Chocolate Destiny: A feline divergence

Diverges from this point in the main thread: https://churchofproz.forumotion.net/t1340p50-chocolate-destiny#25550

The handsomely dressed man's smile grows larger, and the top of his head seems to shimmer for a moment.
"Nice catch! You are a shrewd thinker indeed, Mr. Gray. We offer several methods of repayment.

First option: You may make regular annual payments to us at an 8% interest rate, with a maximum term of 30 years for full repayment.

Second: you may sign over 30% of all profits you make on mercantile activities from now until such a time that your house or group ceases to exist. This option is understandably less popular than the others.

Third: You may give us your firstborn son, waiving all rights of inheritance and citizenship of course, and if we receive your payment within a year from the date that you entered into the contract, your debt will be considered paid in full. No strings attached!"

He wiggles his hands to show that they are empty.

"Now, there's absolutely nothing preventing you from taking the money and running. Go right ahead. Just make sure that, when you're finished with all your running, you pay us our due. We have agents stationed in most major countries that will be happy to receive your payments wherever you go."

"My good sir, what would happen if I took option three but I have no offspring?"

"Excellent question! Hmm..." The man puts his finger to his chin, and responds after a few seconds. "Human gestation time is approximately nine months, I believe? You have a whole fiscal year to repay, which is more than enough time for you to conceive and produce a child if you do not have one already. And it need not be a boy, we simply prefer males for payment purposes."

"How bout this, I'll take option one, and if one day I feel like I can't pay, I'll give you a firstborn child, that sound good?"

Gray manages to decide after much deliberation.

"So you want a custom deal? That can be arranged." The man clasps his hands.
"Here are the terms: You are considered to be repaying via the first method, but you have until the end of the first year from entering the contract to reconsider and pay your with firstborn child instead. After the first year, you have no choice but to pay via the first method. If however you default on the first year's payment, you must pay both your firstborn child along with one year's worth of interest as per the first method, and we will notify our collectors accordingly. Is that acceptable?"

"Fine by me, but I do not wish to take the loan right now. Perhaps you may give me the list of other brokers so that I may contact them in a place were I am less likely to get robbed?"

"Why, there's a bank right there that I'm sure will let us do our business inside! Is that not safe enough for you?"

"Like, I would need to carry this money, or goods, for a distance, and I doubt that I can do that with any safety in this town."

The man's smile turns into a pout. "My good sir, I thought you were an accomplished merchant! Surely you know that you don't need to lug around everything that you own by yourself all of the time. Why, that's what banks and porters were created for!"
He starts writing on a piece of parchment.
"Nevertheless, if you'd like to wallow in poverty a while longer, that's your choice."
He hands you the parchment containing a list of brokers. All of the brokers save one are in different cities, and the one exception has the address of the bank you are currently at.
"I'll be inside if you change your mind. Just ask for Luke."
He disappears into the bank.

Gray shrugged, crumpled the piece of paper into one of his many pockets, and began a search for Ali, and the rest of the gang of fellows.

You last heard Ali speaking of confronting the town council, and so once more head back to the town hall your peons failed to burn down. You do not see his conspicuous self nor any of his traveling companions in the vicinity. You do however, see a couple of wanted posters offering a bounty for the capture of a man of your description. The beggars must have given you up before being strung up.

"Be on the lookout for a smooth chinned young man with messy black hair wearing dirty blue silk shirt, brown breeches..."

With a sigh, Gray uses his saber to cut himself a bad quality mo hawk on the spot, in a location without many eyes, and went back to the soup shack to change into his original shirt. After that is done, Gray went around asking for a man of Ali's description, on the lookout any public acts of violence taking place.

Night will be falling soon, and the crime will soon see its customary sharp uptick that the darkness brings.
You get many strange looks from people, not only because of your altered appearance, but because of the appearance of the man that you are asking after. Most report that they have never seen the Lil' Prince in their lives, and likely never will. The answers you do get vary wildly, from the town hall, to a shantytown shack, the Baron's castle to the south, and walking out of the surf on the beach.

The first screams and shouts of the evening echo through the air. You feel something violent stirring in the northwest part of the shanty town.

Gray sneaks towards the northwest to examine the stirrings of violence, keeping to the shadows but also keeping an eye out for other shadow dwellers.

As it is night, anyone too far away from a torch is shrouded in darkness, yet it seems only you are using it to conceal your presence. It's difficult to see in the reduced light, but you make your way to the outer limits of the shantytown, where the huts are beginning to give way to the muddy plains. However, as the buildings thin out, the crowds of angry, rioting people grow thicker. Some wield cudgels, others throw mud or rocks. You have to constantly avoid being jostled by people running past and slung projectiles that went astray.
Through the masses you manage to glimpse the tops of several covered wagons up ahead.

Gray walks up to one of the less riled up rioters and asks about the situation.

