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Landis returned to his home, both confused and shocked at this turn of events. He expected to leave the Academea one day, but not in such a strange and abrupt manner. That surprise paled in comparison to the one that would jolt him upon his return, as he saw his home and father’s shop being scavenged by several men in full plate armor, of a distinctive design, a motif that only the Hellknights used. His father was on his knees, his mother’s arms around him, and they were both bathed in the shadow of the person who led this unit; asking questions that related to betrayal, uprisings and riots.

The gutting of their home came to an end after more than an hour, but it felt like an entire day. Both his father and mother were mostly unharmed, but their souls were broken. The young Varisian still could not comprehend what has happened, or why? And as much as he wanted to scream out these questions, he felt that doing so would only add salt to the clear emotional wounds of his parents.

Answers were not something hard to come by in Korvosa, you simply had to know who to ask, how to ask and most importantly when to shut up and listen. Things that Landis even at that age understood very well. He ventured into the streets, listening for rumors, inquiring after any latest events that could have led to this tragedy and more importantly he cut his way to the local Sable Company headquarters to question his brother. If anyone knew anything about the details of such matters and would be willing to share these details it would be him; especially since all that Landis learned so far lead him to an incident involving Shoanti Tribesmen, Sable Company rangers and the Hellknights .

Another blow was waiting for Landis when he arrived and met his brother’s captain, his dear loyal and morally upstanding brother was dead; for when asked by Hellknights that have arrived at the scene to spill the blood of the Shoanti who had not attacked or made sign of doing so he refused, and was swiftly painted as a traitor and collaborator. Words soon turned to blows and his brother died because of wounds he sustained in the incident.

Landis felt numb, like everything in the world lost any significant, everything appeared colorless and cold. Words that he was listening to before were rebuffed, any movement that he may have took notice of became meaningless in his vision, it was strange…he thought he would feel beside himself with grief...it was true that he and his brother didn’t see eye to eye on many things but he had loved him and respected his motivation. Then it came, rising up his throat like something vile he had no business ingesting; it was not sadness though, it was rage and malice, unlike any he’s ever been stricken with before. The former Academea student wished that everything would burn; The Hellknights, Sable Company, and Korvosa…but amidst this wall of dark thoughts came despair, snaking its way to him and coiling itself around him, making every breath a labor. His brother was dead, his parents were devastated and he could do nothing; not matter how much he cursed and screamed, the world would not change just because he was unhappy.

Time passed without the bereaved teenager noticing, he was at his ravaged home once more without even realizing that he made the trek there. His father and mother took him in there arms, and a small bit of warmth entered his now freezing heart, still he knew from their movements and tone of voice that they were deeper in the pit of despair than he was; not only was one of their sons dead but they had no way to support themselves or the other after what happened to their business. Who would even deal with them? As far as their community was concerned they could be traitors to the crown or at least related to one.

Landis’ hatred abated and his anger cooled after a week or so, his more rational way of thinking started reasserting itself once more. He and his parents would not survive as they are now, they needed to find a way to earn a living once more, or at least he did; his father was still in utter shock and his mother had her hands full handling him. Why would anyone hire him though? The presumed traitor’s brother. How did he hope to convince anyone to give him a job? No, he had to look somewhere in the depths of Korvosa’s underbelly if he wished to have a chance to get his family back on their feet. Maybe at some point in his life he wouldn’t have considered such an action, but what did the law of Korvosa do to protect him and his family? The people who claimed to protect this city seemed eager to shape him into a viper like the many that prowled and slithered under the eyes of the law, so who was he to disappoint them?

Once more Landis took to the streets, he knew of the hazards that awaited him on this path, but he was also filled with a strange confidence, it was somewhere in between an arrogant assurance in his skills and the feeling that he had nothing left to lose.

