Origins: part 2 (continued from [RP] Ashes to Ashes)
Hell Hath No Fury
“Jumpin” Jack Flashpowder couldn’t believe his good luck. He hadn’t been sitting at the bar of the Salty Sailor for more than a few minutes and already he had a beautiful goblin girl talking to him. For once, the broad had come up to him and was buying HIM drinks. Jack grinned to himself as she flagged down the bartender for another round. He could get used to this.
As the bartender poured the drinks, the goblin girl turned to Jack “So, what’s your name, handsome?” Jack grinned “The name’s Jack, baby. ‘Jumpin’ Jack.” The girl giggled ditzily as the bartender set the drinks on the bar in front of them. “I’m Trixxie” she said, and handed him one of the drinks. “So, ‘Jumpin Jack’, where’d you get a name like that?” Jack threw back his drink and slammed the empty glass down on the bar. “The guys call me that because when I show up to the party, it’s always jumpin!”
Jack’s head was beginning to swim from the alcohol, but she was already ordering another. “The guys call you Jumpin Jack, not the girls? I’m not wastin my time here, am I?” She giggled again and the bartender put another drink down in front of him. Jack bristled at the suggestion. He tried to look tough “I meant the Swindle Street guys. I’m a pretty big deal to them, you know. The ladies usually call me ‘oh god, yes!’”
Trixxie smiled at Jack and put her hand on his inner thigh under the bar “I think I’d like to call you that, too.” She handed Jack the drink from the bar in front of him. As he gulped it down she asked “So, where is the party at Jack? You said the guys don’t say it’s jumpin til you get there.” Jack couldn’t believe how fast this girl moved. The alcohol was telling him to seal the deal. “Sure baby. There’s an old storefront behind the customs house. It’s a front. Swindle Street has a Speakeasy underneath it. I was just headin there later if you’d care to join me?” Trixxie had what she needed.
“Of course, honey!” Trixxie said as she ordered another drink. “Just let me run to the ladies’ room and freshen up before we go. I won’t be long!” Jack took his drink from the bartender as he watched her disappear towards the bathrooms. This was shaping up to be a hell of a night.
Ten minutes went by. Then fifteen. Then thirty. Jack was suddenly starteled by the bartender knocking on the bar in front of him. “Yo pal, it’s been half an hour. You gonna order another drink or settle your tab?” Jack was confused “I was just waiting for my lady friend to get back from the bathroom.” he explained “She bought me those drinks.” The bartender scoffed “You mean the dame that I saw walk out the front door 25 minutes ago? She told me her gentleman caller would be paying her tab. She had our most expensive meal and wine pairing before you got here and was ordering drinks left and right since you arrived. Here’s your bill.”
The bartender handed Jack the tab and he nearly fainted when he saw the number at the bottom. He reluctantly reached for his wallet but was shocked to find nothing there. He suddenly remembered Trixxie touching his leg. The bartender looked at Jack impatiently “Well you gonna pay up, or is this about to get ugly, pal?” Jack gulped with dread. It was just his luck.
Outside the tavern, Senneca was hurrying down the boardwalk in the direction of the customs house. She counted the banknotes in Jacks wallet as she walked and after pocketing the cash, she threw the wallet into the bay below. It was nice of her new friends at Swindle Street to buy her that dinner they’d cost her earlier, but she wasn’t finished with them yet.
Senneca had prepared for this night since the day she’d been robbed. She’d learned everything she could about the Swindle Street Gang. The few locals who were willing to talk about it told her they were the largest of the crime syndicates who competed for control of Booty Bay and her lucrative waterfront. They ran smuggling and racketeering operations on the docks charging “taxes” on goods coming into port, collecting “dues” from the workers who made their livelihood loading and unloading cargo, “protection” from the various shops and businesses, and reaping the profits of the narcotics and prostitutes they supplied to the saliors coming into town on shore leave.
She’d learned that the goblin with the gold earring was a cappo named Tommy Hollowpoint. Tommy ran the speakeasy from which he commanded his crew of wiseguys. He was by no means the head of the Swindle Street syndicate, but he was a “made man”, untouchable. Getting one of his goons to spill his guts about the location of the hideout was the final piece of the puzzle.
As Senneca came close to the storefront where the speakeasy was hidden, she saw a group of wiseguys hurry out of the building and run in the direction of the Salty Sailor. Word must’ve reached them about Jack’s little financial problem. Senneca kept her head down and clutched the handle of the steak knife she’d stolen from her meal as they passed, but they ran by without giving her a second look.
She concealed the knife in her waistband as best she could, unbuttoned the top two buttons of her shirt, exposing her cleavage, and made her way in the door.
Inside the front, a guard stopped her “I don’t recognize you, dollface. What’re you doing here?” Senneca smiled flirtatiously and leaned her chest towards him. “My name’s Trixxie, I’m the new “working girl”. Tommy asked me to come by tonight so he could ‘sample the goods’” The guard’s eyes never met hers as he stared into the gap in her shirt “Perks of bein the boss.” he said as he grinned into her cleavage “Sure wouldn’t mind that job.” He shook his head “and here I am gaurdin doors. Alright, sweetheart, follow me.” The gaurd motioned for Senneca to follow him as he opened a trapdoor behind the store’s counter revealing a staircase.
Senneca followed the gaurd down the stairs and as they decended, the sound of lounge music filled her ears from a band playing on the opposite side of the room from the bar. The place was dimly lit. There were card games and dice games, and and a thick haze of smoke obscured the figures of wiseguys and callgirls getting aquainted at the tables.
The guard lead Senneca past the lounge, down a narrow hallway to a locked door. Her heart pounded in her chest, but she maintained an outwardly calm demeanor. The guard knocked on the door and a voice called from inside “What is it?” Senneca recognized the voice. It was him. “Sorry to bother you, boss.” said the guard “That new working girl you wanted to see is here.” The voice called back in responce “Working girl?” The door flew open and the familiar face of the goblin who’d robbed her appeared “I didn’t send for a-” he suddenly stopped as his eyes shifted from the gaurd and locked with Senneca’s, a look of surprise and confusion on his face. “I mean, uh, thank you, Terry.” Opening the door for Senneca, Tommy beckoned her inside. “Please, come in.”
_Next: Part 3: https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/rp-a-modest-proposal/189120_