The woman is dressed in snug leathers and looks too young for the gray hair sprouting from her head.
She has a distracted expression, shifting her gaze back and forth between you and the mob.
"Some fool merchant thought if he packed up and left town in the middle of the night, no one would notice. It'd be a cut and dry mobbing, but then the port guard came in blabbing about foreign goods. I'm just hanging back so's I can..."
She gives you an odd look. "Oi, did you come alone?"

"Naw, I got a couple of buddies, but they're still... waiting for the right time. Say, my eyesight isn't that good, can you see how many guards there are?"

Even though he just asked, Gray performed a comprehensive examination of the groups of people to assess the difference in numbers.

She snorts. "Not enough. Hunnerds of us, and not-hunnerds of them. So, where are these buddies of yours?"
You climb up a small pile of refuse to get a better vantage point of the conflict. You are more used to counting sessile objects, but what you can see confirms her statements. Surrounding the covered wagons are less than fifty people wearing the guard uniform, and it seems they are outnumbered at least 2 to 1. Just before you climb down, you see a single figure jumping out of a wagon.

Gray hangs slightly back to watch as the figure comes out, and waits for it to speak, or something big to happen.

"Uh, helloooo?"
The figure tackles one of the guards from behind, bringing them to the ground. The guards closest recoil and seem to become as panicked as the rioters they are fighting. The figure tears into the guard's body with long arms, then lowers its head.

"It looks like its our chance madam."
Gray exclaimed with a grin, as he charged along with the rioters.
"Lets get em!"
During the clash, Gray uses the full extent of his social skills to provoke the rioters with the lull of treasure, and the fear into the guards with misleading claims as to the rioter's superiority.
[check di check]

"Hmph." The woman does not follow you.
The guards' formation appears to have been broken by the gap in their line, the last thing you see before descending to join the crowd on the ground. Your demagoguery raises the rioters to ever higher levels of adrenaline until finally they are full consumed with a single purpose.
Like a boulder that has gained sufficient momentum, they start rolling on their own, your pushes and shouts having no further effect.
By now you are caught up in the crowd and cannot stop lest the rioters behind you trample you over.

Mud squelches and splashes under your boots as you run, attempting to suck you down with every step.
Bloodcurdling screams and yells of rage fill the air.

After spending what seems like an eternity inside a human tidal wave, the four wagons come into view, already swarming with looters. They were traveling in a single file column but have come to a complete stop. All remaining guards have fled the scene.  The horses hitched to the wagons buck and shriek, lashing out with metal-shod hooves at any who draw near, and some have broken free of their restraints. One of the vehicles has been turned on its side. There is no sign of the figure you saw earlier, although he or she is likely to be among the numerous corpses littering the ground, which will only accumulate further as the night goes on.

After the much of the looting had already occurred, and the crowd descended into mutual conflict over the few contested morsels, Gray projects his voice high above the din.
"My brothers and sisters, we should not fight among ourselves. Has your appetite been satisfied? I AM SURE IT HAS NOT! Let not this moment come to waste, there is a bigger quarry within the town. To the TOWN BANK WE GO!"

After doing so, and if the crowd does as planned, Gray slips out from being trapped by the mob, and assumes a position in the rear guard.

You wisely decide to wait to appeal to those unfortunate latecomers who get no share of the loot. The wagons are stripped completely bare within half an hour, even the wheels and several pieces ripped from their sockets. The horses have all been either slaughtered or set loose. Over a hundred bodies lie dead on the ground, fallen from various causes. Most of the rioters have dispersed, scurrying back into town with what loot they could grab lest they be stolen from themselves. There are around 40 people left who you have convinced that your idea is a good one.
"Yeah, the bank!" "Let's go!"
They all start running off, and you follow behind them.

Gray picks up any scraps of clothing he can find, and wraps them around his face to conceal his identity. During the journey he goes out of his way to recruit anybody remotely passing by for a share of the loot. When the crowd arrives at the bank, leads the demands for the bank to hand over all their possessions.

Most of the people you ask are put off by your muffled face, but nonetheless the unruly band swells to around 70 in number. Only a couple minutes pass before you reach the only major obstacle separating the crowd from the bank: the town wall. It is a solid stone brick construction over 30 feet high in some places. The guards have closed the gates for tonight, and the ones stationed on top yell for the crowd to turn back and disperse.

"We're full up! No one is allowed in until morning!"

Gray shouts back, careful to sound as anguished, and as sympathetic as possible.

"How much do you get paid, sir guards? Certainly not enough for the amount of danger you put your lives through, just like we refugees. We both are denied what are rightfully ours by the haughty nobles and wealthy who keep us down for their own gain. Let us through and join us in our righteous plundering, and you shall be able to all live freely hence with your spoils, without needing to worry about kneeling to another!"

A couple of guards seem to be seriously considering your proposal. One of the non-considerers calls out. "And what will happen if we don't?"

"Nothing, if you don't get in our way of course..."

Gray grabs a torch from a nearby rioter and waves it threateningly.

"However, nothing will come to those who forever cower behind the authority of the oppressors! So it is a fate worse than death that you must stand between it and some pig for the rest of your lives for a meager slave compensation."

