Melody of Fire

Joran waited quietly at the tavern, sitting amidst the ale fueled noise and tabacco smoke. His brown eyes were fixed on the doorway to the tavern and when he saw what he was looking for he raised his hand in greeting. The trio came to join him, sitting at the table and looking at the tankards of ale he'd already ordered for them dubiously.
“They're not drugged or poisoned.” Joran assured them as he smiled and leaned back in his chair. “Drink.”
The threesome exchanged glances quietly and Joran took a moment to appraise them. The woman was interesting, short sand colored hair and blue-green eyes gazed back at Joran piercingly, her body was concealed beneath the heavy travellers cloak she wore but when she reached for her drink she revealed slender fingers that promised the sort of deftness Joran needed. The next of his new companions was a squat man built like a barrel with a bald pate and heavily weathered features who looked at Joran with dark squinting eyes. The final member of the trio was as far removed from the first two as could be. Standing he would have towered over Joran and he was as wide as his stocky companion with broad shoulders and arms that looked as if they could have strangled a lion.
Joran decided that he liked the three of them, and that they would like him, even if they did not have cause to just yet.
“My friends,” he said with an air of detachment. “I'm glad you responded to my notice.”
“Hard not to notice it when a black hound delivers a message.” the little man grunted.
Joran smiled. “Yes, I suppose that would make it rather distinctive.” he examined them all. “I hope you each read my missives?”
“Aye, I saw it.” said the giant. “What do you want?”
“As my message said, I need you for a job.”
“If you can command a black hound,” the little man noted. “Why do you need us?”
“Because I need a human touch,” Joran said simply. “If I could conjure up a beast to do the job I would believe me, they're far cheaper than you three.”
The woman eyed him darkly. “What is the job?”
“To the point,” Joran said. “I intend to break into the Mage Tower here in Bellidier.”
The big man who had just taken a swig from his tankard coughed and choked, putting the drink down with a bang that caused the table to jump.
“Are you mad man? Breaking into one of the Church's citadels is suicide!”
“Keep your voice down.” the little man said, glaring from the giant to Joran. “Is this the proper place to discuss this?”
Joran smiled. “No one will hear us in the midst of this tumult, now are you in or out?”
“The payoff had better be good to if you're asking us to kill ourselves.” the little man said. “The Tower is protected by runes and Trinity knows what else.”
“It will be since I am going to pay you with the treasure vault inside the Tower.”
The woman laughed, the sound far kinder than her expression.
“I like my men confident, but you're bordering on arrogant.”
“We need some assurance that this isn't going to end poorly.” the little man said grimly. “Before we agree to this madness.”
Joran looked up at the giant who was staring silently at him.
“Oh very well,” he said as he reached into his pack. He froze as all three of his guests reached for their weapons, smiling at them as he slowly drew out a simple white flute. “Have no fear friends, I do not intend harm.”
The little man eyed the flute for a moment, his eyes widening as he studied the runes writ across its length.
“Is that, that's a—“
“Shhh,” Joran hushed him. “There are some things best left unspoken.”
The little man looked at Joran suspiciously.
“They're myths, how do we know it is real?”
“You saw my black hounds.” Joran said. “That should tell you something.”
“So he has a little flute,” the giant said dismissively. “How does that help us?”
“Quiet you fool,” the little man said as he eyed Joran. “If that thing is real, then this isn't suicide...depending on whether or not he knows how to use it.”
Joran smiled. “I will meet you at the Tower's east gate, if you want the job, be there.”
With that, he stood and left the three of them at the table, leaving behind enough coin to pay for their drinks as he walked through the crowd and out into the evening air.

After their would be employer had left, the woman turned to the little man.
“What is that flute? You don't normally spook like that.”
“If it is real,” the little man said again. “Then it is a summoning flute.”
“Never heard of it,” the woman said dismissively as she drank from her tankard.
“No, not many have and fewer still have ever seen one.” the little man stroked his chin. “We may want to meet him at the gate.”
“This is a bad idea,” the giant said. “The Church will kill us.”
The little man smiled. “Well they'd execute me anyways regardless of my intent.” he chuckled. “So it hardly matters to me, but you two don't have to come.”
“If you're going then I am too,” the woman said. “Can't let you have all that treasure, you wouldn't know what to do with it.”
“I will come as well,” the giant said. “Though I do not believe we will live to see the dawn if we do this.”
The little man shrugged. “But in this case, if we do we're going to be very richly rewarded. The vaults of the Mage Towers are nothing to sneeze at.”
So it was decided and the trio finished their drinks and set out to meet their strange employer at the designated place.

