Chapter 1

Brena Sizemore is a teenaged girl. In other words, she is a daddy’s worst nightmare come true if he happens to be the head of the local thieves guild. He had taken this mantle when called and asked to do so. This was not his first choice of professions when he retired from the Merc’s Company, but a necessity to save the guild from total destruction by the local ruler, Duke Greymont. Now to be fair the Duke is a good ruler at this point in time. He is also firm believer in the rule law and order. He knew the guilds of this sort had their place in every society, but also that it required firm limits to keep then from getting out of hand. It was the former leader of the guild that had over stepped and brought down the wrath of the Duke on the Planes Guard Chapter of the Thieves Guild.

Grevus Dandara had allowed his thieves to run wild on the city, stealing and robbing without want or warrant. It was when one thief had broken into the Dukes home and stolen several important state items that the Duke had had to crack down on the guild, hard. At first all attempts to arrest Grevus failed as many of the royal guard had been on the payroll of the thieves to turn a blind eye to their activities. The Duke rounded up several of the turncoats and had them skinned alive in front of the rest of the force. That event settled the matter and within a week, Grevus and his family had been captured. He had Grevus and his family publicly executed by fire in the cities main market square to drive the point home that rampant crime would no longer be tolerated. The guild would remain leaderless for over two years before a new man arrived to take over the leadership to restore order to the out of control chaos within the Thieves Guild of Planes Guard City.

Anson Sizemore had just returned to the city of Planes Guard after several decades of being part of a very powerful group of mercenary adventurer’s, the Merc’s Company The last mission though had taken too many lives and friends away. He and the rest of the company had decided it was time to go their separate ways and retire from the hard life they had all been living. When he first arrived in Planes Guard, he stayed at a local tavern and Inn, the Wayfarers Guard. He was able to quickly make friends and contacts within one of the groups of thieves that had banded together. He later met the owner of another tavern and moved there as it had been a major meeting point for the guild before its fall into chaos. In a few months time he and the owner, a buxom red headed woman by the name of Drenda had married. With his money he had earned from his time in Merc’s, he helped pay off all the debt’s the tavern had with the local banking guilds. This made him part owner and he was happy with the way his life was going. He and Drenda had fallen in love with each other and soon had the proof of their mutual feelings for one another, Brena.

It was a few months before Brena was born when Anson was contacted by one of the few former leaders of the thieves guild to ask for a meeting. Anson wasn’t sure what these men could have wanted from him. Anson was curious so he agreed to meet with them as they had requested.

Anson had set aside a back corner of the tavern for the meeting and Drenda made sure nobody could get close enough to listen in. “Anson, we know of your general history as a major player in the overthrowing of the old Lich Hurgon up north. What we need here is help from a strong leader.” He paused and sipped the wine Anson had served the group of sad looking men. It had been agreed to meet at the Inn. “We need a leader for the guild as a whole. Things are about to get out of hand as there isn’t any solid control to keep the freelancers from taking anything they want.”

He glanced around the room and seeing nobody else was listening, went on quietly. “Several men recently appeared in the city and have started to blackmail shop owners. Anson, a number of young woman have also disappeared.” The spokesman gulped when he saw the hardening in Anson’s eyes. “It is suspected slavers have moved into the outskirts of the city as well. The others are threatening to burn out shops and homes unless they pay fully half the weekly take.” He saw a look on Anson’s face at the mention of slavers and went on.

“They’ve already burned out one butcher shop. Worse though is they raped his wife and young daughter.” He took a deep breath, lowered his eyes before going on, “She was only twelve, she bled to death from the damage they did to her. Nobody has seen his wife since then.” Now he looked up with a look of pleading, “Please, help us regain control of the guild and take out these monsters, because we know that they plan to visit you in a few more days.”

Anson stared at them, a deep frown clouding on his face. They could see that he was not happy with events, especially the news of the girls fate. Rape was one thing, but raping a child to death was not accepted, not by the Thieves, the Duke, and him in particular. And Slavers, he would hunt them down personally and deal with them. “So you want me to take over as leader of the Thieves Guild chapter here in Planes Guard.”

“Yes,” whispered the spokesman for the guild.

“And you say I am the next major target on their list?” His eyes had grown colder and harder with each passing second. His voice sending chills of fear down the spines of the men before him.

“Yes sir.”

“I will do it, but with conditions.” Anson said in a voice cold as death.

“Name them.” The Thief had a look of both relief and worry. What could he be asking, he wondered.

“When I take control, my word is law.” He stared at them, hard eyes boring into theirs. He drew a dagger and drove it into the tables surface in front of the terrified men. “No freelancing, none, period. Any caught will die that night. All operations must be pre-approved by the Day and Nightmaster. This way no out of control robbery can be allowed to restart.” He sipped at his wine then went on. “The Thieves Guild in Fairhams Cove is the model we will use. That leader runs his like a major business. We will set up the same way and anybody that gets out of line will suffer the wrath of the city guard, if I see fit to leave them anything to deal with.”

“Anson, that means we will have quite a few one handed pickpockets right away.” said one of the other men.

“No, we will have a bunch of one handed corpses wash ashore down river. Once the city guard has their way, I will have mine to drive home the point.” said Anson.

Anson watched the spokesman rise and pace the room as he considered the conditions in question. “Their are many that will not accept those rules sir, but we will send word out. I can assume this means you will take on the role then?” Stopping his pacing and looking Anson in the eyes.

Anson took another sip of wine his wife had brought him at the start of the meeting before going on. “Yes, now who are these monsters that need dealing with, and where can I find them?” He found out and had a small map of the streets in the area of the hideouts drawn up and as much described of the buildings as the men knew.

The next morning several warehouse’s were opened by the city guard to find the bodies of dozens men and women. In one, they found several young girls chained to the walls, awaiting sale in a hidden market. All the dead were on the wanted list for high crimes by the city. A single note was found at the site of the worst slaughter. The Duke was not pleased with this. He had hoped to wipe out the thieves once and for all. Now a new, strong leader would put things in order.

I am now in charge of the Thieves Guild Chapter of Planes Guard. This is the start of the house cleaning that is long overdue. Inform the guards that are on the take that they are no longer employed by this Chapter House. Inform the Duke that I have called a halt on all criminal operation for a few weeks until I can get things in order, but don’t get too used to the peace and quiet.