Kyra takes a bit of turkey sandwich, uncharacteristically pleased to be eating something that once lived, and shakes her head at Ameiko with a bit of a sigh. "I don't know."
"I realise that it may not have been the wisest move to let Scarnetti call me out like that, but I also recognise that... Look, we've been dealing with rumours for a while. I think after what happened with..." Kyra wants to say 'your family', but wouldn't take any joy in hurting Ameiko's feelings so instead changes the subject. "I just felt like it was right for me to be honest. I didn't have an easy time settling here when I came, and I'd hate to leave now."
That much at least was true. Even if Kyra lost the election, she felt that it was only a matter of time. Being the saviour of a town wasn't something that people tended to forget. She looks at Ameiko, who hadn't been adventuring in some time but was always remembered that way. Certainly her own achievements would not be easily forgotten, especially by those families she had helped keep alive. It would be a shame to have to leave now and start over elsewhere.
She cocks her head, curious about something. As much as part of her wanted to think nothing more of it until the election, she had come to value Ameiko's opinion. "Do you think I made a mistake?"
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Flibble Grins at Pick and begins an inane conversation about the best drinking establishments in Magnimar. Al the while, his fingers tell a different story
Pick ponders the loud one's request. Flibble wishes Pick to stay and assist him? For what reward? Hmmm. Perhaps commendation to Hammer, but... but if he stays too long, and was not given the order to do that... will he still be commended? Pick turns this riddle over in his head.
Aloud, he mostly grunts and nods to the litany of the drinking.
Hands move around the mug of his current drink in subtle conversation...
Khalbar roars at the man-thing, "I have come for my son. Give him to me at once. The other choice is death for you."
He wields his axe in great arcing circles as if to punctuate his words with emphasis.
Rhanloi prepares a spell - fire sparks around his hands and he looks intently at the man.
The aristocratic vampire scoffs. "Death?" Death is no choice. Death is an inevitability that I have embraced."
"You must be after Harm, the barbaric boy."
He draws a rapier and smiles widely. "I offer you a bargain too. Leave now, or face eternal servitude here, with your woman, joining her in undeath."
"I will NOT bargain with evil creatures like you. Death first!" Khalbar charges the well-mannered fiend swinging his greataxe before him like a great cleaver.
Following their attempted interview with the masked cultists, Pick and Flibble conduct an exhaustive search of the city, combing it up and down, to the best of their ability, looking for cultists. Unfortunately, the pair of them don't have the authority to force people to cooperate with them, and the most distinctive feature of who they're looking for is something that can be removed.
Subsequent interviews with the cultists reveals only silence, of course, and though Killian can keep them in jail, he can't force them to talk, and he isn't authorized to use any extreme methods of persuasion. He also isn't authorized to go on a baseless manhunt in the city, though on a couple of their excursions he accompanies the group, and while touring the city he strikes up an easy friendship with Ameiko, who appreciates his honesty and honor.
During their tours of the city, Shalelu maintains a comfortable distance from the party, scoping out places beyond their reach by scaling buildings or using her superior elven vision to peer into dim places, and making sure that she keeps an eye on her charges without being overbearing.
Unfortunately, after a week of searching fruitlessly, Ameiko approaches Flibble one evening and tells him that it's okay, that they're just...missing something. If Tsuto was going to be found, he would be doing something, and perhaps it just wasn't the right time to face her brother. She wanted to go home, to stop living in other peoples' inns and get back to managing her own - she still needed to deal with her father's estate, as well, and she missed her friends.
Being in Magnimar in the first place on Ameiko's request, Flibble has almost no choice but to acquiesce, and Pick, who remained to help Flibble, went with him. Killian remained in Magnimar, of course, to continue with his job, though he bid them that he would write about any further developments and if they needed further help.
That night was a stressful one, just waiting through the dark hours to when she would find out the results of the ballot. Ameiko left the inn to go cast her ballot (in Kyra's favor, of course) and at some point Kyra managed to drift off to sleep.
