Scalvoris: Gunvorton
3rd Ashan, 720
3rd Ashan, 720
There was a spring in Tio's step as he skipped through the outskirts of Gunvorton, whistling a cheerful little tune to himself.
Today was a good day.
What wasn't there to love? The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and he was on official council business. Okay normally that last one wouldn't be a good thing, but today's business was an exception. During the last council meeting it had been decided that they were going to take action against the Logging Consortium by finding evidence that they were a front for a criminal group called "The Consortium" and using it as an excuse to rip the company apart and seize all their finances for the national treasury. Tio had remembered an incident two arcs ago where he'd almost been kidnapped by a group called The Consortium, and while escaping had passed through a network of underground tunnels used as a storehouse. And so he'd been granted a divison of eight fire troops and tasked with seeing if they could uncover those tunnels again and find any evidence. that The Consortium were connected to The Logging Consortium. In short his council business this time would actually be fun for a change!
He led the way through the forests with Morgana at his side, and with the company of fire troops behind him. The leader of the company, a pretty young aukari named Nia, was a Defiance mage with an affinity for earth. The entrance to the tunnel he'd escaped from two arcs ago had been closed up and hidden, but with her abilities they'd be able to detect the tunnel network beneath the ground and either find a new way in or create their own. A few of the soldiers had been confused by Tio's joyful mood, and had eventually chalked it up to him having a chance to get revenge on The Consortium for trying to enslave him. They were wrong though; revenge wasn't the reason why Tio was so happy. It was because this Consortium group had turned out to be so damn useful!
Tio hadn't really remembered the Consortium until a few days ago. Sure he remembered being kidnapped and fighting an undead guy called Willy, that wasn't the sort of thing one tended to forget. But that The Consortium were behind it? Yeah, that had been forgettable. They were nothing more than a name with a few empty threats dropped behind it; just a criminal gang with a handful of mages. They'd talked a big game about hunting Tio to the ends of the earth, but in the past two arcs Tio hadn't seen hair nor hide of them and hadn't exactly been hiding himself. What was a group like that to a man who had tricked gods and sailed to the land of the dead? He dealt with jumped up gangsters who thought they were all that because they had a drop of supernatural power on a seasonal basis. In short they were easy prey.
Easy, but oh so convenient. With the big changes to the Scalvoris council recently it was clear that the public needed some proof that their new leaders were competent. Kura needed a big win, something she could hold up to the masses as an example that under her leadership things were getting done, and this Consortium group was exactly what they were looking for. A criminal gang that had been enslaving people, trying to undermine the government, and had been behind the attack on the docks? They were literally the textbook enemy. When they took them down they'd be able to prove they were storng, steal all the Consortium's wealth and the public would adore them for it! Truly nothing brought people together quite like a common enemy.
"Okay, as I recall the tunnel entrance was somewhere around here." He declared, looking back to Nia. "Can you sense anything below the ground nearby?"