Both of us can control him

He had been studying a plump, black-furred Minotaur sitting a few tables down when it had happened. A tall looking guy slammed the door open and strode in like he owned the place, which would be normal in other circumstances if not for how his clothes and fingers were laced in different golden accents and accessories to accentuate his wealth. His stride was confident, but less in arrogance and more so in a mixture of pride and power, making even the most thuggish of patrons here turn their heads away from him and continue on whatever they were doing. His appearance was clean, and it certainly seemed he screamed important in some kind of matter. This was defintely his contact. Seeing as how he approached who he would be working with first, Liam stood from his chair and gave a long stretch, before striding over to join the conversation, not one to miss out on a reward so generous for a mystery quest that sounded enticing. He cleared his throat politely, then took a seat at the bar.

"If I may impede?"

He asked, not waiting for an answer and already flagging down the bartender for a glass of something fizzy but nonalcoholic. Draco Aurelius regarded him for but a moment before scoffing, looking unimpressed. Liam disregarded it, instead tilting his head to the side slightly in waits for what the journey would entail. Aurelius stayed standing, shifting a little uncomfortably under the women's gaze, but eventually steeled himself.

"You're both here now, so I see no need to stall on this matter."

He began, stopping his shifting and digging out a folded parchment paper from the small satchel on his hip.

"Have you ever heard of a legendary book?"

Draco asked, eyeing them both for a moment. Liam gave no comment, only raising an eyebrow in show of interest. So it seemed he liked his theatrics. He himself hadn't heard much of a so-called legendary book before. Most books nowadays were legendary no matter what it was, containing spells in a forgotten language only a few magic users were able to translate, comprehend, and master without facing serious repercussions. Liam himself knew very very simple magic, enough to light a camp fire, but that was as far as he had delved before deciding using a halberd was easier than learning a bunch of magical jargon all so he could snap his fingers. The paper he put on the counter looked old, like he tore it out of a book that was shoved all the way to the back of the shelves. Safe to say, it was not a pretty sight. The edges loked frayed and torn, and the paper itself looked like it might disintegrate if it so much as touched water. Words were scribbled on in sapphire blue ink, and to his brief understanding the writing contained information about a valuable book with unique spells written inside. A messy picture was drawn in the bottom right corner, depicting something Liam could easily say looked rather ordinary to his eyes.

"How much is the pay?" she asked with a mischievous eyebrow raise.

Draco looked at her and chuckled. He knew her game, she was the reason he was rich. That was why he had personally asked for her, and another guy.

Years ago, she had been asked for as she was slowly becoming more and more well known. Draco's request was for the grand pirate's treasure. And she had asked the exact same question, "how much is the pay?" Draco knew her game, because she had played it on him before. She asked the question, then almost walked out because it was too little, right before Draco raised the price.

"How much do you want?" Draco asked cleverly.

The pay ended up being an item worth the most from the chest, and she chose a Griffin egg. A beautiful blue griffin egg.

"I don't know, 100k?" she said tapping her fingers on the table.

Liam listened, but didn't intervene between the two's exchange. He simply observed, and aimed to gain knowledge on both his employer and his so called "Partner" for the mission. Draco chuckled, a deep vibravo sound from his throat as his eyes narrowed in greed. He fauxed thinking, tapping a gold adorned finger on his chin in thought before letting a grin spread across his face.

"If that's what you desire, then. Oh, but I have nelgected to mention that this will be split between the two of you, of course."

He finally spoke, then turned his attention onto Liam, who looked less than pleased about the new information given. In fact, the blonde looked two seconds away from arguing against Draco. He wasn't scared of some... wanderer, however. Liam scanned him up and down once more, lips turned down in a slight of a frown, debating on what was worth what. 50k for retrieving a book people knew almost nothing about.

"And how about I sweeten this... deal of ours. First pick of any spell inside of the book, I won't even look at it."

He mused, fingers tapping gently across the bar table. It was a lie to say that Liam wasn't a little intrigued at the offer, even if he couldn't make use of such spell. Perhaps someone in his guild could utilize it? Draco studied Liam for his reaction, satisfied to see it seemed to have dulled his willingness to argue against the sentiment. He was renowned for getting the job done, apparently. Though Draco had heard little to nothing of whoever this... Liam Cadello was. From what intel he was able to gather about him, he was amazing with his halberd and managed to hunt a scale from the coveted emerald dragon said to take nest in an underground cave. Between the two of them, he was rather confident he would be able to profit more than he lost. After all, the song and dance of gain was never an odd thing to him. All he needed was the gurantee that they would fetch it and come back. He turned towards Ria, more than willing to raise the price knowing such a priceless item awaited him. Liam looked back at the old paper laid out still, already mapping a route to get there from the tavern. It would take a few weeks, maybe more.

