After checking in with the Merchant's Guild, the party were shown to their accommodations for the next couple of days. The guild hall had many extra rooms for traveling merchants and any accompanying escorts they might have. The rooms were easily the most luxurious place any of them had stayed in besides Krysis, with silk sheets, tall ceilings even Zander couldn't reach, and a private bath.
The party helped Tobias unload the cargo, which consisted of blankets, clothes, and canned fruits and vegetables. All products unable to be naturally sourced in the middle of a lake. The Merchants guild makes this trip weekly, and in return, the town of Aquarine pays them with more seafood than any of the royal capitals could possibly eat in a week's time.
Now unloaded, the party have three days to themselves before the carriage is ready for the return trip. They take in the natural beauty of the lake in the mid morning sun, the stunning architecture of the buildings, and the lively bustle of the people. There was water almost as far as the eye could see in every direction, clear as glass, full to the brim with various sea creatures. The buildings were a soft azure color made from stone collected in the lake bed. The people were mostly human, but in recent times Merfolk had moved here from the continent of Rollito, forming the largest population in Octarvia.
"Friends of yours Krysis?" Felix asked Krysis, seeing a handful of Merfolk passing by.
"You never cease to make an ass of yourself Felix." Krysis replied. "I'm not from Aquarine, I came from the motherwaters like most of these folks did, where there's millions of us, to assume I know the only other Merfolk on this continent is completely asinine." Krysis continued.
"Well yes, but also no. They just seemed awfully interested in you as they passed by, like you looked familiar to them is all. Calm down." Felix responded.
"They did?" Krysis asked, seeming concerned.
"They did to me at least." Felix replied, before watching Krysis jump off the ledge and disappear into the water.
"Should we be concerned?" Roxie asked everyone else.
"Nah, I'm sure he'll turn up soon with an explanation." Felix replied. "Let's go out and enjoy ourselves." Felix continued.
The party spends the rest of the afternoon drinking and enjoying the finest seafood any of them had ever tried. Afterwards, Felix and Zander spend the rest of the evening playing pub games and gambling, while Roxie went shopping, and Dabi went for a stroll along the pier that surrounded the city. On his walk Dabi ran into the Merfolk from earlier that scared off Krysis. Both the group of Merfolk and Dabi passed a side eye glance towards each other as they crossed paths. He noticed there were three of them, all average build, bald, and of the same variant as Krysis. One of the Merfolk spoke up as Dabi passed them. "Evening Dabi." The first Merfolk said casually.
Dabi froze in his tracks, how did they know his name? They all four turned around together slowly. "We're old friends of Krysis, do you know where we could find him?" The second Merfolk said, smiling.
"Why would I know where he is? We're barely acquaintances." Dabi rebutted.
"Oh sure, sure. Well if you happen to run into him again, let him know Diego, Sylus, and Tito are in town." Diego said, pointing to him and the first two Merfolk. "We haven't seen him in many years, in fact knowing he was already here, we brought along a gift for him from his friend Ross Aberdean, they were real close back on Rollito." Diego continued, smiling.
Dabi now realized why they knew his name, these three were mercenaries famous in Rollito, under the payroll of Ross Aberdean, the most powerful crime boss in the eastern hemisphere of the world. Dabi had never met Ross or his three blades, but knew them very well by name, and guessed his reputation preceded him too.
"Yea, I'll be sure to pass the message along." Dabi said, smiling. "That's not something I'd want him to miss." Dabi continued, before turning back around and finishing his stroll along the pier.
Dabi thought to himself. What kind of past did fancy pants have? Dabi eventually made his way to the southernmost pier where he noticed in the dark, a scared Merfolk artificer hiding in some shadows. "Evening Krysis." Dabi said, approaching the shadowy corner.
"Krysis isn't here." Krysis said, in a muffled impersonation of someone else.
Dabi reached into the shadow and pulled Krysis out. "I have excellent dark vision, you know?" Dabi said, smugly. "Let's go join the others." Dabi continued.
"If I must." Krysis protested.
"I didn't hear you give him our message." Diego said, from the waters as he, Sylus, and Tito jump up onto the pier.
Before Dabi or Krysis could respond, Sylus and Tito threw Dabi off the pier while Diego grabbed Krysis. The three of them then took Krysis to an abandoned warehouse on the east side of the city and tied him to a chair. At this moment, unaware Dabi didn't know how to swim, Roxie who happened to walk by shortly after, saw a small child drowning in the lake, so she threw down her shopping bags, and dove in to save him.
Once back on the pier, makeup mostly washed off, Dabi thanked her by name. At first she was confused, but then she realized who it was she saved, although she was still confused why he was drowning in the first place. Dabi began to explain his evening to her, before they made their way back to the pub Felix and Zander were hanging out in to fill them in.
In the warehouse with Krysis, the three mercenaries began torturing him slowly and painfully. "Where's Ross's money Krysis?" Sylus asked, sliding a blade along his hand before digging the tip into Krysis's shoulder, causing Krysis to scream out in pain.
"Tsk tsk Krysis, no yelling." Tito said calmly, as he wagged his finger at Krysis before grabbing a nearby fish carcass, and shoving it into Krysis mouth. "That should help with the yelling, but how will we hear where Ross's money is?" Tito inquired, before grinning.
They continued to torture Krysis while the rest of the party searched the dark city for him, questioning anyone who still happened to be awake. After a while Krysis agreed to talk. "How much do I owe him?" Krysis asked, before spitting out some blood.
"I'd say with interest." Diego paused, twirling a blade against his finger pretending to think it over. "You're up to around 35 platinum, sound about right boys?" Diego inquired to the group.
"I have it, let me get it for you, I have it." Krysis mumbled through the blood in his mouth.
"Oh, he has it?" Diego said before cutting off one of Krysis fingers as Krysis bit down on his lower lip to keep from screaming.
"Everyone has it Krysis, you think you're the first person to tell us they have the money." Diego replied.
"I do, I took up jobs as an adventurer to pay Ross back, check my coin purse." Krysis said heavily, nodding his head towards the left side of his tunic.
Diego took his blade and cut open Krysis shirt, revealing his coin purse. Diego acted like he was weighing it in his hand before opening it up revealing at least 50 platinum in total. "Yea I think this will suffice." Diego said. "Since you're pretending to be noblebred and educated, do you know what happens when you cut the granular valve on a Merperson?" Diego asked Krysis.
Krysis eyes widened as he shook his head no, before Diego pressed his blade against the granular valve in the back of Krysis neck. "I'd say you have about five minutes to live." Diego said grinning. "Give Samantha our regards when you see her with Caeli." Diego whispered into Krysis ear before slicing the valve.
Krysis broke down in tears, realizing his actions caused them to torture his beloved the same way they did him. In his last moments, he thought back on all the people he lied to, all the people he hurt, how he was a fraud. All he ever wanted was to be revered and regarded, but he was low brow gutter trash from a poor family in Rollito. So he borrowed money from a powerful crime boss to trick people into thinking he was of a higher station, with fancy clothes and trinkets. It worked for a little while, till it was time to collect, and he fled the continent, leaving the only one who loved him before the money alone and heart broken.
With little time to spare, the party broke into the warehouse and found him, bleeding to death. Roxie began to heal the wound, she managed to stop the bleeding, but Krysis had already fallen unconscious and lost a significant amount of blood. Zander picks him up and they rush around town for any kind of medical building, they find none and bring him back to their lodging to at least rest in a bed, still unconscious, they leave him there for the night.