4712 AR Korvosa, Varisia
The Heights, The Acadamae, the Dungeons
Toff Ornelos tapped his foot idly, leaning against the pillar, and examined the dirt in his fingernails. Vanya, crouched within the binding circle, grumbled unhappily, and the erinyes stared at the assembled robed humanoids.
The young human man was pushed forward from the group by two elder wizards, and Toff waved him forward, towards Kazzroug. Toff intoned in a monotone towards the young man, not looking up "Mister Shaldriv, you showed promise when we offered you one of the coveted seats at our distinguished acadamae." Toff looked up, "promise which you seem to have squandered... You were caught trying to summon a..." he looked at the slate in his hand, rifling with a sheaf of papers, "fury, to 'make you good with the ladies'." The papers fell back into a neat pile, bound with a metal clip to the wooden board. Toff removed his spectacles, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Shaldriv, it is one thing to try to summon a devil for your own gain. We have all tried to do such a thing. It is a rite of passage." He returned the spectacles to the bridge of his nose. "You made two mistakes, the first is trying to summon a Fury" He gestured towards Vanya, who rolled her eyes in his direction, "for reasons that will soon become obvious. The second mistake was to incorrectly draw the binding circle, in multiple locations. Greed, lust, these are to be expected, and we understand but , Master Shaldriv." Toff's voice raised slightly when he adds this. He waves his hand slightly, and Vanya stood up with a wry smile on her face, and stepped through the edge of the binding circle, the light of the circle flickering and fading.
Shaldriv swallowed hard, and stared at the erinyes, backing away slightly, but quickly summoning a few minor protective wards. Vanya drew a wicked-looking bow with flaming arrows as if from the air itself, and aimed an arrow at Shaldriv. Shaldriv shouted, "headmaster, I can..." but was silenced, as three arrows pierced his heart, throat, and left eye, nearly simultaneously. Gurgling, he slumped to the ground, clutching feebly at arrows embedded in his body. Vanya turned to Toff, and blew him a kiss, mockingly, and suddenly disappeared in a puff of sulphuric gas. Toff waved at some of the impers to clean up the corpse, who scurried forward to drag Shaldriv for disposal. Toff adds, "perhaps Master Shaldriv will be of more value to this school as an example, than as a student." He dismissed the other students, and slowly walked back to his office.
A recent graduate of the Endrin Military Academy in Old Korvosa, Kaliyah was not privileged enough yet to accompany any of the higher ranking marines to the finer drinking establishments, which is perfectly fine by her. Slipping a dark cloak over her Sable Company outfit, she departs the military grounds and sets off into the nights.
On the days and nights of a particularly trying day at work, and cleaning the junk out of the water today was a particularly s!%@ty day, she finds herself at Jeggare's Jug hiding in the corner, sipping an ale to pass the time until sunset.
The clientele at Jeggy's are far to calm and controlled for what she seeks however, so inevitably she will stroll down further into the slums and rotate over to the Sticky Mermaid where the least reputable members of Korvosa can be found. Far too familiar with the animals that frequent this place, she pulls her cloak over her head a little more so that as much of her face is hidden from sight in the shadows as possible.
Refraining from speaking, she simply points at a mug and drops a coin on the bar top before moving off to an empty seat in the corner where she resumes her same routine as the last establishment. Leaning her back against the wall, she rocks her chair back at an angle and takes a sip of her ale. Disgusting. Why does it always taste like piss here? Who actually comes here of their own volition? Forcing the swill down, she slowly scans the crowd in search of an old acquaintance.
Only average height and weight, the dark cloak hides her Chelaxian-pale skin from prying eyes, pulled especially tight on the left side of her face. It is not her skin she tries to hide however, it's the scars that lay on top of the skin that force her to take a step back and into the shadow. Though the burns are only six months old now, she still has not gotten used to the disfigurement of her once perfect body and the ridicule and freakish treatment she is subjected to because of it.
Trying not to spit her ale out on the table, she sips and watches.
And waits.
An hour passes slowly, only two fights this time. Slow afternoon she thinks to herself.
Looking out the window she knows she still has a few hours yet before she needs to head out to find Lancet Street and get to the bottom of this card. She knows how long it will take to Midland from old Korvosa, timing the trip in her head.
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The flicker of a candle danced along the stone walls as the sound of water dripping in the background could barely be heard above the din and commotion of the bar above. A man, a kid really was tied to a chair, hands secured to the table in front of him. A thick strap of leather through his mouth. He looked about the room, his body trembling in terror as his swollen eyes tried to adjust to the view through the pain.
”Kelvin Mellinbeam,” a deep voice said from the shadows beyond the candlelight. ”You were once a man of honor. A good man. Then you let the scum of this city twist you and get the better of your mind.”
A large form stepped from the shadows, a man who had a broad frame but had clearly wasted a bit in recent days. His tarnished, heavily worn armor would almost be missed as anything if jote to an untrained eye, but Kelvin recognized it as being standard issue to officers of the Korvosan Guard. The large man’s cloak was dirty and tattered, and his face was shrouded behind a thick, unruly beard. He stepped to the edge of the shadows and adds ”Many men believe their friends are those they share their life with. Times of happiness and joy. Those men are fools. In truth, your truest friends are those who are with you at the end. When no one else is there to share the most intimate of moments. In that regard,” the man says as he steps forward ominously, ”I am about to become the best friend you have ever had.”
The large man reaches down and takes Kelvin’s bound hand with his left hand, as his right produces a sturdy dagger. The young man struggled to close his fist as his eyes widened, but the large man laid the blade down and slammed a fist into the back of the boy’s hand, forcing the fingers out straight and breaking a few hand bones as the kid cried out a muffled cry into the leather gag.