She quickly grabbed the book. Ria was the best sorcerer, she had to get the first spell. Though this deal was almost useless to anyone who was not a sorcerer, she knew that this could intrigue anybody. Anyone could study and memorize a spell, but only a sorcerer could use that spell.

She flipped through the book, finding a page that seemed to stand out to her. The spell on that page was one about the ancients.

"Change of deal." she quickly decided, "I'll switch the 50k for this book." Her eyes had a hint of excitement. This book could have so much more for her to learn from, she had even seen ghost spells! Spells that allowed you to summon fake creations that could look as real as the person was talented.

Draco glared a little, but eventually conceeded. While the book itself was valuable, it would ultimately be a drop in a bucket of water when compared to what he truly wanted. He didn't doubt her talent to decipher the spells contained inside, though he would have to admit he was slightly disappointed it would leave him before he himself got a chance to uncover all of the secrets contained within.

"Fine. You,"

He turned to look at Liam, who was sipping the drink he had just recieved while watching the two banter out a good price. It fizzled out rather quickly, and considering the lighting of the place he assumed it was purple in color. Not poisonous, he decided.

"do you still want the money?"

Liam hummed for a moment, eyeing him in almost a predator manner. He considered the options, what he might and might not be able to get away with, before finally deciding in his mind that yes, he still wanted the money. He could decide what he wanted to use it for this way.

"I'll take the 100k originally promised. No less."

He finally stated, waiting for a rejection or counter offer from the richer person. He had money to spare, that much was obvious. 100k would be nothing to someone like him. Liam gave him a challenging look, waiting for some kind of rebuttal.

"Deal. So the book and 100k then. After, however, you get me the fabled book."

He tapped the weathered page still on the bar counter with information about the target before holding his hand out expectantly to Ria to reclaim the book he had offered to the two of them before she decided she wanted it.

"If it puts you at ease, I won't look at it until your return."

Liam scoffed softly to himself, but covered it with a small cough and polite 'excuse me.' He scanned the page again. It gave a location, but that was pretty much it. The way to get there they would have to find, and that wasn't even considering whether the location was true or not, or even if the book had been moved by someone or an animal. It bothered him there were so few details, though maybe that came with the legendary status it had.

She gave back the book reluctantly.

After a few moments of thinking she said, "the legendary book was hidden by a high council wizard. According to legend it was put in a place where it was almost impossible to find it, but it was spotted 15 years ago. By a person who had no clue what it was, but posted it on the wizard and sorcerer's news." She stated. Many other wizards had noticed and asked the exact location, which was told as the person had no clue how much worth the golden book held.

(any chance we can revive this??)

Liam listened intently onto the information, organizing his thoughts and trying to see if he could add anything on to what she was saying. He himself never had any magical abilities nor was ever mentored or given an apprenticeship by any wizards, so he had no access to the wizard and sorcerer's news. However, information gets out easily when there's someone who likes to run their mouth. A friend of his from the guild was a wizard, and Liam was fortunate enough to have caught a glance of the picture the person who found the book took thanks to them, showing a book with a beautiful golden cover and engravings along the spine. It looked in peak condition, and the location wasn't totally unheard of from what information he was able to land with limited resources.

"They said the location was Wyvern's Landing, didn't they?"

Liam decided to finally but in, looking at Ria for confirmation. Draco was sitting silently, listening to their conversation as he swirled an expensive looking drink in his hands colored a deep red. His jewelry glinted an amber color because of the light from the firesprites overhead, watching down below.

"I heard that when the location was out tons of people and groups set out to try and claim it first. Some encounters turned bloody, even. Though one group eventually found it and took the book. Rumors have circulated that they sold it to someone on the Wizards Council who rehid it somewhere. I think it was a location around Port Nota."

Behind him, Liam could hear the cheers of a group shouting for someone to chug, banging their fists on a table and hollering like little children. He would roll his eyes if he wasn't in an important conversation right now. Liam turned himself to face outward to the bar, his back against the bar table. An orc grabbed her staff and looked to be leaving, her chair scraping loudly against the floor but being drowned out by louder voices ringing in the small area.