In the morning, Kyra took the walk to the town hall to meet up with Scarnetti and the ballot-counters, to acknowledge her opponent and learn the results of the election. Heavy footsteps plonk in the hallway, and an open door reveals Scarnetti is earlier than Kyra was, waiting with the ballot-counter and a large, metal blue box. Scarnetti is smirking, a thin but triumphant grin - he's sure that he's won, and the ballot-counter, actually Father Gormos, the local Erastilian priest, has a serene and peaceful look on his old face.
Father Gormos gives a small speech about democracy, and the right of the people, and the responsibility of leadership, the whole "with great power comes great responsibility" thing, really. And then he opens the ballot box and withdraws a sealed envelope, that's resting on the piles of folded ballots.
"And now, for the results." he says, breaking the seal on the envelope and taking out the letter, unfolding it.
"With six hundred and eighty-four votes, the winner of this year's Mayoral election is Kyra Arkona, defeating Titus Scarnetti by a margin of one hundred and nineteen votes."
He smiles, tight wrinkled eyes growing mostly lidded as he holds a hand out to shake Kyra's hand. "Congratulations, Lady Mayor."
Scarnetti, of course, scowls in disdain as he holds his hand out as well. "Don't f!@+ up, or you're out and I'm in."
Khalbar's roaring challenge is met with an overconfident sneer, and Khalbar's axe is met with the vampire's blade. Despite his slender appearance, the vampire is nearly as strong as the rage-filled Khalbar, and with a world of effort and a two-handed swipe, the vampire manages to slap Khalbar's first axe-blow aside. However, the effort involved in this throws the vampire way off-balance, which leaves him open for Khalbar's uppercut swipe, which catches him in the chin and splits a large portion of his face wide open.
The vampire's veins are black, but bleed red blood just the same, and the large face-wound begins to close quickly as soon as it was created. The vampire tries to shift back to a ready combat stance, but Khalbar was already spinning in for another brutal blow, which hits the vampire right in his unarmored chest, biting deeply and throwing him bodily into a nearby wall, the wood of which splinters and cracks. The vampire coughs black blood, and lunges forward with his rapier, though he is pinned to the wall by Khalbar's axe, impaling the barbarian through a kidney, and forcing him to step back. Khalbar's retreat, however, is covered by a blast of fire from Rhanloi, which sears the vampire and sends him to his knees. Khalbar raises his axe up high, gives out a quick quip, and sends the blade crashing down through the vampire and right into the floor, severing the slaver in two. It gasps, and then dissolves into mist.
Khalbar frantically searches the house with Rhanloi, then, coming across (on the second floor of the plantation-mansion) a strange, twisted nursery. Where one might expect soothing colors and baby-safe edges, this one is all in blacks and reds and purples, filled with sharp shrines to Urgathoa and with a spiked baby-gate instead of a regular one. Inside the strange nursery, though, is Harm - it's been more than a year since Khalbar has seen him, and he's definitely grown - he's got to be about...three or four, now, and he looks strong. He looks just like Alia....used to.
Gathering up his small child with a short, gentle explanation, Khalbar rushes back out of the mansion building, Rhanloi going ahead of him to open doors and to check for more ghoul guards. The pair head back to the dormitories, and with a similarly short and similarly gentle explanation to the undead that once was (and still mostly is) Khalbar's wife, the now-group-of-four flees the undead ranch into the verdant forest-scape of Geb.
What follows is the odd couple's first trek into Geb itself, but in reverse, at top speed, and stealthfully. Much of the day is spent at a jog (which Alia easily keeps up, even carrying Harm for most of the day, because she never gets tired). The night is spent leaving Alia on watch (because she doesn't sleep) at the top of a tree or backs to a cliff face or in a cave, seeking shelter.
Re-entering the Mana Wastes takes time, as the pair purposefully waited for a caravan (carefully disguising Alia and making sure to pick one that left at night (which wasn't uncommon, given the common resident of Geb)). Once they're part of the caravan, however, they're much safer than they were before, and even get to pass by the shining, smoking metropolis of Alkenstar, spires rising high into the sky alongside the columns of smoke from the Gunworks. The trip through Nex, once the caravan reaches the other side of the Wastes, is easy and quick, especially since the land is safe and magically warded along nearly its entire length. Rhanloi, Khalbar, Harm, and Alia are just in time for the ship that they left behind as it's leaving again, at the promised timeslot. They are received with relief, and Alia spends the entire trip below decks, gnawing on fingernails that won't stop growing and forgetting that she doesn't have to breathe.
