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Marius chuckles a bit when half brother is brought up. Then as the consideration of what to do with this creature. Twisted and maddened now, this could have been a good dog to a hunter, or protected a family. He eyes the group to see if they act knowing time is short.
The masked man takes a long look over the slate boards, trying to suss out any information that might be useful.
He picks up the pen, ink vial, and paper and hastily stuffs them in his bag. Finally he pokes his head into the room, to see the rest of the party standing over a sleeping dog.
"No sense prolonging this..." he mumbles as he squeezes past Marius.
He heads towards the desk and opens the drawer.
Marius looks down on the dog, but having taken care throughout his life to not look at mirrors, he does not notice the resemblance: small beady eyes set far apart like a retarded deer.
Once the dog is no longer a threat, Marius does a quick but thorough scan of the room and notices something grim. Bloo's whiskers are crusted reddish-brown, and half a small finger lies on the pile of furs and garbage under the desk that made Bloo's bed.
Meanwhile, Von makes his way to the desk and pulls open the drawer. Inside, two glass vials are rigged to uncork when it opens, releasing a small but concentrated cloud of acid up at his face-
-but Von is ready, and springs back out of the way before the acid cloud can harm him. It dissipates quickly, leaving only a sour smell that hangs on the air and mingles with the dog stink.
The final room is locked, but the door opens easily with the key.
A pair of bunk beds sits against the far wall of this room to either side of a boarded-over window. Three of the beds are clearly used, on the fourth is a stained old mattress.
There are no possessions in this bunk room, but on the wall is a small medicine cabinet. Within is a single glass vial full of blue liquid.
You recognize this as a potion of cure light wounds.
Over the creaking of the desk drawer Von somehow hears the pop of a vial cork in time to duck. Luckily he also nudged the Masked Man enough out of the way as well so that they both avoided it. "WHOA, wha tha.. s~$$, that slimy f*@+a.. HA! What'll ya know, eh? Not quick enough today mate!" Von adjusts his coat, teases the desk in a playful accent and then gives the ol'desk a kick for show.
Von nods when he sees the blue vial and makes a mental note, he fails to mention what it is out loud though but will if someone explicitly asks.
"Well worth it then, huh. (sigh) Let's get back to tha Below, tick tock tick tock. Doing the Illusion plan? We could send Marius in as Bloo too I guess."
Xyr eyes the bottle in the cabinet warily after Von's surprise drawer.
"I don't know that I'd put my trust in anything that came out of this place," he says to himself.
"Indeed, Von. Unless there are other suggestions, I think the illusion is well worth the try. I should be able to make a convincing vision of the poor brute that was unfortunate enough to get in Lord Stonebeard's way, and a bit of smoke and some distant flame to further the charade."
"That's all assuming we make it through the boat without incident. Until the door to Lamm's chambers is before us, I will defer to those stouter than I to lead the way."
As Nahzir swipes at Bloo and misses he looks at his blade and quietly curses himself.
After Bloo is put to sleep and dealt with by the others he takes a look around the room and a look of disgust forms on his face as he notices the remnants of what could only be a child's finger in the mess on the floor.
As Von opens the drawer and the trap is triggered Nahzir spins around in anticipation but relaxes when he sees that no harm is done. "It seems as though they've been expecting some unwanted visitors," he says as he moves towards the desk. He is intrigued by the trap and as he approaches to examine the drawer he notices Von removing the blue vial from the cabinet on the wall. "What have you found there?" he says to Von, ever curious. "Anything useful?"
Eyeing the mysterious denizen of the underground with curiosity Von tilts the vials to reveal the telltale sheen of the blue liquid inside, "A medical elixir, likely to taste better than fishjack too." He looks to see Nahzir's reaction and if he is familiar with items like it.
Having fully explored the building's top level, all that remains is below, which can be accessed through the bay doors.
Once the bay doors are opened, an old moored fishing vessel waits before them. On the side of the ship in white paint is the name Kraken's Folly.
The rotten deck of the this ancient barge seems to be barely holding together, its hull worn and thick with seaweed and barnacles. Layers of old rope lash it securely to the pilings that support the fishery and the nearby boardwalk. A single wooden door leading into the aft cabin bears a crude painting of a red fish on its surface.
