Crossbow Squad

Unlike the other stores there weren't any people going in or out of the store. Yern and Lilith made their way to the door and headed in. The store had seemed much larger from the outside, the place was empty besides the old man in the back of the store, behind a counter. There were shelves that had a few strange objects Yern didn't remember from his last visit. Lilith seemed intrigued by them and started to mess with them until Yern motioned for her to come to the counter with him.

The man behind the counter looked dead as he sat on a chair and stared down into a display cabinet of knives and other various tools. He only paid them any attention when Yern approached the counter and started to speak.

"I'd like to see the ranged weapons you sell here." Yern didn't have the slightest clue about what the weapon he'd seen here before was called. The man looked up from his chair at Yern and slowly got up, groaning as he did and revealing a prosthetic leg. Yern understood part of the reason the man looked so devoid of life now. The man walked over to a locker, unlocked it and pulled three of the weapons Yern was here for. After making his way back to the counter the man set the items on it. The largest was as long as Yern forearm and the front of it was about as wide as his chest. The others were much smaller, this looked more like what he was looking for.

"These crossbows are the only things here for range. You'll have to put in a special order if you want something more, but we'll need a down payment." The old man mumbled sitting back down in the chair. Yern finally knew what the mystery weapon was called. Yern picked up the smallest crossbow in his right hand and decided this is what he would get for his runners.

"This is exactly what I'm looking for. How much are they with ammo included?" Yern asked and handed Lilith the crossbow. She wasted no time before starting to inspect it. The crossbow was small enough to be held in one hand and the user would still have full mobility, so it would be the perfect weapon for his runners who were not the most confident in close range fights.

"Those are only 30 pieces each, there's a surplus now that the Nish Army has moved on to firearms. I'll give you 30 bolts for 5 pieces. You can test them in the back before you buy." The man said and pointed to the back of the store. He then handed Yern another of the same model that Lilith had and a box of ammo.

"Alright we'll see how we like them and make a decision after." Yern said, taking the crossbow and heading to the back of the store. Yern wasn't too sure how these things worked so he hoped Lilith had gotten some type of understanding of it or he would have to ask the old man to show them. The man looked fed up with his job already so he didn't wanna give him more work than necessary.

Yern was initially confused when the man said they could test them in the back of his store but when he got to the back he understood him. In the back were straw dummies set up at different ranges with different clothing and armor on. Yern noticed the bolt sized holes in some of the armors, which told him people came to the store at some point. He wondered what caused them to stop coming. Lilith brought him out of his thoughts when she started talking and aiming the crossbow at a dummy.

"I think I understand it, it's pretty simple. You pull back the handle to draw the string, put the bolt in and fire." Lilith explained. It was rather simple, but it would still take time for the runner to learn how to properly aim. Yern tried and found it to be harder to draw the string back than he thought it would be, but he got it on his second try and began aiming at a dummy. He pulled the trigger to fire and watched as the bolt went nowhere near where he intended.

After shooting a few more bolts he managed to hit a dummy that was a couple feet away. Lilith on the other hand had hit one almost every time she shot a bolt, apparently she was a prodigy with the crossbow.

They had done enough testing so they went back into the front room with the man and bought six hand crossbows and 120 bolts, the total price coming to 200 pieces. It was a reasonable amount of money to increase the damage they would be able to do against Marrow's men. The old man seemed sad to see his only customers go but didn't say anything to Yern and Lilith as they left. 

Now done with their task, Yern and Lilith headed back towards the entrance to the Upper Level so they could get down to the ground floor of the Marketplace to meet back up with the rest of the group who came with them. After they got their weapons back from the guard at the lift they headed down. While riding the lift back down to the ground Yern hoped nothing had happened in the few hours they were apart.

They got off the lift and headed to the bar that was assigned as the meeting place while on the walk to the Marketplace. Yern had expected that everyone would be there and ready to leave but he was mistaken, no one had arrived at the bar. And what was even weirder was that the bar was completely empty, including employees.

"Something weird is going on. Where the hell is everyone?!" Yern yelled, hoping to get someone's attention. The place was completely empty but there were signs people were recently here. Half eaten food on tables and knocked over chairs, like everyone was rushing out of the place. Only a few things could make people rush away like this, the PE's or some type of entertainment. Yern doubted that the PE's would do a raid on a bar, so it must've been entertainment.

"There was a guy on the side of the bar. Maybe he knows something." Lilith suggested and went towards the door. The guy Lilith was referring to, was sleep leaning against the bar and looked like he was having rough times. "Hey. Hey, wake up!" Lilith said as she shook the man by his shoulders. The man eventually woke up and tried to run away after seeing Lilith's scarred face, he stopped after Yern offered a few pieces for information.

"So, I was here sleeping when I got woken up by a bunch of people rushing out the door. I heard someone mention that Marrow was in the Marketplace and was giving out pieces for nothing." The man explained, still glancing at Lilith every few seconds.

"Why didn't you go? You look like you could use a handout." Lilith asked the man while insulting him.

"Everyone else might be stupid enough to fall for his tricks but not me! I know once things cool down he'll be back to terrorizing the district." 

"What do you mean, cool down?" Yern asked, taking a few more pieces out of his pocket.

"You haven't heard? Marrow is in a blood war with a new group in the district. And he's losing badly." 

This was a shock to Yern as he thought no one would know how the war was going. Besides the fight in the bar, nothing was in the public eye. The PE's most likely also didn't know about the condition of the war besides Chief Hark. So how did this random man?

"How do you know about this war?" Yern asked him, now in a more threatening voice. Lilith put her hand on the handle of her blade.

"Well... I just get around the district, you know. I have good eyes and ears and happen to be in the right place to see things I shouldn't." the man stuttered trying to get his words out. There was no way to tell if the man was lying to them so Yern had no choice but to accept his answer. The man could also be useful to Yern if he was used the right way, gathering useful information and being paid for it.

But his people were missing and the leader of the gang he was going against was in the Marketplace with them, he didn't have the time to be trying to start an information gathering business at the moment.

"Sure. Do you know where Marrow was throwing pieces around?" Yern asked and handed the man a few coins.

"Not exactly but I'm sure you could follow the crowds to find him." The man responded and took the money from Yern's hand.

"We will follow you then." Yern said and the man's face dropped as he realized Yern wasn't asking but telling.