Kiva watches Sveer closely noting his frustration and wondering if it is due to his inability to communicate, because his friend is now gone, or because the plans they were making have been jeopardized.
"You were digging for Siberys shards. Did Talzin want to sell them, or use them for something?"
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Ethaniel speaks up, "This one I can vouch for, at least. Brockwell and Sveer booked passage to Stormreach through the Finder's Guild of House Tharashk, and it was my understanding that they were to join the exploration party to seek Siberys shards to bring back to the mainlaind."
Sveer pulls out a few crowns and galifars from his belt pouch, clinking them together. When Sveer puts the coins back, there is a confused look on his muzzle. He pulls out a ring and hands it to you. The ring is clearly too small for his fingers.
The ring is crude iron, and depicts a circular beast with one large eye over a gaping maw.
Kiva passes the ring to Ethaniel. "House Tarkanan," she says quietly.
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Ethaniel nods, "His payment was fair. I cannot condemn a man for what he does in other places, and for the crimes against Miss Hemdren it seems he has already paid... Troubling though. Cutpurses and slit-throats the lot of them." The first mate looks to the gnoll. "And do you have allegiance to this criminal organization?"
The gnoll defiantly and emphatically shakes his head no. "Noooo..." He seems pained by things his friend left unsaid.
"If you don't mind, I'll hold on to this it might help with the investigation," Kiva says about the ring.
"Sveer... was there something unusual about Talzin? Was he something... more than human, than you knew of?"
"That's alright. Talzin showed me his secret. Thank you for your time... and I am sorry for your loss."
In elven to Ethaniel, "I believe that Sveer has been upfront with us, as much as he can be. I do not believe him to be involved with whatever nefarious plans Talzin had. I will leave you, I wish to look over the area we found him more thoroughly in case I've missed something."
Kiva makes her way back down to where she first found Talzin and Evangeline in the throes of passion. She takes her time to look over the area thoroughly.
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You find Talzin's clothes easily enough. A loose shirt, lace-up breeches, and rather nice boots. On his belt is a pouch containing four Siberys shards, twenty galifars, and a folded note. You also find a locket in his shirt that matches Evangeline's, containing a portait of a younger Evangeline Hemdren.
Kiva stares at the letter in disbelief as her anger continues to rise. [b]Who the hell does this person think they are? Do they think to scare me with ghost stories, do they think that they can make me feel guilt for my sister's death? Oh but even if it is her, by some twist of fate, if the b!tch thinks she can toy with me I will kill her a second time![/i]
Kiva begins to crumple the paper in her fist without even realizing before she catches her self and smooths it back out. Pocketing Talzin's belongings, she then folds his clothes and heads to her own room to store them. Her plan is to confront Evangeline with the note when the Captain has finished speaking with her.
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Making your way back up through the Galley, you see a very sad gnoll crying into a very large tankard of ale. The halfling cook seems completely at a loss as to how to comfort the creature.
Tam and Zam have moved away from Sveer's room, presumably to go back about their duties. Several guests sit in the Galley and it doesn't take much to hear the gossip flying. Down the hall, Nikolas idly leans against the frame of Evangeline's door. He snaps to attention a moment to late as Captain Thariv opens the door. As he mumbles an apology, the Captain is quick to dole out deck-scrubbing duty to the deckhand. Resigned, he slums off up to the deck behind the captain.
"Captain," Kiva says by way of acknowledgment. "If you'll excuse me, I'd like to speak with Miss Hemdren privately for a moment."
Kiva enters the room without knocking and stands there for a moment, her arms crossed staring at Evangeline. After a moment she produces the letter she found on Talzin, and as calmly as she can she hands it to Evangeline without saying a word.
Kiva crosses her arms and archs an eyebrow. Continuing to stare daggers at the woman, she does not respond.
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Evageline seems not to notice, her scholarly demeanor taking over again. "They say down in the lower wards, that the group called House Tarkanan are not only assassins, but an assembly of aberrant marked villains and castaways. A mockery of the twelve great dragonmarked Houses... but you saw Talzin as full as I did..." she blushes momentarily. "He bore no mark. He must have just been in it for the killing, which would make sense with his... bestial side."