This particular search took the docks of Old Korvosa and into the web of the King of Spiders; Devargo Barvasi. Gaining entry into Eel’s End was difficult but after he annoyed the guards for long enough they dragged him in. Barvasi sat on his throne, in a manner that made it appear that he truly believed he was some kind of monarch, however Landis was far too wise and scared to dare and mock him about that, instead in the smoothest and most convincing tone he could muster asked the Spider to join his organization; all the while smiling and brimming with the same peculiar confidence that took hold of him.

Devargo’s men were not amused but the Spider himself seemed interested only because he sensed a way for this silly meeting to become far more enjoyable. He told Landis that he would give him work if he played Knivsies with one of his men and win, and to his surprise the fifteen year old agreed with a smile that did not belong on the face of someone in his current position, so a table was pushed before the King of Spiders, two individuals climbed up and a deadly dance he knew well and never grew sick of began.

The match was not going in Landis’ favor; the man he faced was bigger, stronger and had a longer reach. The only thing Landis had an advantage in was his speed and wits, but they were not enough to save him from the aching caused by some of the blows that landed on his body and face. His opponent was growing restless though, he expected Landis to fall after the first blow, so in a move made by over confidence and impatience he reached for the knife, not expecting the boy to retaliate…he was right, Landis did not take the chance to freely strike him, because he was preoccupied by swiping the knife before his bigger opponent’s hand could wrap around its hilt.

It was at this moment that the thug hesitated, and Landis played on the fear he saw in the man’s eyes, with both words and swings of the weapon. The panic of the man did not follow through with the scenario Landis expected; instead of becoming more defensive, he became more reckless and grabbed the hand that held the knife. Amidst the grapple and the contest of controlling the only weapon between them, the tip of the blade dug into the flesh just above Landis’ lip and ran all the way till it reached his right eyebrow. This kind of pain was foreign to him and so was the feeling of his vision being marred by blood, but still he was surprised how he was still focused; it seemed like everything moved in slow motion as the thug pushed him, the shove destroyed what balance he had left, but the knife was still in his hand, so in a desperate move he pulled the arm that was bound to his opponent, and got just close enough to make one last jab with that knife.

Landis’ feet were on the floor, he had lost, but in his mind he was still better off than the man who was drowning in his blood as he grasped at the knife that was lodged in his throat. In all his years he didn’t remember taking the life of any kind of creature, and this new sensation along with the blinding pain in his face made him want to wail and cry, but before that emotion could materialize on his face, his bloody vision fell on Barvasi and the cruel, large smile that was spread on his face…so he ignored the flood of emotion that crashed against his soul and returned that smile. Devargo was amused, so amused in fact that he agreed to give Landis work as he was one man short now.

That night Landis remembered walking into his home and seeing the mask of despair on his parent’s face crack slightly as they saw the state he was in. They looked panicked, frightened and worried. A multitude of questions came at him, which when he was younger he would have been considerd an annoyance, but on this day they were the sweetest words he had heard since their lives changed.

Years went by quickly as Landis rose from lowly errand boy to a full-fledged thug. He learned what he could from the men around him, sharpened his senses, made his lies appear more plausible and went from the awkward boy that had several bruises on his body on that table to a decent fighter with the short sword; his style was mostly a patchwork of moves and techniques he had witnessed, his stance constantly shifting but mostly returning to a position he felt he could immediately roll or jump away from, most importantly he focused on returning his opponents assault with speed, precision and utter cruelty. The most important thing he learned though, was honor was for those who could afford personal guards, there was no such thing as a dirty or underhanded tactic, there was survive to get paid or die and be forgotten.

A lot of things bothered Landis about his work though, but chief among them was having to deal with Barvasi’s dealing in Shiver, despite all of the other wrong doings and illegal actions he has committed under the Spider, dealing in Shiver had to be among the jobs he hated the most from a moral standpoint, and even from a purely pragmatic view, Landis never understood why his boss would sell something that won’t bring any customers back after a while…for they would be either dead or in no shape to buy more, but he knew better than to question the King of Spiders.