The ship-transfer in Magnimar, five months later, is quick and painless, and the foursome ride in on a sloop into the Sandpoint docks, nearly a year after they've left it, to a town governed by an old friend and filled with allies.
He broods, though. He broods on many things: Tsuto and the silent ones, silent like himself except he is not like them, he is instead part of the... the noisy ones now. He broods on the surface gods, who bring healing to the prayers of their people. Still strange. The Sleeper does not listen to prayers. Not that any would dare to raise prayers to him, anyway-- the ultimate blasphemy, to do something to try and attract the Sleeper's attention. Accidental disruption of his sleep through noise was bad enough.
He finds himself vaguely wistful, at times-- this is a strange and odd sensation, to look on the surface-dwellers with.... the wish for their life, their ignorance. Perhaps, if Pick did not know of the Sleeper, he could have a surface god instead. If he were ignorant, he could smile and laugh like they do, and not fear the sound of words. Perhaps.
But he is not ignorant. He is not surface-born. He is one of the People, and his faith is what it is, something indistinguishable from fear.
However. However, what if the Sleeper... takes an interest... in the People? Pick turns this blasphemy over in his head many times. What if there is a-- a reason-- that Pick is here, on the surface?
When Pick dreams, in fitful bits of sleep, he dreams of whispers in the dark, long tunnels, the sensation of being drawn towards something, something terrible, something massive and portentous... he stumbles through the winding corridors, dreading and longing to find whatever it is that waits...
He wakes, and at such moments he scoots closer to the fire, listening to the pop and hiss, listening to the sleeping noises of the others.
Once back in Sandpoint, over weeks and then months, Pick comes to become something of a grudging regular. He has even odds of being found in Ameiko's inn any night of the week-- lurking in his favorite dark corner, eating with little socialization with the others-- though if one of the Goblinslayers sits by him, he tolerates their company, and with Flibble he will speak in the hand-tongue. He goes to the shops of Sandpoint, rather than steals in the night, when he requires things. He still sleeps on the rooftops, where he has festooned his favored spots with a dozen tripwires and strange little bits of bric-a-brac and odds and ends, but he is, to his continual wary surprise, more-or-less accepted in Sandpoint. An oddity to be sure-- the 'funny dwarf' as children call him, a sort of odd and elusive mascot gargoyle for the small town, but it's an acceptance that Pick has never had before.
He waits. He dreams. He watches. Something will come... he tastes it, he hears it in the nightmare mutters of the sleeping townsfolk.
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Flibble spends his journey home as he does all his days; with a cheery disposition and a playful demeanour. Deep down, he is restless. Tae many loose ends he thinks to himself. The goblins are beat...for noo, but nae forever, and where is Tsuto, and what of these strange killings in Magnimar? What about the strange tunnels under the town? Sovola picks up on his unease and is restless all the way home.
In Sandpoint, life goes on; Flibble returns to his home and visits Ameiko's place regularly, talking into the night with Ameiko or the other goblinkillers...even Pick talks to him in handspeech. Though Flibble does his best to make him "lighten uo", he just stares at Flibble like he is mad. Flibble gets involved in the rebuilding, pitching in and getting Sovola to deliver supplies, acting as a messenger, etc., but as the months pass building work falls off and work begins to be hard to find, and Flibble becomes restless again.
So excited is Kyra that she doesn't even bother to acknowledge Scarnetti's threat with one of her own. She simply clasps his hand with a wide grin, a rare expression of delight spread across her face. Her speech is very short, only thanking those that voted for her, and hopeful promises to win over those who didn't.
When she returns to the Inn later that day, she wraps Ameiko in a large hug, surprising the innkeeper. The two chat briefly about the day's events, before Kyra returns to her room. For a few hours, she sits deep in thought, knowing she has an obligation, but unsure of how to best approach it. It would be egotistical of her to assume that word of this small town's election would reach home - though it was known that the Arkona's had eyes everywhere. Still, it felt almost like gloating to inform her family, which was at least as bad, if not worse.