It becomes apparent that the only way below is through the aft cabin, which leads down into the belly of the ship.
Von nods in agreement to Xyr's evaluation of the boat. "If Gaedren wasn't on the other side of that, I wouldn't even touch it." The elf then turns to the more nimble folk, "Anyone wana test it out?"
Marius can tell that the deck is very unstable and would require great care not to fall through. Unfortunately, it's the only way down from their position. The cabin door that leads below must empty out somewhere to access the building's lower level.
The boat looks too small to be a hideout, so there must he more rooms that they cannot see.
In a small gap between the building and fishing vessel he swears he can see a hole in the side of the ship, with a wooden deck leading below.
"I don't much care for the looks of it myself, but it seems like it might be our only option. Aside from heading back empty handed and letting the trail go cold, that is. They've already proven willing to use the children to protect themselves so I'm not too keen on what might be considered more drastic measures."
Garth looks around at the group and cautiously places a foot on the ship, careful not to press his weight down on it yet.
"Since traps are apparently in their wheelhouse as well, slow and steady might be wise..."
"Quite right,"the masked man whispers. "Slow, steady, and well ahead of me. Do be careful."
Xyr turns his head to and fro slowly and deliberately as they proceed, scanning the ship carefully for any traps or points of structural instability.
"Healing potion, eh?" he says to Von. "Could be useful later on but might be best to save it as a last resort knowing where it came from."
As they leave the room and head towards the ship beyond the bay doors Nahzir takes a close look at the condition of the deck. "Looks just as bad if not worse than the dock leading around the main structure, which was unsteady to say the least."
Nahzir then examines the deck and looks for any signs of traps or other devices that may hinder them as they board the decrepit vessel.
Assuming there is no immediate danger, Nahzir will slowly and carefully step onto the ship.
Valamyr, from his unique vantage point your familiar has found that the below can only be accessed by a single walkway from a hole in the side of the ship, which leads to a single wood door. There are no other windows, doors or balconies below. The only place your bird is not able to inspect is below the building, a 4' tall space between the water and the floor. That fact alone gives the wizard pause, but provides no certainty.
There are no signs of traps on the deck of the ship, or anywhere else that you can see.
Nahzir, ever light on his feet and mindful of his footing, has no trouble walking onto the deck. The boards creek and groan with his every step and he can see through some gaps into the cargo hold below, but he traverses it safely.
The rotted boards under your feet give way and you fall into the cargo hold below. Take 1d4 damage as you land on a mess of cobwebbed crates and barrels.
Seeing Nahzir successfully make his way, Von Casts Guidance onto everyone as they step by him to test the boards themselves.
Eventually, it is down to Von and whomever else refused to give it a shot. With a calming exhale, Von follows in the previous footsteps.
The rotting boards are hard to read,
Landing on the barrels and crates with a crunch Von wheezes as the breath is knocked out of him. Coughing, he assures everyone above that he's alright, then scans the lower deck for more good news.
Garth watches his steps carefully as he makes his way across the deck, taking deep breaths with each step. He winces as Von crashes through and chooses a different path, hoping to avoid the same fate.
To no avail as more of the rotten deck gives way under his weight, splintering open as he comes crashing down below with Von.
"Bloody s@#! craftsmanship!" He curses as he lands amongst some crates, more irritated than injured as he gets up and brushes himself off, glancing around the rest of the cargo.
Marius and Nahzir make it to the cabin doorway without trouble.
The air in the cabin is thick and musty. Thick cobwebs hang from the walls and clutter the floor. A narrow flight of stairs leads down into the ship’s hold.
Dark and dank, the ship’s hold smells of brine and mildew. Several barrels, crates, and other containers lie stacked here and there, and a shallow layer of water has collected in puddles. Cobwebs like dusty sheets blanket the hold and all its fillings. A soft scratching sound comes from behind a few of the crates. In the darkness you can just make out a number of sleek brown spiders the size of cats crawling about.
The arachnids are aggressive and hungry, and move in for the attack.
The masked man watches Von and Garth plummet through the deck of the ship.
Well, that's encouraging...
Trying to avoid the rotted areas the others have so kindly pointed out to him, he steps hesitantly onto the deck....
And somehow manages to find yet another hole.
Just land gingerly...he thinks as he falls.