After a while he knew he had both the skills and knowledge to strike out on his own, maybe he wouldn’t make a fraction of what he was earning working under Devargo, however not having to deal with his Shiver trade was definitely a huge advantage. Landis understood though that leaving was not that simple, the process had to be careful and well planned; most importantly he had to make it look that Barvasi would really be better off without him around.

At first Landis started making small slip ups, then when he was sure his boss noticed he began to occasionally make even bigger mistakes, not enough to warrant his full wrath, but enough to annoy him. After close to two months of this he asked Barvasi to allow him to leave; that he did not know what was wrong with him, and he was truly be afraid that he might make an even bigger blunder which could lead to receiving the Spider’s unabated anger.

The negotiation with the crime boss didn’t seem to be going well, but in the end Devargo agreed to let him go if he underwent his “initiation” once more. Landis happily agreed, but he knew that winning was not the issue here; when Barvasi asked for a game of Knivsies he was really asking for a show, a bloody entertaining one and if he wanted to escape the spider’s web he had to give it to him, even if it meant getting cut up here and there.

His opponent this time was far more menacing than the thug he faced as fifteen year old. Landis was sure he could beat him though, but the challenge here was making the whole thing appear dramatic, exciting and with as much splashes of crimson as possible.

The match began and immediately Landis began bluffing his lack of ability, taking punches he could have dodged, faking almost falling and to top it all off he didn’t succeed in grabbing the knife…that last part wasn’t part of his plan. The thug slashed at him, with some strikes finding their mark and others nothing but empty air. It was at that point in the fight that Landis let a few coins fall from his pocket, making his opponent think that he had been collecting coins the whole time. This was enough to sap the energy out of the man’s offense as he was plagued by the indecision of whether to focus on attacking or consider another strategy. When Landis saw this opportunity he quickly knocked the knife out of the thug’s hand, grabbed it and gave him another mouth, but this one spewed blood instead of words.

Barvasi was impressed, and Landis breathed a hidden sigh of relief when the King of Spiders allowed him to go, but of course came the warning that if he joined with a rival gang or tried to cut into his profits that he would feed him to his spiders. Of course if Landis played his cards right he may never had to look at any of his former boss’ spiders again.

Another small benefit to leaving Devargo’s gang was that the questioning of his father became less frequent. His mother never questioned him though, Landis had a feeling she knew what he was up to, but he didn’t really want to confirm his suspicions and decided for things to remain as they were, for now he would run small time jobs, at least until the Spider completely forgot about him, then he’d go on to something bigger.

Landis’ plan came to a surprising but pleasant halt when his father announced his desire to reopen the shop, and his son was more than happy to help, but their small moments of hope were quickly dashed away, for it seemed the people around them had good memories, and no matter how hard his father tried, the shadow of the accusation his late son received would still reign over them. Landis felt anger begin trickling into his heart once more, he denied it before because they had needed to survive far more than he needed to indulge his dark thoughts and emotions, but now they had survived, but not truly living. It made him wonder…Was this it? Was this all there would be for them? Him scraping by as nothing but a scoundrel and his parents being treated like criminals and never having to get over the death of their eldest son? No, he refused to believe that this was all they would attain, that they were supposed to remain beaten dogs forever and simply accept that things won’t improve.

With these feelings and thoughts possessing him once Landis began scouring information and secrets about the Order of the Nail; any chink in the armor of fear they had long presented to the public. What he found instead…was unexpected, he uncovered news of heroes, just like the silly stories he had been told as a child, and they were actually acting against the corruption of the queen. They almost seemed too good to be true, but they were still his best chance. It is true he had no real personal reason to hate the queen besides that she was corrupt and manipulative, but so was Devargo and he had worked for him for years. If they wanted her gone so badly he would be pleased to help, as he was sure that along the way chances would present themselves to grab hold of his own goals.

Alone he knew he had no hope of making those responsible pay for his brother’s murder and the suffering of his parents, nor did he stand a chance at obtaining a better life for them and himself, but this no longer had to be the case. Yes he was a pawn in this grand game, but a pawn could join others, make alliances, cut past opponents too drunk on their power to notice his lowly presence, and should he succeed and reach the end of the board he would not be a pawn anymore.