The man pressed down hard on the kids hand and took the dagger up once more. He pressed the tip down into the flesh of the boys index finger, causing him to let out a futile cry in agony as the man did his work. After a couple agonizing moments, the man laid the dagger down and reached down, pulling the finger bones from the useless flesh still hanging from his index finger as the boy looked on in helpless terror. The large man then snapped the last two bones of the finger away at the joint, holding them up before the boy’s swollen eyes before dropping them in front of him.
Kelvin continued screaming as the large man said flatly ”Calm down.”
Eventually his screams subsided to whimpering and heavy breathing, at which point the man reached up and removed the gag. Before he could say anything, Kelvin immediately began screaming ”HELP! SOMEO-“ before the strap was forcefully returned to his mouth.
”That was foolish,” the man said without emotion as he picked the knife up and repeated the process on Kelvin’s middle finger.
When Kelvin had calmed once more, the bearded man removed the gag once more. This time, the boy was quiet. ”Good. Now. Tell me what you know of the murder of Vanora Draverian.”
Kevin looked at him in confusion, before stammering ”I...I don’t know anything...”
This went on for some time. By the time Kelvin was out of fingers, the large man was growing frustrated. ”You know something. I don’t appreciate liars,” he said as he thrust the dagger above the boy’s clavicle. Kelvin screamed, the shrieks growing frantic as the man dig his fingers into the wound and forcefully pulling the boy’s clavicle up through the skin. He snapped it in half and pulled hard, freeing half of the bone and dropping it into the pile of finger bones on the table.
The boy began desperately muttering something into the gag. The man removed the gag and said ”There are over 200 bones in a human body,” the man said before Kelvin could speak. ”We are only through 21. Last chance. What do you know of her murder,” he asked in an ominously even tone.
”I...I don’t know!” Kelvin pleaded. As the man reached to replace the gag he desperately added ”Wait wait wait! I know who would! Gaedren. Gaedren Lamm. He has eyes and ears all in the streets. If anyone knows, it’s him!”
The bearded man nods and says ”Thank you, friend.”
A moment later, he drew a very well made and darkly decorated blade and thrust it through Kelvin’s chest. He cleaned the blade on Kelvin’s clothes before returning it to its sheath. He wrapped the body in a blanket then put it in a sack before he drug it to the river, dumping the whole thing inside for the fish and turtles to feast.
He cleaned any evidence off his clothes, then made his way to a nearby pub, the Sticky Mermaid, for a drink.
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Kaliyah's chair in the corner of the room leans back against the wall, slowly rocking back and forth as she uses her back to push it gently off the wall and back. When the large bearded man walks in she leans forward slightly to get a closer look, but not so far as to draw attention to herself.
Just another sailor or dock worker, probably she thinks to herself and without thinking takes another sip of the stale and dreadful imitation ale in her mug. Ugh. Do not keep drinking that! she grimaces as she forces the liquid down her throat with a gulp.
She puts the mug down on the table and scans the room again, looking for trouble. She finds it in at least a half dozen different places from a couple of skinny kids looking to pinch some coin to the drunk muscle heads who are itching to take their frustrations out on some unfortunate soul. Best to stay in the shadow where no one could-
"That's my seat, ya filth." a booming voice says as it approaches from the bar with two mugs in each hand. "I'll give ya ta the counta two ta scat or I'ma gonna stick my foot throughya chest."
Her head was supposed to be on a swivel, but she got too distracted by the riffraff that she lost track of some huge six and a half foot guy who had to be a freaking lumberjack by the size of his arms.
he shouts with a grin, looking down towards the woman who is easily one third of his size.
"Hey!" Kaliyah calls out in protest. "You didn't even start with one! That's not fair. Look, I'll get up just give me-" she doesn't get to finish when true to his word, he thrusts his foot into her chest and cracks several ribs. She flies backwards into the wall with tremendous force, knocking the wind out of her. With a loud thump she crumbles to the ground, gasping. Splintered pieces of the chair scatter on the floor nearby, all around her. "NOW YA DONE BROKE MY FAVORITE CHAIR!" he shouts, sitting his mugs down on the table.
Rising to all fours and heaving breaths of air as she tries to recover from the wind being knocked out of her, the big oaf throws another powerful kick into her ribs which sends her flying towards the center of the room, spiraling in the air over and then crashing into another table. This finally warrants the attention of the barkeep who yells loudly "AW C'MON NOW JACKIE! THAT'S TWO PIECES NOW! THAT'S ON YER TAB!"
As she flies backwards this time, her cloak snags on the a chair and rips off, revealing her Sable Company uniform underneath. Her face still staring at the ground and holding a trembling left hand out to him as she gasps "H-help." just as the large man recognizes who she was a member of and what leaving her be means. The men nearby chatter "Uh oh, he's done got himself in trouble with the law again!" followed by harsh laughter.
Instead of panicking, he sighs heavily and waves off the bartender as he marches towards her, cracking her knuckles. "Aww bugga. Now I gotta finish ya off so's ya don't get the Guard on me!"
From the peanut gallery, someone shouts "Kick 'er again Jackie!" while others laugh while others drink their beer and enjoy the show. Just another day in the Mermaid.
Kali tries to rise to her feet, but can't. Her body trembles as she coughs out blood on her scarred face. As blood drips down on the floor the barkeep yells again "HEY! YOU GOTTA CLEAN YER BLOOD OF MY FLOOR!"
She tries to speak, but all that comes out are gasps of pain between her broken ribs and mouthfuls of blood from the internal injuries.
As the man goes to kick the girl in the head, heavy footsteps manage to interrupt the chorus of the bar, causing the room to fall silent. The bearded man, of similar stature but a bit less muscled, approaches from the bar with a dour look on his face.
”You wantin’ in on this dance, bub?” Jackie asks boisterously.
The bearded man reaches to his side and draws an elegant but darkly decorated blade.