Despite his best efforts, he lands face first. He coughs and gasps for a moment, trying to rediscover the wind that has been firmly knocked out of him.
"Well..." he eeks out between coughs, thinking back on the deck full of holes. "...I don't know what I was expecting."
He lifts his head off of the floor to take in his surroundings, and quickly realizes his mask has cracked and broken in two in the impact. The right side lies square were his face landed. The left side has skittered about five feet away to his left...about halfway between him and the hideous spider staring back at him.
"Shhhhhit. It didn't have to be this difficult," he mutters to anyone within earshot, a hint of defeat in his voice.
Von, Garth and Valamyr break through the ship's deck and crash into the cargo hold below.
Valamyr lands face first in the muck and brine, his feet folding over to kick himself in the back of the head. After a moment to recover, he looks up to see a large spider only 10 feet away, staring with its many eyes. As if he had practiced for this moment, the wizard pulls a crossbow and fires a bolt that masterfully skewers the arachnid, pinning it's lifeless body to the far wall.
Two of the spiders rush through their webbing towards Von, who lays uncomfortably in the belly of the ship. The nearest one bites at him.
The spider's fangs pierce through Von's clothing and into the skin of his arm. Almost immediately he feels weakened by a venom that now courses through his veins. Von is Fatigued for one hour.
A fatigued character can neither run nor charge and takes a –2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity. Doing anything that would normally cause fatigue causes the fatigued character to become exhausted.
Two other spiders which were waiting patiently in their webs scurry towards Garth and attempt to bite him.
One of the spiders finds bare skin and sinks its fangs into your hand. You area able to shrug off the venom, which has no effect on you.
Still on the ship's deck, Marius and Nahzir watch as their allies break through the rotten boards and fall into the cargo hold.
Von noticeably shakes as the bastard spider bites him. "Ugghhh Bloody ugly cat bit me, I can feel it gave me somethin, gonna look like Marius once riddled with this filth." He mumbles audibly to himself.
"And don't f&~%in talk to me about fire on a boat this s%*~hole is as much a deathtrap as ill ever be.." Von says with a bit more strength to Xyr as he draws a card.
Fire then erupts from the card that Von holds facing the two spiders before him.
"Good grief, you all alright down there?" Nahzir says as he observes the others plummet through the deck of the ship while carefully making his way to the stairs leading below. "I was afraid the lot of us wouldn't all make it down without incident. How did those bastards ever make their way without taking a tumble through themselves? Ship ought to have looked like a nice big piece of Swiss cheese before we ever came along," he adds, mind wandering for a moment at the thought of his favorite snack while making his way down the stairs.
"Ah, hell! Spiders to top it off, now?" he exclaims as he steps down into the hold and takes in the scene. "Quickly, back on your feet, comrades!" he shouts as he turns to his right to strike at the nearest spider as they close in on the others.
Von unleashes a gout of flame towards the two spiders nearest him and boils them alive within their husks. The flames die quickly, unable to catch the waterlogged wood ablaze.
Nahzir rushes down the stairs and cuts one of the spiders in two with a flash of his small blade.
Only one spider remains.
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Marius, hearing the commotion of people falling through the floor, makes his way down the stairs and prepares for battle. He sees the spiders attacking his newfound comrades and leaps to the fray shouting "SPIDER EATEN BY CRRAAAAAANE!" as he stands on one foot, spreading his arms wide like wings.
The battered and bloodied human rises quickly to his feet with a pained look on his face. He angrily stabs his rapier at the remaining spider with a look of disgust in his eyes.
Marius rushes towards the remaining spider then strikes a pose like a squatting bird, raising his hands in the air and one leg off the ground.
Garth takes up the rapier that landed beside (and thankfully not under) him when he fell, then uses it to stab the last spider.
The Kraken's folly hold has nothing of value in the moldy crates and barrels. Apart from the five dead spiders it is otherwise empty.
There is a door cut through the side of the ship hanging slightly ajar. You realize this must be the way to Gaedren's hideout below .
The dark haired human wipes the spider goop off his thin blade on his dirty trousers before sheathing it and quickly checking the remains for any usable spider parts left. He does so with an unenthusiastic grimace on his face.
Von reshuffles his deck before drawing another card. He reads it privately before shuffling it back in as well.
