The Balagio has a long history. Many guests joined over the years. Some unremarkable, many quite excentric. Guests left the Balagio in awe and inspiration, or in fear. From time to time our generous host shares one of those stories. This one is not for the faint of heart.

Gea and I sat on the roof of the Balagio, sharing a cigarette, overlooking  the beautiful outskirts of Azurbala. The smoke seemed to be reaching for them. “Are you ready to accompany me?” She asked. The blue lights of the hotel did wonders to her blue eyes and curly hair, slightly brushing against my shoulder.

 I, Aron, started working as a Valet in the Balagio a couple of weeks back. I directly hit it off with Gea, the cleaner. She had asked me to come to the roof where we did a bit of small talk before she had to do a job in the Sprawls, and she would like me to come with her. I had seen her talk to the owner the day before, so I assumed it was for the hotel. Mr. Balagio, at least, that’s what we call him, since noone knows his real name, wasn’t around much. He shows up randomly and seems to be involved in a lot of stuff, but not the day-to-day business.

We walked through the Sprawls, Gea leading the way when a scream pierced the dark night. A commoner came running towards us, injured, gasping and with a small package under her arm. “They’ve made me!” she said, throwing the package towards me. I don’t get enough marrow for this I thought, taking the package and running towards a dark alley. Several goons were running after me, probably Falons. As quickly as I could I sprinted through the dark. I know the way here, since I grew up close to here, but the Sprawls change quick. Even from the couple of weeks I worked at the hotel, places had vanished, new stuff had popped up. Allegiances could have changed, nobody could be trusted. Best to go back to the hotel I reasoned, since that was also the place where I could meet-up with Gea again. She had some explaining to do. The route back to the hotel was actually quite easy, considering the circumstances. The goons had to decided who to follow, and by the time they did, I had a proper headstart. What frightenend me most was that they decided to follow me. So the package was more important than the girl.

Not giving myself the time to think about it, I went towards the hotel. I know that curiosity always gets the better of me, so I might aswell get it over with. After shaking off my chasers, the way back was pretty uneventful. Entering the lobby I spotted, then smelled, a blood trail leading towards the bar. Hesistant I approached the bar. I was startled by a voice from behind the door. “Do you’ve the package?”. In the door was mr. Balagio.  Seeing his eyes and overall Expression I quickly handed over the package and entered the bar.

There I saw Gea. I run to her and gave her a hug, feeling relieved she was unharmed. Then the girl came in my sight. The girl was lying on the bar, looking a weird kind of green and blue. We had a hard time getting past those guys, Gea said, looking away. But I did notice the small empty flask she quickly hid . And she saw that i had detected her lie.

I walked to the dying girl. “Was this worth it?” I asked, not knowing what to say in her last moments. “Yes! We are book people!” she gasped weakly, the fatal cocktail already taking effect. Stunned I looked at Gea. “You dont leave traces when you clean, silly"“, she said. “May her essence sustain”.