Bribes, Blood and Bargains - Bargains

The Sinners walked into Curly’s old cat house expecting sleaze. What they found was power, perversion, and something deeply wrong at the heart of the Yards.   Billy E. greeted them from his absurd throne—draped in a smoking jacket, drowning in gold, trying desperately to look like royalty. But beneath the gaudy flash was information. Too much information. He knew their moves, their turf, their names. And he made one thing clear: if the Sinners wanted ICB's blessing to take Sherman Park, they'd have to kneel first.   They didn’t. They stayed polite, let Merissa’s quiet pre-score maneuvering set the tone, and didn’t rise to the bait—not even when Billy flaunted his “project,” a dead-eyed girl named Toy, or when his father’s gimp, Holes, crawled out from the cabinet like a curse someone forgot to bury.   Then came the deal. Billy laid it out like law:  

$500 weekly tribute (negotiated down to $200)

10g uncut delivered each week

The Snake dead—no questions

All gang drama kept far from Billy’s door

A job for his cousin

No selling to his girls

A steady stream of customers funneled to his brothels

And one more wrinkle: the Sinners would trade him a girl from Chris’s Cat House to replace one Jesse stole. In return, Billy offered something darker—access to his special room.   Merissa took the deal. The demon Billy keeps caged inside a chained woman answered her question: Sean is being hunted by a Dullahan, summoned by the Crooked Horn. The only way to stop it is to find the conjuring site and destroy it. And as for the Horn? “They are fractured,” the demon said. “Defeat the one who serves the Mother, and the others will forget you.” Before Billy could intervene, the demon used the vessel to mock him, dredging up something… ugly. Something old. Something the crew might not forget.   One last deal was struck: if the Sinners took care of the Hooded Lads—young upstarts causing problems—Billy would tell them where to find the Crooked Horn’s conjuring site. His answer? Go see the Sisters in the Grease House.   That night, the Sinners celebrated—freebies, whiskey, and the slow, dawning sense that Billy doesn’t touch what he sells. For all his bravado, there’s something broken inside him, something rotten and afraid. The prince of the Yards might be wearing his father's crown... but it's slipping.   Then it was back to work.   Sean and Tommy rolled down Garfield and sent a message to the Bone Rats—Tommy scaring the breath out of them, Sean beating the rest into the pavement.   While the McGregors open the first salvo in the war for Sherman Park, Merissa spent a little time with Christina and Charlie went to an old watering hole he was familiar with from his days working in the Union Stockyards. At the Cow's Pasture, he found old Dan and old timer that has worked in the yards for decades and asked him about the Sisters. Dan was more than happy to get to weave some tales and quickly had the whole bar quiet and listening. He told Charlie everything he knew about the mysterious entities known as "the Sisters" who haunted one of the still functioning Grease Houses in the yards. About two decades ago, a large part of the building was sealed off, being deemed unusable during the attempts to make the Stockyards, well...less of a living hell. No one is sure when, but at some point someone discovered that if you go into the old wing and approach the bricked up wall at exactly midnight during the new moon, a mysterious door is present. And on the other side? The Sisters. They have become known as some of the most powerful diviners and more than one inhabitant of the neighborhood has ventured into their section of the Grease House to bring them gifts and ask them questions. Dan himself even claims to have visited them to ask about his ailing mother. He is able to give Charlie some important information that should help the crew:  

There are three 'sisters' each with a unique gift and a particular taste in gifts.

Two of them will tell the absolute truth, and one will lie. The liar changes and you can never be sure which one it will be.

Maw Maw - Divines the dead, the fresher the better. She demands a body as a gift and reveals its secrets to the bearer.

Sister Lardine - "A big old fat woman, except made out of leaches", she divines the future if you give her kidneys and the rumor is that sheeps kidneys are her favorite.

Auntie Gristle - She is bloated and disgusting and a foul smelling vapor oozes out of her pores. She relishes tripe, the more rotten the better. And if you heat it up before giving it to her, all the better. She can see betrayals before they are even considered.

 

Turning their attention back to Sherman Park and with the Rats scattered, they could now focus on Jake “The Snake” Malone. The raid on the Venom Pit was brutal.   Sean kicked down the front door with a shotgun, blowing through Jake’s crew like paper. One bystander caught a shot meant for someone else and didn’t get back up. Charlie crept up the fire escape, dispatching a distracted guard—thanks to Dakota's haunting presence—and into the apartment. Merissa and Tommy caught the runner when he fell, tying up loose ends.   Jake came out dragging a naked hostage—turns out, a McGregor cousin. Before he could escalate, Charlie came up behind and knocked him out cold.   They took Snake alive. They took his house. They took Sherman Park.   And with Campo’s cops keeping the heat off, the Southside Sinners now hold the keys to the most profitable corner in the ward.   The market is theirs. The war, just beginning.