The Uprising.. disconcerting, I hope these blokes know what they're doing..
"If they're by the door they likely know we're here.." Von notices Xyr's mask is broken for the first time, he studies the new face before continuing. "Well, thanks for joining us beautiful. Time for your tricks and plans or should we just get on with it?"
The newly unmasked man slowly stands up and wipes a glob of muck from his cloak, flinging it vaguely in the direction of the spider he shot.
"We were probably past the point of tricks and plans the moment you put the doorman to sleep," he says, his face now masked only with irritation. "But if that wasn't the last straw, then all of the shouting just now probably was."
He seems lost in thought for half a moment, and then his expression softens. "On the bright side, if there were a moment one of you were going to kill me, that one was likely the most opportune. But here I stand, all in one piece, more or less. And since anonymity has eluded me, and my alias is so unfortunately close to the namesake of our bewhiskered compatriot...I am Lord Valamyr Aldoran, humble servant of Korvosa and her people." He bows ever so slightly as he reintroduces himself. "Most of them, anyway," he adds under his breath.
He follows the introduction with a wave of his hand over his cloak, and in an instant the muck and blood that had previously stained it has vanished. He begins reloading his crossbow.
"In lieu of my illusory gifts, I wonder if there is some way we could get a lay of the land beyond before we tread further..."
Through the small opening in the door you can see the following:
A narrow space exists under the fishery, with about four feet of room between the floor of the building above and the languid, foamy water below. Wooden pilings support the building, and moss and cobwebs hang thick from ropes and rusted chains between them. A wooden walkway floats on the water surface, winding along the inner wall of pilings that supports the building’s frame above, leading from the sodden barge to the east all the way west to a closed wooden door that leads into an understructure below the fishery’s landbound half. A wooden skiff is tied to the end of the walkway just to the right of the door you peer through.
Through a dirty little translucent window in the room below the fishery, you can see light shining from within.
A long, dark shadow moves through the water just below the wooden walkway. You estimate that the creature, whatever it may be, is well over 10 feet in length.
Looking at the nobleman Von scoffs. "Looks empty to me. Quiet in an eerie way.."
"Not as empty as I would like. There is something moving in the water. Something...large." He eyes the gloomy water and the wooden walkway ahead warily. "Knowing what we now know about the general upkeep of Mr. Lamm's facilities, I suggest we proceed with extreme caution. Does anyone have a rope? Something we could tie off to the pilings and hang on to?"
"Or..." his head slowly turns to Marius. "Lord Stonebeard...You have thusfar proven to be both stout and sure of foot. A credit to your kind, and a guiding light for the rest of us in all matters of...stout surefootedness. I, on the other hand, have received a stark reminder that I am not as limber as I once was. I would certainly feel better braving the platform with your guidance. Would you do me the honor of taking my hand and leading the way?"
Valamyr smiles broadly and extends an open palm towards Marius.
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Marius attempts to see out in the darkness...
... but is distracted by the neglected structural dismay. "The fact that any of this is still standing is equal parts astonishing and horrifying to me. This is EXACTLY why you hire a good dwarven builder...(he trails off rambling in dwarven)"
Marius turns to meet Valamyr's broad smile and kind words with a deer in the headlights wide eyed shocked look, which almost instantly fades into a starry eyed stare. "Oh you charmer, I bet ya talk to all the dwarves like that." he rasps through his teeth with a giggle and a wink as he takes Valamyr's hand. "though I have a rope as well. Also, this large something moving in the water... so is it time to go fishing? should we of hired that fisherman?"
Nahzir wipes his blade clean as he sees there are no more spiders left standing. He finally takes notice of "Xyr's" mask now lying broken upon the floor and looks at the man face to face for the first time. "Good to finally meet the man behind the mask. I understand better than most the need to conceal one's true identity from an enemy, but I'll find it easier to trust a man when he isn't hiding himself from those that he might call allies."
He turns his attention now towards the way leading beneath the structure to see what lies ahead.
"If there are no objections, I could lead the way and secure a rope from my kit as I go for the rest to steady themselves," he says. "Unless you two prefer to hold hands from here..." he adds with a smile and wink to Valamyr and Marius after their exchange.
