Zahlia: Shadow Register

[Amon-Si]

Well. Here I am in Barovia.
I lost most of my things back in my world, and I -do- believe I'm in another world.
It's fine. Nothing that can't be replaced, I still have Millicent, so everything else can go hang.
There's rich hunting here for someone like me and I've gotten my feet under the table in the Drain.
Pale outbid Fredek for me, still not sure if that was good for me or not.
Either way, I've got money, some alright gear and a bit of pull in the underworld community.
Funny thing, the underworld here is just that, a world under the real one where all the surfacers live.
I've decided to call them Topsies, because it amuses me.

[Amon-Si]

Most of the drain bosses have left for about a week to do their own personal things.
They've left Joules, Kederf and myself in charge, should be interesting.

[Amon-Si]

Got an influx of new bans and twists today.
Birger, a big, strong man. Got a good attitude, I think we can expect good things from him.
Dirt, another hulk, a bit sneakier and a complainer.
Tarmes, another big one, he seems pretty pathetic, but maybe we can get him to handle the cleaning, or something.
Graht, could be trouble, but then, might fit with the Black leaf rather well.

[Amon-Si]

Got a few halflings wanting some sanctuary down here lately.
Arrun, a bounty hunter, seems smart.
Skiver, she's a thief, a nice girl, we get on well.
The Shackled kanks... They're trouble with a capital T. They accost people, hunt and eat them. Why? We're knee deep in deer over here.
Met two girls, Nita and Val, they want to join up down here, have a private place. Maybe if they prove themselves.
Tarmes seems to be coming out of his shell a little, turns out he's a necromancer... that worries me a bit, but he seems nice enough.

[Amon-Si]

So, not all the guards here are suicidal fools.
Birger, Dirt and I walked into the temple at night to find one on duty. Managed to persuade everyone concerned that it was better we just ignore each other.
It worked. no one even drew blood. I count that as a win.
Went on a little outing with Joules and Tarmes. Poor Joules, she's a sweetheart, but has trouble keeping a cool head.
We were trapped in the crypts by a large force of undead and had to sneak out.
Tarmes... Tarmes was high handed, rude, arrogant and commanding. We fought after.
This power he has, it's twisting him away from a sweet, unfortunate fool into... something else. Please don't let it be a monster.
We're not friends any more, he called me Filth.

[Amon-Si]

Tarmes has started fighting guards just to prove something to himself, or them, or me...
He was swiftly betrayed by the Shackled Kanks and others he thought his friends, oddly, he has come to trust me.
We've attempted a Ruse to make the guarda think he's dead and end all this bloodshed, I hope they're smart enough to realize that they're better off thinking he's dead.
One guarda, Ionel... he seems different to the others somehow.
Birger and Tarmes have both expressed... interest in me.
They're out of luck, after what Adrian did to me no one gets to hurt me like that again.

[Amon-Si]

The ruse failed, they're both smarter and stupider than I had hoped, falling into that middle range of mediocrity that hurts the most people.
I've told Tarmes what the guarda said about him, I hope he doesn't go too far, we've got enough trouble as it is.
In the meantime, things move apace. Val and Nita will be able to see Pale or Fredek soon and perhaps secure a place down here for their "Interests".
It seems Nita likes women... Whatever that means.
It seems I have "Relatives" down here. Xarah, a loud mouthed demon-blood, and Black, who insists on telling every last soul his grandsire was a devil.
On that note, Black was threatened by a woman called Meredith, apparently she's some kind of demon hunter, I bet that will be trouble in the near future.

[Amon-Si]

Ionel has expressed an interest in getting to know me better... Like that can possibly end well.
Managed to pull an ex-guarda contact from the old days, he'll serve us well I think.
Tarmes and I met, for what will be the last time. We talked for hours and in the end he confessed his love for me...
No one has ever said they loved me and meant it before, I doubt that has changed, but I was gobsmacked.
Then things went bad, it seems he's been killing civillians, and not just one or two, but -slaughtering- them in droves.
I had no choice, it's him or me now. Goodbye, Tarmes.