He looks at the man, absolutely no emotion on his face, and simply says ”Yes.”
The tone and blunt answer causes the room to feel as if it had dropped a few degrees, and Jackie’s nerve, as well as most of the room, is visibly broken. The bearded man simply adds ”Get out.”
They all comply.
He then turns and sheaths his sword as he returns to the bar and reclaims his seat.
Asoka walked the streets of Midland district looking for the Lancet Street. She wears a crimson silk gown with intricate black lace sleeves and wears a set of silver necklace with a small charm at the end that rests just above her cleavage. She is dressed to fit in with the higher class citizenry of the district not wanting to draw any undue attention to herself. It had been strange enough that someone had slipped her a Harrow card without her knowing and she wouldn't have even considered coming to the address listed under normal circumstances, but it had been weeks since she discovered that merchant with the ring she had given Keenan and she hadn't gotten any more answers.
How this person knew about her and more importantly that she had been trying to look into Gaedren Lamm was a mystery. She was careful to keep her work inquiries as Asoka separate from her hard line hunting of Lamm and his associates as Shi but somehow this stranger knew about her and more importantly claimed to know about Lamm. After everything she had heard about the man, he sounded like the kind of scum who would murder someone. However, Asoka hadn't even been able to find him and there was nothing she could find connecting him to Keenan's murder aside from the merchant and the ring.
As she walked the streets she occasionally stopped at various shops looking over the wares and carrying on polite conversation with the shopkeeps. However, it was taking forever to find the damn street she was looking for. Whoever had planned out the city streets in Korvosa was either a drunkard or dull. It wasn't anything like the places in her homeland where not only was their a thought out structure to the city layouts but an intertwined relationship with the natural world as well. Korvosa was so crowded and such a mess it was a wonder anyone could get from point A to point B and she had been here for years now.
She smirks to herself as she thinks Well at the very least the chaos and complexity helps when needing to dart down a dark alley to escape in my more strenuous activities... She didn't want to risk asking for help in the event that whatever the deal was with the whole Harrow card turned out to be a trap. So instead she continued walking. It wasn't until a few hours before dusk that she finally located the damnable street she had been looking for. Walking down the street she 'accidentally' tripped and slipped off her shoe directly across from 3 Lancet Street, giving her an opportunity to stop and collect herself and take a good look at the place as she slipped her shoe back on her foot before continuing on her way.
She got a pretty good look at the place before continuing on her way down the street and eventually around the corner where she looped around the block and made sure to check for any back ways into the building from the opposing street. Finally heading back to the main road she headed toward Old Korvosa. As she got closer she pulled out an old cloak from her bag and covered herself while she removed her jewelry to blend in once again.
Using back alleys and the less walked streets she quickly made her way back toward her safe house to prepare for the upcoming meeting. Nearly back she is surprised when a rush of people exit the Sticky Mermaid. She wanted to just leave well enough alone but her curiosity got the better of her, especially since it was so close to her safe house. She wanted to make sure there wasn't any major trouble where she would need to relocate. Quietly she stepped inside to see what was going on.
The 3 Lancet Street is a run-down, two-story townhouse (approximately 20’ wide), with a short stair leading to a first floor elevated above the street and, another short stair leading to the basement below the street (for a total of three visible stories), typical of other buildings on the block and in the neighborhood. It appears to have once had a business of some type in the basement, though any identifying sign appears to be missing from a pair of chains which once hung from a carved oaken signpost that still extends a short distance from the building. The other residences on the block appear to have been built with similar purposes, with many of the nearby basements appear to be lodgings for students and artists, boarding houses for traveling merchants, or rental spaces for general purpose (such as art studios). Some have no obvious markings, so you suspect they are simply apartments, or are in continuous use by the owner.
All windows are dark at the moment, with no sign of movement betraying the presence of any other creature.
When she steps into the tavern she sees the place is a bit cleared out, specifically around a table with broken furniture and a woman laying on the floor. Pulling the hood of her cloak down to cover her face she walks over to the woman to check on her. "Are you alright?"
Vera sat on her bedroll in the cavern beneath North Point, the space around her lit by several candles. Korvosa, built atop the ruins of prior civilizations, was connected by a network of buried buildings, caverns, and tunnels known as the Vaults. Vera knew these Vaults well, having used them to traverse the city in her youth. Though she was still plenty young, just 14. A suitable age for a girl to marry, which by her reckoning meant she was adult enough. If only others could see her that way. Beside her sat a viper, its small, sinewy form casting a far larger shadow along the walls.
Vera had come back to Korvosa, a couple of years after having fled the city for fear of her life. She felt strong enough to finally return and wander its streets. In the back of her mind, she still feared running into Skud, but rationally, she knew that the odds of such an encounter were low. It was a trip down memory lane. Not entirely sure what she was trying to accomplish with her visit, Vera had retired from the inn she was staying at to the seclusion of this cavern, turning to the cards for guidance. She drew her first card, emblematic of the past.
The Theater. A symbol of prophecy, with a true prophet acting as the puppet of the gods. Strange that prophecy was sitting in her past, though. Was there some past vision that was essential to this moment? She drew her second card, emblematic of the present.
The Twin. The doppleganger represents duality of purpose or identity. The young harrower sighed. Since leaving Korvosa, Vera had assumed a very intentional identity as a Varisian wanderer, pretending to be steeped in ancient Varisian practices and mysteries. But being in Korvosa was a reminder of what she once was. A street urchin. Living off scavenging and theft, just trying to survive. Was that the real her? Vera did not like that thought. She drew her third card, emblematic of the future.
