User blog:Masterforger/City Watch Blues - Part 2

A month after Emily's rescue and the subsequent cure of the Rat Plague, James and Bryon found themselves working at Dunwall Tower as part of Corvo's personal City Watch detatchment.

'Yes, I know Corvo, we have kept the gates shut for the past generation, but I want to be like my granddaddy Kaldwin and open the gates of the Tower to the people!' said Empress Emily angrily. James and Byron stood at the doors to the Tower's foyer, looking on at Emily arguing with Corvo from the top of the stairs. 'We are now just as prosperous as before and we can once again trust the people! You're not going to be like Hiram, are you?'

'No, Emily, but the Bottle Street thugs still remember their times of free reign, they may want to reclaim that!' said Corvo, though his heart was not in it.

'Stuff the thugs! We have the City Watch, a less corrupt City Watch at that, I see no danger it letting the people wander the grounds of Dunwall Tower. It's not like they will be allowed in, isn't that right, James?'

'No ma'am,' said James, looking straight again before the Empress noticed his Wandering Eyes. 'I should think it would be a bit of a bother to get through the doors, what with that last wall of light that we kept.'

'You see, Corvo? Even your private guard thinks the Tower is safe enough.'

'As you wish, Empress.' Said Corvo, smiling at how Emily was trying to make Dunwall like it was before.

'Bryon, James, I want you to fetch the rest of your detatchment and bring them to Clavering Boulevard, and fetch Captain Curnow and his division. Let's go have a drink with the Bottle Street gang.'

====

Bryon knocked on the door of Curnow's house. Curnow lived in a tall house, made of white and dark stone and dotted regularly with large windows. It was one of a few similar designs that wrapped around a small center park, and was located near Dunwall Tower.

'Captain Curnow!' hailed James, who was standing behind Bryon. 'Corvo wants you!'

A young woman with gaunt features leaned over a balcony above. 'You want Uncle? One minute!'

'She looked pretty.' remarked a third man, a City Watch Guard named Borris.

'She's Callista, Curnow's neice who was with the Loyalists,' said Bryon. 'And I think she may be out of your league, guardsman.'

'Nonsense, sir. No one is outta Borris' league. 'Cept that lady who lives on Thaddeus Street.'

At that moment the large wood door opened, and Cunow was standing there dressed in his City Watch tunic without the coat.

'What does Corvo need?' asked Curnow, taking his coat off of a hook and puting it on, and fastening his sword on.

'He says we're to have a drink with the Bottle Street Gang,' chuckled James, knowing full well that today would be a day of bloodshed.

'And he means just that, Officer James. I hear the Gang still has 1643 Whiskey at hand.'

'...Sir? Do you mean to say...we're not going to kill them?'

'On the contrary. Corvo is friends with Slackjaw, who has since returned to Dunwall to take up the more civilized trade of whiskey brewing.'

Slackjaw had been an infamous gang leader during the Rat Plague, with a large bounty on his head.

'Well, then, sir, do we need the rest of our detachment? An yours?'

Curnow sighed. 'Corvo must want to share that whiskey with as many people as possible. Well, Bryon and James, let's say you two conveniently forgot the part about summoning my division. The less men we have, the more drink for us!'

==== 'See? Slackjaw told you you'd like it.' said Slackjaw to Borris, who was experimenting with exploding bottles.

'Boy, could I use these in a brawl,' laughed Borris, throwing another bottle at a metal target. A small pile of bottles lay around the old Distillery, evidence of the men's pleasure at being invited to drink as much fine whiskey as they wanted.

Captain Curnow had slumped over one of the railings, justifying his drinking as 'making up for that drink Campbell cheated me of.' James and Bryon were poking around the rooms off of the Distillery, being shown things by one of the old thugs-turned-brewers.

'And that there's the invitashun that Slackjaw stole from Bunting,' boasted the thug. He seemed to have forgotten Corvo's work in getting the combination to the safe that held the 'invitashun'.

'Where's all the coin?' remarked Bryon, peering around the shelves. 'Ain't no coin here, yer Watchliness. We bought stuff for our distillery with what we liberated from the corruptefied members of soshiety.'

'I see,' replied Bryon, tapping on one of the whiskey barrels. He wasn't entirely convinced by the tale, and he knew the Bottle Street Gang had stolen, or 'liberated' enough coin to buy half a new Dunwall Tower. Bryon was not going to report any finds to the Watch, of course. He was sure they wouldn't miss the profit anyway.

Corvo's enraged call suddenly came from the main room. 'Stop right there! HALT! Dammit! Guards, to me!' Bryon and James flew back down the corridor, the thug thudding behind. In the main room, they caught a bare glimpse of a fleeing shape, moving so fast that it appeared first on one hanging pipe, then on the lip of the roof, then gone.

'What 'appened?!' Shouted the thug, rushing to Slackjaw, who was holding his side while surrounded by other thugs.

'Some kinda ghost,' muttered another thug, kneeling beside Slackjaw. Corvo and his team were outside, with Corvo teleporting on to a roof to see if he could see the wannabe assassin. James stayed in the distillery, casting a look around the roof. He noticed skewed chains near the back of the room, and above that a part of the roof had been removed. Curnow, woken from his groggy sleep by the commotion, was standing by James. 'Anything, Officer?' he asked, without much trace of inebriation.

'He must have come through there, sir.' he replied, pointing at the missing roof panel.

'And? That doesn't really help.'

'But sir, we could find out which area the guy came from, if he came from behind the Distillery.'

Curnow laughed. 'You're right. I really shouldn't be in this job. Get Corvo up there, and find me a map of this area.' ====