The Curse of the Crimson Throne (Inactive)

Game Master leinathan

Xantrian first met Katarina when she joined the guard, following in the steps of her brother, Captain Piotr. He didn't think she handled the blade he forged for her all that well, but she took to the bow easily.

Not too long ago, while working at The Gilded Prawn, Xantrian heard of Captain Piotr and his patrol's death, with just Katarina surviving. Remembering the two of them, he felt some sorrow - they were two of the good ones. Upon hearing that Piotr's mutilated corpse was left on Katarina's door, that sorrow turned to the anger that's always so close to the surface these days. It was just another case of more hurt being inflicted on those undeserving, and it needed to stop.

Xantrian began looking for information about what happened to the patrol, and who might have been behind it. He hasn't yet had much luck, but he fully intends to find the bastards who did it, and once he does, he'll take that information to Katarina. If she's made up of the stuff he thinks she is, she'll want vengeance.

Darius is one of the few people Xantrian considers a friend. It seems at first an odd pairing - the angry, bitter man who seeks to protect the helpless and get vengeance on those who do wrong, and the harsh, ruthless merchant. Yet Xantrian sees more in Darius. He's witnessed Darius fight back against the unjust in his own quiet way.

Knowing that Darius hears much, he's often stopped by the pawn shop and told stories about the abused and helpless. More often than not, Darius has heard something and can pass along an important bit of information to lead Xantrian to the wicked to mete out his brand of vengeance.

One thing about Darius bothers Xantrian, however. For somebody who knows and hears so much, the merchant has had suspiciously little information about Gaedren Lamm. Xantrian suspects Darius is holding something back, and it's kept him from committing his full trust.

Luca has met Agiz several times as Teo. While on the trail of some stolen goods for the guard, Teo found Agiz to be extremely reasonable, for a fence. What Teo did not reveal to Agiz was the disdain he felt for Agiz, profiting from crime. He kept these feelings behind his calculating gaze, and left Agiz having obtained enough information to track down the goods. He hopes that he doesn't have to work with the ratfolk again, no matter how pleasent he is.

Luca, who appears at far more of the tavens and inns of Korvosa than should be possible, has been dragged along on more than his share of intoxicated, bumbling adventures. One night though, the group he had latched on to stumbled into a reading by Nicolai. While Luca didn't receive a personal reading, he noticed the power behind what was going on. Nicolai was the real deal, and seemed to be a good person. Perhaps a friend, and one who seemed to share Luca's scruples. Had Nicolai not withdrawn into himself following his wife's death, Luca had hoped to court his attentions and obtain his assistance in his campaign against crime in the city.

Having been around at the time, Darius was involved in the investigation of the murder of the homeless man by an Acadamae aspirant, Ariana Sibylla. While she was being questioned at the guard house, he paid a visit to her home; instead of finding anything that pointed to a murderer, however, he found the signs of someone who'd devoted themselves to alchemy and entering the Acadamae through sheer force of will. While more than a little impressed that a kid would have the knowledge he found displayed in her notebooks, he continued the investigation knowing that there were plenty who went to terrible lengths to get knowledge.

Ariana's insistance on her innocence did little to convince him either. All the accused did so. Her argument for letting her speak to the witness seemed sound however, and allowances could be made for it. Behind the scenes he had reported enough information that the prosecutor on the case agreed that something else might be afoot, and so arrangements were made to allow her to meet with the fisherman. Darius, who had tailed them separately, was impressed by her ability to convince the old man to confess without cajoling him.

Later that day he tracked down the witness to get a statement as to what had happened. While he had made an official statement already, Darius hoped he might be willing to provide a lead on whomever had actually killed the homeless man. When Darius finally found him, however, it was in a back street beaten to a pulp. The thugs who had just finished doing so fled faster than he could keep up, leaving him to take the dying man's final words and carry him to try to get help. In the aftermath the prosecutors agreed to drop charges based on the old man's new statement and Darius corroborating it. Darius made an effort to dig further into the murder, but it seemed that the person most likely to be responsible, young man named John Seamus, had disappeared quickly once the charges had been dropped on Ariana. Unfortunately, he'd heard that the more well-to-do families at the Acadamae had blistered at the notion of having an accused murderer--innocent or not--in the class with their children, and the girl's admission was dropped.

In the years since, Darius occasionally seeks Ariana out when looking for alchemical supplies or formula for his own book, his impression of her as an expert in the matter having been solidified quickly by rummaging through her house back then. He also keeps tabs on her as someone rumored to be tied to the thieves' guild, though either those rumors are exaggerated, or she's kept a low enough profile to avoid being on the wrong end of an investigation since the murder.

As best Darius could figure, Mackeson was an exiled dwarf. He seemed to have no connections or obvious interactions with his kind. If anything he appeared to shun them. The tattoo artist worked in the area Darius covered, so Darius had bumped into him a few times--much to his distaste given the effects of a life of addiction written across his face. Though Darius had suspected the dwarf over the years of having ties to the local thieves' guild and drug trade, his investigations had always failed to turn up even the slightest hint of impropriety. In fact, the dwarf behaved in most ways as a rather devout worshiper of Cayden Cailean.

In time Darius reluctantly came to accept that the dwarf might simply be trying to help others avoid his own fate. Though Darius's experiences prevent him from truly believing that Mackeson has bested his own demons, the dwarf's actions have caused Darius to back off a bit. He's even mentioned him to the guards, pointing out that they might get aid from him to help prisoners addicted to shiver. Doing so provides aid to those in need, and allows them to keep closer tabs on the lot of them as well, after all.

Ariana initially believed Alistair to be nothing more than your run of the mill drunkard with nothing better to do with his family's money than to blow it on alcohol and women. As with all things, however, the topic of Alistair Wellington II turned out to be a bit more nuanced than Ariana originally anticipated.

Being forced to travel together, Ariana quickly learned that Alistair's greatest pains are an experience foreign to any she's experienced. Ariana is an only child. Hearing Alistair talk about living like he's 4th in line for his estate seemed in a way like he believed he was 4th in line for everything when it came to his family. This aspect of Alistair's life triggered Ariana's curiosity and prompted her to learn more about Alistair.

When Alistair finally opened up about his twin sister's death, Ariana tried to help Alistair rationalize his feelings about her death but was understanding when he wasn't receptive to that approach. Alicia's disposition for helping people and general altruism has been inspiring to Ariana as well. Ariana and Alistair also have since shared a common hatred for Lamm.

While still not seeing eye-to-eye about most things, Ariana has a new found respect for what Alistair has gone through and the newfound drive he has for helping others.

Atticus is exactly the kind of character I think would be most fun to have in a party with Ariana.

It could be said that Atticus Montague deGray is Ariana's antithesis and that was exactly what her first impression of him entailed. She had met plenty of archetypically knightly people before and they were all the same; they all swore to an oath, they all plan their lives by their order or their god, and they all miss what's important in life, choosing to blind themselves to the beauty of the world in favor of a sense of superiority and misguided righteousness.