She decides to send a short letter.
Dearest father,
As you may already have heard, I have been appointed to the position of Mayor in the city of Sandpoint. I wanted to thank you, as without the strength you taught me, it would certainly have never been possible. Please send word of home, as I am not sure when I will see it again.
Kyra
After the night's rest, she dives into the Mayoral duties, realising that at some point she may have to find a new sheriff. Certainly the soldiers would need more training, and their numbers somewhat bolstered, after the recent battles. Grumbling, she went about filling out some paperwork. When Pick and Flibble return, Kyra finds herself somewhat anxious, and meets them immediately, demanding to hear everything that happened on their travels.
On their long journey back to Sandpoint, Rhanloi spends as much time as he can talking with Alia and studying her, learning as much as he can about vampirism and ways to satisfy her hunger without killing humans. (Although he would never offer his own blood for her - that crossed a line for the half-elf...) The shipboard trip was probably the hardest on the woman - with few creatures to feed upon other than a handful of rats.
For as great an adventure as they had, though, Rhanloi was more than ready to return to sleepy little Sandpoint, and joyfully met up with his old friends the goblinslayers at the Inn to catch up on what had transpired over the past year. He tells of their journey, of the wonders of Alkenstar, the mana wastes and the huge sandworm that nearly ended their quest - and lives. He describes the strangely armored men and their mechanical oddities. He describes Geb and their rescue of Alia and Harm, leaving out the fact that Alia was now one of the undead... Besides - she was Khalbar's story, and burden.
As the monstrous nature of Alia is revealed, Khalbar becomes quite conflicted between his love for his wife, and the hideous requirements of her existence. He becomes more sullen and withdrawn as he struggles with the new facts of life (and death).
By the time the ship lands again in Sandpoint, he is a bundle of nerves and anger. Seeing his family safe in lodgings outside the city, he returns and seeks the counsel of Father Zantus, his spiritual advisor, in the Desnan cathedral.
Explaining the situation plainly, Khalbar speaks the thoughts aloud that have been troubling him from the beginning. "Am i allowed to keep my wife, the very well of my heart and soul, even if she becomes an evil monster, consuming human flesh in order to live? Or shall I slay her, end that evil, even if it means breaking my own heart in the process?"
He listens quietly to the counsel of the priest, half hoping that the Father has an alternative path.
Rhanloi is correct about Alia - by the time their journey is done, her eyes are constantly wide, her pupils tiny with madness and her body shaking with impatience. When they arrive in Sandpoint, she keeps her eyes off of anybody introduced to her and stays for as little time as possible before rushing out into the forest, at fast as her feet can carry her, hunting.
Zantus furrows his brow when Khalbar finishes his request, and begins to pace in a slow circle around him. "Listen, Khalbar..." he begins, carefully. "You're allowed to do anything that you want. Far be it from me, a priest of Desna, to tell you that you must do something. And if you believe that your wife is not evil - for the undead nature doesn't enforce spirituality - then I believe there can be redemption. However, she is very dangerous. Perhaps even dangerous to you, and definitely a potential danger for the denizens of the town. When there is so much danger around, perhaps vampirism is a good survival tactic, but don't expect there to be mercy from many of our angry townspeople if she caves to her urges and eats somebody's neighbor. I do not, personally, have a solution for you, but perhaps a priest with a stronger connection to their diety would, or an alchemist."
When Khalbar returns home from his errand, he finds a somewhat gruesome sight awaiting him at the "rustic" cabin that he'd rented outside of the city. A trio of goblins hang from a tree nearby by lengths of rope, their bodies disgustingly shriveled and emaciated, and their eyes wide with fear and pain even in death. Going inside, Khalbar finds a much-restored Alia - more beautiful, easygoing and certainly more sane. She has a big pot over the fireplace, and the house is filled with the smells of good cooking. "Aren't you proud of me, Khalbar?" she asks in the tongue of your people, "I didn't eat a single crew member, and I came back and sucked a few of these annoyances dry."
A shadow in dusty gray robes and worn armor skitters through the streets. Gossip in the town has already told him that Hammer is now the chief elder. He makes his way, then, to the house of the chief elder.