"Nothing? Sounds good to me." The guard leans back but does not move from his position. "I actually get paid pretty well, but don't tell the boss I said that."

"Even if what you're saying is true," another guard says, "How do we know you won't harm or kidnap the innocent people in this town as well? The nobles may not treat us that well, but they certainly wouldn't open the gates to an invading army."

"The nobles only put up the pretense of honor and duty because it is for their interests that they do so, and that they have YOU who willingly stand between them and any harm. I am sure if the noble and his family were put to the sword, nine times out of ten he would betray all of you to gain a chance at his own life, and would gladly command the slaughter of the townspeople too. As for the innocents, the same applies for them as does you, do not get in our way and they shall not be harmed. Our only objective is to obtain our rightful claims from the wealthy and the nobility, and those can hardly be considered innocent, profiting off of our toils."

While Gray tried to convince the guards with an animated speech, he also prompted several of his fellow mob to sweep around and gather firewood and other sources of fuel in the case that negotiations broke down.

"You know, that's funny, because a wise man once said that evil triumphs when good men sit by and allow-"
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!"
A guard runs in from another section of the wall, bellowing at the others.
"W-watch commander?"  "Uh, sorry boss, we-"
"WHY ARE YOU SLACKING OFF AT YOUR POST, MAN? STRING YOUR BOWS AND TAKE POSITIONS!"

Several of the rioters start picking up sticks and wood from the ground, but many of the looters have become thoroughly frustrated from standing still for so long. Driven by overpowering greed, they run over to the gate and start beating at it with their clubs and rocks.

Gray commands the previously prepared fuel to be placed underneath the gate, and set to torch, lighting the wooden structure of the gate ablaze. Afterwards he tells some rioters to saw down a medium sized tree, and attempt to batter the burning gate down.

The rioters take their fuel up to the gate, but are unable to remove most of their brethren banging on it. They chuck the sticks and planks in between the gatebangers' feet, and press the torches to them, some mistakenly pressing the torches to the gate itself or feet.

The gatebangers are set on fire. A few realize they are burning and run screaming back into the main mass, but the rest continue their mindless hammering.

"This is your final warning!" the watch commander yells. "Turn back or we will shoot!" Some of the guards have taken out longbows.

Gray tells everyone who isn't mindlessly consumed by an overwhelming desire to bang on the gate to disperse temporarily, but to come back with even more firewood, and throw it into the increasing blaze. The choking smoke from the impure burning fuel and gate should be enough to blind the watchmen on the walls.

The rioters turn and flee from the gate in every direction, with no guarantee of when they will return. You find yourself alone in the darkened shantytown "streets". You hear screams coming from the outskirts.

Gray sighs, and slinks his way to the source.

You make your way back through the shantytown at a brisk walk, making sure to watch your step in the unlit parts of the street. You slow down upon reaching an area without any torches or light sources. The half-moon is blocked behind a layer of thick cloud.
Someone shouts, "Run! Don't stop!" Two people speed past you in the other direction.
"Wait for me!"
Before your mind has time to process this you see a third person approaching. A woman, limping slowly instead of running. She is panting heavily, already exhausted.
She makes eye contact with you for a brief moment. Then her foot catches on a piece of scrap, tripping her to the ground a good distance away from you.
"Oof!"
A disheveled man stumbles towards her from behind. It is too dark to make out his features.

Gray conceals himself behind cover, waiting for the disheveled man to act.

You watch from around the corner of a hut as the disheveled man crouches over her.
He pins her down with strangely long arms. "No, please! Someone help!" she calls out.
The head goes down and bites into her flesh, eliciting a shrill, ear-piercing scream.

Gray uses his training in composure to stay absolutely still until the man goes to pass.
(acting)

It isn't too difficult to stand absolutely still.
The man's back arches and his head pulls back, ripping out a sinewy chunk. After swallowing, he bends down to take another bite.
The woman continues screaming and wriggling as he tears into her. Blood seeps out into the ground and drips from his maw.

Finally, her wriggling ends. Suddenly disinterested, the man gets up and starts walking in the same direction. You hear footsteps behind you.

Gray sprints to the door of the hut he was taking cover behind, and hides in the doorway.

The hut's "door" is merely a heavy rug that flaps down from the roof. You slip in and peek through the thin gap between rug and wall. The footsteps come from a human figure clad in ragged clothes, slowly passing by the hut. The long arms swing from side to side, and have strange protrusions on the end.

Gray holds his breath and hides in the hut until daybreak.

When you are sure the figure has moved on, you start breathing again. You hunker down in the small hut preparing to wait out the night, taking swaddles of cloth for a makeshift bed. Suddenly you hear a sound outside that makes no sense at all. It's high pitched, almost like the screech of a monkey.

Use my ninjustu to teleport to the bank vault, if it doesn't work, stay put.

It's a beautiful morning!
Screams and fighting fill the air.

Gray peeks his head out, and gets a low down of the situation, down low, close to the ground.