Von watches the group as people shrug off the tensions of battle, but can't keep himself from staring a little at Xyr. 'That face, was it in a parade? Fine silks strolling in tha market? Quite tha mark, eh? Did I manage some coin from ya?' He muses on his memories while the agile and strong fellows decide how they'd wish to continue.
Splitting his Harrow deck, he peaks at a card.
Interesting.. the greater fate perhaps..
so now that LVA has been unmasked, is there anything distinguishing we would notice?
Generally speaking, the man who has introduced himself as Lord Valamyr Aldoran is a rather unremarkable looking man. He is pale with dark blue eyes: a strong indicator of full-blooded Chelaxian heritage. That hardly makes him an oddity in Korvosa. What little of the dark hair that would be visible beneath his hood is beginning to show the first signs of both thinning and graying. His facial features denote a man who is lean, bordering on gaunt. The dark circles under his eyes suggest someone who has suffered a prolonged and recurring lack of sleep in his recent past.
Since dropping the affected voice after speaking with the child, he has spoken in a far warmer, and much more precise manner. Anyone who has dealt in any cursory way with Korvosan nobility would likely find his manner of speech familiar and in keeping with someone who is well-traveled in the circles of Korvosa's wealthy and well educated.
"Good to finally meet the man behind the mask. I understand better than most the need to conceal one's true identity from an enemy, but I'll find it easier to trust a man when he isn't hiding himself from those that he might call allies."
"I am generally of the belief that allies are hard earned, and rarely come by way of surreptitiously placed harrow card. So I must ask you to forgive my caution. That being said...these are increasingly strange days. The bewhiskered above ground, a mute wielding thunder, an impatient elf, and Varisia's most handsome dwarf holding hands with Korvosa's most under-dressed noble..." Valamyr gestures towards them all one by one as he describes them. "Who knows what to believe any more? Maybe allies do come free in every deck of harrow cards."
At the thought of harrow cards, his eyes shift instinctively towards Von, and Valamyr notices Von studying him.
'He stares,' the thrush's thoughts were clear in Valamyr's mind. 'He looks chock full of ideas. Each and every one about how to kill us. Probably planning to put the dwarf to sleep; hopes he'll drag us into the water with him. We don't trust him.'
No...no, I don't think I do. Watch him closely.
"If there are no objections, I could lead the way and secure a rope from my kit as I go for the rest to steady themselves," he says. "Unless you two prefer to hold hands from here..." he adds with a smile and wink to Valamyr and Marius after their exchange.
"By all means. Please lead the way. A dwarf in one hand and a rope in the other is the only way to traverse such hazardous terrain. Do watch your step. I'm afraid you'd not be much more than an appetizer to whatever is down there."
"Also, this large something moving in the water... so is it time to go fishing? should we of hired that fisherman?"
"Whatever this thing was, it looked to be the size of a wagon. Unless you know a fisherman with a whaling harpoon and Desna's blessings, I'd advise we do our very best to avoid the water at all costs."
Garth reaches down and picks up the husk from the spider he stabbed.
"Well, I think mute is a bit strong of a characterization," he says, breaking open the carapace of the spider with his hands and rummaging through it.
He pulls out a couple spider bits and slips them into a pocket of his backpack.
"I prefer to think of myself as someone with a strong economy of words." He remarks while collecting the useful remains.
"In any case, the rope idea sounds as solid as any. I have enough reasons as is to avoid getting drenched. An apparent sea monster just drives that point home, really."
The gunslinger picks up another spider corpse and cracks into it, much like the first. Knowing where to look, he retrieves the second set of spider parts a bit more quickly than the first, stashing them with the first set.
"Well, I think mute is a bit strong of a characterization,"
"I prefer to think of myself as someone with a strong economy of words."
"Please believe I meant no offense," Valamyr offers, lifting his free palm deferentially. "Perhaps I have grown over-accustomed to the company of the narcissistic and the verbose." He grimaces as he watches Garth pick apart the spiders.
"At any rate, your skill in shucking arachnids speaks volumes. It suggests some positively fascinating hobbies. If we make it out of here alive, I'd love to hear how you spend your Starday evenings."
