policy questions, of a taxation debate. The trade unions could keep their caravans safe and keep production flowing, but they don't want the governor taking such a big bite out of their asses. If you can find some way to either trip the governor up legally, or convince the trade unions to accept the missing ass chunk with some grace, then you could settle this with no physical effort, though it would likely be through no small effort of resisting the urge to strangle all parties involved by the end."

"I hate diplomacy shit," Beth grumbled after the Hall Master finished explaining the situation.

"Well, if you're not a member of the White Hall, you won't have to deal with this shit doing our jobs," he said with a touch of acrimoniousness.

"Hate to rain on your parade, boss, but we are members of the White Hall," Beth replied with a small smile.

"Damn. Well, then this is right up your alley," he said. "Figure out some way to get this sorted without killing anybody and I'll be grateful for it, though I know the trade unions will be back to bitching in six months regardless."

"Anything else to ruin my day with?" Beth asked with a sigh, setting her hands on her knees in preparation of rising.

"No, I do believe that's everything. Just try not to make the mess any bigger, or then we will have to step in," he said with a wave of his hand, clearly a dismissal.

"We'll keep that in mind," Beth answered, just barely resisting rolling her eyes at his laissez-faire attitude. She stood, Blood following suit, before giving the Hall Master a nod and leaving his office. She led the way down to their rented room next, hoping to do a bit of research before relaxing for the rest of the night.