The Wicked Seeds Sown in the Garden of Uruk (Unmaking intro quest)

Fenix

The Curse god of Moriya Shrine
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Sutor placed both feet back up on the table as she relaxed. The kiddo hadn’t even been gone a few hours before the office got a call, and as she took a sidelong glance at Dexter the frog, she gave a grin. “That’s a bit quicker than I expected, eh, Dexter?”

The Goddess incarnate got up with a casual smile. All business, she figured, but it left her a little pressed; she was just getting the briefcase ready and a few files on the transportation project cleaned up when she got the call.

“V… Sutor? You got a visitor.”

“Yes, I know, Flavia. Giovanni?” Sutor asked with an amused grin. She was happy to meet up with him, but she hoped it wasn’t to re-negotiate a contract. Or, worse, that his daddy had found out and sent him back with his tail between his legs. Although, then again that had opportunities of its own-

“Nah, it’s… Garret you said, right?”

Sutor raised an eyebrow at that. What in the world was Garrett needing her for. Had he been pressured by the mafia to give a better offer? Or was this unrelated. He’d been very quick to let Sutor know he was more than capable of handling most things on his own, so if he needed to talk with her, something very off-the-rails - pardon her own pun - was going on.

“...Sure, send him in, then.” Sutor sighed. She hoped this wasn’t going to be linked, but two people showing up unannounced at the same time rarely wasn’t in stories like this. The assassin put their superhuman skills into hiding the briefcase she had ready and tidying the desk of unnecessary project files before the man walked in. Wouldn’t do to spoil the surprise for Garrett early, after all!

The fusion had just managed to regain a casual air of boredom and flippantry as Garret opened the door. The speed with which the engineer forced the door open, along with the visible beads of sweat along his face, almost caused Sutor to break character. Man had been spooked, and Sutor’d already figured out that wasn’t an easy feat when it came to Garret of Vro.

“We got problems!”

“What, looking for more money? What happened? Wheel broke? Did you get robbed? Were the girl scout cookies more fattening than you thought?” Sutor taunted, knowing this might be her last moment to get a jab in before the conversation got serious.

“S’not a money thing. We got some underground tunnels hit.”

“Oh. And that doesn’t make this easier?” Sutor asked. “What are we talking, giant scorpions?”

“Try black cloaks and old magic.” Garrett managed, swearing. “One of ‘em came at me. Kept punchin’ em, but he kept yelling something and trying to drive this…”

A knife was slid over across the desk, covered in dried blood.

“Some o’ that’s mine. Not all.” Garrett explained with his eyebrows stuck together.

“Okay. You have my attention.” Sutor managed, shifting her elbows onto the desk as a hawkish look came over. “So cultists, you said? They got any clue you got one of their own?”

“Nah, slit his throat before he could give us away. I… I had to.”

“-Of course ya did! Don’t feel bad for protecting your own life! But I’m guessin’ that means you had some disposal to do?” Sutor asked.

“He’s bagged up at my place, but…”

“Say no more. Next time though, crush their windpipe with those giant hands of yours, less blood to clean ok?” Sutor responded. “Don’t worry, I know how to get rid o’ one of those. We’ll go do that after I deal with another problem.” She’d add.

“What about the cultists still in there?”

Sutor would give an exaggerated shrug. “I can let Sigmund know and make sure they pay homage to the proper gods but right now, they’re not actively threatening us. And once I clean up our little friend, they won’t have anything to say.”

The big man’s face lit up like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “They came at me with a knife!”

“If we go after every group that utilizes crazy, badly-dressed men with knives, it’ll be years before we can finish the job. If this ends up being a bigger problem than some Demon-worshipping LARPers, we’ll worry about it then.”

“So you’re not even going to look into it?”

“I didn’t say that - but right now, you’ve got other tunnels to work on. I’m busy getting our cash flow ready, our stabby little friends can wait. Once I’ve got the time I’ll go pay ‘em a visit myself. Or a beating, really depends on how they wanna play it-.”

“Three more men are here to see you.”

Sutor gave a look to Garrett. “Alright, we’ll talk afterwards-”

“Are you trying to get rid-”

“Garrett, you’re nervous, you’re out of it, and with what we’ll be doing later, we’ll have plenty of time to chat without tipping someone off to your little accident. We’ll go handle it once I’m done with this set of morons. Now go..” Sutor added with an affectionate smirk.


“...Fine! Call me when you’re done! I have work to do.” Garrett yelled, throwing his hands in the air.

