Cloying Shadows

Southern Banks of Tornmawr, Dusk.

Under the southern bridge isn't a recluse place, many folks come and go, especially now that the weather is warming up, and those that wish to get out to port waft lazily in this boats down the river.

Except currently, dusk is settling, long shadows cast over everything. The amount of people present is minimal, as the last vestiges of winter creep in the night. At one of the few stalls that line the bank's edge is that of a figured wrapped up in a cloak, sipping on a steaming drink while resting on a stool. They're finishing wrapping up speaking with someone, her bidding them farewell as they get up to leave.

She pulls down her hood, dim grey skin exposed to the almost-night air, and a spillage of moon hued hair covers some of their face. A sigh escapes her, hand resting on a basket-hilted rapier dangling from her hip.

GAME: Culix rolls stealth+1+2: (5)+16+1+2: 24

Dusk is about when Culix takes her breakfast most days, being a bit of a night owl, but today she's meeting someone, and has made the effort to leave early. Making her way through the dimly lit streets, slipping past markets well into the process of packing up for the night, she makes her way down the path that leads below the bridges.

She emerges from the shadows at the foot of the bridge, her own hood still up, as she glances about- hoping a familiar face might be sticking around to make the introductions, and finding them absent, she steps out from the shadows. And they cling to her, as though she is emerging from a pool of inky liquid rather than a trick of the light. "Figuring you're Aryia's mum?" she asks without preamble. "Reckon I can see the resemblance."

GAME: Aryia rolls 1d20+13: (11)+13: 24

The mul'neissa woman leans back, turning to face the river with warm cup in hand. Another drink is nearly taken, but she pauses. Someone's addressing her? A long ear twitches.

A lone violet eye peers down, a black leather eyepatch the most obvious feature on this mul. An impassive, faintly scowling rest creases her brow. Lips in a fine line with a wreath of moon hued hair.

Oh. The RBF. It has to be her mother.

"... and... might I ask who exactly is inquiring such extrapolations...?" she says in a measured coolness, accent clearly Charneth and upper class.

Culix finally reaches up to pull back her own hood, and scratches her cheek absently, glancing away. "Culix. Friend of hers." she answers then, before pausing to take a look around- fidgety one, this goblin. "Reckons you might know a thing or two that I'd wanna chat about." she adds then after a sec.

"She did mention I was coming to see you, right?" she asks, then. "And I do have the right person, don't I?" she hastens to add. Suddenly becoming a little less certain, despite the resemblance.

As the gobbo speaks, the mul simply stares and sips at her drink. Letting silence fill the space on purpose. Her mug clanks loudly in comparison against the bartop.

"We spoke," she finally says, gaze flicking up and down over Culix. "I typically care not for such things... but..." she rolls a hand, "... new leaf and all that."

The matron crosses her legs, sheathed rapier clanking against the side of her stool. "I admit, I was expecting something more..." A hand wafts up and down, "... deranged. But you have my attention."

Culix isn't very good at meeting the taller (even sitting down) woman's gaze, so she keeps her head on a swivel which seems to be her natural state of affairs. "Yeah, new leaf can be a decent idea." she says then. She finally looks back at the wafting, and cants her head to the side a bit. "Uh... thank you? I think?" she adds, a bit confused.

"So, uh, Aryia said you live in the shadows. I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea what that means. But I'm hoping it means you can help me with this." she adds, and then nods back to the shadows she had emerged from. She kicks the dirt at it's edge, her foot sliding into the shadow- and it cloys as she pulls it back up. "Like, what the fuck is up with that?" she asks.

Again, the mul just keeps watching, a tug of an amused smirk pulling at the edge of her lips. A low chuckle rumbles in her throat. "Sure. You're welcome."

Culix's little demonstration seems to harbor more for the woman than she lets on. Her aloof demeanor all but drops as she acutely watches the way the shade morphs and moves. "... fascinating..." she intones, a hand resting on her chin. "And here I thought such gifts were just for kin and kin alone."

She straightens up, tugs on her clothes, and offers a hand to shake. "Khalees Aelduis, Zilstrae had filled me in, but to be frank, I didn't believe her. And yet, here it is. I will explain. Please, sit."

Culix nods her head slowly, "'s what I thought, too. Least, I don't know any other gobbers that can do shit like that." she says, and takes a few steps over to take the offered hand. She glances about, spies a seat to take, and climbs up into it.

"I've done a little bit of research, so far as I've seen I know the shadows are a sort of... window into the shadow plane, right? What I don't know is why I can do stuff with them." she adds then. "Honestly, it's a bit worrying. Because of the whole, pact thing." she offers awkwardly.

