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Alvara simply made camp deeper into the woods than normal. Not any travelers should pass by and if they did...they were after her. Just her. She needed her rest for tomorrow but...what if something happens while she slept? Alvara sighed and laid down, looking up at the sky. She started shivering but after a few minutes she was numb, couldn’t feel a thing. Her eyelids were feeling heavier than normal. Maybe becasuse she hadn’t had sleep in days? She let out a single chuckle then completely fell asleep.

Her dreams were that of her past. More like nightmares really. The same nightmare every night with her father and him...the man who tricked her. The man who made her be like this...souless. Maybe that light would come back....maybe just maybe.

Tovin confined himself in his room on the boat that brought him to this frigid place simply talking to him self, and checking his gear, waiting for the sun to rise. when dawn finally broke Tovin covered his window with a spare blanket and went to bed his dreams were always took him back to the warm red sands of Dukata.

To where he could travel with his clan, listen to tales until dawn, train with his mother. but his dreams always ended the same way. The taste of blood, the sounds of screaming, vishous roars, flapping wings, the smell of smoke and sinder, and the sight of burned tents.

The more she dreamt, the pain intensified. Every single one of her scars burned as if she went back in time and went through all that pain...again. She darted up out of her sleep, breathing a bit heavily. Alvara attempted to calm herself down but the pain was excruciating. These blasted scars!! Her face grimaced, holding in her screams. She needed to be strong but with all this pain at once...it was a bit hard.

“Breathe, breathe” she told herself as the pain slowly went away. What just happened to her? She hadn’t had pain like that in...years. Something was wrong, something was completely wrong but what was it?

Dulirn returned to his own home, double checking his research twice more, though he had done the calculations many times before. Yes, it will be tomorrow night... The stars are in the right position. The moon will be full. 10 years sincethe highest eaves of the undersea tower: rumored to once belong to the great wizard Sezrekan had last appeared, as if rising up from the Smoking Bay.


He had found no record of the Pearl appearing any time since Sezrekan's last sighting, nearly 500 years ago. So that had to mean it was still in the tower, just waiting to be claimed. But Dulirn had no expectation that it would be left unprotected.

As prepared as he could think to be, Dulirn slept away the day. Then rose as evening set in and went to the docks where his hired fisherman, Hollis, waited with his small fishing vessel. "Evening sir!" Hollis said, preparing his small boat for the trip out into the bay. "Shall we be off at once?"

"Not quite yet. We'll have two more joining tonight."

As night falls Tovin prepares for the job at hand. Blade check, armor check, gear check, rations check. Once he was satisfied he headed to the meeting point this time with no eye cover. When he arrived he could see Dulern waiting on an old fishing boat.

Tovin steps over the gap between the boat and the dock immediately feeling the shifting mass underfoot. he then settles down atop a barrel that if he hat to describe smelled like salt and fish. Tovin looked over at Dulern. "Evening Dulern, I imagine Alvara isn't here yet no? Also have you thought about what you are going to pay me?"

Suddenly realizing the chill from the river Tovin brings his hands up and starts warming his forearms "This damnable cold will be the death of me, I know it."

Alvara stood up and quickly checked her weapons, all of them extremely sharp. She had to start walking to the dock but She had to do something first...she had to deal with a man from a few nights ago. Alvara sped up her pace, quickly running to a mans house. She knocked on the door, waiting for it to open. “Hello welc-“ The man stated while opening the door and recognizing who she was.

“What do you want...I’ll give you whatever you want” The man asked, pleading for his life. “You know what you did....you broke the deal” she stated while putting a hand on her dagger, secretly pulling it out. Alvara kicked the man in the stomach and walked up, closing the door behind her.

***

Alvara walked up to the dock, her hands slightly bloody. “Sorry I’m a bit late.....I had some business to attend to” she explained. Alvara looked at the both of them, seeing their curiosity. She adjusted her hood a bit and relaxed her position. “So...what’s the plan?”

"A warmer cloak?" Dulirn suggested to Tovin with a dry sense of humor. "I did inventory my collection. Do you have any experience using wands, by chance?"

As Alvara approached, the wizard seemed completely unfazed by her bloodied hand or by her explanation. If anything, it only affirmed that he had made a good choice as it seemed the blood was not her own.