“Perfect! We’ll meet at the Warm Sunlight Cafe.”

Garrett looked back with a look of confusion, raising an eyebrow high

Sutor gave a chuckle and a shrug. “If I pick a pub, everyone will assume we’re up to some kind of no-good. People tend to forget the malice of tea drinkers pretty fast. Well, at least in one of our experiences.” Sutor would add, cocking her head. “Now shoo! Go! Scoot~”

Garrett was quick to head out, raising his hand to give a casual wave behind him as goodbye.

Sutor took a deep breath, already readying herself for whatever nonsense Giovanni had planned. In truth, Garrett’s words concerned her greatly, but she’d much rather the man be annoyed than devastated. She’d made it clear that it wasn’t a big worry, at least, for her, and the hopes were that his mind was currently on other tasks right now. Comforting the big guy was more a ‘later, maybe’ thing. Once they’d dealt with the issue.

Sutor leaned back in her chair and let out a deep sigh, feeling an uncomfortable tenseness in her usually relaxed shoulders.

The tranquility lasted only for a moment, before raw, voiceless information blasted through her ears.

The Half-god stifled a scream with no small effort as her head slammed forward, impacting straight into the desk. The assassin gripped onto the desk as she was assaulted by sudden knowledge, hidden truths becoming plain as day and the barest grasp of something greater brushing against their consciousness.

Darkseid. His cult. His danger. His role against the planet - against all planets! Sutor resisted biting her own tongue - not that their healing factor would really let that cause much damage - and took a deep breath.

“...Helluva hangover.” Sutor muttered, as the information crashed through her head. Suwako had been used to sudden information dumps - her worshippers often shared bits and pieces of themselves with her, after all - but this was a step above the norm. The last time Sutor recalled anything like this hitting either of her pieces…

The image of a wind goddess floated through her mind, bringing a certain melancholy with it, and Sutor forced that train of thought to a grinding halt. This wasn’t the time or the genre.

As the mixture of understandings ground to a halt, Sutor rubbed her temples, badly wishing for a moment to sort this all out.

“Miss Sutor!”

The fused assassin looked up at the newest entrant and gave a short sigh as she realized she wasn’t getting that second for a little while yet. “Hey, Giovanni. Can I help you? You haven’t spent it all in one place already, have you? I-”

The fusion started blinking, her eyes suddenly dry and scratchy. Sutor’s senses aligned as she immediately noticed how… off the whole room was. Something between her enhanced senses and the innate divinity in her being was giving off alarm bells about the two guys with Giovanni. The two looked human, outwardly, if built like trucks. Their shades were unassuming and the suits were immaculate, but the body language was absolutely all wrong.

There was a stillness to a well-trained bodyguard -a calm confidence that was exuded through their body. The result was a relaxed posture built off of years of training to be a fighting machine. They might pose to make someone understand to leave their client alone, but they didn’t try to go out of their way to be scary - they were simply scary, and they knew it.

At a glance, this was not the stillness Sutor saw. The breathing was too uniform, the body far too still, the eyes not staring forward with confidence, but glazed over behind those sunglasses. Whatever happened to these ones, they were lacking any confidence or lack thereof. The souls within those bodies didn’t resemble a humans in the slightest!

She suppressed the instinct to simply deal with the two right now - looking across the two bodyguards, they didn’t pose immediate danger to her by themselves. No, it’d be better to wait and see where this conversation was going. Her own instincts encouraged to see how deep this disease had spread, before treating it.

“I’ll cut straight to the point. My father’s taken a very sudden interest in you and… what we’re doing here.” Giovanni would add. His voice was higher, faster than before.

Sutor followed every movement, every twitch as she tried to read just what Giovanni wasn’t saying. Luckily for her, he wasn’t interested in hiding it from her, either.

Sutor had a few questions, such as how daddy dearest found out, but dad clearly wasn’t giving junior a good position to talk, what with these two big, burly gorillas, so she kept her questions restricted to what worked.

“Positive, I assume?”

“You could say that.” Giovanni would add. “He has sent me here to invite you to his office, and make a very large deal. One that could be incredibly profitable, for both of us, as long as it’s done right.”

Sutor quirked an eyebrow at that. The kid was squirming in his seat. Something was making him very nervous, and she figured it had to do with daddy dearest. She was essentially being asked for help here - though it looked like her neck had suddenly entered the market, too.