Nahzir gives the others a nod as he sheaths his blades and removes the rope from his pack, tying it securely to the sturdiest thing he can find within the hold of the ship. He takes one final look into the waves between the vessel and the door beneath the fishery. "Might be a good idea for one of you to keep your weapon trained on that doorway in case we're interrupted before I make my way across." he says to Garth and Valamyr. "I'll be busy with the rope until I reach the other side and unable to defend myself should someone decide to join us."
He slowly and carefully makes his way out onto the walkway towards the first support. "Why'd it have to be water?" he quietly mutters to himself as he begins to make his way, ready to tie the rope to each piling, creating a handhold spanning the length of the walkway.
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Nahzir, compared to the Kraken's Folly deck, these walkway boards are sturdy as the High Bridge. You have no trouble crossing the small wooden walkway and finish securing the ropes for the others, then find yourself just a few feet from the door of Gaedren's hideout, infamously called below by the Lambs who've never been there.
Now that you are all so close to the monster of a man that inflected so much pain on your lives, memories of the pain he caused you come flooding back.
The night before Knich went missing you two sat together by a barrel of rubbish your father had set aflame, the smoke rising out through a sewer cap above, and nibbled at the finest aged gouda either of you had tasted in years. That next morning you awoke and she was nowhere to be found. Your confusion quickly turned to panic when you discovered little claw marks and a few droplets of dried blood.
Your mind has been plagued with grim thoughts of your sister’s fate since her abduction, and the more you learn of Gaedren Lamm and his little Lambs, the worse you fear.
What exactly happens to children when they are taken below? Is your dear sister even living? You can hardly bear the thought. Your furry fingertips burn hatred for the monster that took Knich from you, but you know you must remember your training and keep your head. Yasoq always said focus was a ninja’s greatest strength. Then again, Yasoq never crossed paths with Gaedren Lamm.
You will never forget that day. It began like any other: the smell of the forge and roar of the bellows, flux on your hands, sweat beading on your brow. Then three men were yelling and cursing about payment and showing the hilts of their daggers in an unspoken threat. They did not take kindly to your master’s refusal, or his insulting their weapons as ”unfit for orc women,” so they killed him with his own hammer.
You’ve since learned that those thugs came at the order of an aging crime kingpin named Gaedren Lamm. Why did they target your master? What if you could have stopped them? The thought has plagued you since that day. You’ve saved a bullet for the man responsible for your master’s death, and now he’s so close you can feel it.
Growing up, you were accustomed to solitude and scorn for your hideous looks. Having known no true friends throughout your life, Helen and her beautiful children were like a blessing from Torag. On one of your visits to Korvosa, three strangers showed you, ugly ol’ Marius, compassion. Nobody but Master Hiro had ever shown your compassion before. Pity, maybe, but rarely more. One night they even invited you to dinner at their home. Such a simple act of kindness - bread and oil, looking you in the beady eyes while they spoke – brightened your world.
With Helen dead and gone, the disappearance of Dov and Leena cut deep. You hate to think of what has happened to them, what this lowlife pedophile scum has done with the children you vowed to find, but you will make him answer for his transgressions. Nothing would make your happier than to find Dov and Lena, and to immure Gaedren Lamm in a stone tomb for what he’s done. Finding them has been an obsession of yours – and now you darken the door of the man who is responsible.
You can scarcely remember what you did wrong to cause Gaedren to snap at you all those years ago, but you cannot ignore the scars, like bookmarks for the darkest chapter of your life.
Gaedren led you to an alley for a “little job”, then before you knew it he’d thrown you to the ground. You don’t remember much, only Gaedren laying on top of you, his rotten grin and foul breath, and a long and thin blade a hair’s width from your eye. ”I told you to shut the f*%# up, but you wouldn’t f~~%ing listen,” he said as he began stabbing you just below the belly button. For years those scars made you feel weak and afraid, but now, they burn with a hateful strength.
The cards have shown you truths that now are moments away from becoming reality, and you can hardly wait to give Gaedren Lamm one final reading.
You can still hear the pain and worry in Ness’ voice when one of her orphans went missing. A young boy named Tam, who’d already lived a lifetime of misfortunes in just a few short years, now taken by the notorious criminal Gaedren Lamm. You promised to find him, knowing it could have just as easily been you.