Landis returned to his home, both confused and shocked at this turn of events. He expected to leave the Academea one day, but not in such a strange and abrupt manner. That surprise paled in comparison to the one that would jolt him upon his return, as he saw his home and father’s shop being scavenged by several women in full plate armor. His father was on his knees, his mother’s arms around him, they were both bathed in the shadow of one of the warrior women; asking questions that related to betrayal, uprisings and riots.

The gutting of their home came to an end after more than an hour, but it felt like an entire day. Both his father and mother were mostly unharmed, but their souls were broken. The young Varisian still could not comprehend what has happened, or why? And as much as he wanted to scream these questions, he felt that doing so would only add salt to the clear emotional wounds of his parents.

Answers were not something hard to come by in Korvosa, you simply had to know who to ask, how to ask and most importantly when to shut up and listen. Things that Landis even at that age understood very well. He ventured into the streets, listening for rumors, inquiring after any latest events that could have led to this tragedy and more importantly he cut his way to the local Sable Company headquarters to question his brother. If anyone knew anything about the details of such matters and would be willing to share these details it would be him; especially since all that Landis learned so far lead him to an incident involving rioters and Sable Company that happened only a day ago.

Another blow was waiting for Landis when he arrived and met his brother’s captain, his dear loyal and morally upstanding brother was dead; for when asked by Grey Maidens that have arrived at the scene to spill the blood of the rioters he refused, and was swiftly painted as a traitor and collaborator. Words soon turned to blows and his brother died because of wounds he sustained in the incident.

Landis felt numb, like everything in the world lost any significant, everything appeared colorless and cold. Words that he was listening to before were rebuffed, any movement that he may have took notice of became meaningless in his vision, it was strange…he thought he would feel beside himself with grief...it was true that he and his brother didn’t see eye to eye on many things but he had loved him and respected his motivation. Then it came, rising up his throat like something vile he had no business ingesting; it was not sadness though, it was rage and malice, unlike any he’s ever been stricken with before. The former Academea student wished that everything would burn; The Grey Maidens, Sable Company, the queen and Korvosa…but amidst this wall of dark thoughts came despair, snaking its way to him and coiling itself around him, making every breath a labor. His brother was dead, his parents were devastated and he could do nothing; not matter how much he cursed and screamed, the world would not change just because he was unhappy.

Time passed without the bereaved teenager noticing, he was at his ravaged home once more without even realizing that he made the trek there. His father and mother took him in there arms, and a small bit of warmth entered his now freezing heart, still he knew from their movements and tone of voice that they were deeper in the pit of despair than he was; not only was one of their sons dead but they had no way to support themselves or the other after what happened to their business. Who would even deal with them? As far as their community was concerned they could be traitors to the crown or at least related to one.

Landis’ hatred abated and his anger cooled after a week or so, his more rational way of thinking started reasserting itself once more. He and his parents would not survive as they are now, they needed to find a way to earn a living once more, or at least he did; his father was still in utter shock and his mother had her hands full handling him. Why would anyone hire him though? The presumed traitor’s brother. How did he hope to convince anyone to give him a job? No, he had to look somewhere in the depths of Korvosa’s underbelly if he wished to have a chance to get his family back on their feet. Maybe at some point in his life he wouldn’t have considered such an action, but what did the law of Korvosa do to protect him and his family? The people who governed this city seemed eager to shape him into a viper like the many that prowled and slithered under the eyes of the law, so who was he to disappoint them?

Once more Landis took to the streets, he knew of the hazards that awaited him on this path, but he was also felt a strange confidence, it was somewhere in between an arrogant assurance in his skills and the feeling that he had nothing left to lose.