Khalees shakes the hand firmly before pulling away to hide in her cloak, girding from the cold. "You are indeed correct," she nods slowly, keeping Culix in line of sight but not facing her. "Mostly. It's less a window, and more a door. A door waiting to be opened."

She glances to Culix. "There are many ways to open that door. For my family, it was through the Dark Lady. Though She has left us, and we have left Her. And yet, the door still remains open for my husband and I."

Khalees leans in some. "... what does it feel like, to you?" she asks, quiet. "To tug and pull at it?"

Culix scratches her cheek again, thinking at that question a while- "I hadn't really thought about it." she says then, and returns to her pondering. Eventually, she glances back up, "I suppose, it feels like I'm running my hand through still water, disturbing the surface. Sometimes it feels like I could step into the pool... but if I try all that happens is I'm standing somewhere dark." she admits then.

"So... do you think it has something to do with my own pact? With Illotha?" she asks the burning question first off. "Is that why this is happening? Is it her reaching out through the plane of shadows, pulling me towards the Abyss?" she states plain her worry.

"It could be," Khalees answers bluntly. "Could be her pulling you closer. Making good on that pact as things about this world grow more uncertain. But I do not know the conditions of your agreement, so I can only speculate. Whatever that entails, it is for you to render null or embrace. I cannot tell you why this is happening, but I can explain the how."

Her eye half lids. "That's what it feels like. Water. Lighter than it, heavier than air. Enveloping, like a cold blanket."

As she talks, a hand brushes across the bartop, fingers colliding with the long shadow cast from her mug. The shade clings to her, and digits dip into it, past where the wood should be, but she pulls out shortly after. "This city's wards make it hard to feel, but do you know the sensation of walking through a door from hot to cold? That is what it feels like to take the plunge."

Culix nods as Khalees confirms her fears, and she finds her gaze wandering once again, and she rubs her neck self consciously. "I barely remember, myself. Mostly has to do with committing acts of villainy in Her name, I guess. I was a thief, though, not a murderer or whatever. I never killed anyone, but I guess I did know it was happening and never did anything about it, either." she admits.

"What about breaking it?" she asks then. "That's what I want to know I guess. How did your people do it? How can I do it? Not exactly keen to go marching into hell to hand in my resignation." she adds.

But she falls quiet again as the explanation continues, "Yeah... I know what you mean. It's not even like it's cold, really. It's like... there's no such thing as hot and cold there." she says then. "I uh. I haven't showed anyone else this yet but... well..." she unbuttons the top couple buttons of her shirt, pulls loose her cloak, and pulls down the collar to show the skin at the top of her chest. There are rough patches of grey there, like splotches of spilled paint. Like the pigment has been drained from her green skin. "They're getting bigger." she adds.

Khalees nods. "I see. Similar here, in terms of commitment. Though, I will not speak of acts conducted." A sip. "The Dark Lady left us. We know not why, but we assume it was Eluna's dealing. We don't deal with the Light, yet our daughter..." she gestures vaguely. "It matters not now. Taara's eternal deal with our kin is now null. I do not know how, but I feel it."

She grins subtly. "Exactly. That's what it feels like." Her lone violet eye glances down. Her brows raise. So much so it peeks out from behind her eyepatch. "... fascinating. Aspects of the shadow plane are finding its way unto you. This is truly intruiging..."

She looks to Culix. "It hinders my kind not as oft, as we are born of it, but the plane of shadows is oft to siphon the color of things. It's touch is there upon you."

Culix rolls her eyes at that, "Not too keen on going groveling to one of the other gods, either." she admits when the nature of their pact being broken is brought to light. "But, I guess, they are probably the best folks to ask. The faithful. On how to- you know. Turn over a new leaf." she says then and sighs a bit, putting her clothes back in order and folding her arms across her chest. "Well... I guess the first step is, if the shadow is coming for me anyway, to figure out how to. I dunno. Control it." she says to the Mul. "If that's even possible. I guess it is, I've seen wizards do it."

"We didn't grovel. It merely seemed we were some pawn in a cosmic game. But that was decades and decades ago, and the anger around has faded from time," Khalees says flatly. "But the faithful are knowledgeable, and to counter faith requires know of faith. Or, if you are my daughter, a stern punch in the gut."

She chuckles, then shakes her head before leaning down. "The first step is the hardest. You must get used to it. It must become your second skin. Your extra limb. Your third eye. Your sixth sense."