“Alright, I’m listening… name the time and the place.” Sutor breathed out, purposefully giving out an annoyed air.

“Oh, he wants us to head directly there, if you catch my meaning.” Giovanni added, nudging his eyes over to a small painting just behind Sutor’s head.

Snipers, then. Daddy meant business.

“...Well, with an invitation like that, how can I refuse?” Sutor would ask. “Let’s get going, then. Time waits for no man - or woman -, and all that.”
 

Victor Wolfe

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With a flick of a switch on their desk, the former Empress buzzed through to her apprentice, lest she act too rashly and ruin the fun.

“Oh Flavia honey, I will be stepping out with these fine gentlemen to discuss our business agreements, could you leave a bottle of that special vintage we found the other day, it would be most rude to arrive without a gift.” There was a pause on the other side of the line before the upbeat and melodic voice on the other side answered.

“Oh, the special vintage of course! And should I get dressed up and come along for the party?”

“Hm, I fear that this is a very exclusive party, you go out tonight, take some gold and enjoy the high life maybe invite some of our boys out too, you have earned it!”

Flavia paused for a moment before her usual cheery demeanour returned “Yes boss! Will meet you in the lobby to hand over the vintage and then will hit the town!”

Giovanni looked down at his watch tapping the face letting out a small frustrated sigh. “You don’t seem to be taking this very seriously you know Mrs Sutor?” a vain in his forehead tensing as his foot tapped against the tiled floor of the office.

“Oh, on the contrary, I am taking this as seriously as I need to, if your father wanted me dead, he wouldn’t have sent his baby boy and heir to collect me, so drop the aura of control you think you have boy. I will speak with your father but Miss Sutor Woyria doesn’t waste her time talking to messenger rats that cant conduct their own business!” Sutor waxed with malicious glee as she walked towards the mobster, the vein in his forehead pulsing as he glared at the assassin.

Not saying a word in response the mafia heir turned and kicked the door leaving a dent in the fancy woodwork pattern that had adorned the office door, Sutor frowning as she followed sandwiched between the two large emotionless goons that Gio had brought with him.

The journey to the lobby was uneventful with none of the three mafioso willing to give Sutor any more ammunition to go on another monologue, Giovanni seething at the disrespect he had been shown. The tension dying when a half-pint assistant rushed towards the trio, tripping over her feet. Gios face flashed with panic as Sutor rushed forwards catching the falling Flavia.

“Have to be more careful with your footwork there, not even hit the town and already falling into people like a drunken fool” Sutor teased, lightly wrapping their fist against her forehead as they lifted their student to her feet, taking the bottle of wine from her hands as she chuckled, sticking her tongue out before giving a quick bow and rushing out the door.

“Students eh?” Gio let out a sigh as he reached into his jacket, placing the end of a silencer at the goddesses back.

“Just get in the damn car!” Feeling the cold metal of a barrel pressed into their back and two heavy hands pressing down on their arms Sutor complied, playing along with their little game.

Shuffled quickly from the cold night air into the back of what Sutor assumed to be a decently fancy car, with a shiny black paint job and tinted out windows. Once everyone was in a loud click as the locks activated.

“Ah sandwiched between two big dudes in the back of a shady car, with a skeevy stereotype filming from the front, every young independent women’s dream!” Giovanni slammed his hand on the dashboard spooking his driver, the vehicle swerving as he struggled to keep control.

“Just shut up already! We just walked into your office and kidnapped you with no resistance, what else do you think we could do to you? Show some fucking respect!” Sutor rolled her eyes and smiled as she focused on the path being taken, her hand in her pocket as she did so, eventually the car pulling up to a gate, the guards giving a nod towards Giovanni as they drove up a well-maintained road with shaped hedges and marble statues covering a sizable garden. Eventually reaching a mansion with a fleet of similar cars parked outside, guards with Tommy guns stationed at each of the entrances.

The group hurried inside where a new guard quickly patted down Sutor, removing all the weapons that she had on her the guard eying up the silver blade.

“Nice knife, maybe I will keep this one.”

“You should see the other one, must have left it at home, but be careful with playing with it, tis extremely sharp.”The now “helpless” maiden chuckled as she was once again lead to a new room. The air thick with cigar smoke as a circular table of old men in suits turned their attention to their new guests, at the head of the table an older gentleman, clearly Giovanni’s father, refined, but weathered from years of having to manage a criminal empire his voice was accented, but soft and inviting.