Kiva takes the note back from Evangeline and carefully folds it before putting it away. In an eerily calm voice, Kiva says, "Do you want to know what happened to my sister, Evangeline?" Kiva moves in closer to Evangeline, and leaning forward she puts her lips next to Evangeline's ear. "She was only a little child, completely incapable of defending herself. I held her head under the water. I smiled as her lungs filled with water and her little body thrashed about. I laughed with glee when her she finally went slack, and yet I continued to hold her under longer until I was sure she was dead. Do you want to know why I killed Seville, Evangeline? Because she got in my way. She stole my parents attention the way that all little children do when they are born. Can you imagine, Evangeline, what I might do to someone who has lied to me, manipulated me, who might have tried to help kidnap me, Evangeline?" Kiva reaches a hand behind Evangeline and caresses the back of the woman's head, "Make this right, Evangeline. You will find out everything you can about Seville and report to me with even the smallest detail or it certainly won't be Seville d'Tarkanan - or any other Tarkanan that you'll need to be worried about. There is no where you can run that I won't find you." Kiva steps back and looks the other woman in the eyes for a moment, letting her words sink in before she reaches into a pocket to retrieve the two lockets. She holds them out for a moment and then drops them to the floor before turning to leave.
Kiva leaves the room and walks aimlessly around the ship, her thoughts churning and as dark as the storm clouds.
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As you walk about the Roc's Talon, your mind is flooded by the thoughts of the recent events, and the actions of your past. You remember the struggles of your little sister as you held her beneath the waters. Reflexively you clench and unclench your fists, and start to notice that you have cut half-moons into your palms as your sorcerous claws have manifested. Unflexing and gazing down at your hand, you see rivulets like black-green tears weeping from your nails. Shaking your hand, the drops spatter on the wooden floor. You hear the sizzle of burning wood as the caustic liquid bubbles and quells. Quizzically you lean down to inspect the small acidic burns, and the door to the quarters you stand in front of slowly opens. Incense smoke rolls out of the room, and sweet fragrance of tea. Standing in the doorway is the minotauress, Hath.
"Čierna Búrka." she greets you in Giant again before reverting to Common. "Are you well, little one?"
Kiva looks up at Hath a little blankly at first, then her eyes focus and she says, "My blood is eating through the wood."
Kiva glances back down at it, shaking a couple more drops from her hand if there is still enough blood there to be had. She raises to her full height, "No, I don't suppose that I am well. I know that it is expected that I should be upset having my bloodline confirmed in so many ways in the last two days, but it is something I already knew deep inside and not something I fear. Instead, I am plagued by a ghost who has come back to haunt me and enraged by people who think it their duty to manipulate me for the sake of their prophecies," After a brief pause she continues, "My apologies, Emissary Hath, I did not mean to interrupt you I was only walking, trying to clear my mind."
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The shaman speaks in her low guttural tones, she looks down at the blood drops, unsurprised. "The best way to avoid being played is to learn the game. If you seek out knowledge of prophecy, you have the power to change it. Ghosts haunt the living... that is their purpose. These too, can be fought. Would you like a cup of tea?"
"Tea would be lovely, thank you." Kiva follows the minotauress into her room. "I suppose ghost can only be used figuratively, although I watched her life seep away into the sea as a child, I am told she is a woman grown now."
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Hath pours two cups from a decorated kettle, you can smell the heady aroma of the brew. "Geath'ad." She tells you. "Brewed by the Marchers. Sometimes it can show you what you need to see." She hands you the cup, which is large for you but is cradles in her massive grip. "The sea takes life, little one, but it can also give life. What does this woman mean to you?" Hath sets herself down upon a small stool facing you.
Kiva settles in with her cup, hesitant to drink something that might alter her state of conscience while visiting with someone she only just met. So, instead, for the time being she holds the cup and enjoys the warmth and the feel of it in her hand. "My instincts are telling me that she's a threat to be eliminated. It's the same as what my instincts told me even as we were children, but now she threatens something different."
Kiva watches the shaman, letting her words sink in a moment before taking a slow sip of the tea as well. After a quiet moment, Kiva says, "She convinced Evangeline Hemdren to interfere, in an attempt to move the prophecy forward. She hired a man - a man who turned into a wolf - to attempt to abduct me. I have no doubt that we will meet again, one way or another."