That is, all of them except Atticus Montague deGray. A fellow philosopher, Ariana and Atticus had an endless pool of topics to discuss and Atticus was far more articulate than her typical interlocutor. While they generally disagree on the details and the arguments leading to their conclusions, they agreed on the most important aspects of Ariana's view of the world; the world is beautiful place and deserves our respect and adoration and people should do all that they can to help one another and better themselves along the way. Atticus was simply more disciplined and looked at the world more with his soul than with his eyes and she respected his desire to see more.

Despite their vast differences in base philosophies, Ariana warmed up to Atticus deGray quickly and has learned to look at the world with a little more heart. She also jumps at the chance to help Atticus learn the answers to mysteries nature has presented that she's been able to solve. If Ariana was the rational mind looking at and respecting nature and magic, Atticus was the passionate heart.

Ariana is a bit of a, well, cosmopolitan so she does what she can to hang out with and learn from as many people from different cultures and backgrounds as possible. As a result, you're exactly right. Being where the students from the Academae are in their leisure is probably the best place for that.

She would probably lie and say she's a freelance craftswoman if asked but, if Colt and Ariana became closer, she would probably open up and say that she does some work for the thieves guild but would assure him that she has no interest in crime. She just wants the resources to make something out of her life and ultimately help people.

She would also be jealous of Colt's ability to "play it by ear". She's too much of a perfectionist to be good at that.

Ariana would actually greatly respect Darius' skepticism and the thouroughness of his investigation even though it was into her life that he was sticking his nose. Because of that, Ariana was confident that Darius would be able to avoid any biases against her and she would have been an open book, sure that he would help her clear her name.

Since then, I can see Darius and Ariana becoming almost like professional acquaintances, the primary thing keeping their friendship from progressing being the nature of Ariana's work.

Paige knew that life on the streets in Korvosa was a miserable and arduous experience. But it was still somehow, for all of the cold and the starvation, more preferable than life as one of Gaedren's "Little Lamms", and Paige thought that was one of the least miserable of that lot. The plucky orphan girl had been left on the streets at the age of six when her mother passed away from illness and her father's new love didn't wish to raise another woman's child. She didn't even remember her last name anymore; it had long since been beaten and cried out of her. She spent only a few days begging on the streets before she found herself before Gaedren, who offered the young girl who didn't know any better a bed and some food.

It took little time for her to be put to work at performing petty crimes for him. Paige started out running distractions so that the other children could pick pockets, but as she grew older she began to sneak and pick as well, proving a surprising acumen for devious behavior. Not necessarily out of some grand joy for it, but because the only way that she could stay in Gaedren's good graces--for as much as the loathsome toad of a man could be kind to anyone--was to excel in her duties and bring him plenty of gold for him. She often managed to allay his wrath because of that, though there were some days when her luck simply didn't help her and she came home nearly empty handed, and when she did, none of her successes meant anything to the criminal.

Aside from being a good sneak, Paige had a certain charm about her even at a young age, a smart girl who could speak well, and whose sweet singing voice often provided the most potent form of distraction for others to do the pocket picking. She began to pilfer other things as well, and in a small corner of a back alley where nobody looked, she had a small stash of books she hid in someone's bushes. It was a small joy, but it was all that Paige had in life, and she would absorb any knowledge she could gleam of the world beyond, not wishing to spend her life a criminal under a horrible man's fist. Sometimes she could only manage a few pages a day amid her other duties, but when she found the time, she did her best to read as much as she could.

When her bardic magic manifested, it only made her more valuable to him. Paige didn't know how she had an innate gift for magic, but she didn't shy away from it, for whatever good it did her. She used it to help further her goals in stealing, although the shame of putting such a beautiful gift to work to better serve such a horrible man weighed on her conscience more and more. Her spells and her captivating song, which she learned had held people through magic as much as through her sweet voice, were gifts she felt too valuable to be used for Lamm, but she knew she had no choice but to do exactly as she was told.

As she grew older, Paige became the big sister figure to many of the children there, some of whom were in fact older than her. She did her best to teach them her tricks and to help them out, and often if she pilfered a particularly generously plump coin purse or managed to pilfer something very valuable from a shop, she would slide some coins to the other children so that they could claim to have 'succeeded' as well. Lamm's cruelty angered her more and more with time, even though she became better at avoiding his torture and his ire through her successes. The criminal grew weaker with age and with that only came cruelty, and she wished for the day she could rise up and do something to stop him.

Such a day never came, but her fall from grace did. When she was sixteen, Paige was found giving some of her haul to a small boy who had been beaten for the past several days straight for his failures, so that he could avoid the torture this time around, and for it, she was savagely beaten. The other children were made to watch as for hours, Paige was tortured and cut at, left with scars all over her torso from the abuse. Her body was left in an alley for dead, and she would have perished right there were it not for the kindness of a Sarenite cleric who found her while she lay dying in the gutters. Taking her back to the church, the priest, named Doriana, healed Paige and showed her the first kindness she had known from an adult in years.

When she awoke, Doriana asked how Paige had come to lie in such a horrible predicament, and for as much as Paige wanted to lie and fight against confessing what she had done, she couldn't help herself. She opened up everything to the priest, explaining that she had spent a decade working for Gaedren, pouring out her soul in such swift and feverish confession it overwhelmed her, but the priest remained patient, calm, and gave her a shoulder to cry on, letting her work through all of her frustration and sorrow. It was a cathartic but very miserable experience for Paige as a lifetime of pain was unloaded, and Doriana understood one thing above all else: this poor girl had never been given a chance to be free or make decisions for herself, let alone have somebody care about her at all. It was a bizarre feeling, but a relieving one, in some odd ways.

When finally her emotionally grueling release was over and she had been given some food, a question posed to Paige gave her a lot of thought: was she willing to atone? The question struck deep, as so concerned with survival, Paige had stolen and lied for years. Suddenly, she was confronted by those decisions, as the priest sought to help her turn from the dark path and find light in her life. That question set Paige on the course to right her life and to set right what had been up to that point a life of crime. Necessary crime, but she had still taken from people who needed, still hurt people. She needed to make up for that.

Doriana took Paige on as a ward of the Church of Sarenrae, and she had finally settled on that as her last name. "Ward". It was simple, and she liked something about the ring it had. At sixteen, she was a little too old to be sent to an orphanage, so she remained at the temple and was put to work in various ways to serve the church, not only to earn her keep (and very modest stipend of personal money every week), but to help serve to further her redemption; her soul was not blackened and her heart was true, but she still had to make up for what she had done, and being put to work with the church helped. She served as an aid to the healers by fetching things, changing bandages, and even doing menial cleaning and upkeep around the temple. She did it happily, because the priests were kind to her, her meals were warm, and she even had a small room of sorts where she had stacks of books lying about everywhere in mild disorder.

It was clear the girl did not have the discipline to be clergy, but she wished to continue serving the church into adulthood, and there were indeed uses for the girl. With her sweet charms and her very versatile skill set fostered from a life of petty street crime and knowledge-seeking, Paige found work serving the church out on the street. Sometimes, that meant playing bodyguard for priests who had to venture into dingier parts of the city for one reason or another, other times it was to sing on street corners about church events or even just the Dawnflower's glory. There were many in need in the city of Korvosa, and rather than bilking them for her own sake, she put her skills toward helping them.