“Ah, is this our new business partner? Miss Woyria was it? Please, do have a seat, we thought with the offer that you have made it would be best to discuss it with some other, key members of our organisation.” The aura around the goddess changed as Gios guards let go of her arms, a warm smile spreading across the goddesses face as she gave a polite curtsy before taking a seat at the table.

“Why of course kind sir, I would not want my offer to cause internal strife in such a close-knit family organisation. Although I must ask, were the terms I offered your son disagreeable? If so then he could have delivered that message himself surely?” Sutor questioned.

“No, not in principle, the terms you offered based on what my boy has told me made sense and the deal seemed agreeable, But the boy also shouldn’t be agreeing to big deals like that himself. Particularly when it comes to strangers. We wanted to get a look at you and find out if you are someone that we can truly do business with.”

Looking around the room the various capos and mafia lieutenants eyed up the goddess, some of them showing the scars and marks of a long life of crime, others, likely those that were more involved in running and fudging numbers looked less comfortable, an air of paranoia at having so many big figures in one place.

“Tell me Miss Woyriya, why did you want to do business with us, you must know that the sort of deal you propose whilst certainly profitable, could cause a lot of, negative attention from important parties.”

“Power, that is why, can’t draw negative attention from the authorities when you control those authorities” a smug grin crossed her lips as the rest of the room seemed stunned.

“Oh don’t act like you have never thought of the possibility, one of the best things about monarchies are that if you can get one of your own on the throne, then you can pretty much do what you want for the rest of their life span so long as you keep them sweet. But to do that I needed influence over all walks of city life, including the criminal parts. I want to rule this city, nay, this planet. And if I have to spend a small fortune fighting crime at home that reduces my options for the future. So why not turn you guys into a net profit rather than a loss.”

The mafia whispered amongst themselves as one of the members of the table spoke up.

“So you intend to make us official partners in government?” Sutor laughed out loud.

“Respectfully no! As much as I accept that crime is inevitable it will still be a crime, I don’t mind whispers that I have shady dealings with some companies that people think are fronts. No one can ever know that I am directly involved. No instead my help will be in providing infrastructure that you can use to not get caught, and potentially leaking out patrol routes. Small things that will keep you guys ahead of the curve, perhaps even help put the squeeze on your competition. And of course, what you do in other cities is totally out of my control.”

The Don pondered this for a while the room silent as the rest of the mafia family awaited his judgment.

“You certainly seem to have given this a lot of thought, but what about when people get in your way? Not everyone is going to be as willing to listen to your words as we are, after all, Uruk does have a popular monarch. Do you have the stomach for the amount of death that may need to follow that change in power?”

“I don’t carry around a knife for decoration if people need to die for me to achieve my ambitions then so be it, people are going to die with or without me acting and if you truly believe in your cause, then you should be willing to kill for it.”
The Mafia Don let out a low chuckle and clap, the rest of the crew joining in, Sutor smiling before her joy was cut short.

“Well, Miss Sutor, we agree with that, before we wrap up our business we would like to show you a presentation on the benefits of our lord Darkseid and why we feel as if you would make a great addition to our wonderful organisation!” At that announcement Giovanni stared down his father, questioning his judgment, turning and storming out of the room, clearly not impressed that the woman that had insulted him so thoroughly was now being invited to join their brotherhood.

Fuck this is that cloak, dagger and magic cult that is messing with my tunnels. I need a drink Sutor coughed to draw the rooms attention. “If I may before we start the presentation, I did bring a vintage from my homeland that I would be most honoured if we could share!”

One of the more paranoid looking members of the group stared at the blonde “and will you be sharing in this drink?”

“Of course I will, don’t be silly, it’s a good vintage so why not enjoy some myself!” Sutor laughed, the tension in the room dissipating as goblets were handed out. Looking into the glass as the presentation started Sutor considered summoning back their knife, as that would be less painful than the old-timey video on the projector.


~***~

On a nearby roof sniper stared down his scope, a pretty young businesswoman that the Dons son had wanted him to keep an eye on, the assassin yawned as he checked the time, the meeting had been going on for over an hour and both he and his target seemed bored out of their mind.

Still, he knew better than to be caught napping on the job, not wanting to wake up with a pair of cement shoes should anything go wrong he gripped his rifle and continued to stare down the scope. The target’s eyes wandering towards the window, almost as if they knew they were being watched.

A chill went down his spine as the eye of his prey twitched as if to wink towards him but that couldn’t be right.