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As you sip your geath'ad and speak of your sister, you see in your mind's eye a hazy image of a young khoravar woman with deep red hair. She stands in an a darkened alleyway between the towers you know to be Sharn. She wears a vintage scarlet cloak. In the vision, you see her handing a folded note to Talzin Brockwell. Brockwell stands shirtless in the alley, and you watch as the ribbons of passion close on his body as he smirks, taking the letter. The image fades and your vision is taken up again only by Hath, who sits calmly before you, nodding as you speak. "One thing that I have learned about mazes, is that sometimes many paths lead to the same area. Whether it is prophecy or machination, some things are inevitable."
Despite the hazy images formed in your mind, the tea is very soothing.
Kiva pauses when the vision hits her, trying to commit every detail to memory. When she continues she says, "Perhaps these things are inevitable, doesn't mean I have to go along with it quietly. I don't appreciate people meddling in my life and I will not play puppet to anyone."
"Do you know anything about werewolves, Emissary Hath?"
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The minotauress nods slowly, then answers. "Werewolves are more common in my lands than most. In Droaam they are not chased and murdered for their natures. There are fewer now than there were before, after The Purge by the Church of the Silver Flame. Werewolves carry a terrible burden, they are controlled by the waxing and waning of the moons. Those who cannot control their curse, become mindless beasts that can spread their curse to others by attacking them."
Kiva slowly peels back her bandages to show Hath her scratch marks, "Should I be concerned?"
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Hath looks over your wound, "Were you bitten? If you were only scratched it is unlikely that you will turn." The shaman closes her eyes for a moment, reflecting. "If you can, seek out wolfsbane before the Barrakas comes full on the 17th just to be sure. Fortunately no moons are full before then. However, the realm of Lammania is close to us... and in these times beasts are unpredictable. If you cannot come by wolfsbane..." Hath turns to look through her belongings. She pulls out a fine silver chain. The symbol of Balinor- two stag antlers, hangs from a medallion. "This was given to me long ago by a shifter friend of mine. If you are infected, the silver will begin to burn your skin. Wear it and you will have warning." She hands the necklace to you.
"Thank you, again, Emissary Hath," Kiva says as she accepts the proffered necklace. "I believe I was only scratched, though it can be hard to say what exactly happens in the heat of battle. What of the wolfsbane, what shall I do with it if I'm able to find any?"
"So, either take the leaves and risk death, or do not and risk lycanthropy. I must admit that doesn't sound like a very difficult choice to make." Kiva leans back slightly and studies the cup of tea.
"This is an interesting tea, Emissary Hath, thank you for sharing it with me, it has been enlightening. Tell me though - I have spoken so much about my troubles - what of this maze that you must find your way through?"
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"Beneath the patchwork city of Stormreach, there are great sewers. Left over from the time of the Jotuns, the tunnels are filled now with Pod-nohami and Malí-draci, the goblins and kobolds. Few that have gone below have returned. I wish to explore those winding passages, to bring home stories for my people."
"You said you can't take much with you into the maze; what will you be taking?"
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"Only this..." Standing, Hath goes to her bed, and from beneath it pulls a large parcel wrapped in hide. Delicately she opens the package to reveal a gleaming golden double-axe. "The Labrys. What my people call Dvojitá-sekera. I shall use my wits to navigate the tunnels of the sewers. I shall use my labrys to bring back new skulls to prove my accomplishments." Hath holds the hide out, so you may inspect the weapon that rests upon it.
Kiva looks over the weapon without touching it, not wishing to cause any offense if the weapon is considered sacred to her people.
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The weapon appears old, but immaculate. Dwarven letters are carved into the blades, but it is clear no dwarf smith crafted this axe. It dawns on you that perhaps the Dwarven and Giant languages use the same alphabet. There are notches carved into the leather-wrapped hilt, and though you cannot be certain that the piece is enchanted, surely it must be at least resistant to wearing down as gold is a softer metal usually unfit to hold an edge.
"What does it say?" Kiva asks when she looks back up at Hath.
Kiva smiles, "I like that. I'm sure you'll bring back many skulls. Perhaps I'll find you again, in the future, and see just how many you collected."
Kiva excuses herself with a slight bow to the Emissary after thanking her once more for sharing her wisdom and her generosity. She makes her way back to her room where she plans to write down everything she can recall from the brief vision, in as great of detail as she can.
Having written all she can remember, Kiva decides to take a nap while she can. Fighting werewolves and terrorizing scholars is tiring work. When she awakes, she is hungry and so makes her way to the galley to see if they are serving dinner yet. She scans the area, taking account of who is present and what they are doing.