With ample people skills and a streetwise sense of how to use them, Paige began to fall into a community organizer position for the church. She had a certain way with words, and charity efforts under the church found more success thanks to her well crafted and eloquent, impassioned speech. Other times, she would serve to help stop crime in the streets, as no shortage of incidental crime took place in open daylight every day, and when Paige was nearby she could always be counted on to stop it, which was something the city guard had mixed views on. Some saw her as a good samaritan, others found her overbearing, and some crooked guards simply wished there wasn't some do-gooder poking around.

But where she really threw her efforts was in regard to the "Little Lamms". The poor children still stuck under Gaedren's grasp needed help, and Paige did the best she could to try and keep them out of trouble, negotiating more than once with friendly guards when a child was about to be arrested, and on more than one occasion managing to rescue a child by bringing them to the church and personally ensuring they were placed in an orphanage where they could be safe.

It wasn't always easy work, but Paige felt fulfilled and joyful for the first time in years. The scars all over her body were horrible reminders of her past, but she had found redemption and a new, better life under Sarenrae's grace, and she was eager to show her devotion to the church back in return for it, giving her life to the Dawnflower as an agent, perhaps not one of divine magic, but one who could help her clergy and the people find common ground and understanding, a bridge between the ailing street and the temple that wanted to help them.

Korvosa was a city with problems. Paige had known that from an early age, but now, with the Dawnflower's guidance, she felt like she had a divine mission to fix it, and to help all the people she could along the way. The church had saved her life and set her on the path of redemption, and she would in kind return the favour for all who needed it.

After a decade of living under the oppressive control of Gaedren Lamm, freedom has given Paige reason to be bright and bubbly, and perhaps in her new line of working skirting the pun a little too cutely on being a ray of sunshine. Some in Korvosa need someone like that sometimes. Her life of crime is behind her now, and she has resolved herself to kindness whenever she can afford it, performing acts of charity and carrying herself with joy in the hopes of lifting the spirits of others. Sometimes it's the smallest gestures that matter most.

On the inside, she is a bit more torn up. Her old traumas don't fade easily, and every night she has the scars she earned from Lamm's beatings to remind her of her past. She doesn't let her pain show through, and she's come to a point in life where she can be genuinely happy and open about such matters, but beneath the surface there is often a twinge of pain and regret. She channels it as best she can into empathy for those also suffering, and her inner pain gives her all the more reason to throw herself into what is right for the purposes of distracting herself and burying her trauma beneath the satisfied feeling of doing a good thing to help someone.

Due to the abuse she suffered as a child, she is particularly sympathetic toward children, always committing hardest when there is a child in danger, sometimes going out of her way to help them. Of all the things Paige is willing to do for a greater good, harming a child is out of the question. She sees Gaedren Lamm in particular as a grave threat to the city and its children, and hopes for the day she may be able to cleanse such an evil off of the face of Golarion. She does not push the church to act in haste, but nothing could disappoint her more than his natural passing or some rival criminal stabbing him in an alley before she was able to mete out justice upon him.

Somewhere out there is Paige's father, the answers about where she came from and what her family name even is, and perhaps what her role in this world is. She's disconnected from it all, unsure what to think, but knowing her father, if he's alive, is a man who cast out his daughter callously and left her to starve on the streets. She does not seek him out, but on some mornings she awakes wondering if today would be the day she would finally meet him and be able to receive the answers and apologies she craved. Surely, he was still somewhere in Korvosa, and perhaps there was more to her heritage than she knows, but for the time being, she has work to do, and she cannot let her parentage be a distraction against that.

Although not officially a part of the clergy, Paige is still a member of the Church of Sarenrae, and she carries herself as such, holding herself to the tenets that a knight of Sarenrae often would: protecting the weak,fairness to others, offering redemption before offering the blade, and upholding truth. Faith helped her survive and turn her life around, and so Paige holds onto it firmly, and wishes above all else to find a role to play in bringing Sarenrae's word, finding some way to serve the church as more than an errands girl performing small duties for them. Now an adult, surely there is something she can do and some purpose she can serve, if not the church directly then Korvosa in Sarenrae's name. Some wrong she can right, some evil she can vanquish.

It gives Paige an almost restless yearning for something. She has found her redemption, but now she craves higher purpose. The weak will always need protecting and her blade is happy to serve in any capacity needed, but surely there is something deeper that she can do instead. Whatever she does, she only hopes it can make the streets of Korvosa a better place, for its dangers and failings were what drove her to suffer as she did. This city has hurt her a lot, but a large part of redemption is forgiveness, and Paige is ready to forgive Korvosa for failing her.

Paige is a tall, slender woman with long, straight brown hair and light brown skin often tanned from lots of work and time in the sun. A faint Qadiran heritage lingers in her blood and informs her very strong facial features, but she doesn't know enough about her family to know much more beyond that fact, and she holds little connection to that heritage due to her life as a child of the streets.

She dresses the part a little bit though, owing largely to her interest in the lighter of fashion senses among some of the clerics in the church who came from Qadira. It helps her cut a distinct but also distinctly Sarenite figure when she walks, her leather armor showing colours and symbols of the Dawnflower proudly. A blue cloak drawn over her shoulders billows as she walks, something she feels gives her a bit more presence. She makes sure to always keep clean and to wear fresh clothes, as she spent long periods of time wearing the same ratty old unwashed clothes under Lamm. Being able to dress properly is of the utmost importance to her as a result of that.

She's always dressed for action, due to how dangerous Korvosan streets can sometimes be. A weapon at her hip and often a few more hidden away just for security's sake; unlike the clergy she often guards, Paige understands the streets and has to be prepared for anything, and part of that process is to show that she's armed and not to be trifled with. Paired with her armour and the symbol around her neck, she makes sure it's clear that she's part of the church, availing her self of help at any moment. She's often confused for a priest because of that, and she doesn't mind the confusion; if anything, it's an advatange. Certain expectations about how to deal with a priest make it easer to come out swinging as a plucky, streetwise fighter.

All across her torso and arms are a myriad of scars from the almost lethal beating she endured thanks to Lamm. She hides them under her armor as best she could, and has worked slowly at trying to hide the ones on parts of her that are exposed with tattoos meant to help her grow from her traumas in constructive ways. It's not much, but it's something, helping to hide the reminders bit by bit as she grows into it. Ornate designs and fancy symbols help her make beauty out of her tragedy.

Portia would know about Agiz's shop, since it sells pretty art and she enjoys collecting beautiful things to wear or to decorate her home. She also would be aware of Agiz's former gang - Portia is fully committed to stopping all crime in Korvosa, and since her family makes their money by helping others make money - it's likely that gang has burgled one of her family's investments at least once. So she would be actively seeking out the leader of that gang to put them in jail. From what I can tell, that gang isn't particularly violent, so she would be doing this without the help of any vengeful ghosts...which is probably why she's been mostly ineffective so far. She's a vigilante not an investigator :P

If they were to adventure together, Portia would be at first confused as to why a simple merchant was willing to risk his neck to go do some dangerous stuff to help the city. She would underestimate him at first and treat him like a civilian. The fact that he is a ratfolk wouldn't bother her at all. But if she got to know him better, both his skill-set and his background, she would be very moved, and would want to be his friend. She would certainly value him as an asset to the group.

