She bowed in respect. The first time in their whole interaction she showed some level of humility, “my name is Violeta Montassier. I am a knight from the Paladins of the Runebound Vigil.” Her voice teeming with anticipation and eagerness, reminding Andrei of himself when finding an evasive bounty.

“Please forgive me,” she apologized, “I didn’t expect you to be a Bilgeborn, not after hearing tales of some of your bounties…” she seemed astonished and slightly ashamed of herself.

 “I dare you to call me that again, Paladin! You, of all people, should know the tragedy that comes with hatred. Now, what do you want from us?” His skin was becoming red hot. If there was anything that pissed him off more, it was the assumptions others made of him.

“I want to hire you,” she said plainly, surprising both Andrei and Emil, “it would appear you’ve missed a spot, but I-”

“Not to be rude, Violeta, but it appears you seem rather preoccupied with something…” Andrei said, with a hint of sass, crossing his arms and eyeing at the woman’s captive. “What did he do?”

“This man was caught making illegal enchantments. As such, he needs to face punishment.” Her voice was cold and to the point. “I will deal with him shortly, but first, I wanted to talk to you about the Obsidian Crown.”

Andrei’s hair stood on end at the mere mention of the name. Even though she clearly wasn’t telling a full story, just hearing that name made his blood boil. Of course, a paladin would keep track of that cult and its interactions with notable people. He tightened his shaking hand into a fist and through gritting teeth fought back the urge to break something in this shop.

“The Obsidian Crown?” The strange captive spoke up. “I know about them. I can tell you everything I know! I can help you.” He pleaded. Violeta rolled her eyes, as if hearing this a thousand times before. “No, really. I have a contact that was in the process of tracking down leads here in the city. I was researching enchantments, and they offered to help. Something about a noble…”

Violeta’s eyes grew wide with intrigue, shock, and, from what Andrei could tell, conflicting ideas. “What do you know about that?” She ordered, eyes locked on the man’s face.

The man smirked, “enough that they’re very dangerous, I can help.” He looked over to Andrei, “you have something, don’t you? It’s cursed. That’s what you came here for, isn’t it?”

Andrei was speechless for a moment, taking out the eye that had been rolling around in his pockets up until this point. “Yes, this thing. How did you…?”

“It’s not that hard to tell once you know what to look for. I can seal it too, watch.” The man held out his hands, but Violeta swatted it down, only for her sword to glow faintly again. Violeta growled softly before backing off, allowing the stranger to take the eye from Andrei.

He raised one hand over the other; the eye rolling around chaotically in protest as a faint red and black light slowly engulfed it in its suffocating light. As the light faded and his hands stopped glowing, the eye stopped moving as well, being reduced to nothing but a morbid trinket. Something didn’t add up already. Those handcuffs should prevent spells from being cast. Violeta gave the man a disapproving look as he handed the eye back to Andrei before examining the handcuffs closely. After a moment of fiddling, she turned back to face Andrei, revealing the handcuffs glowing brighter than before.

“As I was saying, they’re back and I need your help stopping them. It is true that there may be some involvement with nobles…” she said reluctantly, “read this.”

The paladin looked antsy as she retrieved a folded piece of paper she hid in her tabard. With mildly shaking hands, she handed it to Andrei and took a step back, allowing the two men to read it. Half-expecting some sort of magical trap to be sprung, Andrei opened it carefully. The contents looked just like the other bounties. A name, short description, reason for the bounty, and a reward. Though in a typical format, a few details stood out to him the most. First, in the bottom corner of the bounty, was a stamped image of the same symbol on Violeta’s tabard in black ink. The second was a sum of twenty-five gold, not a meager amount to toss around as if it was nothing. The final, most important thing was the name of the target was “Raphael Geroux.” 

That name was familiar to him, one noble of Valeaux if he recalled correctly. Andrei chuckled. Such an opportunity was one he hadn’t had the pleasure of experiencing until now. Being caught up in such a scheme was a privilege very few ever enjoyed. He handed the paper to Emil, whose eyes grew wide in what could’ve been anything from excitement to fear. 