Sidle up a drainpipe, in through a window... pad through the building, seeking Hammer...
When he finds her, he stops in the doorway, and bows, and waits to be noticed and given the honor of the chief elder's attention.
Khalbar sighs at the sight of the slain and drained goblins, but is secretly pleased that Alia is clever enough to sate her hunger on creatures that won't be missed, rather than on townsfolk.
After enjoying her seemingly restored company for a while, he speaks with her about her hunger. He firmly re-states that she must not take people of the village or the farms, or they will become hunted themselves, likely until she is slain. He even talked about sending her off into the wilderness when the hunger came upon her. She could return here on the days in between, or he could take back up the nomadic life of the Shoanti, living off the land, and moving from place to place, wandering. They discuss this until the late hours, but no resolution is found and Khalbar drifts off to sleep.
Knowing that the talk did little good, Khalbar takes the rest granted him. His dreams are troubled, with the feeling that something dark and hungry is always stalking him and about ready to strike.
Awaking early in the morning, not quite refreshed, he goes to visit with Rhanloi. When they meet, he asks the learned wizard if he knows of any alchemists in Sandpoint, particularly any gifted enough to have a treatment for the terrible curse of vampirism.
Rhanloi is concerned for his friend, and though he was not in Sandpoint long enough to know, he assures the Shoanti man that he will help him discover a cure without tipping off the town about Alia's condition.
Since the pair have been gone for so long, and there have undoubtedly been many changes, it should not be too unusual for the half-elf to act as though he had just arrived in town. He goes around to all of the shops and non-residential buildings, meeting the owners and proprietors and learning about their businesses or functions. Rhanloi is especially is looking for the best blacksmith and alchemist so he can work with them on crafting and enchanting armor and weapons.
The Dwarf had done well keeping his presence quiet in town, so much so that Kyra hadn't even heard yet that he was back. Looking up to find him waiting in the doorway silently, Kyra nearly knocks over her cup of tea jumping up. "Gods!" She swears, before realising who it is and breaking into a grin. Composing herself, she bows in response and invites Pick in. "Sneaking around like that is dangerous. But I am pleased to see you. Have you found Belor?" She asks, her voice taking on a slightly concerned edge, as she realises that the old man might well oppose her new office.
Pick grunts.
"Dangerous to be seen," is his laconic response. He trots in, standing respectfully before her desk to give his report.
And the report....? "Dead."
Look, that's the important bit, right?
Kyra takes a deep breath. While Pick's silence is usually something she enjoys, since it means he's not annoying her, there were times and places where it did not exactly suit her needs. Still, shouting at or hitting the dwarf may not provide the desired results, either. But maybe there was a way. Standing up straight, she somewhat snaps to attention. "Full report, soldier! What happened?"
Pick grunts darkly to himself. If you knew the silent speech, he could tell it all to you, Hammer, but you are too stupid to... no, no, that is disrespectful to the elder. The elder has reasons, or the elder would not be an elder. Do not think things that will make you be punished!
Very well. Loud words it is.
"Mag-ni-mar... large. Many people. Many elders, many warriors who serve elders. In Mag-ni-mar also killers. Wear black. Wear masks. Do not speak. Their sign:"
He pauses briefly to gesture out the seven-pointed star on the floor. "...like on doors. Carve sign into dead. Kill many. Elders angry: hunt killers. Pick serves elders so that elders tell of Hem-lock. Pick hunts killers. Find two."
He licks his scarred lips-- this much talking makes his mouth dry. Continues: "Elders make killers prisoners. Elders show Pick the killed. Hem-lock there. Dead. Sign in flesh.
"Pick believes Tsuto a killer."
A month or so before Khalbar and Rhanloi were due to arrive in Sandpoint via boat, Alia began to experience the contracts one should expect from a pregnant person. The pregnancy is late-term, and probably shouldn't work anyway - given the fact that she no longer really lives - but labor began anyway.