This particular search took the docks of Old Korvosa and into the web of the King of Spiders; Devargo Barvasi. Gaining entry into Eel’s End was difficult but after he annoyed the guards for long enough they dragged him in. Barvasi sat on his throne, in a manner that made it appear that he truly believed he was some kind of monarch, however Landis was far too wise and scared to dare and mock him about that, instead in the smoothest and most convincing tone he could muster asked the Spider of Old Korvosa to join his organization; all the while smiling and brimming with the same peculiar confidence that took hold of him.

Devargo’s men were not amused but the Spider himself seemed interested only because he sensed a way for this silly meeting to become far more enjoyable. He told Landis that he would give him work if he played Knivsies with one of his men and win, and to his surprise the fifteen year old agreed with a smile that did not belong on the face of someone in his current position, so a table was pushed before the King of Old Korvosa, two individuals climbed up and a deadly dance he knew well and never grew sick of began.

The match was not going in Landis’ favor; the man he faced was bigger, stronger and had a longer reach. The only thing Landis had an advantage in was his speed and wits, but they were not enough to save him from the aching caused by some of the blows that landed on his body and face. His opponent was growing restless though, he expected Landis to fall after the first blow, so in a move made by over confidence and impatience he reached for the knife, not expecting the boy to retaliate…he was right, Landis did not take the chance to freely strike him, because he was preoccupied by swiping the knife before his bigger opponent’s hand could wrap around its hilt.

It was at this moment that the thug hesitated, and Landis played on the fear he saw in the man’s eyes, with both words and swings of the weapon. The panic of the man did not follow through with the scenario Landis expected; instead of becoming more defensive, he became more reckless and grabbed the hand that held the knife. Amidst the grapple and the contest of controlling the only weapon between them, the tip of the blade dug into the flesh just above Landis’ lip and ran all the way till it reached his right eyebrow. This kind of pain was foreign to him and so was the feeling of his vision being marred by blood, but still he was surprised how he was still focused; it seemed like everything moved in slow motion as the thug pushed him, the shove destroyed what balance he had left, but the knife was still in his hand, so in a desperate move he pulled the arm that was bound to his opponent, and got just close enough to make one last jab with that knife.

Landis’ feet were on the floor, he had lost, but in his mind he was still better off than the man who was drowning in his blood as he grasped at the knife that was lodged in his throat. In all his years he didn’t remember taking the life of any kind of creature, and this new sensation along with the blinding pain in his face made him want to wail and cry, but before that emotion could materialize on his face, his bloody vision fell on Barvasi and the cruel, large smile that was spread on his face…so he ignored the flood of emotion that crashed against his soul and returned that smile. Devargo was amused, so amused in fact that he agreed to give Landis work as he was one man short now.

That night Landis remembered walking into his home and seeing the mask of despair on his parent’s face crack slightly as they saw the state he was in. They looked panicked, frightened and worried. A multitude of questions came at him, which when he was younger he would have been considerd an annoyance, but on this day they were the sweetest words he had heard since their lives changed.

Years went by quickly as Landis rose from lowly errand boy to a full-fledged thug. He learned what he could from the men around him, sharpened his senses, made his lies appear more plausible and went from the awkward boy that had several bruises on his body on that table to a decent fighter with the short sword; his style was mostly a patchwork of moves and techniques he had witnessed, his stance constantly shifting but mostly returning to a position he felt he could immediately roll or jump away from, most importantly he focused on returning his opponents assault with speed, precision and utter cruelty. The most important thing he learned though, was honor was for those who could afford personal guards, there was no such thing as a dirty or underhanded tactic, there was survive to get paid or die and be forgotten.

A lot of things bothered Landis about his work though, but chief among them was having to deal with Barvasi’s dealing in Shiver, despite all of the other wrong doings and illegal actions he has committed under the Spider, dealing in Shiver had to be among the jobs he hated the most from a moral standpoint, and even from a purely pragmatic view, Landis never understood why his boss would sell something that won’t bring any customers back after a while…for they would be either dead or in no shape to buy more, but he knew better than to question the King of Spiders.