“Get a grip, Garry, she is a small business owner, how fuckin dangerous can she be?” he laughed to himself before he felt a small, feminine hand reach over his mouth.

“You would be surprised sir!”

He felt an intense sharp pain in his side as something entered his side, a wave of energy passing through his mid-section as his legs fell away from under him. His last sight being of a small blonde girl with a frown holding a golden dagger.


“Why did it cut him in half?!? Is that what these things do when? So Sutor really has been holding back all this time, I need them to teach me that trick!” Flavia’s frown changed to glee as she wiped cleaned the blade and opened up her phone.

“ Dave, I have the vantage point, sending you and the boys the positions of the guards, move in quiet, please.”

“What do we do with anyone we find?”

“Hm, hostages, rescue, anyone that looks important or unarmed, capture alive, kill the rest.”

“...”

“Hello, Dave? Did you get that?”

“Capture? Alive?”

“Yeah I don’t know what’s got into them but Sutor was very insistent that if anything like this should happen we are to avoid killing.” Flavia sighed as she kicked the lower half of the sniper out of his chair, taking his place.

“I mean, sure I can certainly do that, but why?”

“Dave, honey, stick to playing checkers whilst we stick to chess” There was a pause on the other end of the line. Flavia having to hold back a giggle, she had killed two men today, or so she thought.

“Sutor finds me more endearing than you, bye!” with a click Flavia had to resist letting out a scream in rage, her cheeks flushing red as she aimed the sniper at the approaching guardsman, she could easily take the shot, but knew that her master would be furious. Dropping the weapon she decided to see how things played out. Her emotions were still tender from the beating she just received.


~***~


“And that is why we should all worship Darkseid before he ends us and judges us unworthy to serve by his side in the afterlife! I know that its a lot to process, but how do you feel about it? Are you in?” The don Exclaimed, judging by the tired eyes of some of his Capos it was clear that they also had seen the presentation one too many times and Sutor was struggling to stay awake. Taking a deep breath Sutor straightened up.

“So let me get this straight, you, my dear Don, a man of cunning and guile, but also a sense of honour in how things should be done. Come to this city, and make a life for yourself and rise to the top of criminal society. Someone who embodies what it means to struggle and advance within humanity, have just given up on all that?”

The room got quiet, deathly so as the Dons eyes turned serious.

“Given up? No, I have just devoted myself to a higher cause! What do you mean given up!”

“A higher cause? Gal’skap and the search for forbidden knowledge is a higher cause, protection of the earth with Suwako would be a higher cause. Gilgamesh and uniting the world under one banner would be a higher cause! No, what you represent is the worst of humanity, the part that when defeated rolls into a ball to lick its wounds whilst waiting for the comfort of death!”

The Don slammed his fist on the table. “ If death is inevitable then why not seek comfort in it, worship it! It’s what makes all of us the same in the end, no one escapes it! All I am doing is worshipping a certainty. What’s wrong with that!”

“A certainty eh? I know plenty of people that have escaped the reapers call, I mean if the reaper or your Darkseid or any other force of death actually did their jobs I probably would never need to speak to Demetri Mallus again, I think the reaper still isn’t sure where all the sand in his hourglass keeps coming from!” Sutor chuckled much to the fury of the mafia around her.

“And who do you think you are, some rat businesswoman to come into my home and tell me about how wrong we are!” Sutor grinned, leaning forward she hopped onto the table, circling to keep the mafia members in view.

“Why that is a good question, my friend. I am what you should be worshipping, a fusion between a goddess of nature, and the pinnacle of human potential, I guess you could say that I am a goddess of natures drive, the will to survive and grow, not to cower in the face of death but to laugh in the face of it, I am Sutor Woyria, goddess of potential, now bow!”

The room was filled with loud thuds as one by one the mafia leaders dropped their faces hitting the desk, the drug in their wine finally kicking in as Sutor herself fell backwards, the sound of the doors being busted open as the familiar face of Dave appeared like a manly valkyrie on the horizon.

“What happened?” he questioned as some of the other servants went to secure the rest of the mansion.

“They bowed to their new god” Sutor giggled.

“Well, that’s nice, are they? Dead?”

“No, just sleeping, chain them up, we are going to march them down to the guards once daylight hits”

“Why not do it now?”

“Because, I want everyone to see one of the more infamous Mafia families being marched to jail, good publicity for us, and two… Never mind”

“Two?”

“Ugh… I also drank the wine, I can’t move for a little while longer…”
 
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