A midwife was chosen from amongst the spartan crew, and the labor was rough due to a lack of divine magic that could help her and Alia's undead state, but any rips and tears caused by the birth quickly knitted themselves back together on their own, and the child was borne without any real significant incident. Alia - already half-starved, quickly fell into a pall of exhaustion for more than a week, and disappeared for a few hours upon their landing in Magnimar, returning relatively rejuvenated, ready for their second ship to cast off.
The baby, despite being healthfully born, can't be fed from Alia's breast as is typical, and so is fed milk from the crew's stores, and more is bought in Magnimar for him. In addition, the newborn is very clearly not human. Bruise-colored skin breaks the norm of Shoanti children (who are typically red-toned and tanned), bright yellow eyes that reflect light like a cat's eyes and the fact that this is a gorgeous baby mark his unusual parentage. This child is a dhampir and likely is destined for a long, long life of prejudice. The baby cries whenever you bring it into the sunlight, so you keep it wrapped up and below decks.
"Let me get this straight." Kyra begins, narrowing her eyes. "You, Pick, went to Magnimar, one of the largest cities in all of Varisia. And once there, you uncovered some kind of secret cult, of which Tsuto may have been a member. You then worked with the Magnimar government to capture two of these "killers", and along the way discovered that they had killed Hemlock."
She takes a second to digest all of this information. "You realise this sounds ludicrous, and if I actually believed you capable of lying, I'd assume you were." She paces for a moment, trying to get her thoughts together. "I imagine that the Magnimar government is still working to find the rest of these "Killers"?
Very much like Alia, Khalbar's emotions for the new baby run from an overwhelming love and warmth, to a cold calculation that the world might be better off without this creature. His confusion only deepens as the babe grows, and grows more strange. They name the babe Belor after the fallen Shoanti sheriff of Sandpoint.
He vows to find an answer to Alia's terrible secret, and if none exists, he vows to end her vampiric existence himself.
Brushed off by the local priest, Khalbar thinks it may be time to move operations to a larger city like Magnimar or Korvosa where there may be more learned men.
He asks Rhanloi where the smartest healers are in this wide world. "We travel to end of world to find Alia, now we need to find cure. We travel more, yes?"
Pick... grunts, at Hammer's many words. He hasn't heard the word 'ludicrous' that often, and has only a vague idea of what it means. Something to do with their little gold coins?
Still, she seems to understand the facts well enough. He gives Hammer a single nod. And, because she likes words so much, he adds on, reluctantly:
"Yes." Pause. "Pick and Nois-- Flibble... looked. Hours. Silent killers.... gone, hide, not-seen. But elders still look."
"My elf blood loves to wander the world, but my human blood desires a stable home and friends. Both say I must stay by your side to help you find a cure for your wife, if there is one. But are you ready for the answer - even if it is not the one you want?" Rhanloi says.
Khalbar looks anxious as he waits for Rhanloi's reply.
"Let me conduct some research here before we rush off again. Where a person's memory may fail, books remain for much longer!"
Rhanloi will begin a search for tomes and writings on vampirism, its causes, and any possible cures. He visits the temple, and the magic stores, and the libraries, immersing himself in the research. He even returned to confer with Quink - the odd man who knew so much about the ancient Thassilonians and their magic. Perhaps they had discovered a way to reverse vampirism through their virtue/sin/magic construct.
Khalbar concedes to Rhanloi's superior intellect. If the wizard thinks he can find answer in books, then Khalbar will listen to that. He knows Rhanloi learns many things from books. As the decision is made to stay in Sandpoint, Khalbar goes to the his friend The Hammer who is somehow now the chief of this village.
Knocking on the door of Kyra's office, Khalbar makes to bow like he would to a Shoanti chief or shaman his hand clenched in a fist on his heart and head.
"Hail, Hammer, chief of Sandpoint tribe. Would you speak to one you called friend?"
Rhanloi spends all of his time researching and interviewing experts in the town. Suprisingly, his discussions with Quink are the most revealing...seems the Thassilonians knew quite a bit about many things...
Your studies of Thassilon with Quink reveal a few choice facts. First is that Quink believes the Thassilonians were more interested in the practical applications of vampirism than any method of removing it. This means that what you would be most likely to find in Thassilonian ruins and libraries and runes would be a way to make vampirism livable like living as a mortal is.