Joran smiled as the trio joined him outside the Tower gate.
“You came, good. This would have been very difficult without you.”
“What is your plan?” the woman said as she eyed the gate ahead of them and the templars guarding it. “They will not yield to just anyone.”
“They will yield to me.” Joran said with a grim smile as he raised the pale flute to his lips.
The notes of the flute were clear and crisp seeming to crack and crackle in the night air as Joran played, closing his eyes as he played the tune he required, the sound dancing across the street and through his bones.
“What are you,” the giant began but then stopped as the cobblestones beneath their feet rumbled. “What is that?” as the rumble turned to a tremor and the ground began to crack and splinter.
Joran continued to play even as the stones beneath his feet split and he was lifted up on an outcropping of the street.
“You fool!” the little man shouted as the templars called out in alarm and came forwards. “What are you calling?”
Joran paid them no heed, ignoring the cries of his companions and the shouts of the templars as they drew their blessed weapons and came forwards. The notes built into a crescendo and an earth shattering roar sounded beneath him as a scaled head shot forth from the ground, showering them all in cobblestones turned to gravel.
“You're mad!” the little man shouted in alarm. “That's a hell krait!”
The templars froze in their tracks as the armored form rose out of the shattered street. Its eyes and nostrils flaring with fiery embers as Joran played besides it. It opened its jaws and roared, and the fury of fire and brimstone seethed forth as its mouth glowed with the fires of the hottest furnaces. The krait drew back, its scaled breast swelling as it readied itself for Joran's command. The templars scrambled back to the gate but it was already too late as the krait belched and spat fire. Seething waves of flame issued forth from the krait's gaping maw, incinerating the holy warriors and assaulting the Tower gate with lapping liquid fire. Then the krait charged, its jaws dripping with liquid flame as it threw its bulk against the weakened gate, shattering its warded runes and breaking through into the yard beyond where cries of alarm were already raised.
The little man looked up at Joran as he stood on his jutting piece of cobblestone, playing upon his flute still before he turned to the woman and the giant.
“He's mad, but he's done it! Come on!”
The little man rushed forwards, his coat billowing about him while the giant threw off his cloak to reveal iron wood muscles and two great hatchets at his hips. Drawing them, he roared and came forwards to join the fray as the woman walked forwards serenely, two long slender blades held in her hands as the krait smashed and incinerated the Tower's defenses. Joran remained where he was, his eyes closed as his notes sounded upon the flute, inciting the krait to greater acts of fury as it assailed the Tower itself and its magical protection. Soon the Mage Tower was a pillar of fire, a great pyre that rose up into the night sky seemingly intent on setting the very stars themselves ablaze as the city of  Bellidier looked on in mounting horror at the destruction in their midst.

The trio of thieves stood in the treasure vault of the now shattered Mages Tower, gazing at the riches around them in awe. It was beyond anything they could have imagined and belied description, serving to render the three mute.
“I see you've beaten me here.” their strange employer said as he walked into the vault.
They turned to look at him and the little man spoke.
“The krait?”
“Gone back to its home, have no fear.” he walked through the treasure trove until he came across something, stopping and kneeling to retrieve a scepter almost as tall as he was. “Ah, here it is.” he turned to look at them with a smile. “The rest is yours, take whatever you can carry and thank you for your services.”
“Wait,” the woman said. “That's it? You're not going to get us out of here?”
“No, that's your job.” he said as he produced a clear glass orb from his pocket, lifting it up and letting it float through the air. “But you have two options, you can take what you like and try to leave the way you came in which will be interesting with the city guard assembling to assault the Tower, or you can follow me through this,” as he spoke the glass sphere expanded into a swirling blue vortex. “And trust that I will not betray you.”
With that, he stepped through the swirling vortex, vanishing from the vault.
The giant glowered at the portal angrily.
“He tricked us.”
“So it would seem.” the little man said with a slight smile. “But he did it very well didn't he?”
“How are we doing this?” the woman asked as she looked at the vault door. “Back out or through that?”
The little man shrugged as he began stuffing his pockets with gems, coins and other valuables.
“I for one do not want to fight the city guard with my pockets full of treasure.” he looked at his companions. “Grab what you can, and follow me.” with that, he dove into the portal and vanished.
The woman scowled. “I don't like this.”
“Neither do I.” the giant said grimly as he gathered his own treasure trove. “But we have made our bed, now we must sleep upon it.”
She seethed, hurriedly filling her pockets and clutching still more treasure in her fists.
“Fine, let's see what we've gotten ourselves into.”
The pair of them followed their associate through the portal and it closed behind them, the blue energies of the portal collapsing once more into the clear glass ball which fell to the ground and shattered into dust, leaving no trace of the perpetrators within the treasure vault as outside the Tower the city guard and the surviving mages, templars and priests began their assault to retake the Tower.