Huh. Something was wrong. That card, it did not match her harrow deck. How was that even possible? Vera always took exceptional care of her harrow deck--it was hardly an easy place to slip an extra card. Yet here it sat, with some writing on it. She began to read the card aloud, in a low whisper. "I know what Gaedren has done to you. He has wronged me as well . . . huh . . . " Who was Gaedren? Vera tries to think on it, long and hard.
She had no idea. Yet somehow, this Gaedren had wronged her? Was Vera really to believe that? Something truly peculiar was happening here. She had sat down specifically to figure out what she should accomplish. And suddenly here was a shockingly explicit instruction. "Come to my home at 3 Lancet Street."
As a former resident, she was embarrassed that she didn't know where Lancet Street was. But there was plenty of time to figure that out. And plenty more mysteries besides. "Alright Susan, no time to waste, that was probably the clearest harrow reading I've had in my life! Let's go!" Excited for the adventure ahead, Vera began to blow out her candles, one by one, while she conjured some magical lights to take their place.
When she hears someone scare off the large man, she breathes a pained sight of relief. She waits for him to help her off the floor and hears his footsteps walking away instead. Not that she had expected anything more mind you, she was in of the disreputable underbellies of Korvosa though.
What did you expect?
Still, this was far from her first or second beating. Struggling to not fall flat on her face, she groans in pain as she pushes up with shooting pains in her abdomen and chest. In what seems like forever, but is probably three only or four seconds, she makes it to her knees just as woman asks if she's ok.
Does it look like I'm fine, lady? I can't breathe, I can't get off the ground and every time I talk I'm coughing out blood!
Keeping her face turned away from Asoka, she mutters "Yes, I'm fine."
She tries to retake her feet but cries out in pain. Realizing she actually made that noise out loud causes her to silence and grimace instead. Still looking away at the floor she holds a gloved hand up to Asoka "Actually, just a hand would be great."
Once Asoka helps her rise to her feet, she searches around for her cloak. She spots it caught on the table her and she starts to limp towards it, keeping her face tucked towards the ground with left hand trying to cover the burn marks that cover much of her face. Sections of her head also burned with scarring covering where her hair should be.
After Asoka helps the woman up she guides her to the table and assists her in retrieving her cloak. With Kali standing she sees her uniform and pauses a moment. She considers her options before finally saying quietly to the woman "I have a safe spot nearby if you need someplace to rest a moment though there's not much I can do for your injuries."
"Thank. You." she groans while limping forward. Without thinking about it, she starts to lean on Asoka and put weight on her to help her walk. "Just. For a. Bit." she spits out a mouthful of blood as the barkeep scolds her in the background again.
Ignoring him, she uses Asoka's shoulder to move towards the door. "Just a little. While. Have somewhere. To be. Tonight."
She looks back to try and identify who saved her, but she never saw him before left her to die on the floor.
“It is worthless.” jowls shook back and forth in rejection.
“It is NOT. A upscale satchel that any la-”
“It has a hole the size of my bum in the bottom” which was correct and warranted a least a pause to consider the sheer size that was suggested.
“Yes... but it is good stitching and you could... cut out the bottom and use it... as a belt!” the half orc teenager modeled her latest sewer spoils across her thin waist. With a bright smile sporting the tiniest of tusks out of her lower jaw. Bright, hopeful, and a bit desperate.
“Fine.” the cantankerous clud of a Vudrani woman sighed like it was the worst thing in the world “But you will do something for me.” pulling out a bundle, that the teenager recognized well enough. You don't live in the Bridgefront without seeing the worst people can do to themselves... “I don't...”
“Just take it to the Mermaid!” the old woman snapped. “I'm not peddling, and neither are you, if you have any decent parts left in that brain of yours. What the sewer gas hasn't rotted away. Just take it and I'll be square with that... never mind who. Anyway, you have to go that way tonight, correct?”
Magpie looked away “I... don't know.” her hand went to her pocket, where that card was. The one that had been left with the only person the teenager had any regular contact with. The same person she was talking to now.
Bala softened, “He'll find you eventually if you don't do something first.”
The old woman was right, but Lamm was a nightmare in wasted flesh. Couldn't she simply disappear down beneath this city, her lovely city, until the old bugger just died.
She went. Of course. Bala was as close to family as the orphan had. The Sticky Mermaid was a bit more upscale than she was used to, but all she had to was dip in, see the barkeep and say this was from Bala. That's it.
The cat dashed in first, through the cracked open door by a woman, and did nothing to warn her of the odd scene. Blood on the floor, groans of pain, pretty normal for a bar, but only three people at this time? The teenager stopped and stared openly at the trio, before finding sense enough to get to the barkeep.
“You! Get out. We don't serve your kind, here or anywhere!” the owner yelled.
“But I-”
“NO!” pulling a club with wooden mangled spikes all over it, slamming it down on the bar “Flithy (Mags had bathed more recently than this jerk by far) Mongrel (technically true but at least she knew who her parents were) Sluts Are Not Welcome!” sluts?!? Where did that ugly stupid inbreed loser get the nerve.
“Fine” Magpie hissed. She had a job to do, and a promise to see it through. Reaching into the sack tied at her belt, pulling out a jar, filled to the brim with something any halfway decent member of the guard will recognize “You know who wants nothing to do with your stuff here. So keep your drugs, your bar, and your narrow minded bigoted ass.” chucking the jar in a high slow arch, then darting out the door.
As the two women leave, the bearded man, without looking over his shoulder, calls out numbly, ”Be careful out there...”
In Kali’s mind, she almost imagines a familiar voice finishing the phrase with...
Kali stops in her tracks, almost falling over when Asoka doesn't anticipate her stopping. Luckily the vigilante grabs her forearm and keeps her from toppling to the ground. Her ears are ringing and she's not quite sure she just heard what she thought she heard.
No, it cannot be. He's gone.