"We're going to retrieve something from Sezrekan's tower," the wizard answered the elf calmly, as if it were a simple matter of just going there, picking it up, and rowing back home. One can hope, he thought. He looked between the both, curious to see if the name meant anything to either of them.

"I ain't," chimed in Hollis. "I'll get you there, but I ain't leaving my vessel. I'll jus' wait up top for ya."

Tovin listens to Dulern give off possible payment ideas, laughing a little at the thought of wands. "Magic sticks? No, I think not." When Alvara walked on he replied with. "Hey, What type of biss-" At this moment he Seen the blood and stopped talking, through out the details of the job Tovin couldn't help but stare at the stain.

Tovin's eyes snapped back to Dulern when he was done. "So, basically go to the middle of the lake into some god forsaken tower retrieve "Something" and get out, (Sigh)... sounds like fun."

Alvara looked at Tovin, seeing his disgust. Considering the stain on her hands was just the right explanation for him to shut up. Alvara looked over at Dulrin. Sezrekan’s tower?! Of course this is the place she would have to go. Out of every place in this world where his item of interest was it just had to be there. She stiffened her position then slowly relaxed once more. “Alright then...no time to waste” she stated while pulling back her hood.

The problem that bothered her was when they came back...there could be possible guards at the docks the night they came back. But if this man fulfills what he claims then she wouldn’t have to worry much. Alvara looked out at the water. She hadn’t been on ship since her first time in prison. Hopefully she wouldn’t get sea sick again...but maybe it was just the food on the boat...or the actual lack of food. She deeply loved the water but it was such a powerful force. One second you’re on the top, then at the very bottom..

Dulirn sighed. "Shame... then it shall have to be gold."



With all passengers aboard, Hollis guides his small fishing boat out into the Smoking Bay.

The dark and cold sea rolls, solemn and quiet beneath the full moon. The old Maiden of the Sea, waxing full, seems especially close tonight, its reflection unbroken on the gently rolling waters. Dim lights of town twinkle in the distance, and when the wind is right the three adventurers can still hear sea chanties being sung in the night.

After nearly a half an hour, Hollis pointed suddenly. "There it is!" he said in awe.

The tower rises from the sea like something out of a fairy tale. And yet, it must be real, for waves crash against it just as they lap at the planks of the skiff.

Snarling gargoyles crown the four corners of the tower, peering from coral-encrusted battlements. More worrisome than the eldritch tower or the snarling gargoyles is the worn longboat moored on the far side of the tower. Squinting through the darkness, it seems the deck of the longboat is empty...

Tovin draws the long hooked blade from his back. His body is relaxed and his eyes don't change but his knuckles are white from gripping the handle. His eyes are locked onto the boat. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

His head turns slightly towards Dulirn "So this place got history? I could tell by Alvara's vary confident reaction."

Alvaras stomach turned...waves....how she hated waves. Up....down.....up.....down. Alvara grabbed her stomach, and took a few deep breaths. Breathe, breathe. Her pain slowly went away but there was still a slight stab in the stomach feeling. She looked up, seeing the longboat...wow, was that really empty? She looked at bit closer to confirm what she saw and she was correct.

Alvara glanced over at the both of them, seeing their reactions. She slightly smiled then looked back down. She had to focus, this task was NOT going to be easy. Her mind needed to just focus on protecting. Protecting herself, protecting them if necessary...and getting back alive for her reward. “Does it got history?” She paused looking at Dulrin “I’ll let him explain it to ya”.

"Long ago this was an eldritch fastness of Sezrekan the Elder. He was known as the most wicked wizard ever to plague the known world," Dulirn did not say this as if were some terrible thing, but rather as a great honor bestowed upon Sezrekan. "Some legends say that the tower rises out of the Bay once a decade, but in truth, it is a trick of the low tide, the water simply receding so that it may be seen. Now the tower is known simply as the final resting place of the fabled Black Pearl and our goal for this night. Anything else of value is yours, the Pearl is mine. But even I cannot tell you what else we may find."

He looked over at the empty longboat as Hollis brought their smaller craft alongside the tower. "It seems we are not the only ones who would claim the treasures this night..." he whispered softly, looking up. The "roof" of the tower was only a few feet above their heads... not a particularly difficult climb.

once the craft comes to a stop Tovin extends his blade, hooking it into stable ground and climbs up. He stamps his feet testing the consistency, once satisfied he says quietly "Seems stable enough." He flips his blade around, blade side now facing him. Wads a bit of his cloak in his hand and grabs onto the hook. Extending the handle of his blade to his companions. "Here, let me help."