However she would feel very conflicted if she learned that he was connected to a band of criminals, which would be interesting roleplaying material. My short story was composed to try and enhance the drama of such a reveal, by entangling their backstories even more.

Portia would look up to Katarina, because she looks up to people who dedicate their lives to serving the city. Of course, as a vigilante, Portia doesn't think that they are sufficient to protect the city from all threats - but she doesn't believe that is because they are inept. Rather, Portia believes that because of her ability to speak to ghosts, she can offer something that they cannot.

In her guise as the Silver Ghost (which is the persona she would front to the party if selected - I would want to put off revealing her social identity to the other PCs for maximum PLOT IMPACT) however she would try to play down her admiration... because she wants the local law enforcement to respect her as an equal, not view her as some squealing fangirl. Her interactions with Katarina would be focused on trying to "prove herself" to them, as an ally, not a barrier to their work.

I'm unsure how wide-spread the story of her brother's murder would be - would it reach her gossip circle? I would leave that up to GM or Hotaru. If Portia knew someone did something so horrible, she would definitely want to help find the murderer. Perhaps his ghost would even pay her a visit to help move that plot along. Once she learned more about Kat's circumstances, she would want to try and comfort her, but it would probably backfire terribly. Portia really has never had anything bad happen to her - ever - so anything she tries to do in that regard would feel empty. Because of this, I think it would be difficult for them to become friends if both were selected. But not for Portia's lack of trying. I think the two characters ultimately share the same ideals, and could end up being very close.

In her social identity as a noble, Portia so far would not have interacted with her much. The short story I composed was meant to show a possible way the two could have interacted previously. In that circumstance, Portia was interested in trying to give herself a plausible reason to both give her bodyguards the slip and leave the party early. This meant she needed to pretend that she felt that Kat was beneath her. If the two were to interact again, she would likely continue the charade of acting coldly to her, but this time it would be to protect her secret identity.

Gus and Kipply have worked together with the Guard for a while now, due to having unusual skills that are much in demand. Gus has a great deal of respect for Kipply’s abilities as an alchemist, which far surpass his own dabblings. (He has in return offered some of what he knows of herb-lore, which is little enough.) He also greatly respects Kipply’s abilities as a surgeon, but is becoming uneasily aware that the ratling has little in the way of care for those he stitches up (or much care for anyone beside himself, for that matter). However, if Gus has a fault, it’s a determination to see the best in people, especially if they are on the fringes of human society (as he is himself). He is naturally good-natured anyway, so this is more of a strength being overplayed. He is not the lecturing kind, and does his best to be on good terms with everyone he can, so he has not made an issue of their very clear difference in values.

The way Gus sees it, if he can set a good example of care and concern for others, then maybe Kipply will follow it, and maybe he won’t. Gus isn’t a paladin, although he has been deeply influenced by one. It’s not his place to tell other people how to live.

Gus has also heard rumours that Kipply works for the more unsavoury members of society, and that he deals in drugs. He is however keenly aware of human prejudice against ratfolk and other non-humans, and is therefore inclined to dismiss this as unfounded. If it turns out that Kipply is involved in the drugs trade, and Gus finds out, it’s not entirely clear what would happen. Memories of Durthu's overdose are still quite fresh in Gus's mind.

He does however regard Kipply as a friend (regardless of whether the feeling is mutual – that’s simply not relevant to the half-orc), and if the ratfolk should come to him seeking help, Gus would give it without hesitation – although he might ask some penetrating questions about how Kipply ended up in trouble.

Gus isn’t entirely sure what Kat thinks of the practice of having various ‘civilians’ occasionally seconded to Guard squads – that is, he has some suspicions about what she thinks, but Kat is/was professional enough to keep such thoughts to herself. It helps that Gus has been genuinely useful in situations where the things that go bump in the night have refused to stay under the bed. It also helps that (unlike most wizards) he can handle himself in a fight, although small-unit tactics took him a while to get used to: on two occasions, it was only a well-placed arrow, and a cry of “Watch your six, dummy!” (or at least, a word that Gus chose to hear as ‘dummy’) that prevented him coming down with a bad case of knife-between-the-shoulder-blades.

Gus genuinely respected Kat’s brother, seeing him as one of the utterly incorruptible Captains in the Guard, and always enjoyed working with the man. For his part, Pit seemed to have no issues with working with a half-orc, which is more than can be said for some of the Guard (another reason for Gus’s occasional selective deafness). Gus was genuinely grieved to hear of his death (the half-orc wasn’t part of that mission, which was supposed to be ‘routine’). He has been uncertain as to how to offer those condolences to Kat, although she has approached him in his role as apothecary, seeking some draughts to help her sleep. (She came into his shop wearing her best I-do-NOT-want-to-talk-about-it face, which he was wise enough to respect.)

Bargsfjord (Colt’s mentor) was very good friends with Durthu (Gus’s late mentor), which is natural enough since both were magic-users who were not affiliated with the Academae. If Bargsfjord knows the reasons as to why Durthu left the Academae, he has kept it to himself.

Gus and Colt have therefore known one another for a while. Circumstance may have brought them into one another’s orbit, but it is their shared values that have made them into good friends: both of them have a care for others. Gus has often noted evidence of Colt’s good heart and kind temperament.

They also share a concern that Korvosa’s law is stifling, rather than promoting, justice. Neither of them has taken many strides towards doing much about this, but there is an unspoken agreement between them that upholding the spirit of the law is far more important than the strict letter. If they must skirt the system to help others, so be it.

Gus has been working for the Guard for some time now, and he likes to think that his positive stories about making a difference were part of what convinced Colt to volunteer to assist in the recent difficulties.

Gus himself is under no illusions that the Guard can occasionally be more interested in keeping the peace than in standing up for a good cause, but in his view the Guard does far more good than it does harm, and it keeps the streets safe for the most part. Colt might be rather more sceptical, possibly even seeing the Guard as part of the problem, although Gus isn’t really sure about this. Their friendship is based in a large part on what they don’t talk about, as well as what they do discuss.

We both share a background in structured martial tradition, but where Atticus' was trained with the role of a court retainer in mind, Evelyn was schooled as a traditional knight. Her art is selfless, and directed simultaneously towards attack and defense. In this sense it is only natural that she would surround herself with allies.

Both Atticus and Evelyn realize that those who can must do. Those who have been blessed with means are obligated to use them, not in a display of grandeur or rampant self-interest, but to better themselves and those around them. To do otherwise would be a waste of the worst order.

She is a young woman, in many ways someone Atticus could consider like a daughter were the circumstances right. More importantly - she is not someone who is bound by her past. Unfortunate events have brought her to Korvosa but now the future yawns before her, ready to be sculpted as she - and she alone - sees fit. She is the Leonotis, watch and soon she will bloom in full.

