Krage was a prominent gangster in the Buskin, the most downtrodden slum of the city of Juniper, during Shadows Linger. His designs to take the Iron Lily tavern from its owner, Marron Shed, were the driving force for many of Shed's desperate decisions.
Shadows Linger[]
Krage's successful gang allowed him to live in genuine opulence. His hostel in the Buskin was filled with the sorts of wealthy trappings one would only expect to find in the mansions high up on the arms of the Wolander Mountains.
Krage kept Marron Shed, the owner of the Iron Lily, in debt to eventually take the establishment for himself. To speed up this process, he personally went to the Lily with his enforcers Count and Red to collect Shed's earnings. While the thugs roughed up Shed, they found a silver coin on his person. It had been given to him moments earlier by his best customer, Raven, to purchase firewood from Latham. But Krage ignored this and claimed Shed was holding out on him. Raven affirmed Shed's story, and when Red went to strike him, Raven busted his wrist. Krage ordered the massive thug Count to attack Raven, but the man tumbled over in shock when Raven calmly pulled his infamous trick: a wicked dagger appeared in his hand from seemingly nowhere. Krage left with his men but warned Shed he must pay him.
Soon, Krage's men would force Asa, a homeless man who kept warm at the Lily, to spy on Shed and Raven. Shed kept the gangster at bay for a short while by paying a significant portion of his debt in person to Krage in his opulent hostel. Krage did not know where Shed got the money; he had earned with Raven selling corpses to the black castle. To meet his next payments to Krage, Shed took a loan from the corrupt moneylender Gilbert. Krage learned about this and realized he had a good chance of taking the Lily, and even had prostitutes lined up to fill the establishment. Asa overheard this and informed Shed, who became even more terrified of his situation: his blind mother June would not be able to survive a single night out in the cold if he lost the Lily.
Krage eventually sent his best two men to kill Raven, but they disappeared, followed by three more of his thugs. And then Raven, in disguise, assaulted Krage himself, but was chased off by Count, who was initially not expected to live from the wounds he sustained in the fight. Later, when Shed finally paid off his debt, Krage insisted that Shed help him ambush Raven. He and six enforcers dragged Shed along one frigid night, but they did not know Raven was going to ambush them. Krage was also unaware that Shed had become emboldened by Raven's support, and that night, Shed began fighting back under the cover of darkness. Five of his thugs were picked off, including Luke, Milt, and Teskus, and then Shed personally forced Krage himself to fall three floors to the ground from a rooftop, paralyzing him. He and the bodies of his thugs were carted to the black castle by Shed and Raven, where the castle creatures paid a fortune for Krage as he was still alive. As the two men departed the castle (Raven for the last time), they could hear Krage's screams.
Krage's Buskin gang |
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Krage • Red • Count • Luke • Milt • Teskus |