Andrei crossed his arms. It sounded plausible, but something was setting off warning signals in his head. This seemed like an extraordinary request from someone in the order. He narrowed his eyes, looking over the paladin with a thought. His lips pressed together as if deep in thought. “And why would you be seeking outside help? Surely your order has the numbers to track this criminal themselves.”

Violeta flinched ever so slightly at the remark, leaving Andrei to feel more wary of her. Her gaze broke away from Andrei again, quickly looking around the room, “we are… too preoccupied elsewhere to afford more arms to this endeavor. This would not be the first time we’ve asked for… less scrupulous help.”

Andrei looked over at Max, who seemed to take in the conversation with intrigue. A mischievous idea came to him. Given the history of the Mazul, and what little he knew of the cult, this man would make for a uniquely gifted ally. “Okay, you want our help? We’ll take the job on one condition,” Andrei said with a smirk. “he joins us. If this cult is back as you say and if you claim we can’t get any help from your order… we need all the help we can get.” Behind Violeta’s angry face, Andrei could barely make out a wicked grin from her captive; he couldn’t tell the motive behind it, but it was one that invoked chills because of his uncanny face.

“WHAT?!” Violeta said angrily, “you expect me to release a dangerous, illegal enchanter?!” She walked up to Andrei, her face close to his and expressing an angry snarl that rivaled any pissed off commoner he’d seen. “Do you have any idea what he’s capable of?!”

Andrei shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you have any idea what the Obsidian Crown is capable of? I’d rather have another set of hands with us in case we need them.” As much as he hated the idea of sharing, his concern over the contract was too great. At the very least, they could use the prisoner as bait, should the need arise.

Violeta backed off and gave the idea some thought, looking between Andrei and the illegal mage. She nodded reluctantly, “if that’s what it takes to earn your arms… fine. But he’s to be on a tight leash until I say otherwise.”

Gabby sighed in somewhat relief she looked over to Andrei, “thank you! Thank you! Anything’s better than the dungeons!” The woman bowed repeatedly in thanks.

“Don’t celebrate so soon,” Violeta warned, “we will discuss your freedom after our mission. In the meantime, you will be with me. Understand?”

The man nodded shyly, looking over at Andrei with another out-of-place grin. “I appreciate your help. It means more than you know. Since we’ll be working together, it seems, the name’s Maxwell Luzana. Though you can call me ‘Max’.”

Andrei bowed slightly, his eyes not leaving Max with suspicion and mild fear, “well you two can seek us out at the Drunken Dragon when the time comes.”

Violeta sighed in relief, “thank you both. Know that should we be successful, our holy order is indebted to you. I will give you a day to prepare however you see fit. I wish I could give you more time, but I fear he may be on the move soon.”

The idea of doing a bounty with not only an angry paladin but a mage that was under her captivity didn’t sit well with Andrei. But the money was good, and if this were true, he’d have a bit more time with those cultists. The two excused themselves from the shop awkwardly, leaving Gabby to fetch some last-minute things Violeta begrudgingly allowed Max to take.

As the two walked back to their home, Andrei pulled Emil close and asked, “Well?” Andrei asked in a hushed whisper, paranoid that their new associates had eyes on them, “what do you think?”

Emil chuckled, “I think about a lot of things…” he read Andrei’s annoyed stare and merely smiled. “Both the paladin and that enchanter are definitely hiding something. But we’re not here to solve mysteries, we’re here to get paid! You saw how much she’s offering! We can’t say no to that!”

It’s true, he isn’t usually one to ask questions about a bounty, but everything about this one seemed to scream that there was more to this. And yet, despite such warnings, Andrei couldn’t help but press on and see where this takes him.

Seeing his friend’s pensive expression, Emil smiled and wrapped an arm around him. “C’mon, this’ll be fun!” He said with glee. “Think of it as just another job, except with an angry paladin and creepy Mazul in tow!”

“Really? I thought your definition of fun would be much different…” Andrei mumbled, struggling to get out of Emil’s grasp. Once finally free, he dusted himself off. “Let’s just get this over with…”

The two made their way back to Lower Lapointe and the Drunken Dragon without incident. Both men speculated on what may be in store for them soon. At the very least, Andrei hoped that this would lead to more opportunities in the future. After some back and forth, the two inevitably made their way to their rooms, eager to see what would wait for them at Geroux Manor.