Placing her left hand on Asoka's right shoulder, she slowly turns in place until she's facing the bearded man in the distance. Wiping the blood from her mouth she sputters as loud as she can. "Little." Ouch. "Bird." lowering her volume on the second word, unable to fight through the pain.
The bearded man slowly turns a head towards the two women in the door. He studied the injured girls frame and notes her bad burns. ”Little Bird?” he asks as he stands and steps over to her. He puts a hand on each shoulder as he holds her steady to study her eyes. Soon enough he recognizes those eyes...so familiar...so much like Vanora’s.
And so too does Kaliyah recognize the eyes of her brother-in-law. But where once they were full of life, now they are almost empty and hollow.
The big man leans down and scoops up the girl, cradling her in his arms. He looks to the other woman and says ”Let’s go.”
Kali can't believe that her brother-in-law is walking towards her. She must already be unconscious and this is all a bad dream. Dream?
Dreams.
She knows what will take away all of the pain instantly. Just a small taste, not a full trip. All she needs is just a little taste and it will whisk her away to the alley where she's chasing Vanora under the merchants carts and stealing apples while they ran, giggling with laughter and the thrill of the chase.
NO!
She groans not from pain this time, but trying to steel her thoughts to flush the bad tendency from her mind. Whether or not she collapses in his arms before he picks her up or as he picks her up, she lets go and closes her eyes now that she knows she safe.
Safe.
She murmurs "Krovax. I. Uh." but she trails off and no further words come out. She keeps her eyes closed and tries to ignore the pain of her ribs jostling each step he takes. She's sure she probably will pass out from the pain at any moment.
As the young woman leaves quickly, she notices the strange couple, cuddling in full armor with dribbling blood. "Oh its a sex club.. Ha. Sticky! I get it now." the bartender fails to grab the jar and shivers explodes all over the bar.
Not wanting to spoil the beautiful moment any more between those two, she leaves, and hides as far away as possible.
Each of you receives the following harrow card, conspicuously placed in a way that is impossible to miss:
Vera - The Joke
Marcus - The Forge
Magda - The Publician
Asoka - The Rabbit Prince
Kali - The Mountain Man
Krovax - The Eclipse
When the big man comes from the bar and takes the woman from Asoke, she steps back a bit almost bumping into the half-orc girl as she is entering the tavern. As he commands let’s go Asoke looks at him with a questioning glance. Taking an injured woman who is so out of it she likely wouldn’t remember the route was one thing, but this hulking man was an entirely different story. She holds her hands up in feigned surrender ”I don’t want any trouble, I was just trying to help. Take her if you know her...”
”Quiet Little Bird...I’ve got you. And whoever did this to you...they have a reckoning coming...” he whispers to her through clenched teeth.
He then looks to the other woman and says ”That’s how I know you can be trusted. Good people are hard to find. I mean you or yours no harm. Help me help her, and you will have my thanks.”
Asoka looks to the man a moment, then the woman, then the open streets as she considers just bolting and she thinks to herself Damnit, you should have minded your own business, best not to piss him off, he looks dangerous and the other woman does still need help...
Eventually she nods and moves to lead the man toward her safe house. She figures Worse case I can find a new safe house... Taking him around the corner into the alley she leads him from one alley to the next, takes him to a fence where she pulls aside some loose boards, down a set of stairs through an abandoned portion of the sewers and then up into the basement of a old, run down building. She pulls out a key from her bag and unlocks the door before motioning him in, closing the door and locking it behind them.
The place is pretty bare, there is a mattress and a few chairs. A couple of closed chests and a small shrine with a figurine of a humanoid looking fox with nine tails. Asoka tosses her bag in one of the chairs as she pulls back her hood and motions toward the bed. ”Lay her down. I’ll get some stuff to help.”
"What?"
"Those three... all of them... why?"
Shuttled in the shadows across the street, Magpie softly talks to herself. The cat sitting on a sill close by.
Uncertain if the whispers are correct or not, nudging her toward the fleeing group. A nudge which does not mean leaping out to say Hi, so she accepts the nudge and follows them at a distance.
Kaliyah passes in and out of consciousness on the travel up, down and all around town. Though it sees like she's been traveling for days whenever she wakes, she has no concept of how long it actually takes. Her broken body both simultaneously jarring her conscious to cry out and pain shortly before passing out again from the same pain.
She opens her eyes on the table and says "Papa. Sorry. I'm. Late. Again."
Asoka goes over to one of the closed chests and pops it open. She digs inside for a moment before pulling out a worn bag. She drops it on the ground beside her and then rummages some more before pulling out a potion. Closing the chest she walks over to the woman on the bed, she tosses the bag at the man and says "Hope you know how to bandage some wounds, I'm used to using it on myself with mixed results, but she is beyond my skill..." Inside the bag are some scissors, clean bandages, some clean water in vials, needle and thread and other various items to treat injuries.
Sitting on the bed next to the woman she sits her up in her lap and uncorks the potion and slowly pours it down the woman's throat.
Slowly the majority of the more severe wounds start to heal and dissipate.
After the woman starts to look better Asoka lays her head back down as to not startle her waking up in some strangers lap and moves over to one of her other chests. She opens it and pulls out a bottle and three glasses stepping away, leaving this chest open. She pours herself a full glass of the liquor and then pulls over one of the empty chairs next to the bed and sets the other two glasses on it along with the bottle.
She takes a sip from her glass as she walks over to a nearby, partially boarded up window and looks out onto the streets below. Looking at the window she asks "So what happened to her?"
.
After hours of walking and asking around, Vera finally finds her way to Lancet street in Midtown. "Oh Susan, no wonder I couldn't find this street. Haven't gotten to live in a place like this for years." Not since she had became an orphan and was forced to leave her childhood home. It was a different experience, seeing Korvosa as a tourist instead of as a child of the streets.
