Thalisa Dawnsong began her life in affluence and prominence. Her elven mother and her human father, raised her and her little brother Nathaniel to be non-judgemental, but also taught them that the world at large is not always so. Patience, and a calm, rational mind, was instilled into the children from a very early age.
She was schooled in etiquette and diplomacy, and upon her thirteenth birthday, she met her betrothed; a man by the name of Cevin Myr, and oh how charming he was. With his dashing smile and sparkling blue eyes, Thalisa considered herself the luckiest girl in the world. The Dawnsong family status would grow exponentially with such a union. The Myr family’s mining operation was booming. Ores and precious metals fed a constant stream of trade goods with the dwarves.
And so, on her sixteenth birthday, she was wed to Cevin. But little did she know, that her entire world was about to come crashing down around her. Not only did he take her innocence and purity on their wedding night, but soon thereafter, when the Dawnsongs had made Cevin the beneficiary to their lands and holdings, the real truth become known. "Cevin" was no more than a charlatan. All of his claims were false, even his name, but with a legal marriage and titles to deeds and inheritance, soon her family was left with nothing.
Thalisa soon realized that affluence is fine, when you’re a part of the upper elite, but as soon as you lose that stature, you’re no better than the dregs of society to them.
The Dawnsong’s slept on the streets, scrounging food and coin when they could. Her parent’s marriage became so estranged, that eventually her father forced her mother to use her body so they might survive.
Thalisa’s heart grew cold and bitter. Her anger not only at what had happened, but the weakness that allowed it to happen, hardening her very soul. Love. What a farce. Love was a weakness meant for the soft and needy. Real strength came from needing no one.
So it went for over 5 years for Thalisa. Over that time, a harsh winter and disease took her mother and little brother. Probably for the best, she thought inwardly. The world was no place for someone that needed to be taken care of.
She spent all her time perfecting her craft of survival. From pickpocketing coin and items to sell for food, to using her feminine wiles and dimples to dupe young men into getting what she wanted. She never sullied herself though. Never again, she promised herself, would she give in to that weakness either. If anyone was to be taken advantage of, she would make sure that she was the one in control, and doing the taking.
The final straw came one desperate night, when her father insisted she take up her mother’s "trade". When she said no, and he attempted to make her, she lashed out in anger, breaking a glass vase over her father’s head. The last she saw of him, he was lying in a pool of his own blood. The crimson stains widening with every beat of his slowing heart.
The next year found her going from place to place looking for work, or ways to make a coin. She dealt with anyone that could use her skills and pay her way. It meant nothing to her if they were human, dwarf, elf, orc, or goblin. The ends always justified the means, and if it meant getting back at any wealthy aristocrat, she almost always did it at a discounted fee. The pleasure of getting back at those types of two-faced people that would call you friend, and then turn their back on you in times of need, made it all the sweeter.
But in the back of her mind, always, was Cevin. She would find him, with that perfect smile, and beautiful eyes…and break his face. She would pluck out one of those clear blue eyes and make him look at it before he died.
It was for that reason, that Thalisa found herself in the area surrounding Stolwald. She’d traced a lead on Cevin to there, and was awaiting news from her contacts in the city.
She heard a loud boom, and when she turned and looked through her spyglass, she saw her three contacts running towards the cave and outcropping they were supposed to meet at.
Thalisa swore under her breath as she also saw two men giving chase. She should have trusted her instincts when she considered using these ruffians. They were lazy and stupid, but her desire to finally get a lead on Cevin after all this time, was too irresistible to pass up.
She swore at herself this time, as the three men ran into the cave where she awaited.
"We found summat." One of them said to her, handing her a small parchment.
"You have pursuers." She said calmly, nodding her head to indicate behind them. "No doubt they were alerted by your subtleness." She said with a snort of obvious derision and sarcasm, but that too was lost on these buffoons.
"Ain’t no worry mistress. We can handle ‘em." One of the men said, with a crooked-toothed, and yellow smile as he drew his mace.
"See that you do." Thalisa commented. She couldn’t afford to be tied to this. "I have double payment for the one that gives the killing blow."
This got the three men eager, and they moved into ambush positions just inside the cave.
She turned and headed deeper into the cave, towards some of the exit offshoot passages a few hundred yards inside. As she did so, she stopped a ways in, and glanced back. The men were ready and waiting. They probably could handle things, but she could take no chances.
In their eagerness and greed for coin, the men failed to notice their surroundings. Failed to notice the bags placed strategically around the cavern mouth. Bags stolen from the Myr Mining Company. Likewise, they failed to notice the twine fuses that lined the wall of the cavern, ending where she now stood.
In a single swipe of her flint and steel, she lit the fuses, and dashed off down the tunnel towards the inner exit shafts. She had gotten outside and had just finished tucking her weapons and leather armor into her pack, when she heard and felt the explosion.
She quickly headed down the main road into town in plainclothes, glancing over only once as she passed the trail leading up to the cave entrance. A middle-aged man on his knees was yelling to whatever gods would hear him.
Drawing her hood up, she continued into Stolwald. The parchment of a man’s face, with a perfect smile, and clear blue eyes, rolled up in her pack.
Thalisa spent the next couple years in Stolwald. Her quarry was proving to be elusive prey indeed, and a man of many disguises it seemed. She made contacts, hung out in taverns and bars, and lent her unique services to those that had the means to pay for them.
Some she even took for free, if it meant a lead on the target of her retribution.
Last edited October 16, 2015 10:17 pm