Before you met the man, you’d heard plenty of chilling whispers. Likes ‘em young… Works ‘em to the bone… Sells those who displease him to the highest bidders,” and you know the type of people that would do business with a man like Gaedren - deplorable is too kind a word. You’d heard of this urchin for years, seen the wake of death and pain he left wherever he went. But now that you’re this close, a memory you buried so deep it was nearly forgotten has risen to the surface like a wood casket in a flooded graveyard.
It was a still and foggy night when you met Gaedren Lamm. You went by a different name then, and lived amongst the darkest sorts this city had to offer. Thing is, you weren’t looking for him yet, just following a trail of some new drug that was spreading through the streets like the great fire. Gaedren arrived with one of his Lambs in tow, a skinny boy no older than eleven who had dead eyes like an old soldier scarred by the horrible things he had seen and done. Every fiber of your being wanted to save that boy, but breaking character would ruin years of hard, dirty work – and there would always be another Lamb. The things you had done just to get that far… The perversion in his predatory voice haunted you for months after that night, and the wonder of whatever happened to that poor child. Then one day the memory was gone… Until now.
It's near midnight now, but each of you feels more awake and alive than you have in a long time.
Valamyr felt a sharp tap on his shoulder. Startled senseless, he whirled about with a fright, clutching his cane to his chest. Fluttering back and forth before to him was a small thrush, brown with black eyes and a bright red throat. The sound of the thrush's laughter came rushing in, flooding Valamyr's mind as he focused on it. The sound was harsh and grating and sorely bereft of laughter's normal warmth.
Miserable nuisance! Valamry's mind seethed. How many times must I tell you to announce yourself when my thoughts are otherwise occupied? He swung the cane wildly at the bird, which darted easily out of the way.
'Perhaps we need a reminder,' the thrush scolded as the laughter died. 'We are far too distracted these days. Far too careless. A moment lost to negligence could be the moment they plunge the knife or loose the arrow.' The thrush darted towards Valamyr's shoulder and perched there, pulling his wings in close. 'Speaking of carelessness, this should comfort us: she's on her way.'
Alone? Valamyr questioned.
'Alone and hooded,' the thrush thought back. 'She waited til dusk. Told no one where she was going. Exactly as we asked.'
Good. I worried she might not come this far this late. The seneschal may have abandoned us, but she, at least, still trusts me.
'Trusts us? Do we really think so? She had a pouch with her. We don't know what was inside of it. Maybe it's poison. Maybe a knife. Maybe it's alchemist's fire. Could be she doesn't trust us at all. Who knows what rumors she's heard, or who she's spoken to? Maybe she suspects. Maybe she knows. Maybe she's come to finish us at last. We have to admit: there would be a certain...poetry in that. Perhaps we could have a pretty young bard put the verses to lute.' The thrush laughed again. The sound was sharp and joyless.
QUIET! You WILL NOT jest about that! Valamyr angrily batted the thrush from his shoulder with the back of his palm. No one suspects! No one knows. No one ever will. There's no one left to start that poem. Besides, the truth is I've done more to help her than she'll ever realize. She has every reason to trust me.
The thrush's black eyes bored into Valamyr as it fluttered in place before him. 'Can't lie to us. We remember. No one should trust us. Least of all her.'
Von feels the old ache start to come back. He is forced to focus on the familiar weakness and frailty that has plagued him ever since that night. The feeling of Lamm's knife comes to the forefront until it completely masks the fresh scrapes from the kids, the spiders, and the fall.
It was all a long time ago, most of the time it felt like a different life. Lamm disappeared for awhile and Von was able to store the nightmares away and get on with life as a scam artist. For the most recent decades it was only his mother that he would remember, he tried to make sure those thoughts were of the happy times and not the way she faded into becoming a vegetable. Von couldn't remember Lamm's voice, or exactly what he said, but he remembers his face and the day Gaedren met his mother back at least 80 years ago. Shiver, Von couldn't believe when it crept back into the streets these past few years. The presence of it made him more irritable, more aggressive when pacifying violent marks, more cynical. In every junkie he saw a piece of his dead mother, discarded husks of people. The dirty work of Gaedren Lamm.
Von fidgeted with his cane, he pulse is noticeably higher. He waited for someone to open the door and felt on the verge of hyperventilating. 'How old would he be now? Would he look the same? Is it really him? Or some corpse propped up by dark magics?'