[Amon-Si]

The nightmare's over at last. Tarmes is dead and I am safe, for now.
Ran into the woman, Meredith, after extensive preparations to kill her managed to settle our differences peaceably.
I've begun my arcane education, it's all very interesting, I feel this knowledge will help me in the future.
The bosses get back tomorrow, I can't wait to be rid of this responsibility so that I may focus on improving my own skills.
Well, maybe not rid of it... but sharing is caring, right?

[Amon-Si]

I have begun some of the training I plan to have a use for in the future.
Miss black seems willing to help for free, but I'm sure there will be a cost in the future...

[Amon-Si]

Met with Ionel before going to work. He gave me something I've needed so badly these last few weeks.
Still have no idea why I keep going to meet him, or what he wants from me... but it is kind of fun to talk to someone whose last meal -wasn't- rat stew.
Also, it's good to guage just how flexible and smart I can expect the guarda to be and test the waters on what inspires their loyalty.

[Amon-Si]

The operation went well, we got it all, in the end.
Planning, we need to get better at planning and preparation. That nearly went badly.
But it didn't go badly.
I'm starting to appreciate that the most important thing in battle is not how you fight, but how you prepare.

[Amon-Si]

I've gone on several outings recently, it has allowed me to test what I believe are the techniques required for success in any field operation.
1) Follow the orders of the expert in that particular area or technique.
2) Use your initiative at all other times.
3) Always be thinking about what will come next.
4) Prepare with specificity for your target.
5) When your goal is to kill... Do it.

[Amon-Si]

Ionel confuses me, he seems so desperate to get close to me, insisting that we share certain aspects of our life...
I don't know what to do with that.
Something is brewing down here, something is coming.
A man called Grigg paid a visit on Pale today and he called us in afterwards.
Fredek is trying to kill me, and Pale. He has tried to bring in outside contractors to end my life. Why?
All I want is to protect the people down here, shield them from what's coming.
I never cared who was in charge, yet I am a threat... Perhaps because I do more than pay lip service to the ideals everyone else spouts.

[Amon-Si]

It's over.
Knives is willing to do anything to protect himself from the concequences of his own actions.
He has broken one of the two rules down here, his own rules.
The Boss gets a cut.
And yet there he sits, skimming the top, bottom and sides.
He has thrown us out, he tortured Pale and ordered us to hurt him, or leave.
I left.
Joules Left.
Dirt left.
Xarah left.
Bors stayed.
One thing I learned in my life on the streets and sewers and rooftops of Athkatla...
Traitors get what's coming to them.
I doubt the count appreciates being stolen from and this reaction should be all we need to prove it.
You've gotten sloppy, Knives.
That Necromancer will only bring you trouble.
He offered me what I wanted if I was willing to give him Millicent, everything went wrong before I could refuse him, but refuse him I have.
For the first time in my life I am living outside a city, the space is confusing... But better than being dead.
Goodbye Ionel.

[Amon-Si]

Now I have time to settle and think. We are certainly not without allies here, in fact if the rumors are true and things have been left in the hands of those we left behind...
Well, let me just say I pity the normal dwellers, they have lost both shield and sword in this endeavor and will surely suffer for the greed of others.
To spell it out simply. Everyone in Barovia works for the Count. Follow the coin and that's where it all ends up.
Knives was skimming, that much we know, otherwise why bother to banish us to hide his tracks?
If Knives is still alive, it won't be long, which leaves "Skinny" Fredek in charge.
He's smart, anyone with his grasp of the arcane has to be, but also he knows people, he lets them call him skinny and laugh it up.
He uses a funny nickname to help hide his claws, he never fooled me for a moment, but perhaps things would be different if he had bid for me.
Now I sit in this strange place, recovering from another successful venture with my allies. My skills grow apace and I have two tutors lined up to teach me the greater art.
Vengeance is a messy word.

[Amon-Si]

Millicent, a study in charcoal.

[Amon-Si]

Pale, A study in ink.