"Well, let's take a look at what we're getting ourselves into, shall we?" She and her companion quietly examine the home and its environs for anything of interest.
The 3 Lancet Street is a run-down, two-story townhouse (approximately 20’ wide), with a short stair leading to a first floor elevated above the street and, another short stair leading to the basement below the street (for a total of three visible stories), typical of other buildings on the block and in the neighborhood. It appears to have once had a business of some type in the basement, though any identifying sign appears to be missing from a pair of chains which once hung from a carved oaken signpost that still extends a short distance from the building. The other residences on the block appear to have been built with similar purposes, with many of the nearby basements appear to be lodgings for students and artists, boarding houses for traveling merchants, or rental spaces for general purpose (such as art studios). Some have no obvious markings, so you suspect they are simply apartments, or are in continuous use by the owner.
All windows are dark at the moment, with no sign of movement betraying the presence of any other creature.
Additionally, you realize that it has been years since the building was occupied. The paint is peeling in places, and there are signs of minor vandalism. Cracks grow between the flags on the stairs.
Vera pulls out the card again that sent her here, finally noticing the particular card chosen. "The Joke. Ha! Joke's on me I guess." She then reads the note again. "Hm . . . 'others like you will be there.' Well, maybe the thing to do is to observe who else tries to go here tonight." She resolves to do that, looking for a shop where she might reasonably spend a great deal of time.
The man helps the girl out of her armor gently, and proceeds to bandage her up, though it is an amateur attempt. He grumbles ”I don’t know. But I will find out.”
When they take off her armor, a harrowcard falls out with a large mountain man on it. On the back of the card is a message that is the same as both of their individual cards.
The potion that Asoka gives to Kali washes away most of the major damage done in the brawl back in the Mermaid, but still leaves her ribs tender and a large bruise on her stomach where Jackies’s boot Impacted her. She rests quietly on the table while the two patch her up.
As the man answers she turns back toward them, hoping for more information. As she does she notices the harrow card on the floor. She moves over to pick it up and promptly flips it over to see the message on the back. She holds it up where both can see and, pressingly asks "Where did this come from? Who are you two?"
The Vudran man sat at his desk, almost an entire ream of papers spread out before him, but clearly labeled, organized, and neat. He pinched his beard and peered down at the document in his other hand, poring over the numbers. It was a shipping manifest, with a long list of well-organized items, sorted in descending value, with corresponding weight values. He made a few notes at the margin of the page, and in a small book lying open on the desk. The room was richly furnished in a distinctively vudran style, the plush easy chairs each being worth more than many of the businesses in midland. His desk was beautifully carved of a distinct black wood, with invisible joists giving the distinct impression of having been cut from a single, enormous tree.
Glorio was working quietly, examining the papers and his expensive inkpen scratching away for some time, when a knock at the door interrupted his work. He deftly flipped the book closed, and said, in Taldan with an slight Vudrani accent, ”enter.”
A portly vudrani man entered quietly, and closed the door. Softly he said ”Master, I bring bad news, regarding the warehouse. It... is lost.”
Glorio looked at him sharply, his eyes narrowing, ”lost, Sorvo?” and he folded his hands. Sorvo swallowed quickly, and said ”and legally, master. There is little we can do.” Glorio let out a short exhalation, as if he had been holding his breath. ”They will find they have made an enemy; execute the contingency plan. And let me know the status every day until it is resolved. Go now,” and he waved his hands dismissively towards his servant.
Once Sorvo left, Glorio cursed quietly and gripped the edge of the desk angrily, making deep scratch marks in the nearly priceless furniture, before brushing the scraps onto the floor, straightening up and stretching, then returning to his paperwork.
When Asoka holds up the card, her card, in her hand, she instinctively reached for where she stashed it. I put it inside of my armor she thinks as she reaches down and suddenly comes to the realization that Krovax had just removed her armor.
S+!%!
She reaches for the card and tries to snatch it out of the strange woman's hand, but her ribs tell her that maybe she shouldn't be moving so quickly. She groans and doubles over, grabbing the table in pain.
Looking up at Asoka she grinds her teeth and says "Hey! That's mine! Give that back! Do you always go about robbing people who are dying on your table?!" she shouts without thinking about it.
Asoka glares at the woman as she shouts at her. She flicks the card at her so it lands on her lap, takes a sip from her drink and turns back to the window. "Well you seem well enough to bite my head off, so I assume you are well enough to see yourself out. I've done my good deed of the day and I have somewhere I need to be tonight and I need to get ready for that..."
"Easy enough to follow that lot (blood droplets alone made it pie) but what now?" the street kid whispers to herself, looking up the stairs the group disappeared up to a bit ago.
"She had a key. I don't."
"Yes but there wasn't a lot of clop clop clop away now was there? Probably right there."
"Well that was uncalled for, but yeah it did kind of look like a turnip."
Back and forth with nothing before she decides to head off. She has an appointment, and despite the city's thoughts on the matter, pushing her head into someone else's hole for no reason was dumb, so dumb, and even stupid.
"Bye bye sticky mermaid folks, hope you enjoy your... um..." she trails off not having the proper words for whatever it was and goes back up to the street.
Quickly reaching out to grab the card before it falls to the ground, she snatches it up and pulls it into her chest where she holds it against her body. She had quickly gotten worked up, her muscled tensed and her breathing acceelerated with her heart rate. Taking a deep breath while looking away from the woman who turned away to look at the window, she sighs.
"S@!@, I'm sorry. I'm not myself today, I'm just exhausted and hurt all over and I reacted without thinking. You helped me out twice already today and yet I still haven't thank you."
She reaches for the bottle and pours herself a glass, doing her best not to spill any. She reaches for it gingerly, tipping it back and emptying it her throat. It burns as it goes down and she coughs once, twice before shaking her head and pouring another.
