Open The Hound and the Duck

[Quint Caravel]

36th of Winter, 513 AV
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One day in the middle Quint the Fence was standing at one his locations, a street corner next to an actual fence he had painted in bright shades of azure. He was bundled up in heavy winter clothing and most of his clientele were people his boss sent his way, along with various muscular mooks and goons designed to make sure no one robbed anyone else.

Shuffling through the snow, Stinky, a low-level thief that he sometimes did business with came up to Quint. "Hey, mate."

Quint nodded at the man. "What's up, Stinky?"

"I was wondering what you could give me this. It fell off the back of a wagon." Stinky handed Quint a metal flute.

Quint pondered the musical instrument. "But isn't this yours? I've seen you with one just like it. I'm a fence, not a pawn. You're not going to be wanting this back?"

Stinky shook his head. "That's not mine," he lied rather unconvincingly. "Anyway, it's been a cold winter and food's been hard to come by for some reason. I need all the Mizas I can get."

Quint shrugged. "All right. I'll give you 10 Mizas for it."

"How about 20?"

Quint shook his head. "12."

"22."

"That's higher than 20. Anyway.. how about 14?"

"12?"

"Done." Stinky was apparently terrible with math, but Quint did not care. He was a fence, not a charity worker. "12 Mizas, just for you."

"Thanks mate!"

"Sure. Anything else going on?"

Stinky nodded. "I heard this odd rumor. Supposedly, some guy killed another guy the other day. Both were big-wigs in the gangs, from what I hear. Looks like a gang war is starting up, or something. Guy named 'Dog' or something like that."

Quint nodded. "That's very interesting. I'll tell you what-- since you need the cash, I'll pay you if you find anything else out for me. Anything at all. Long as there's some truth to it. Here's an extra Miza for expenses."

Stinky pocketed the coin, then went on his way.

Quint himself was a bit too low-level to really care about such things, but it never hurt to have a contact on the streets. After all, Stinky might throw some more business his way.

A few bells later, his contact Blutus mentioned hearing a similar rumor, and his sister said she overheard two guys talking about it as well. Quint now became a bit more curious, and while he still felt that it was probably too high-level for him to really care about, he wanted to know what everyone else was talking about. He started telling all the people that he bought from or sold to that he would pay money not just for goods but also for information, the value of the coin commiserate with the value of the rumor.

The next time he sat down at the Pig's Whistle with the guys, he told them all the same thing. Any information about this 'Dog' guy or anyone else, he wanted to hear about it.