Para smiled proudly as she quickly wiped up the shiny new
countertop. The place was busier than it ever had been under Pascal’s
ownership. It took the regulars some time to accept that he would have tried to
do something so blasphemous, but once Para started upgrading the whole place,
stripper section included, no one was complaining. Everything in her
establishment was brand new, alongside the multiple bartenders, cooks,
strippers, bouncers, and every type of job that she had to hire on to keep up with
the demand.
Her eyes suddenly shot up across the floor as she heard a
familiar voice cut through the chatter, “Love what you’ve done with the place,
Para! Looks like you’ve really upped the game around here.” Para smiled widely
as a familiar gnome, orc, elf, and a pair of humans sat down at the bar in
front of her. “A round of creampies for me and my friends; If you don’t mind?”
Walker asked her with a smile while tossing a small pouch of gold onto the
counter.
“Walker!” Para shouted excitedly at him while sliding the
pouch of gold back, “You and your friends drink and stay here for free!”
“You sure, sweetheart?”
“Sure as I’ll ever be! You’ve earned it.” She smiled at him
while quickly grabbing everything she needed to make their drinks.
“Consider it a tip then,” Walker told her, “I like you too
much to let you serve me for free.”
She shook her head at him and chuckled, “Just this once.”
She grabbed the pouch and tossed it under the counter.
“This place has never looked so busy, or so good. Looks like
you know how to run this place after all.” He told her.
“It helps when the owner puts the extra gold they make back
into it.” She responded while flipping the bottles around her hands, “I took a
risk and used that room of gold to upgrade this whole damn place. Worked out
flawlessly.”
“Room of gold?” Rede looked over at Walker curiously.
“Pascal kept all of his extra gold in a secret room in the
cellar,” Walker told the rest of his party, “I gave Para the key to it.” He
then looked back up at Para, “How’d you work around the regulars questioning
about Pascal?”
Para shrugged, “I had put up fliers all around town about
who he was. Some are still grumbling about it, he was a founder of this city
and all around seemed like a good guy, but once I started to replace everything
with brand new shit…they knew something had to have been fishy about Pascal.
Questions and complaints stopped not long after that.”
“Glad to hear it.” Walker responded, “Falling into the head
bartender position well?”
“And keeping alongside the jobs of being a normal one as
well.” She responded sliding drinks down to the rest of the party while leaning
in close to Walker and whispering, “All my ‘tenders report back to me on
anything of possible interest they overhear.”
“You take to the more questionable aspects of your job
well.” Walker smiled and took a sip of his drink from a shiny new glass.
“Delicious.”
“It better be.” She looked at Walkers friends who were all
thoroughly enjoying their drinks, “The first thing I upgraded was our liquor.
It’s all a lot better quality.”
Rede licked the white foam off of his lips and set his glass
down chuckling, “Never thought I’d be saying this, but think you can give me
another creampie?”
Callie broke out in laughter, almost choking on her drink
while Para winked at him and chuckled, “Don’t worry. I never run of out of
juice here.” She quickly scooped away his glass and started to make another
one.
Callie finally calmed her laughing down enough to speak,
“Trust me Rede, this is the only type you’ll ever want. Tastes much better.”
“So, Walker,” Para spoke up again, “What brings you back to
the Ladies’ Door? I know it wasn’t just for fun. Rumor has it you guys were in
Port Phishk recently. Find your friend?”
Walker quickly downed the rest of his drink and sighed, “Yes
I did. It’s actually that which brings me back here.”
“Oh?” She asked him handing Rede another drink.
“Yup.” Walker glanced around the establishment quickly. It
was crowded. The bar itself was nearly full and there were dozens of people
watching the girls dance behind them. “Think we could chat in private?”
Para nodded at him and whistled loudly. One of the other
bartenders quickly ran over to her, “Yea?”
“I need you to hold down the fort for a while, Jack.” Para
told him.
“You got it, boss!”
She smiled and patted him on the back, “Thanks.” Jack
quickly went back to his duties and Para looked to Walker, “Cellar work?”
Walker looked at the rest of his party, “Just me, or is it
alright if my friends join us?”
Para chuckled, “We can all fit comfortably down there. Come
on.” She quietly led them down the stairs towards the cellar where they had
killed Pascal. Para had to unlock the door to get into the room. As they
entered the room Para closed and locked the door behind them. It looked quite
different than last time. Instead of it being a mixture of a storage room and
office, it now served as Para’s personal room, alongside the office. There were
no kegs or bottles of liquor down here, but there was a bed in a far corner,
and the walls were now covered in maps, notes, papers…this room functioned as
her information storage.
Walker smiled as he looked around, “You sure got to
gathering information quickly.”
