Kaliya's Story

A Story for Kaliya

"You know...my mom always said this town was a meat-grinder. Industrious and steady, but it will break you if you don't keep moving. It all seemed easier when we were just ruffing up shopkeepers. It all feels different now. The streets are the same, the people are the same. Even the boys are the same. Seems like the only thing that's changed...is me.

The audience stares back at you, unmoving. A trickle of sweat rolls down your face. You're not nervous, it's the spotlights. They're just too warm, you know? Finally, after a long, painful moment in which you question every decision you ever made that brought you to this moment... finally, a single slow clap echoes throughout the theater. Beyond all power of belief, the slow clap turns into two, and then suddenly, you're faced with a raucous round of applause from your captive audience.

Then you see her. Standing in the back of the theater, leaning against the wall by the exit. She's not clapping, but she gives you a slow nod of acknowledgement. Maybe even approval? You're stunned, beyond belief. Yagra came to your show.

Kaliya gives a bow. With a quick thought the Silent image that had been serving as set and cast disappeared, leaving an empty stage. As the applause died down he left the stage and out the back door, making his way back around to the front.

You knew a crowd of adoring fans would be too much to ask for, but you were hoping there would be a few people lingering out front, excited to meet the star of the show. Alas, the audience streams away from the theater. You strain to catch some of their conversations, to get some idea of what they thought, but no one seems to be discussing you.

But there's one person who isn't so quick to leave. Yagra steps out of the theater, and looks past you down the street as if to leave without saying a word. She doesn't, though. Instead she walks over to you, hesitance clear in every step. You've never seen her this nervous before.

Kaliya was taken aback at seeing his former flame this way. He gave a half smile.

"I thought it might help build swell for the bar...I don't think I have a future in theater."

Yagra shrugged. "No one has a future in that theater. It's getting torn down next month." She hesitated for a moment, clearly torn, before continuing. "I've been thinking about what you said, about being possessed before. And I'm still not sure I believe you. But if it is true, then there's something you need to know."

a chill ran down Kaliya's spine, like when your mother tells you they "need to talk".

"...Uh huh?"

Yagra looks around, then pulls you a little down the alley next to the theater. "I said he was an accountant, and I wasn't lying," she says to you in a low voice. "But it's not the whole truth. He did... other stuff, too. Like magic or something. He had this workshop he used, or whatever you call it. He showed me a few times, like he was showing off, even though I had no idea what he was talking about. It looked impressive, I guess. Whatever it was, it was big. Took up half the room, it felt like. Well, after you- uh, he disappeared, I figured whoever came in next would just toss everything. Won't lie, I was kinda looking forward to seeing all your shit that you'd worked so hard on sitting on the street. But it never happened, and I forgot about it. Well, I went back after our conversation, and took a look around, and someone's been working on it. I mean, I don't know much about magic, but it was definitely bigger. And had more markings." She looks you up and down, searching for something, then shrugs. "I don't know. I guess I thought I should tell you."

"He had a workshop? I don't even have a workshop now. Fucking Ghosts. Troublemakers." He looked back at Yagra, "Take me to it."

Yagra sighs, but nods. "Yeah, sure." She leads you to the Trades Ward, across the street from a high-end coffin shop. It looks like a normal townhouse, old but well kept. "The lights are on," she says unnecessarily, staring at the windows. "I guess someone's working."

A whiff of incense and a puff of smoke later and Neverin was resting on Kaliya's shoulder.

"Check out for me, buddy, would ya?"

Neverin nods at you, before flying over to settle on the windowsill of the house. Your vision goes black for a moment, before being replaced by the rich vibrant colors of a bird's vision. You watch through your familiar's eyes as someone sits at a desk in the cramped room, frantically paging through a book. But you pay him no mind- your eyes are drawn by the large contraption that takes up over half the room. The contraption is so large, with so many different disparate parts, that you find yourself unable to comprehend it in its entirety. Instead, you focus on different parts of it in turn. There is what was clearly once a grandfather clock, only covered in runes and running so fast the pendulum is a blur. Over there is a series of glass tubes, with some sort of iridescent liquid running through them. Your eyes follow a pipe up and over the top of the contraption, where it falls into a large glass sphere and vanishes. Your eyes skim over a collection of animal skulls, an ornate mirror, a water wheel powered by a miniature waterfall which appears out of nowhere and disappears again just as easily.

"Alright...he's in there..building something...seven hells I don't even know. But we can probably take him."

"What's your plan here?" Yagra asks skeptically.

"Simple...you're gonna march in there with an army of Zant Thugs that I'll cook up for you, when he tires to make a slick play he'll catch a face-full of sleeping sand."

"Oh, I see, so you're sending me in first. So I can get hit in the face by a fireball or whatever and you'll just walk right in over my smoldering corpse?"

Kaliya looked at her with actually stunned silence.

"Seven hells you've been hanging out with Mercenaries too long. Fine. I'll go in, but you be ready to catch him when he makes a run for it."

He made some brief chants and a slight glow echoed out from his robes ((Mage Armor)) and he began to sneak his way inside.

Following Neverin's directions, you sneak around to a side window that's been left cracked open, and try to shimmy your way inside without alerting the guy working.

"1d20+4

( 3 ) + 4 = 7"