This is a man who has already seen much tragedy, yet he remains. So rare is it for one to weather this and yet come out the other side with their soul intact, especially as a child. Yet Atticus finds even deeper meaning in Finnicks existence: those with power inflict their will upon those without. Such is the tyranny of existence - a common thread weaving its way through the laws of man, god, and nature alike. It is necessary, therefore, for those with power to possess strong character and become shepherds of their cousins, lest they make leave for tyrants and madmen to prosper.

Trying times breed strong men, strong men bring prosperous times, prosperous times breed weak men, and weak men bring trying times. Atticus has already abandoned this cycle, retreating into the comforting depths of his ideology but Finnick and those young people he allies himself with may yet conquer these times. All that remains is stewardship, to share their dreams and tend to each that they may grow into an unstoppable force of change for the better.

Atticus notes the growing frustration in his would-be compatriot with interest. He knows that he has made no slight against her so he remains silent, watching as her agitation slowly builds. Soon he reaches his conclusion.

This woman, Anguela, is a creature of action. Of course, this could be said of any being with the need to survive, but this goes beyond that. Not unlike a bellowing storm, she demands that obstacles in her path be battered aside entirely - anything less would be unbecoming of her fierce nature. Gods help those who would think to stand in the way of such raw, furious ambition.

Of course he would be passive by comparison - he had long ago surrendered himself to his nature as a steward of things. People, plants, and places alike were watched, not to be instigated beyond their nature. Curiously, this revelation left him much to consider. He had already exiled himself once after he felt his path leading to stagnation. Had he returned unchanged, all the more ready to surrender himself to what would be instead of reaching out towards what could be? Anguela had already faced this challenge and conquered it in stride. Could he follow her further and learn to do the same?

In meeting Ariana, Atticus faces a tremendous obstacle: practicality. His entire life his passions have led him farther away from others, farther away from being understood. The winding path of ascetic ends in wisdom, but what good is that alone?

Consider the farmer: he shares many of the same passions as Atticus, yet through them he plys his trade, producing bounty of life with his own two hands. Atticus' accomplishments seem little, even selfish, by comparison. So to is the case of Ariana, the horticulturist who transforms her labor into potions and tonics that can soothe the mind and mend the body.

Is there room in the world for the impractical? The eccentric, the recluse, or the fool?

"This idea is no good, cast it aside. Find another."

Paige knew that life on the streets in Korvosa was a miserable and arduous experience. But it was still somehow, for all of the cold and the starvation, more preferable than life as one of Gaedren's "Little Lamms", and Paige thought that was one of the least miserable of that lot. The plucky orphan girl had been left on the streets at the age of six when her mother passed away from illness and her father's new love didn't wish to raise another woman's child. She didn't even remember her last name anymore; it had long since been beaten and cried out of her. She spent only a few days begging on the streets before she found herself before Gaedren, who offered the young girl who didn't know any better a bed and some food.

It took little time for her to be put to work at performing petty crimes for him. Paige started out running distractions so that the other children could pick pockets, but as she grew older she began to sneak and pick as well, proving a surprising acumen for devious behavior. Not necessarily out of some grand joy for it, but because the only way that she could stay in Gaedren's good graces--for as much as the loathsome toad of a man could be kind to anyone--was to excel in her duties and bring him plenty of gold for him. She often managed to allay his wrath because of that, though there were some days when her luck simply didn't help her and she came home nearly empty handed, and when she did, none of her successes meant anything to the criminal.

Aside from being a good sneak, Paige had a certain charm about her even at a young age, a smart girl who could speak well, and whose sweet singing voice often provided the most potent form of distraction for others to do the pocket picking. She began to pilfer other things as well, and in a small corner of a back alley where nobody looked, she had a small stash of books she hid in someone's bushes. It was a small joy, but it was all that Paige had in life, and she would absorb any knowledge she could gleam of the world beyond, not wishing to spend her life a criminal under a horrible man's fist. Sometimes she could only manage a few pages a day amid her other duties, but when she found the time, she did her best to read as much as she could.

When her bardic magic manifested, it only made her more valuable to him. Paige didn't know how she had an innate gift for magic, but she didn't shy away from it, for whatever good it did her. She used it to help further her goals in stealing, although the shame of putting such a beautiful gift to work to better serve such a horrible man weighed on her conscience more and more. Her spells and her captivating song, which she learned had held people through magic as much as through her sweet voice, were gifts she felt too valuable to be used for Lamm, but she knew she had no choice but to do exactly as she was told.

As she grew older, Paige became the big sister figure to many of the children there, some of whom were in fact older than her. She did her best to teach them her tricks and to help them out, and often if she pilfered a particularly generously plump coin purse or managed to pilfer something very valuable from a shop, she would slide some coins to the other children so that they could claim to have 'succeeded' as well. Lamm's cruelty angered her more and more with time, even though she became better at avoiding his torture and his ire through her successes. The criminal grew weaker with age and with that only came cruelty, and she wished for the day she could rise up and do something to stop him.

Such a day never came, but her fall from grace did. When she was sixteen, Paige was found giving some of her haul to a small boy who had been beaten for the past several days straight for his failures, so that he could avoid the torture this time around, and for it, she was savagely beaten. The other children were made to watch as for hours, Paige was tortured and cut at, left with scars all over her torso from the abuse. Her body was left in an alley for dead, and she would have perished right there were it not for the kindness of a Sarenite cleric who found her while she lay dying in the gutters. Taking her back to the church, the priest, named Doriana, healed Paige and showed her the first kindness she had known from an adult in years.

When she awoke, Doriana asked how Paige had come to lie in such a horrible predicament, and for as much as Paige wanted to lie and fight against confessing what she had done, she couldn't help herself. She opened up everything to the priest, explaining that she had spent a decade working for Gaedren, pouring out her soul in such swift and feverish confession it overwhelmed her, but the priest remained patient, calm, and gave her a shoulder to cry on, letting her work through all of her frustration and sorrow. It was a cathartic but very miserable experience for Paige as a lifetime of pain was unloaded, and Doriana understood one thing above all else: this poor girl had never been given a chance to be free or make decisions for herself, let alone have somebody care about her at all. It was a bizarre feeling, but a relieving one, in some odd ways.

When finally her emotionally grueling release was over and she had been given some food, a question posed to Paige gave her a lot of thought: was she willing to atone? The question struck deep, as so concerned with survival, Paige had stolen and lied for years. Suddenly, she was confronted by those decisions, as the priest sought to help her turn from the dark path and find light in her life. That question set Paige on the course to right her life and to set right what had been up to that point a life of crime. Necessary crime, but she had still taken from people who needed, still hurt people. She needed to make up for that.

Doriana took Paige on as a ward of the Church of Sarenrae, and she had finally settled on that as her last name. "Ward". It was simple, and she liked something about the ring it had. At sixteen, she was a little too old to be sent to an orphanage, so she remained at the temple and was put to work in various ways to serve the church, not only to earn her keep (and very modest stipend of personal money every week), but to help serve to further her redemption; her soul was not blackened and her heart was true, but she still had to make up for what she had done, and being put to work with the church helped. She served as an aid to the healers by fetching things, changing bandages, and even doing menial cleaning and upkeep around the temple. She did it happily, because the priests were kind to her, her meals were warm, and she even had a small room of sorts where she had stacks of books lying about everywhere in mild disorder.

