#canny costermonger

Romance in the Neath: Canny Costermonger

It’s very easy to underestimate this one. You think she rather likes that.

“I ‘ope you don’t think,” she says, “that my ‘ead’s easily turned. I don’t let any swell nickey buy me a drink. But I’ve ‘eard about you, all sorts of things. I reckon they make ‘alf of them up.”

London's illegal fighting rings are a closely guarded secret. Death is unlikely. Pain is certain. 

Take part in an Illegal Fighting Ring

Feducci, an exiled prince of the Tomb-Colonies, runs a makeshift arena called the Ring of Meat down in one of the warehouses by the wharves.

Fight dirty

There are no rules in Feducci's tournaments. Time to see if your opponent remembered that.

It turns out that a mostly-frozen slab of meat ripped from a dangling hook makes an effective improvised weapon.

You step over your opponent (or what can now be described as "the keening meat-pile"), to receive the adulation of the crowd, many of whom are still trying to forget what they just saw you do. Later, when you're counting your winnings, you think back on one of the stories you heard after the fight. Those who prove themselves in the Ring of Meat may be recruited to the next of Feducci's tournaments: the Ring of Roses.

The Ring of Roses: Take part in an Illegal Fighting Ring

Under Heartscross cemetery is a crypt for the dead of an old plague. On certain nights, petals of grave-flowers are scattered in a circle to mark a fighting-ring...

Step into the ring; trick your opponent

You test the balance of your blade. Your opponent grins, and you note his overconfidence…

He fell for it.

The gap in your defences is so subtle that only a seasoned killer would have even a chance of spotting it. Fortunately, your opponent is just such a man. His blade flashes forward in the instant before he realises his mistake, and your knife slides easily across his face. His cry is as much surprise as pain, but a cry is a cry, and in Feducci's second ring the first person to make a sound loses. As you pocket your winnings, you notice a woman among the spectators paying you a great deal of attention. She vanishes into the crowd quickly, but before she does you notice a black ribbon is tied around her arm. Intriguing...

Take Part in an Illegal Fighting Ring

The last of Feducci's fighting-rings is just a red circle daubed around the dome of St Fiacre's Cathedral, high above the city.

Step into the ring and fight patiently

The cavern breezes of the Neath are stronger up here. The stone is slick with dripwater. You can't afford mistakes.

Down he goes.

Cautiously, you and your opponent circle the cross atop the dome. When he makes a move, you counter. When he presses forward, you step aside. When his heel strays into a rivulet of rainwater, you strike like a serpent. Your blow upsets his balance, his foot slips, and he plunges down the slope of the dome to be swallowed by the darkness of the streets below. The spectators on the rooftops below chant your name. Suddenly, a figure joins you upon the cathedral: a bandaged gentleman in a wind-tugged overcoat. Feducci. "Your precision is exceptional; your acuity, enviable. I have something that may interest you. Expect a letter. But for now, enjoy your success."

The Mark of a True Duellist

They say no one emerges from the Three Rings unscathed; that you can tell a duellist by their scars. Where is yours?

Scar? What scar?

As if you'd let anything mar one of nature's better creations. Imagine what they'd say at the Singing Mandrake!

On a busy street