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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cinerarium" data-source="post: 860854" data-attributes="member: 9349">Hammer 3, Happy Harlan’s, the Deep of Night I cannot rest until I recount what else has transpired this dark day.  As promised, we nervously awaited the appearance of Chardin at Happy Hara’s.  I felt we were at a turning point, the general unease that had been building from the start of the journey was now growing like a thundercloud, black and foreboding, distant thunder heralding the tempest to come.  Absent our companions, I felt distinctly unprepared as Kazir and I waited in silence for the appearance of Chardin.  Once I finished writing, we talked for a bit about what to do in the morning, but our thoughts were elsewhere as we nervously waited.My own edginess seemed reflected in a half-orc mercenary who had frequented Harlan’s for some time.  He fidgeted about, and on several occasions seemed about to come to our table.  I pointed his behavior out to Kazir, who identified him as Begeth Toth.  Toth had apparently been a gladiator in Apia, and had won his freedom before crossing the Conomora.  He looked fierce and wild, his scars plain to see.  He also looked old and tired, though I suppose age comes quickly to his mongrel people.Just as the half orc seemed set to finally approach us, Chardin appeared.  I was so taken with his appearance I barely noticed Toth’s swift departure.  Chardin seemed to materialize out of the smoky air of Harlan’s, his dark, unkempt hair framing a face as hard as granite.  Without asking, he sat and regarded Kazir and myself.  I tensed, already mentally focused on diverting whatever charms he might try.“I see that your companions from earlier are not here.  Very well.  I shall not be so forward as to try to enchant any of you this time.”  Chardin’s voice was like a whetstone slid across a dagger.  His piercing eyes looked into me as I regarded him with some trepidation.“What is it you want?” Kazir asked, and I was thankful for the break in the silence.Chardin’s gaze turned to Kazir.  “You have been looking into things you should have left alone.  It would be wise for you to cease your investigations and find other pursuits.”“Are you threatening us?” I asked, steeling myself for his reply.  “Let me simply say you would do well to stop your meddling.  And your companions who recently left – oh, I know about them – are affected by your choices as well.  Perhaps no ill fate will befall you, but perhaps you will come to find them, strung up by their own entrails.”  This last Chardin said with the same tone I would have expected him to order a cup of mead – no malice or anger, but as simple fact.“Your accent,” he said, addressing me.  “You are Luc Valu, are you not?”Thinking quickly, I told a half truth.  “No, I am from Val Hor.  Why do you ask?”“Odd,” Chardin replied, as if we were talking about the weather.  “I am seldom wrong about these things.  I have walked Saficea since the Primus’s children fell, and have seen mountains fall into the sea.”  He paused, and I could do little more than stare astonished at his bizarre speech.  “Very well.  I leave you with this, a reward if you choose to not pursue this matter any further, and a reminder of some of the fate that may befall you if you choose to continue.”With that ominous utterance, Chardin stood.  He calmly unfastened a pouch from his belt that looked heavy and jingled with the sound of coin.  He placed the coin on the table, and left the bar.Several moments passed while Kazir and I looked numbly at the bag and each other.  Not wanting to touch the sack, I motioned Hara over to our table.  “Hara,” I said, “I would like to apologize for not having paid you yet for our rooms.  Seeing as we have not yet found Marigold’s son, I offer you this,” waving at the sack on the table, “as I am sure it will cover our expenses.”Hara gave me a quizzical look, but shrugging her shoulders, proceeded to upend the sack onto the table.  Whereupon well over a dozen severed fingers, each adorned with a simple ring, fell onto the table.  Hara gasped and drew back, then giving us a dark look she placed her body between the grisly fingers and the rest of the common room.“I know not what kind of sick game ye be playing,” she hissed, “but you’d best clean this up right now!  And if ye be planning to stay here any longer, it’ll be twice the cost!”“I… I – I deeply apologize, good woman!  I had no idea that would happen.”  I moved quickly to sweep the fingers back into the sack, using the edge of my bowl to avoid touching the digits.  “Here is your payment – for both of us, for the next two nights in advance.”Kazir and I decided that this would be an opportune moment to retire from the common room.  We discussed the day’s events a bit further, and decided we definitely did not want to openly pursue the matter of the dark robes any further for the time being.  In the morning we will visit my temple, and proceed from there.</blockquote>

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