Taliesin and Vixen

Taliesin- Tiefling Cleric of Myrkul.

Vixen- Beastmaster Ranger.

When you think of Waterdeep, you normally think of the beautiful city where the nobles and their riches reside. That’s Seaward your thinking about. But our story starts in a much different setting. Even though it is still Waterdeep, we come from the northern parts of the Docks Yard. There, there’s no nobles and riches, only the poor and those who have to sell to get the funds to get out of this shit hole.

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“Hey sis. What’s  with  the  last  part? You’re  supposed  to  make  them  like  us.”  Taliesin  says. I responded and say, “I don’t care. We’re not nice people.”

“Fine whatever.”  Sin  says  and  lets  me  continue. As  I was  saying,  the  people  here  are  poor  and  have  to  sell  to  survive. “There  happy.”  I say  to Taliesin. “Yes.”  I rolled  my eyes and  continued. “Hey  don’t  forget  to  feed  my goldfish.”  Xanathar says  as  he  floats  into  the  room. “Hey  get  out  of  this  monologue,  you  don’t  pay us  to  include you.”  Sin  yells at  him. “Do  you  know my kind  breed  asexually?”  He  states  with  a  smirk. Sin palms  his  face  and  says  back,  “OH  MY  GOD! Yes  we  get  it. You  tell  us  this  all  the  time. You’re creepy. Go  away!!!!”  Xan  rolls  his  eyes  and  leaves  the  room. As I was saying before we got rudely interrupted by “an asexual creepy flying doochnozzle” Sin interrupts. I laugh and continue on.

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So as I was saying, we weren’t born into riches. In fact our parents were one of those sellers. They were actually sellers of weapons. Dad would make the weapons and mom would sell them in their shop. And they hoped that one day we would take over the family business. But sadly that was a bit hard to do when Sin loved to hang around cemeteries and I loved to have shiny things, which I may or may not gotten legally. That actually is how our story will truly begin. I was walking around the stalls in the marketplace, just on the border of the Castle Ward, and I saw a very beautiful diamond. I really wanted it. So what do you think I did, I took it of course. And even though, I was somewhat skilled at the time, I was still spotted.

So  once  I had  the  diamond,  I  headed  over  to  the  cemetery  to  show Sin. “Hey, look bro. Look  what  I got.” Sin poked his head out of the open grave and looked like he got busted. But when he realized it was me, he rolled his eyes and said, “What you want hell hussy?” I showed him the diamond and he proceeded to hold up a skeleton. “Look a whole one still together.” But after a moment it broke and collapsed in the grave. Then all that he was left holding was the head.

“Well  it  was  whole.”  Sin  shrugged  and  climbed  out. Then  tossed the  skull  back  in  the  grave. Then  suddenly  there  was  a  noise  from  behind  me. “Well  well  well. Look what  we  have  here. A  little  thief  and  her  bastard  brother.”

“Oh god, what did you do now?” Sin looked at my hand and then looked at me and sighs. “Did you have to lead him here?”

I looked worried and said, “Run!” And that’s what we did. After a bit of running, we had lost the guy. And we had decided to hide till night, so we could sneak home. After a few hours, it was night and we sneakily headed back home thinking the danger was behind us. But when we arrived, something seemed off. Our front door was slightly opened and we knew our parents never did that. When we opened our door fully, all we saw was blood all over the floor. When we went into the house further, we had seen the bodies of our parents. We ran over to them. Sin was just mad and I was crying profusely. While I was crying Sin looked around spotted the attacker. Instantly he grabbed dad’s weapon and got ready for an attack.

All  this  commotion  had  let  me  know  that  something  was  about  to  happen,  cause  in  that moment,  the  attacker  jumped  up  and  tried  grabbing  me. But  Sin,  was  faster. He  took  the  sword and  ran  the  man  through. If  he  wasn’t  dead  before  he  was  now. So  once  everything  died  down,  we  both  went  through  the  house  and  grabbed  the  thing  we wanted  to  keep. Now of  course  since  I loved  shiny things, and  that  basically  all  I owned,  Sin  had to  go  behind  me  to  make  sure  I  only  took what  was  needed. When all  the  packing  was  done,  we  headed  out  to  find  a  new home. But  we  didn’t  intend  to find  it  where  we  did.

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“Hey did  you  get  to  my part  yet?”  Xan  interrupted.

“No! For the love of Myrkul. Piss off. We are almost there. Go feed your goldfish.” Sin yelled. I just laughed and continued on.

