@Jannalor: You begin walking to a more crowded area in The Mercy and watch the beggars and cutthroats doing their thing. One must wonder if this place truly is worth saving.

The Mercy is pretty much a no man's land. For years, even before Connor took over, nobody has really come forth and established order. This has lead to a very large number of factions to emerge and claim authority, only to be deposed by another faction and so on and so forth.

Amongst the most... "tame" of these factions is The Society.

Now, don't let its name fool you. One would be inclined to believe they are law abiding citizens, willing to insert themselves into the City as a whole. That is definitely not the case.

The Society is ran by a way too complicated power structure. Way too complicated for even Society members to follow and respect. If a boss shows weakness or some perceived lack of leadership, he just may be found in the gutter... or not at all.

That isn't to say they are all shiv wielding back stabbing bastards. The majority are, but some actually are content taking over a few blocks and making sure things run smooth.. or a smooth as things in a place like The Mercy can be.

Which leads you to one such guild within The Society where you could, for lack of a better word...empathize.

The fact people are killed here is nothing new. Without law enforcement, vendettas are settled in these very streets, under the cover of night. The Society has a group that deals with such grim business. The issue comes with the bodies afterwards.

Can't have streets lined with dead people, can you? There is already tons of diseases running around, why add more from decomposing bodies? That and it wouldn't take long for Connor or any other Church Leader past the wall to take notice and before you know it, the military is sent in, along with The Eyes in the Sky and presto: Police State.

Which brings us to the Unlicensed Bakers’ Guild.

A subset of the Society, the Unlicensed Bakers take care of the problem once it has been resolved. They are rather good at it, too. However, because of their methods, few even in The Society, deal with them directly. This has not gone unnoticed by the Pale Hand, and for good reason:


The Unlicensed Bakers’ Guild deals with grave and tomb robbery, as well as the trade of such exhumed bodies. The more complete the body, the better for the Bakers, but pieces will do just fine.

It is they who pick up any remaining items of worth from the corpses and then resell them within the Black Market. And the leader of this guild is one nasty gnome by the name of Wilian Shortankard, aka The Little Nightmare.

This Runestone mage, like many, fled the City when Connor imposed heavy bans on all spell casters and found his calling with The Society. This guy is as greedy as he is dangerous. His outfit is well equipped and few would be foolish enough to go pick up a fight with him.

However, he would know higher ups in The Society and you do know the whereabouts of his lair... assuming he hasn't moved, that is.