She chuckled, “I reestablished contacts all across the
world. This work has also more than paid off as well. The Ladies’ Door has
become somewhat of a refuge for criminals like you.” She glanced at Walker,
“Even hand out a good amount of jobs from here.” She paused for a second, “I
thought being so young and being a woman would have made it much harder for me
to get into this.”
Walker laughed, “Woman make the best spies and information
brokers. Used to be hard for someone like you long time ago, but word quickly
spread that best at those jobs were girls. Now-a-days it’s hard to find a male
information broker whose actually a major player. Most of them merely work
under a better, female, broker.”
Para slowly eyed him over, “So I could possibly…”
“Hire others?” Walker finished her question, “Not yet, but
once you start getting your name out there more, definitely.”
She whistled thinking about the possibilities before sitting
down in her office chair, “So, whatcha need? I’ll be more than glad to help
you.”
Walker walked up to her desk and sat on the edge of it,
“Well, I was going to ask for something simple, but I think I’ve just come up
with something that could benefit us both.”
“And?”
“I’m back in the game, and I need someplace to use as a
temporary base of operations.” Walker smiled.
Para licked her lips, “Thought you weren’t coming back,
ever.”
“I’m going to save Night, MY Night.”
“As in?”
“The former half.” Walker raised his eyebrows for a second
at her before jumping off the desk and walking over to one of her maps. “The
mimic’s main strong hold isn’t that far from this city. Right around here.” He
told her pointing just a bit north of Talama, “That’s where Night is being held
prisoner. We’re going to break in, and get her out.”
“That’s…that’s an ambitious job.” Para walked over next to
him, “How do you plan to do it?”
“Will you help me?” Walker asked her in response.
Para pursed her lips and eyed him over for a few seconds
before she snapped, “I’ve got an idea.” She quickly went right behind her
office chair and got down on the ground. Pulling out a key she quickly opened
up the secret hatch, “It’s cleared out.” She said tossing the key over to
Walker, who caught it with ease, “Consider it your new HQ.”
Walker looked at the second key on the key ring she had
tossed him, “And the second key?”
“Let’s you get into my room.” She told him while getting
back up, “There’s a nice ladder that leads down into the room. No bed down
there, but I can toss in some blankets and pillows.”
Walker looked across his friends who nodded at him, “That
should work well enough, we’re used to sleeping under the stars.”
“Glad to be of help,” She smiled at him, “I’ll make sure to
steal some of our finest for you before the night.” She sat back down in her
chair, “You stay, drink, and eat for free. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt our
profits at all.”
“If you insist.”
“I insist.” She licked her lips and paused for a moment,
“Fair warning though, this IS my personal room.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t judge.” Walker chuckled.
“Now I do have one favor to ask of you guys.” Para told
them.
“And that would be?” Walker asked her.
“I’d like to get a painting of you five done, in honor of
what you’ve done for this place.” She smiled at them, “The Ladies’ Door
wouldn’t be what it is right now without your help. I want everyone who comes
here to know that.”
Both Rede and Shade grumbled slightly about it, but gave no
vocals to stand against the idea. “I’d love to!” Callie spoke up, “Think about
it.” She looked over at Rede, “We’d be immortalized for doing good in this
world.”
“I’ll do it on one condition.” Walker held up his finger,
“Let me get Night back first. I don’t deserve to be in any painting without
her.”
“Of course.” Para nodded at him, “Just how do you plan on
breaking into a mimic stronghold though?”
Walker smiled widely, “Give me a few hours to set up my
papers in our room, and I’ll invite you down to see.”
She nodded at him, “Alright. Get to it then.” She smiled at
everyone else in the room, “Feel free to come and go as you please, do note
that you do still need to pay for any of the girls that you want. I’ll be
behind the bar if you need me.” Para left the room and went back to working the
bar.
“I’d like some help, but if you’d like to go grab some
drinks or girls I won’t complain.” Walker told them.
“I’ll stick around down here.” Shade said.
“Same.” Gorgos told him, “Fun later…maybe.”
“You guys want any drinks?” Callie asked them, “Rede and I
will head up and grab a round for everybody.”
“You know what I want.” Walker smiled at them before
climbing down into the secret room.
“A flagon of wine if possible.” Shade told her, “As deep of
a red that they have.”
“Will do, Gorgos?”
“Ale!” She shouted out.
Rede chuckled and shook his head, “Ale for you it is.”
“Come on down here guys!” Walker shouted up at them,
”There’s more than enough room for us all down here, plus I’d like your help,
Shade!”
“We’ll join ya when we got the drinks!” Callie called out
before pulling Rede out of the room with her. Shade shrugged and quickly
descended down into the room with Gorgos following.
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