"Thank you for helping me. I at least owe you answers to your questions, and we don't even know each other yet. My name is Kaliyah, this is -" she looks over at Krovax who is also staring out of a window, lost in thought. She thinks better of interupting him and lowers her voice. "This is Krovax, my brother-in-law?" She ends this as a question, wrinkling her brow "Former brother-in-law? What happens when you aren't related any more?"
Shaking it off she turns back to Asoka "And to whom do I owe my gratitude?"
Asoka turns back to the woman as she starts to apologize. She listens and finishes her drink before setting the glass down on one of the closed chests. She simply replies "Asoka."
She stands there watching her two new quests running different things through her mind. Eventually she walks over to the chest where she had retrieved the bag and potion earlier and opens, pulls something out, then closes the chest again. She walks over and shows the card to Kaliyah, flipping it over to note the same message as her card. "Looks like Desna wanted us to meet...."
When Asoka hands Kaliyah the card, she doesn't understand why she's handing her a different harrow card. Why is she handing her a card at all? When the card is flipped over, she squints and does a double take when the words are identical to her own.
Picking up her own card, she flips it over and compares the words and handwriting on both.
Identical!
"How..." she starts but doesn't finish. Flipping the cards over looking at their pictures. "The Rabbit Prince? What does it mean? What does any of this mean? How is this even possible? Wait." she says, holding up a finger.
"How do you know Gaedran Lamm?"
Asoka tenses up when Kaliyah asks her how she knows Lamm, she runs through different lies in her head before settling on telling her mostly the truth. "In all honesty, I don't, but he is a person of interest in something I am looking into so I thought I would see what this was all about." She pauses and looks back at the third chest, the one yet to be opened and with a lock on it, before shrugging "That was actually the business I was referring to tonight. I was coming here to get ready, but... if we are going to the same place I suppose we could just go together instead?"
The marine thinks about what she was just told, person of interest. She nods, ”Well I’ve been hunting-“, she stops closes her eyes and corrects herself, ”Tracking him down for months. He eluded me whenever I get close, almost like he knows I’m coming for him.”
Kaliyah looked over her shoulder at Krovax who remained silent, staring out the window without joining in on their conversation. She calls out to him softly, unsure whether she is bothering him or if he will even reply. ”Krovax?” she asks in a hushed tone.
When he doesn’t respond immediately, she suddenly remembers she doesn’t have her cloak on. In a panic she looks around for it until she spots it on the floor with her armor. Hopping off the chair she scoops it up and slides it on, pulling the hood over her head to cover her face again.
She looks at Asoka apologetically ”Sorry, it’s just...” she trails off. Shaking her head she says nothing but hints she is done talking about whatever it was.
Asoka notices the scars but easily looked past them, being different herself, just in ways most people don’t know, let her see past the differences in others, even if that person couldn’t see past it themselves.
She turns and looks at the man standing there silently obviously contemplating something before turning back to Kaliyah. ”Well, suppose we are on a similar path for now. I know where we need to go, if you want to come along. Hopefully we will both get something we are looking for at this proposed meet up.”
While she had originally planned to show up as her alter ego, there wasn’t a lot of point now that she met someone else going. She wasn’t about to trust Kaliyah or, more importantly, her half-brother, but she did help them so figured that at least earned her some good Will from being stabbed in the back or anything, plus if the man was as brutal as he looked the extra muscle wouldn’t hurt in the event something went wrong.
Eventually she ask Kaliyah ”Do you even know who is behind these cards? I found mine here slid under the door, but... um that doesn’t make a lot of sense...”
A week after her wedding to Eodred II, the new Queen sat in the throne room next to the fabled 'Crimson Throne', a prickly, overstuffed, and profoundly uncomfortable chair. Eodred II, with wispy hair, flowing from either side of his crown, and a gaunt frame, listens as his Seneschal Neolandus explains a new development. Neolandus says, in a concerned manner, choosing his words carefully, "... yes, that is the case, Majesty. The wedding itself was... quite expensive. We cannot afford many more expenses this quarter. You had wanted to build a few new schools, if I am not mistaken. Trade schools, to keep the tradesmen from organizing? Your plan was quite sound... we can still afford at least one if we curtail some of this..." He waves his hands towards the queen, and her recently purchased emerald broach. "spending."
Ileosa begins to pout, brushing her exquisite fingers over the broach resting on her chest, "Dreddy, my love, you promised me! You said if we got married I could have a piece of jewelry, my choice, from 'every corner of Golarion'" She looks pleadingly at Eodred, who smiles at her. She reaches up and touches his hand as he rests it unsteadily on the armrest of the throne. He grips her hand in response, and turns back to Neolandus, "no, seneschal, this is a necessary expense. The people will understand when they see her at public events. Their queen will be a symbol of rejuvenation for the city!" He cackles merrily, and begins to cough a bit, "and this will be all. The children will have to make do with what they have - our citizens are resilient." he nods, then waves dismissively at Neolandus, while turning to Ileosa and smiling, "you may go, seneschal, do not bother me for the rest of the day."
He giggles, sounding like a teenager, and Neolandus departs the throne room, rubbing his temple, and folding the ledger under his arm. He approaches an aide in a nearby office and says "it is as I expected. We will have to scrounge up what we can and bring the leader of the tradesmen in. I hope they will listen to reason, we may be able to accommodate them... for a time. Let's check the books once again. Maybe we missed something." He smiles kindly at the clerk, and pats him on the shoulder.
Vignette 3/5
Shaking her head no, she shrugs before saying "Honestly I have no idea. I finished my shift today and when I went to check my things out of the barracks this card was stuck in there. I asked around and no one saw anyone go in and or, so I have no idea how someone could do something like that."