Alia is still dangerous to those around her, especially if she goes without feeding for too long. However, it's not in her nature to be evil and she can live a virtuous lifestyle as a vampire, given time and rehabilitation.
Rhanloi keeps his friend informed of each discovery as he goes along, and upon completing his studies he boils it down for the Shoanti..."Khalbar, it seems we have three choices. The first is to find a cleric to cast resurrection on Alia - that should return her to normal. The second is to help her learn to live with it (no pun intended - sorry!)Through certain spells we can make her appear almost normal, and with discipline she can survive on things other than humans. The final choice, which you may not want to hear, is to end her undeath and set her free. As for your new son, I'm afraid nothing can be done for him. That isn't to say he isn't healthy, but the child is a dhampir, just as I am a half-elf. So think on it, talk with your wife, and decide how we should move on from here." With that, he pats his friend on the shoulder and leaves him to ponder their next step.
Khalbar listens intently as Rhanloi explains what his painstaking research has uncovered about cures for vampirism.
"Where is shaman strong enough for this resurrection spell? Father Zantus not strong enough, yes?" How many horizons we travel to see this holy man?"
"For now, Alia will be strong. She will not eat of the villagers. If she fails, Khalbar will show her final mercy before anyone else gets hurt. As for Belor, he will be Shoanti, that will make him strong enough. He and Harm must go to Burning Lands soon to be raised in the way of The People. What we do next?"
Soon after her election, Kyra gets settled into her role as mayor. Soon enough she's hired a new person to replace Sheriff Hemlock (an attractive young knife-fighting sleuth named Ricend Peguson who Kyra thought was the most likely to obey her orders, even if he wasn't the most proficient guardsman in the town) and ordered the reconstruction of the demolished Tanner's Bridge. In addition, there is to be the construction of a small wall on the other side of the river, and the expansion of the town onto that side of the water. By the end of the year, over thirty people live out there, in seven new buildings, and the demolished bridge is back again, wooden and freshly-cut.
Pick is back to prowling the city at night, only this time it's with the permission of the town's "elder", looking for crime and doling out the punishment. Fortunately for everybody involved, Sandpoint is a relatively crime-free zone, though Pick does once find some Varisian thugs breaking into the smithy and shows them the error of their ways, mostly with his fists. The jails are two stronger that night, the scarred Shoanti jailer kept company by the battered thieves.
Flibble is back to normal living in Sandpoint - spending lots of time with Ameiko and helping her with her new business (for the Glassworks is her responsibility now that her father's dead) and spending time swooping through the skies with Sovola.
Rhanloi and Khalbar's return is met with no fanfare, though it is a subject of some gossip among many of the townspeople, especially regarding the hooded figure seen accompanying the odd pair in their travels around the city. Khalbar stays (free of charge, as usual) in the Rusty Dragon and then manages to procure one of the new across-the-river houses, where he lives with his undead wife and his half-dead infant, as well as the four-year-old Harm.
Rhanloi is back to deep conversations with Quink, the beginning of his exotic book-collection, and evenings spent with the retired-adventurer-owner of the town's library. His new magicks, learned across the sea and at the Old Light, fascinate him greatly and he spends a lot of time experimenting magically.
Life is, as much as it can be after its survivors have gone through so much, mostly back to "normal". And for weeks, it remains like that. Living in the sleepy town of Sandpoint is, on a daily level, largely the same. Kyra trains her new guardspeople, recruits a half-dozen new faces to replace the fallen in what is quickly passing from immediacy.
Nearly a year after Nualia's attack on Sandpoint, though, Sheriff Peguson knocks on Kyra's door. When she lets him in, he steps through, his leather boots creaking with each step, and holds out a small, folded but bloodstained note on parchment paper.
The note reads, 'Kyra Arkona,
You will learn to love me, desire me in time as she did. Give yourself to the pack and it shall all end.'
It's signed "Your Lordship". Peguson speaks up as Kyra reads, explaining "That was found on one of the bodies at the site of a murder, happened last night. Pretty gruesome stuff, bodies all carved into and everything. It was addressed to you, so I thought I'd come and bring it."