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Marius could feel his stone beard gently swaying back and forth as he ground his teeth. His body in the present, his mind, dwelling on the past. What this monster has done is beyond unforgivable. A stone tomb is too kind. His fists began to clench tighter and tighter(possibly causing Valamyr some discomfort) as his mind began to race with all the ways he would punish this criminal. All the permutations and little details extrapolating in his mind in a fraction of a second. "First things first" he thought to himself. "So whats the plan? Illusion, fire, smoke, water, and bloo? I will reiterate, I very much dislike the idea of engaging him on his terms, I like not having a plan even less." as he looks to the rest of the party.
Gaedren Lamm...
From the moment he had heard the name the night before, it had sounded strangely familiar. But from where? A wanted poster? A manifest of recent arrests? Idle chatter overheard in a tavern? Valamyr just couldn't recall, and it was vexing. He never forgot a name, unless he had a very good reason...
'Oh! Oh! We remember! We remember!' the trush shouted gleefully within the confines of his mind. 'We met him, spoke with him! We were Ryx then. We know his face. We know his voice. We know his sins!'
Lord Valamyr Aldoran had never met Gaedren Lamm. But Ryx had. It was a half a lifetime ago. Another life altogether--a life Valamyr had worked very hard to bury someplace deeper than the darkest tunnel in the Vault. But as the thrush spoke, memories of Gaedren Lamm came clawing their way back to the surface.
Oh, no...
He remembered the boy most of all. How had he ever forgotten? Lamm had led him around like a dog so badly beaten and utterly defeated that it no longer needed a leash. The child was dazed and broken. So young, but somehow his expressionless face spoke to years of repeated horrors. Lamm had looked at the boy with a sadistic hunger, and grinned when he spoke of the fresh hells soon to be inflicted.
Ryx had met many men with unsavory predilections in his line of work. No one in Korvosa's underbelly was without sin. A clever man could use the knowledge of others' vices to their benefit, and that sort of information was Ryx's bread and butter. But Lamm had been a step beyond. Where other men flinched at the thought of daylight cast upon their perversions, Gaedren revelled.
To broker information within the seediest circles of The City, one needed to be clever, cautious, and callous. Ryx was all those things in spades, but the sight of this boy had given even him pause. He wanted to help. He wanted to say something, do something.
I'm in the business of making friends, not enemies, Ryx had justified to himself, just one excuse in a long litany. I've worked too hard to get in this deep. I've done things... It would be too complicated. There would be too many questions. I could kill Lamm, or free the boy, but what then? The child is already lost. Besides, there is always another Gaedren Lamm waiting in the wings, and the next one will probably be even worse, hard as it may be to imagine how...
In the end he walked away, and it gnawed at him for months. Everywhere he looked he saw the boy's face staring sadly back at him, asking why he'd done nothing. The face wasn't so unlike a sad, lost boy he had known before Ness. It wasn't long before he began to see the child's face when he looked into the mirror. And it wasn't long after that that Ryx became a person who couldn't live with himself any longer.
That boy...Ryx...I wish I didn't remember.
'We remember,' the thrush said. 'We'll remind us.'
Please don't...
'We'll keep reminding us. Ryx was strong. Strong and smart. Ryx didn't get himself killed like we're about to. We don't want to die. We won't ever--'
Suddenly the thrush's voice was silent, and the only sensation Valamyr could process was the one telling him that Marius Stonebeard was crushing his hand.
Nahzir ties off the last of his rope at the end of the walkway and signals to the rest of the group that the way is safe. He takes a long look at the door that stands before him with his ears perked up for any sounds that may be emanating from within, checking for any signs of a trap or alarm.
As he does so he once again ponders the events that have led him to this place. Thoughts of his sister's laugh echoing within the halls of the warren drift through his mind. Then visions of her, all alone in the Vaults, dragged to this evil place, forced to do God knows what. A feeling of guilt comes over him. It's my fault. Should have set a better example. She'd caught me sneaking off alone too many times. She'd taken after me, my foolish curiosity and sense of wonder. I should have been there... I have to bring her home, have to put an end to Lamm.
The thought of Gaedren turns his guilt to hatred. He draws his blades and takes a deep breath, ready to focus his anger on these dregs that prey on the children of Korvosa.