"Anyway, about tonight, yes, I want to like to come. I mean I'm going anyway, but I'm not sure I'm feeling like myself yet, so the company would be great. Go ahead and get ready or do what you need to do, I just need a minute to talk to Krovax to make sure he's okay. I haven't seen him in many months and he's... Distant. Different." Of course he's different, you idiot! He lost his wife!
Turning away from Asoka, she walks over to Krovax and places her hand gently on his right arm. She holds it there silently for a moment without speaking. He's much taller than she is and so she stands there looking up at the back of his head, willing him to turn around and speak to her. When it doesn't happen immediate, she starts talking to fill silence.
"Thank you for saving my life tonight. Again. As usual. It seems whenever things are at that worst and I'm down on my luck you show up."
She pauses trying to decide to continue or not "It's been a long time. Too long. We've talked since..." she doesn't need to finish that sentence, some things are better left unsaid.
"Anyway, I think we have a lot to talk about. A lot to catch up on. Things are different now for me. I've done some growing up this last year. I know what you're thinking, finally, right? Yeah, I know. It's true, but I think you'd be proud of me. I, I joined Sable Company. Can you believe it? Me, a ranger! Who would have ever thought that could happen. Your friend the Captain, he's been helping me."
Looking over at Asoka getting ready, she turns back slowly to Krovax "Asoka, that's the name of the nice woman who helped me, anyway, she and I have this thing in common strangely enough and we have to do tonight. I was thinking that maybe I could see you again tomorrow after this thing is done? It'd be nice to sit down and talk maybe?"
She holds her hand there still, waiting for an acknowledgement, hoping for some form of verbal response.
Krovax continued staring out the window, as if staring through the void itself. He remained silent as Kali spoke. But eventually, he said simply ”So. This Gaedren did this to you as well? I learned earlier tonight that he knows something of Her death. Then I got this,” he says as he holds up a similar card. ”It confirms it. He has something to do with it. And now, he will suffer. For what he’s taken from us. And for what he’s done to you, Little Bird.”
He seems unhinged. He is a broken man compared to what he was, a broken man with unnatural focus on his goal.
Mentioning Gaedran causes her to look away from him, staring at the floor and pulling her hand off of him. She nods silently twice, not wanting to think about what he had done to her. When he mentions that Gaedran knows something of her sister's death however, she instantly swivels her head back up to look at him, her body rising and tensing at the same time. Eyes widened, she drops the whisper and asks loudly "What? What do you mean? HE did that? Gaedran killed her?!"
She panics, connecting dots in her head that perhaps aren't there. It's your fault Kaliyah! You brought Gaedran into your family's affairs. YOU killed Vanora!
When Krovax shows her his card, Kaliyah backs off from him and puts both of her hands over face as she continuously shakes her head over and over white muttering "Nononono."
If you hadn't gotten involved with him, she'd still be alive!
While Krovax had likely imagined that the news of Gaedran's involvement would be something that would harden her resolve, it seemingly works in reverse as guilt begins to burden her. Her breaths try to match her heart rate, speeding up and inhaling and exhaling in rapid order.
"That's not true. It can't be him. It's a mistake."
Does he know YOU killed his unborn child? Does he know that YOU killed his wife?
Kaliyah turns away and drops her right hand, facepalming with her left as she tries to control her breathing so that she doesn't hyperventilate.
"Nononono." she repeats to herself.
Field Marshal Cressida Kroft sits uncomfortably in her armor on the small stool, as a weathered man of regal bearing stands at the window looking across the city. His callused, scarred hands hold the curtain drawn back and he peers at the rain droplets dripping down the glass, he says in a low voice, ”she’s up to something. You’ve heard the whispers Cress.”
Cressida, a handsome woman with short-cut black hair, looks at him, ”there’s no evidence she’s involved. None. Yes, the order is being disrupted - but as long as the Cerulean Society stays paramount, they can control the worst elements.” She smiles, hopefully, ”we are too stretched thin to do full investigations, but the crime rate doesn’t seem to be going up. Except for disappearances, slightly, but we barely have the money to pay our current staff.”
Marcus squares his jaw and turns to her, ”I’ve given what I can, without liquidating all of my assets. If I must I will, but we need that as a last resort. You can’t keep coming to me...” he looks pained, ”and my men and women are in a bad way too, not to mention the cost of stabling and feeding, of course. I’ve been depleted trying to keep them up.” He sighs, then takes off an expensive-looking ring, walking over to Cressida and handing it to her ”so be it, this was my late wife’s band. It has many memories - but the hour of reckoning draws near. It should keep you funded for a few more months and perhaps... you could take some of it to pay for outside consultants? You find them distasteful, I know, but they have a different perspective and they can get to the bottom of things. I hope this will be worth it.” Marcus looks shaken, and crestfallen, and holds the ring in her hand briefly, folding the fingers over to clasp it. Cressida looks taken aback, but nods, ”thank you, Marcus. I hope it will be worth it, too” and she stands up and hugs him, before patting him on the shoulder, straightening her armor and clothes, and bowing to him slightly. ”Keep your head down, Marcus, and stay as long as you like, I must make arrangements,” and she departs quickly, making a bee-line for her office. Marcus stands, head hanging down and breathing shallowly, a tear brimming in his eye, which he wipes away with his worn sleeve. He sniffs, coughs ”right,” and turns back to the window to watch the rain, waiting for it to end.
Krovax put his hands on Kali’s shoulders. ”Don’t worry Little Bird. When I find him, I’m going to make him pay. I’m going to show him what the agony he has caused me...what he has caused us...is like. I’m going to return it to him a thousand fold.”
He grits his teeth and adds ”By the time I have finished, he will have long forgotten begging the gods for mercy. I will have driven him mad and back to sanity before doing it all again. And then, when he hasn’t anything left to feel...then I will let him die. But his torment won’t end there...”