After months had passed with no word, Kyra could only have assumed the worst about Khalbar. Either he had perished, or he had reunited with his wife, and settled into a boring and domestic life. Whichever result, Kyra had come to terms giving up the dream of them traveling the lands together, making people cower before their might. It was yet another potential that she knew would not ever be, and in her own way, she grieved for it.
So when, almost a year after his departure, Khalbar appeared standing in her office with a ceremonial bow, Kyra at first thought she must be dreaming. Realising that she wasn't, she immediately rushed up to Khalbar, wrapping her arms around the large man. After a second she pulled back, looking embarrassed, but quickly masking it with anger. "You could have sent word." She remarks flippantly. Despite herself, she breaks out into another smile. "How have you been? Tell me of your journey."
Kyra's eyes narrow after reading the note. "Thank you Sheriff." she remarks with a nod. She had to admit that Peguson had settled into the role nicely, all things considered. At least he did what he was told, and wouldn't oppose her like his predecessor had.
Speaking of which.
Her attention returning to the note, Kyra furrows her brow. "Tsuto?" She wonders aloud. But certainly he wouldn't have addressed himself as a lord. Would he? There were two people in town who she thought might know more about him than she did, and as much as that notion annoyed her, she set off to find them.
Walking up to the roof, she set up a candle as a message for Pick, letting him know that she wished to speak with him when he returned from his patrol. From there, she set off to ask Ameiko about the note, finding her, as expected, with Flibble.
Showing them both the note, she asks. "Does it sound like Tsuto? Pick told me once that he still lives, and it sounded as though there was more to it than just himself and Nualia." She looks questioningly at Flibble as well. "Does anything else you found in Magnimar shine any light on this?"
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Holding the note in his hand and puffing contentedly on his beloved pipe, Flibble reads the note through a couple of times. "Well, lass," he begins, "I cannae see Tsuto giving ye the title o' laird, d'ye Ken? Whoever this is doesnae know ye on a personal level, so they are addressing ye as the local laird. My advice? send a delegation to Magnimar to see if they got any further with their investigations. I'll go, an' nae doubt tha' scallywag Pick'll want another gae at them. Rhanloi gaes often these days, mebbe Khalbar'll tag along. Och, ye could mek it a diplomatic mission an' join us. It'll bae tha' auld gang, d'ye ken?"
Ameiko also takes a look at the note, snorts in disgust, and says, "No, this wasn't my brother. He was always the more subtle one - not a person to grandstand, I think. Have you taken a look at the crime scene?"
Kyra nods, having expected as much. Already the gears of her mind are working through Flibble's suggestion, but she pauses at Ameiko's queston. "Crime scene?" she echoes.
Ameiko looks rather deadpan. "Of the murders."
Kyra shakes her head. "Not yet. I'm heading there next - but I wanted to find Pick first."
Pick grunts. "New murder," he says. "Here. Go see."
He shoulders his pack and looks to see if anyone is coming with him. Regarding Tsuto, he has no idea... his only dealing with the man, after all, had been getting his ribs broken by his fists.
Pick puffs up a little bit with pride on hearing that Hammer wanted to take him along. That's right, he is the Elder's chosen confidant for this mission! Observe, all you inferiors!
When they are ready to go, he will trot along dutifully towards the 'scene of the crime'.
Satisfied, though not happily, at having learned all she could from Ameiko, Kyra takes her leave, heading to the scene with Pick alongside. As they walk, she quietly hands him the note. While Pick reads, Kyra wracks her brain of who else could have been behind it. The Arkona's had many enemies, even if she herself did not have many. And even of the ones she did, it would be a stretch to assume any of them. Certainly this wasn't Scarnetti's work - the very idea was laughable. Still, an admirer? Someone she'd learn to love, as another did? Kyra shook her head. It didn't make any sense.
Months of working closely together had gotten Pick and Kyra rather in tune with each other, and the majority of their walk is in silence. Before arriving, but after Pick finishes reading the note, Kyra looks sidelong at him, and asks a simple question. "Trap?" Addressing the letter to her, the crime, surely whoever was behind it had to know that she'd come, and if it was her indeed that they were after... it wouldn't be a bad approach. And without knowing who was behind it, one had to assume the worst.