[Amon-Si]

I managed to achieve the request of the Port underworld.
I am promised a meeting with one of their leaders soon.
Will he be worthy of any shred of loyalty? Only time will tell.

[Amon-Si]

An eventful few days to be sure.
I visited Ionel and it was... interesting.
I'm not good with that kind of thing, but he met Millicent and didn't laugh, so that's promising.
Neesy convinced me to visit the Drain and see if Ratta would be able to prove that Pale had somehow betrayed me.
He failed miserably, he promised me safe passage in the drain, the second I stepped out I was accosted by Black, Bors and four beefy Caliban thugs.
Long story short, Bors will be waking up short one hand. The left hand.
Did they think I walked in there blindly?
That I didn't expect instant betrayal?
I was ready for that, but they were not ready for me.
I suspect Ratta will be mildly annoyed.
All this trip proved is that Ratta can be trusted on his word and his word only, he lacks the spirit of honesty of a true leader.

[Amon-Si]

I stopped writing for a time, so as not to compromise any information with regards to the war.
It's over, I took my best shot and I failed, Pale is gone.
Fredek has turned me over to an ally I had cultivated previously.
From here we can proceed with our more professional group.
Tarmes now knows that I am alive, and he gave me another head.
I do not understand, truly. Did he think i was dead and just carry a head around for fun?
Did he learn that I lived and killed again in my name? If so, why was he surprised?
It makes little sense, but then, the man is insane.
Ionel and I are becoming more comfortable with each other, perhaps... It is hard to tell.
I have so little knowledge of relationships after Adrian I find it hard to determine progress, what I should do, how to do it, what i want, what he wants, any of it...
On the other side of the coin I now have much more powerful allies and even a personal slave... i am uncertain how i feel about that.
The ritual will be soon. Soon.

[Amon-Si]

Today I met someone... She gave me something. Something I've never had before.
Sweet and sour at the same time. It filled a hole in me I had never known to exist.
Is this love?

[Amon-Si]

Tarmes is still killing.
I think he believes that it was the death of innocents that pained me so in the beginning.
Realizing this, I smile a little.
I sm not a bleeding heart and kittens girl.
The reason I did not want him to kill originally was because it would effect my position in the drain.
My current employers care nothing for the lives of these rsndom people and neither do I.
Pethaps the detective and the serial womanizer will catch him, it doesnt bother me and now many people know my name.

[Amon-Si]

Lamordia was nice. Their mechanisms are surprisingly advanced. I learned a lot.
The holiday was well deserved. Things have settled and no one has thir hands raised towards me any longer.
I can come and go... do as I wish... but to what end? The same end as always: become the best.

[Amon-Si]

It seems that nothing has really changed in my time away.
I have negotiated a contract with the drain that will provide opportunity without limiting either my independence or the other work I have been contemplating.
I now consider that the magical study I had planned may detract from my true wish in mastering my vocation... but it would provide much versatility.
The point is moot unless I find a mentor in any case.
Fredek is still Fredek, a greedy man dealing in the greed of both his superiors and his lessers.
He still fails to grasp my most basic motivation and drive, perhaps that is truly what makes me so dangerous to him.
Black is still Black, seemingly desperate for any scrap of acknowledgement from those he percieves to be somehow superior to him.
He would sell his soul to the first to ask for it without even attempting to bargain.
How can someone be so arrogant and yet have so little self worth?
Watching him all but beg to feed the Ulcisor matron was sickening.

Anastasia Rotfurt. Hmm. For someone so famous to acknowledge me as a power is disturbing... the fact that she had never noticed me beforehand was more gratifying.
I fear I am beginning to move on dangerous circles.

I gave Sheridan a little riddle but am surprised to find that it was resolved in a most unexpected manner.
What is it that drives humans to fight so mindlessly amongst themselves?
If they ever learned to work together properly I fear they would master the multiverse within a decade.
They seem to prefer the constant sound of shivs in backs to the harmonies of a united race.

Still no progress on my origins... it seems that I could be anything.