As soon as everyone is on the less than dry land Tovin motions to the other boat with his blade now in the proper way of wielding "I vote we deal with the boat first."

Alvara looked at Dulirn weirdly for she knew that this place was wicked and yet...he seemed a bit proud of it. How odd. Alvara looked over to the boat, popping her fingers and neck. She looked at Tovin then Dulirn, “Come on, no time to waste”. She stepped up on the land with no help.

Alvara quickly pulled out her sword, revealing its elven craftsmanship. This same sword had killed thousands in her battles. But...also killed her love ones...Alvara brushed off the thought.

((Stealing ideas/pics from a D&D module... ))



The top of the tower is shadowed from the moonlight by the stone gargoyles, but once their eyes adjust, they spot three human forms sprawled near a keg. Swords lay within easy reach of their hands, but their eyes were closed and the closest one snored.

In the middle of the floor is an iron trapdoor that stands open.

Dulirn climbs up with Tovin's aid, not nearly as easily or as gracefully as the other two, his red robes catching slightly on the stonework as he hauls himself over.

Alvara quiets her steps, putting away her sword and pulling out her two daggers. She looked over at Tovin and Dulrin and whispered quietly: “The throat only, it willbe the quietest”. Alvara spun around her daggers, slowly moving over to the men. She stopped and looked back, eyeing them to quiet down with their steps. Alvara only hoped that Tovin would maybe kill one of the men.

Her steps light as a feather as she quickly slit the throat of one man, then moving onto the next. As the men took their last look up they saw her souless eyes. Every single time she had killed someone they got that look. Her look of anger and accomplishment at the same time. She eyed Tovin then the last man, waiting for him or Dulrin to kill him.

Alvara waited by the trap door for her next step. She had never been around here but only heard stories. It had never been on her bucket list or anything but she had always wanted to see it. Her father had told her tale and she hadn’t forgot it since. Alvara used her fingers to wipe the blood from her daggers, looking at the both of them.

Tovin fallows suit, heading to the last man, he was sleeping. He waited for Alvara to have her fun, when she was finished Tovin crawled on top of him, his legs on each side of his chest.

Tovin looked down at the sleeping man and with his right hand patted him on the cheek and said in a calming quiet voice "Wake up sleepy head." The mans eyes slowly opened, when he realized he didn't know the figure his eyes shot wide "Wait! who are-" Before the man could finish Tovin reeled back his left hand, clenched into a fist and covered by a gauntlet. As quick as lightning Tovin brought down his fist, in-bedded it into the mans face. His jaw and nose buckled under the force and indented into the skull, the sound I could only describe as muffled bubbles.

Tovin then stands up over the body and shacked his and clean from the blood and viscera. He then turned toward the two and said with a faint smile "That's what we call a Dukatric Wake-up." he then strolled over to the trap door waiting the others to rally

Alvara looked at Tovin, “not bad, just maybe a bit quieter next time”. She smiled, showing she was obviously teasing him. Tovin acted so much like a man she once knew, Erebus. Erebus and her would always tease each other, pointing out everything they didn’t wrong. But in a joking manner. He was the man that actually taught her how to fight with the basics but another man taught her to upgrade her skills. To be better than what she was. And that’s when their friendship broke...when she started killing for money. When she started to do jobs that were highly illegal. Alvaras smiled faded, showing she was thinking.

She looked over to Dulirn, “what’s next”. Alvara put away her daggers and tightened her braid, waiting for the mans answer. There was definitely more men, considering these three men were sleeping. If she were those men...She wouldn’t sleep unless there was some type of nightwatch...especially here.

Dulirn had not missed the look Alvara had given him a short while ago, as if he should not so admire the great wizard Sezrekan. But now he raised an eyebrow at her willingness to jump right to outright murder when simply binding the drunken men would have served just as well. Not that he cared for their lives, but he had anticipated the elf giving at least a little bit of pause before killing those who had not wronged her in any way.

And the other... his enthusiasm for the job did not go unnoticed either. It appeared he had chosen well. Perhaps he could avoid getting his own hands dirty in this affair.

"In we go, I suppose..." he said, indicating to the trap door. A ladder descends down and even from up here, the bright glow of candlelight can be seen...