It was clear the girl did not have the discipline to be clergy, but she wished to continue serving the church into adulthood, and there were indeed uses for the girl. With her sweet charms and her very versatile skill set fostered from a life of petty street crime and knowledge-seeking, Paige found work serving the church out on the street. Sometimes, that meant playing bodyguard for priests who had to venture into dingier parts of the city for one reason or another, other times it was to sing on street corners about church events or even just the Dawnflower's glory. There were many in need in the city of Korvosa, and rather than bilking them for her own sake, she put her skills toward helping them.

With ample people skills and a streetwise sense of how to use them, Paige began to fall into a community organizer position for the church. She had a certain way with words, and charity efforts under the church found more success thanks to her well crafted and eloquent, impassioned speech. Other times, she would serve to help stop crime in the streets, as no shortage of incidental crime took place in open daylight every day, and when Paige was nearby she could always be counted on to stop it, which was something the city guard had mixed views on. Some saw her as a good samaritan, others found her overbearing, and some crooked guards simply wished there wasn't some do-gooder poking around.

But where she really threw her efforts was in regard to the "Little Lamms". The poor children still stuck under Gaedren's grasp needed help, and Paige did the best she could to try and keep them out of trouble, negotiating more than once with friendly guards when a child was about to be arrested, and on more than one occasion managing to rescue a child by bringing them to the church and personally ensuring they were placed in an orphanage where they could be safe.

It wasn't always easy work, but Paige felt fulfilled and joyful for the first time in years. The scars all over her body were horrible reminders of her past, but she had found redemption and a new, better life under Sarenrae's grace, and she was eager to show her devotion to the church back in return for it, giving her life to the Dawnflower as an agent, perhaps not one of divine magic, but one who could help her clergy and the people find common ground and understanding, a bridge between the ailing street and the temple that wanted to help them.

Korvosa was a city with problems. Paige had known that from an early age, but now, with the Dawnflower's guidance, she felt like she had a divine mission to fix it, and to help all the people she could along the way. The church had saved her life and set her on the path of redemption, and she would in kind return the favour for all who needed it.

After a decade of living under the oppressive control of Gaedren Lamm, freedom has given Paige reason to be bright and bubbly, and perhaps in her new line of working skirting the pun a little too cutely on being a ray of sunshine. Some in Korvosa need someone like that sometimes. Her life of crime is behind her now, and she has resolved herself to kindness whenever she can afford it, performing acts of charity and carrying herself with joy in the hopes of lifting the spirits of others. Sometimes it's the smallest gestures that matter most.

On the inside, she is a bit more torn up. Her old traumas don't fade easily, and every night she has the scars she earned from Lamm's beatings to remind her of her past. She doesn't let her pain show through, and she's come to a point in life where she can be genuinely happy and open about such matters, but beneath the surface there is often a twinge of pain and regret. She channels it as best she can into empathy for those also suffering, and her inner pain gives her all the more reason to throw herself into what is right for the purposes of distracting herself and burying her trauma beneath the satisfied feeling of doing a good thing to help someone.

Due to the abuse she suffered as a child, she is particularly sympathetic toward children, always committing hardest when there is a child in danger, sometimes going out of her way to help them. Of all the things Paige is willing to do for a greater good, harming a child is out of the question. She sees Gaedren Lamm in particular as a grave threat to the city and its children, and hopes for the day she may be able to cleanse such an evil off of the face of Golarion. She does not push the church to act in haste, but nothing could disappoint her more than his natural passing or some rival criminal stabbing him in an alley before she was able to mete out justice upon him.

Somewhere out there is Paige's father, the answers about where she came from and what her family name even is, and perhaps what her role in this world is. She's disconnected from it all, unsure what to think, but knowing her father, if he's alive, is a man who cast out his daughter callously and left her to starve on the streets. She does not seek him out, but on some mornings she awakes wondering if today would be the day she would finally meet him and be able to receive the answers and apologies she craved. Surely, he was still somewhere in Korvosa, and perhaps there was more to her heritage than she knows, but for the time being, she has work to do, and she cannot let her parentage be a distraction against that.

Although not officially a part of the clergy, Paige is still a member of the Church of Sarenrae, and she carries herself as such, holding herself to the tenets that a knight of Sarenrae often would: protecting the weak,fairness to others, offering redemption before offering the blade, and upholding truth. Faith helped her survive and turn her life around, and so Paige holds onto it firmly, and wishes above all else to find a role to play in bringing Sarenrae's word, finding some way to serve the church as more than an errands girl performing small duties for them. Now an adult, surely there is something she can do and some purpose she can serve, if not the church directly then Korvosa in Sarenrae's name. Some wrong she can right, some evil she can vanquish.

It gives Paige an almost restless yearning for something. She has found her redemption, but now she craves higher purpose. The weak will always need protecting and her blade is happy to serve in any capacity needed, but surely there is something deeper that she can do instead. Whatever she does, she only hopes it can make the streets of Korvosa a better place, for its dangers and failings were what drove her to suffer as she did. This city has hurt her a lot, but a large part of redemption is forgiveness, and Paige is ready to forgive Korvosa for failing her.

Paige is a tall, slender woman with long, straight brown hair and light brown skin often tanned from lots of work and time in the sun. A faint Qadiran heritage lingers in her blood and informs her very strong facial features, but she doesn't know enough about her family to know much more beyond that fact, and she holds little connection to that heritage due to her life as a child of the streets.

She dresses the part a little bit though, owing largely to her interest in the lighter of fashion senses among some of the clerics in the church who came from Qadira. It helps her cut a distinct but also distinctly Sarenite figure when she walks, her leather armor showing colours and symbols of the Dawnflower proudly. A blue cloak drawn over her shoulders billows as she walks, something she feels gives her a bit more presence. She makes sure to always keep clean and to wear fresh clothes, as she spent long periods of time wearing the same ratty old unwashed clothes under Lamm. Being able to dress properly is of the utmost importance to her as a result of that.

She's always dressed for action, due to how dangerous Korvosan streets can sometimes be. A weapon at her hip and often a few more hidden away just for security's sake; unlike the clergy she often guards, Paige understands the streets and has to be prepared for anything, and part of that process is to show that she's armed and not to be trifled with. Paired with her armour and the symbol around her neck, she makes sure it's clear that she's part of the church, availing her self of help at any moment. She's often confused for a priest because of that, and she doesn't mind the confusion; if anything, it's an advatange. Certain expectations about how to deal with a priest make it easer to come out swinging as a plucky, streetwise fighter.

All across her torso and arms are a myriad of scars from the almost lethal beating she endured thanks to Lamm. She hides them under her armor as best she could, and has worked slowly at trying to hide the ones on parts of her that are exposed with tattoos meant to help her grow from her traumas in constructive ways. It's not much, but it's something, helping to hide the reminders bit by bit as she grows into it. Ornate designs and fancy symbols help her make beauty out of her tragedy.

