Keshta Calls

The small, crumpled room never felt more open air than it did when the minotaur bothered to step in and listen to what the Boss had to say. Keshta could feel the support beams creak and whine irritably under the strain, as the group gathered together in the cogs, the oppressive, sweltering heat leaving his, and most of their, fur sweat-slicked matted down.

"Seriously." The gnoll muttered in irritation as he placed a hand on the table, his usual pike and longbow both set up against the wall. "Cavallah ain't gonna show up for this shit? We got work to do."

The snake-haired woman sitting in the corner narrows her eyes towards the irritable gnoll. "We don't often gather at your requessst, Keshta. Thisss had better be important." A hand rested lazily on her cutlass, the hilt dripping green and venomous even without the blade drawn.

The minotaur, whose horns scraped past the ceiling moved forwards, his eyes cutting down to the much smaller beast, and his own weapon easily twice Keshta's size held in one hand. "Yeah. I ain't gonna put up with yer' shit if this ain't important. I'd be happy to rip you up if Cavallah herself ain't gonna bother with it." It only took two steps forwards for debris and wood to rain down between the two of them, as the Minotaur flexed his hand, the blue-black gemstones within his axe starting to thrum quietly.

"Darlings, please." A woman stepped in, her fingers pruning through her plumage, pretty golden wings part of her arm enough for it to take some difficulty to explore. "If the Headhunter wants to talk, we can talk. We're all grown-ups here." The harpy continued her work without too much care, pruning her appearance and looking into a small, broken-shard of mirror to at least look at herself, clearly admiring everything she saw.

The single human in the room propped her back against the wall and took in a deep breath, letting it out with a miserable huff. "Even the Six would not bless someone as rapt with your passions as you, Keshta. I would hope you have come to apologize, or reflect on your actions."

The gnoll snarled at the confrontation, his eyes narrowing and his fingers brushing at his pendant long enough for a slick, black film to pour over his teeth. "You wanna fucking go, human? I don't care what gods you worship, I'll rip your fucking throat out." Baring his fangs, the gnoll couldn't help but feel burning hot hatred running through him at the sight of the cloaked woman, her religious paraphernalia enough to incite a primal hatred in him. "We have a ton of fucking shitbags above ground. Boromar's gettin' smart and hiring Deathsgate to boost their numbers. We've got the advantage, but fuck knows how long. Then there're masked assholes getting in the way, and frankly, I'm kinda sick of this shit."

The medusa couldn't help but let out a long, irritated sigh, that sounded halfway between a groan and a hiss, her snake-like hair apparently speaking to its owner as she glanced up to the gnoll man. "You are not the only one. I tire of theessse charadesss asss well. But they are part of the game that we are playing, are they not?"

"Fuck no, they don't have to be. I've been hitting Deathsgate assholes with my forces for weeks now, we've been hijacking shit just like the Boromar've been hijacking our shit. We maintained a balance." Keshta furrowed his brow, annoyed by the sheer fact he had to bother explaining this to this group of insecure assholes. "The rest of you are happy just hitting places, but I for one am being productive-"

"Keshta, darling, please. Don't bother trying to hide it." The harpy cooed from her spot against the wall, her fingers brushing past the softness of her feathers as she offered an obvious, mocking smile, flashing her fangs. "You're not proactive in anything other than hunting for trophies. We've seen your home."

"So fucking what?"

"What Cazha's sayin', Kesh, is why the fuck should we change our approaches? It's goin' fine, right?" The minotaur muttered, as he hunched forwards, no longer ripping two trails through the ceiling. "These masked guys ain't too bad, is they?"

"No, asshole!" Keshta snarled back. "They're worse! They're already trying to drive a wedge between us and Gasslak, and you all know what happens if Gasslak tries to use Ja'khor against us. Those shitty goblins already don't like what we're doing, so imagine if they get a reason to fight back."

"Oh, poor lost souls, they should merely embrace the Six, and their lives will be so much more calm than before." The human brought a hand to her chest, and let out a long, sorrowful sigh, the pain rocking her shoulders, as an amulet wrapped around her wrist began to grow dark. "What would be wrong with purging the Ja'khor, should they get in the way?"

"Idiot. That's a lot more confrontation than we need. Look, I can handle the masked assholes or the goblins, but not both." Keshta raised his hackles as the human spoke. Fucking idiot.

"If that issss the casssse, then you are ssssuggesting that we pool forccccessss, yesss?" The medusa released her hand from the blade hilt, and instead tucked her arms behind her back, offering the gnoll a disgusted look.

"But we all work together already." The minotaur responded.

"No, fuckstick, I work. You just sit there like a dumbass." Keshta placed a hand on the minotaur's chest, and shoved him out of the way as he made towards the medusa. "Yeah, Harash. That's what I want. We can break this shit down. I even got a plan for it. We can break down our operations by leadership, and get things going... And you'll all be fucking happy with what I've got in store. Trust me. Just let me focus on those masked loons, and the rest of you are gonna have the times of your miserable lives..."