After a while he knew he had both the skills and knowledge to strike out on his own, maybe he wouldn’t make a fraction of what he was earning working under Devargo, however not having to deal with his Shiver trade was definitely a huge advantage. Landis understood though that leaving was not that simple, the process had to be careful and well planned; most importantly he had to make it look that Barvasi would really be better off without him around.

At first Landis started making small slip ups, then when he was sure his boss noticed he began to occasionally make even bigger mistakes, not enough to warrant his full wrath, but enough to annoy him. After close to two months of this he asked Barvasi to allow him to leave; that he did not know what was wrong with him, and he was truly be afraid that he might make an even bigger blunder which could lead to receiving the Spider’s unabated anger.

The negotiation with the crime boss didn’t seem to be going well, but in the end Devargo agreed to let him go if he underwent his “initiation” once more. Landis happily agreed, but he knew that winning was not the issue here; when Barvasi asked for a game of Knivsies he was really asking for a show, a bloody entertaining one and if he wanted to escape the spider’s web he had to give it to him, even if it meant getting cut up here and there.

His opponent this time was far more menacing than the thug he faced as fifteen year old. Landis was sure he could beat him though, but the challenge here was making the whole thing appear dramatic, exciting and with as much splashes of crimson as possible.

The match began and immediately Landis began bluffing his lack of ability, taking punches he could have dodged, faking almost falling and to top it all off he didn’t succeed in grabbing the knife…that last part wasn’t part of his plan. The thug slashed at him, with some strikes finding their mark and others nothing but empty air. It was at that point in the fight that Landis let a few coins fall from his pocket, making his opponent think that he had been collecting coins the whole time. This was enough to sap the energy out of the man’s offense as he was plagued by the indecision of whether to focus on attacking or consider another strategy. When Landis saw this opportunity he quickly knocked the knife out of the thug’s hand, grabbed it and gave him another mouth, but this one spewed blood instead of words.

Barvasi was impressed, and Landis breathed a hidden sigh of relief when the King of Old Korvosa allowed him to go, but of course came the warning that if he joined with a rival gang or tried to cut into his profits that he would feed him to his spiders. Of course if Landis played his cards right he may never had to look at any of his former boss’ spiders again.

Another small benefit to leaving Devargo’s gang was that the questioning of his father became less frequent. His mother never questioned him though, Landis had a feeling she knew what he was up to, but he didn’t really want to confirm his suspicions and decided for things to remain as they were, for now he would run small time jobs, at least until the Spider completely forgot about him, then he’d go on to something bigger.

Landis’ plan came to a surprising but pleasant halt when his father announced his desire to reopen the shop, and his son was more than happy to help, but their small moments of hope were quickly dashed away, for it seemed the people around them had good memories, and no matter how hard his father tried, the shadow of the accusation his late son received would still reign over them. Landis felt anger begin trickling into his heart once more, he denied it before because they had needed to survive far more than he needed to indulge his dark thoughts and emotions, but now they had survived, but not really living. It made him wonder…Was this it? Was this all there would be for them? Him scraping by as nothing but a scoundrel and his parents being treated like criminals and never having to get over the death of their eldest son? No, he refused to believe that this was all they would attain, that they were supposed to remain beaten dogs and simply accept that things won’t improve.

With these feelings and thoughts possessing him once Landis began scouring information for riots, rebels and any kind of movements against the queen. What he found…was unexpected, he uncovered news of heroes, just like the silly stories he had been told as a child, and they were actually acting against the corruption of the queen. They almost seemed too good to be true, but they were still his best chance.

Alone he knew he had no hope of making those responsible pay for his brother’s murder and the suffering of his parents, nor did he stand a chance at obtaining a better life for himself and his parents, but this no longer had to be the case. Yes he was a pawn in this grand game, but a pawn could join others, make alliances, cut past opponents too drunk on their power to notice his lowly presence, and should he succeed and reach the end of the board he would not be a pawn anymore.