Paige Ward
Human Bard (Dawnflower Dervish/Faith Singer) 2
Neutral Good Medium Humanoid (Human)
Init +4; Perception +5
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DEFENSE
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AC 14, touch 12, flatfooted 12 ( +2 Dex +2 Armor)
HP 18 (2d8 (16) + 2 Con)
Fort +1, Ref +5, Will +3 (an additional +4 bonus on saving throws made against bardic performance, sonic, and language-dependent effects)
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OFFENSE
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee
-Scimitar +4 (1d6+2, 18-20/x2, S, +2 fire damage on a critical hit)
-Dagger +1 (1d4, 19-20/x2 P/S)
Ranged
-Shortbow +3 (1d6, x3, P)
Spells Known
0th (infinite) DC 14: Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation
1st (3/day) DC 15: Cure Light Wounds, Ear-Piercing Scream, Grease
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STATISTICS
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XP
Str 11, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 18
Base Attack +1; CMB 1; CMD 13
Feats: Extra Performance, Dervish Dance, Weapon Focus (Scimitar)
Traits: Flame of the Dawnflower, Reactionary
Favoured Class: Bard (2 skill points)
Skills:
Bluff +9
Climb +4
Diplomacy +9
Disguise +9
Escape Artist +6
Heal +1
Intimidate +8
Knowledge (Local) +6
Knowledge (Religion) +6
Perception +5
Perform (Sing) +9
Sleight of Hand +7 (+8 against perception to look for the daggers in her wrist sheaths)
Stealth +7
Languages: Common, Celestial
Equipment: Scimitar, 2 Daggers, 2 Spring-Loaded Wrist Sheaths, Shortbow, 20 Arrows, Leather Armor, Traveler's Any-Tool, Holy Symbol of Iomedae, 2 Smokesticks, Smoke Pellet, Flint and Steel, Spell Component Pouch, Backpack, Belt Pouch, Whistle, Crowbar, Glass Cutter, 10 sheets of Glue Paper, Healer's Kit, Pickpocket's Outfit
Current encumberance: 36 lbs
Money: 13 gp
Carrying capacity: 38, 39–76, 77–115
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SPECIAL ABILITIES
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-Core Bardic Abilities-
Bardic Performance 14/day: Countersong, Distraction, Fascinate

-Dawnflower Dervish Abilities-
Battle Dances: Inspire Courage +2
Dervish Dance as a bonus feat
Well Versed

-Faith Singer Abilities-
Fire Domain: Paige may use the following as spell-like abilities 1/day while performing, using her Bard level as her caster level
-Burning Hands

Notes: Paige keeps a dagger in each of her spring-loaded wrist sheaths at all time, items not specified on her person from a Bard's Kit are kept atthe church

Seeing that Kipply keeps to himself but is constantly looking around at everyone else, judging them it seems for having a life around him gave Alistair pause to interact with the quiet ratfolk. There has been a few times were Alistair has attempted to get him to open up but he seems more interested in his work that anything else. In the end Alistair decides to leave him alone and move along with this life. Kipply seems to be too much into his own work to socialize.

I can see Agiz and Alistair being good friends and I can already picture how they met.
Alistair was past out drunk in a ditch along the street after getting word of his sisters death. He had gotten into a fight and it was all over his face and clothes. Agiz found him and was about to see what was in his purse. This was an easy job with no violence involved. When he attempt to lift the purse he notice a beautifully crafted ring on his finger. This was not an expensive ring but it was one he had never seen before. A unique item of this beauty gave him pause with his squeaking in delight causing Alistair to stir from his drunking bed in the street and scared the ratfolk off. Over the next few weeks. Agiz came out looking for the places that Alistair would go drinking at. Always wanting to get more of the ring that had caught his attention. He just wanted to see it again, just once. The time he spent with Alistair grew from just a simple ring into one of friendship.

It wouldn't be accurate to say that Ariana doesn't get along with the clergy in Korvosa. While Ariana certainly isn't the kind of person to devote their life to a church or god, preferring instead to look to reason and knowledge to find hope, getting to know Paige Ward was an eye opening experience for her.

It's easy to categorize the world into a seemingly endless series of dichotomies. This is, of course, not how things actually are and it has always delighted Ariana to be shown where her thinking was flawed. To her, the church represented a suppression of knowledge in the pursuit of divine favor but Paige Ward was a 'bridge' between the dichotomy of the faithful and the rational. Her desire to read, know, and help others in the name of Sarenrae presented an interesting thinking point for Ariana. How was that any different than Ariana's ceaseless reverence for the natural world?

Ariana had a hard time telling if Paige was annoyed by the amount Ariana talked to her. Imparting knowledge was one of Ariana's favorite things to do and she found someone who could teach her a thing or two in return.

Paige's upbringing, when she was comfortable opening up about it, was surprising to Ariana. Paige seemed so light hearted and positive, a trait the two women shared, but in the face of significantly more adversity than her own. Ariana didn't know what it was like to have parents who didn't care for her and Ariana's parents are still out there somewhere as well but she looks forward to their return while Paige would have good reason to be anxious about the return of her father. This garnered great respect for Paige in Ariana's eyes. Could this Lamm character have been responsible for Ariana's framing that got her dreams stripped from her? Regardless, she was committed to helping Paige right his wrongs.

When discussing Paige's atonement, Ariana placed blame for what she did squarely on Lamm's shoulders and, as little as it might mean to Paige and Sarenrae, she never even needed atonement in Ariana's eyes.

Mackeson's reputation in the slums as a guardian for the destitute puts him in touch with the Korvosan guard now and again as an informant, a role that he's not entirely comfortable at playing. Mackeson met Evelyn during one of those occasions, and he did not enjoy the experience. Mackeson recognised Evelyn's family name - traders who have interacted with his extended dwarven family trade-house in the past - but the familiarity ended there. Mackeson was rankled by the tall pale warrior's adherence to the letter of the law and disdain for Cayden Cailean. He provided just enough information to Evelyn and her guard detachment to get them to leave, wondering briefly what could have happened to cause someone to have chosen such an atheistic and ascetic path.

Mackeson has heard of Nicolai a-plenty - from his father, Bogdan. Nicolai's father has spent plenty an evening getting tipsy in Cayden's name along with Mackeson, and the man cannot help but brag about his gifted son. Mackeson has also heard about Nicolai's acceptance and flunking out of the Academae, his engagement and wedding to a young Desnan acolyte, and most recently, her tragic death. Mackeson has never met Nicolai.

“Ahh Guardsman Kovacks, that arm appears to be healing up well. What do I know of Arden Coralesian you ask?” Finnick asks as he cleans his hands in the small bowl of water before trying them on the hem of his well-worn but cared for robe. A slight smile comes across his face as he thinks of his interactions with the engineer.

“I know he is a good man who seeks to improve the lives of those placing in a bad situation. Like myself he knows how hard it can be to be alone, without parents or guardians,” Finnick says as he moves further into the small chapel, cleaning and straightening things as he goes. He moves calmly through the space, clearly at home and doing things by rote without even having to think about them. He shakes his head, a hint of sadness in his expression as he continues.