As she talks, her shadow lengthens. The shade splits at the head, a jagged pair of slanted vacant spaces for eyes. People walk on by, through it, but pay it no heed.

"You must not fear what comes. For fear is what it wants."

"Yeah, I think I prefer her method to be honest." Culix says then, "I already joined one cult, and keen on joining another one." she adds. She tilts her head a bit, "I guess... I get that. Some of that any-WHAT THE FUCK!" she is interrupted as the mul's shadow grows a second head. She falls backwards out of her chair, her natural grace the only thing that stops her from landing flat on her ass and instead tumbling backwards into a three point landing from the chair- she has a longer way to fall than tallfolk.

"What the fuck is that?" She asks in a frantic whisper, looking back and forth as no one else seems to notice the thing. "And where did it come from? I thought the wards stopped shit like that?"

The others do not notice, save for Culix's exclamation and scrambling. Shade morphs, pulling close to the barstool underneath Khalees and deepening the darkness to empty black. "They do. But they do not stop what one brings with you," Khalees informs with a sideways smile.

She holds a hand up. "Calm yourself. They offer no hostility."

There is a sound, like that of glass being rolled about in a jar. The eye-split shows under her chair, and another, jagged mouth parts the shade. "Is this a bad time for tidings, Master?"

"Nay. Though, hold for now. We have a guest," she hums, gesturing to Culix.

GAME: Culix rolls knowledge/the planes: (13)+6: 19

Culix calms herself down a bit as the creature whatever it is shows no sign of hostility, and discovers that her hand is clutching the hilt of her dagger on her belt. "Well warn a girl first, I near pissed myself." she complains as she stands up from her crouched position. Her hand relinquishes the grip on her dagger, but she doesn't return to her seat yet- instead eyeballing the shade from where she stands.

"So what is it- are they?" she asks, peering at the shades. "Creatures from the shadow plane?" she asks.

At that, Khalees laughs, a deep, haughty thing with the back of her hand covering her mouth. "I did warn you, but how was I to know their arrival?" she muses coyly. "I'd abate any hostilies against them, lest you wish to find your attacks null and you life void."

The mul nods. "Correct. A Shadow, tied to me and my own personal casting shade. This here is Lingers in Shadows-"

"Hello," it whispers in that crinkling, glass grating voice.

"-We discovered each other in my ventures of delving into that in between door. That is.... part of the reason why I say you need to abate your fears. Shadow feeds on emotion like a siphon."

Culix keeps a cautious eye on the thing as she heads back to pull herself into the seat. "I had heard that. Plane of Shadows is a place absent life. But not antithetical to it like the negative energy plane." she says then, as she settles down. "So stands to reason its denizens are hungry for what life has to offer." she says then.

She looks back to Khalees, finally, tearing her eyes away from the shade. "So... can you teach me?" she finally asks. "How to do... these things? How to navigate the waters."

Khalees nods, leaning back with a confident smirk on her lips. "Precisely. Like that of the fey realm is an abundance of life, it is the other reflection. The other mirror, the aspect of sapped life. It is not something to fear, because if you fear, it will take and take, until you naught but a husk."

So much for a confidence boost. Or, perhaps, that's what one needs for this?

The gobbo's question quirks a brow. "Me. Teach you?" she echoes, amused.

The shade has vanished, only to reappear in the nooks and crannies of the cloak she wears. Eyes peering out. Living up to its namesake.

And she seems completely and utterly comfortable with it. "... sure. That sounds... amusing. To see one such as yourself clambering through this. I believe you should get used to this situation you find yourself in. Quit fearing it. Then come back to me, and we can get started."

Culix winces a bit when Khalees makes her proclamation about the danger of fear when it comes to the shadows. But she nods her head slowly, watching the shade return to tis masters cloak. "Right, don't fear the things coming out of the shadows to take my soul, got it." she says then and then breathes a sigh. "Well, if I can get used to teleporting, I can get used to anything" this, mostly to herself.

"It's a deal, then." she replies. "And I'll have you know, I don't clamber. Don't need to be tall and skinny to be graceful." she adds. Amusing, calling a Mul'niessa tall. But compared to her? It's not wrong.

Khalees tuts. "They care not for your soul, just the beat of your life force. But one can plunge and swim through it."

She turns back to her drink, a chuckle rumbling in her throat. Her blinded side facing Culix, but Lingers in Shadows has their eyes affixed on the gobber. "Don't have to be. But you also don't have to be small and squat to go unnoticed."

She gives a half-hearted dismissive wave. "Don't piss yourself."