“He’s a little naïve I think. I’ve not been to the orphanage he sponsors but having been sold from a Korvosan orphanage, well, I know that sometimes they aren’t the safest of places. But life is hard and filled with choices, he made the choice to try and give orphans a second chance to have a home and I could never fault someone for that. Overall, I think he is a good man. Now lets get those bandages off and let me inspect the wound, we don’t want it getting worse when you’re so close to mending,” Finnick says gesturing towards a corner of the room where he keeps his medical supplies and pallet for patients.

As he unwrapped the binding and the guard asked him about another citizen Finnick didn’t immediately answer. He focused on the wound at first, running his fingers around the arm and testing the skin to see if it was swelling at all. After that he had the guard raise and move his arm in a couple of ways with his armor and shirt off so that he could see the muscles movement clearly. After that was done he nodded and finally responded to the man’s question, “Master Goldwin I have also had a couple of run ins with over the years. I must admit it heartens me to see someone with such humble beginnings rise to the point of respect and comfort that he has managed to obtain.”

“On the opposite side I feel like his years in Korvosa might be weighing heavily on him after all this time. Every year he seems a little gruffer, his expression a little more sour. To live a healthy life one cannot simply take care of their body, they must take care of their mind. It is clear that Master Goldwin is incredibly sharp despite his years but there is a vein of cynicism there that I fear might cause him more harm than good,” Finnick said as the guard put his armor back on and he walked him back to the front of the chapel.

“Still, Ill never forget seeing him buy a fake gold ring off a panicked young woman trying to get the coin to feed her baby. There was no way he didn’t know it was fake, a man with his experience. But he offered up the gold all the same and told them a bakery that often gave out a little extra to a woman in need. He’s got a good heart under that gruff exterior,” Finnick said with a smile before telling the guard to come back if he felt any pain in the arm.

While Knon would have liked every job to go well, sometimes that wasn’t the case. Sometimes there was a hired thug with a knife, other times some third-rate bruiser with a chip on his shoulder. Both of those instances hurt, and Knon knew coming home with injuries would only make his wife worry more than she already did. Fortunately, there was always Kipply.

Sure, Kipply wasn’t the best alchemist you could find in the city. He felt a bit eccentric and perhaps had a different agenda than helping the sick and injured. But he was cheap, and that was what mattered. And he was ratfolk, for Knon had run into far too many doctors who knew nothing of ratfolk anatomy.

The affair was strictly business, but Knon couldn’t help but feel a strange affection for Kipply, as a man so dedicated to his craft. There was something to be said of his generosity as well, a willingness to help all that came to his door. Knon could never emulate such a lifestyle, but it was always nice to see someone that did.

Knon and Mackeson worshipped different gods, lived different lives, and had different philosophies. This difference seemed to tie the two together, creating an endless debate over how one should live. From this, they found a few things they could agree on - the rejection of tyranny, the bonds of family, and a desire to protect those around them.

Knon has drank heavily only a few times in his life, and each time Mackeson has been there to be a recipient to his woes. Mackeson, through his struggle with addiction, has been a sound source of advice for the ratfolk, and Knon has taken more than a few of his lessons to heart. The two have also crossed paths many times while Knon was on the job, mostly in the slums Mackeson protects.

Sarenrae's faith was a faith of feeling and emotion, which certainly opened up a lot of beauty and history that Paige loved to learn about, but it lacked in the sort of clinical learning that she had come to live from an early age. It was with Paige that she found that, someone she considered a friend in the city, a connection outside of the church and someone who she could talk to not only about life and about the goings on, but about the world. Ariana was a studied woman who knew more and had read more than Paige ever could, and sometimes Paige would want to come by and for hours just listen to her talking about what she was working on or what she was reading. Paige turned into a wide-eyed little girl again soaking it all in again.

Other times, she would beg to borrow books from her that looked interesting, and not in any specific field either. Just any old book, anything she could learn about and know. In return, Paige often offered pragmatic street smarts and advice about the more local and centralized world to Ariana, the sorts of things you didn't learn on the streets or in a book. She appreciated the way in which Ariana could still speak compellingly and interestingly through pure worldplay and conversational talent, a sharp mind and solid logic doing what Paige's natural charms could, but with a much more practised sort of discipline than what had just been innate for the bard. It also made for captivating conversation, as she listened carefully to her words and picked up little bits and details where she could to subtly improve her own rhetoric.

The story of Ariana's framing was an awful one, and Paige promised to keep her ears to the ground in the event she heard anything about what happened, keeping in touch with a few criminal contacts here and there. In some ways she almost considered Ariana to be one such contact; though clearly a good woman of solid moral standing, her research was funded by and in part might benefit the thieves' guild. Paige didn't sermonize and preach on about its wrongness, and understood the nuance in what she was doing and in the need to survive, but she always checked in to make sure they weren't pushing her into anything. She didn't fear for Ariana's soul, but she understood what working with the likes of the thieves' guild meant, and she was always just a little concerned for her safety. It was clear to Paige that what Ariana needed wasn't someone to preach, but a friend, and she was happy to be that for her.

Due to doing most of her good deeds by day, Paige has only heard rumour of The Silver Ghost, but welcomes any who would help serve Korvosa to the better. Why this is important isn't certain, because this is about Portia Cillathis, who is a completely different person.

As a community organizer for the Church of Sarenrae, Paige focuses primarily on charity work and on putting her silver tnogue to work at trying to help loosen some coin from the highest of society. The Cillathis family, notable as they are, have more than once had the bard on their doorstep asking for audience with any member onf the family at all in support of causes that could enrich society. She does this often holding back some measure of resentment or frustration due to her very poor upbringing and the reality of wealth inequality and its effects on Korvosa. She is always courteous when she arrives, whether turned away or not, and when passing Portia on the street in the course of the day is always eager to make small talk and maintain a friendly relationship with her in hopes of using that good will to help her see that the people of Korvosa need help, but in secret she wishes that like many of the rich and powerful in Korvosa, they could use their money and influence to make the city a better place for all.

[ooc]I didn't want to presume that Portia would open up to Paige about her giving to charity, but it could also be possible that Paige might be one of the people her intermediaries work with or something to that effect. I just didn't want to push in that assuption.

Today was my first official day on the job as a Korvosa Guard and it was honestly a bit bland. The work is easier than back home in Haldun and the shifts are shorter but it was just my first day so who knows what could happen over time - at least the weather is much cooler here.

The Korvosa Guard has a surprising variety of personalities but most of them seemed welcoming or at the very least non-hostile. Captain Doliu is friendly - he introduced me to his younger sister, Katarina, and talked up a seafood restaurant called “The Gilded Prawn”. Katarina has offered to show me the ropes of Korvosa, she seems nice but can get easily distracted at times.

I stopped by “The Gilded Prawn”on my way home to see if he was telling the truth and he was, I had forgotten how good proper seafood was after spending so long away from it. The Doliu siblings stopped by the restaurant as well so I was able to get to know them a bit better, I can tell Katarina looks up to her brother by the way she shadows him and that’s a good thing - family is important.

- Evelyn Lyon