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After walking for what seemed like days we made it to the southern part of the Dock Ward. And the weirdest encounter happened there. But I’ll get to that soon. When we first arrived we had to  figure  out  where  we  were  going  to  sleep  and  eat. We  managed  to  find  a  free  spot in the street  and  that  where  we  stayed  for  a  few  days. As  the  days  went  by I  had  gone  out  to  use  my thief  talents  to  score  us  some  merchandise. But  I  didn’t  realize  that  this  decision  would  then change  our  lives  forever. As  I scoped  out  the  places  I could  steal  from,  I  came  across  this  merchant  shop/house. Well,  at least  that’s what  it  looked  like. After  few minutes  of  checking  to  see  if  someone  was  home,  I had  snuck  inside  and  looked  through  the  stuff  that  was  there. All  the  while,  I thought  that  most of  this  stuff  couldn’t  be  real. When  I  had  seen  this  cool  looking  thing,  I went  to  grab  it.

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“You know he  never  did  tell  me  what  it  was  that  I grabbed. Now I  want  to  know.” Sin  rolled  his  eyes,  “The  story.” “Right.”

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When I picked  it  up,  there  came  a  noise  behind  me. I froze  and  just  stood  there  thinking  I was about  to  die. There  a  total  silence  and  I  thought  maybe  they  left. But  then  I heard  someone clear  their  voice. I knew  I  wouldn’t  be  able  to  run  so  I turned  around  and  accepted  my fate.

“Well,  aren’t  you  a  cocky little  bitch. Do  you  know who  I am? Better  yet  do  you  know what  I am?”  The creature  asked  me.

“Uuuummm. No  are  you  important?”  I asked

He  laughed  and  shook his  head. “You  know what,  I like  you. I’m  going  to  make  you  my slave.”

I was  confused  at  the  time  and  only  thought,  ‘Hey  a  house  to  live  in  and  someone  to  feed  us.’ And  in  all  my infinite  wisdom  I said,  “Hey,  can  my  brother  come  too?”

The  creature  smirked  and  said,  “Sure. Why  don’t  you  go  and  get  him.”   I nodded  and  ran  out  the  door  towards  our  spot. When  I didn’t  find  him,  I  headed  towards,  The City of  the  Dead. I  knew  Sin  loved  hanging  around  there  so  I  knew I  would  find  him. When  I had arrived  I  saw  him  talking  to  the  caretaker  that  worked  there. When  Sin  noticed  me,  he  headed over  so  we  could  walk  home. “So  I  found us  a  place  to  stay.”  I told  him.

He  looked  at  me  suspiciously. “What?! Really?! Where?”  Sin  asked. “Come  on  I’ll show you.”  As  I lead  him  back  to  the  Dock  Ward,  I lead  him  near  the  border  of the Trade  Ward. When  I walked  into  the  shop,  I  called  out  for  the  creature.

“Now Sin,  don’t  freak  out. He  may  look  weird  but  he  is  giving  us  a  place  to  stay. So  be  nice.”

After  a  few minutes  the  creature  showed  up  and  he  froze  up. The  creature  laughed  noticing  that  Sin  knew what  he  was. Sin  was  internally freaking  out. And he  couldn’t  keep  it  inside  anymore. He  turned  to  me  and  just  let it  all  lose. “The  fuck  is  wrong  with  you?! What  did  you  fucking  do?! What  did  fucking  steal  this  time?!”

The  creature  said,  “Huh. you  nailed  it. Does  she  does  this  often?”

“You have  no  idea! We  are  here  because  she  stole  something. She  does  it  a  lot and  can’t  seem to  stop even  though  it  gets  us  in  trouble. Which  makes  me  guess  that  I’m  here  now because  she had  suggested  it.”

The  creature  laughed  some  more  and  said,  “Nailed  it  again. I  like  you  too.”

Sin  was  unsure  how to  respond  so  he  said,  “Um  Thanks.”  After  that  he  turns  to  me  and  said,  “I hate  you  right  now. With  all  of  my  hate. Why am  I  here?!”

The  creature  smiles  and  says,  “Let  me  introduce  myself,  my  name  is  Xanathar. And  for  you,  who doesn’t  know, I  am  a  beholder. I  have  taken  you  in  because  I  need  someone  on  the  outside  to learn  things  for  me. I will  train  you  and  then  set  you  out  on the  world. You have  no  choice  in  the matter. Welcome  to  your  new  home.”  And  with  that  said  Xan  turned  around  and  went  back  to his  studies.

As  the  years  went  by, we  studied  and  learned  all  we  could. Sin,  started  to  study  under  the caretaker  of  the  cemetery,  a  human  by  the  name  of  Zevarn  Atlan,  in  order  to  become  a  Grave Cleric  of  Myrkul. He  was  good  at  it,  especially  since  he  loved  the  dead  more  than  the  living. I  on the  other  had  learned  all  I could  on  how to  survive. I didn’t  want  to  be  burden  any more  than necessary to  my  brother,  so  I  become  a  Ranger.

After  a  few years,  when  I was  learning  how  to  be  a  better  thief,  Xan  sent  me  to  steal  from  Davra Jassur. She  was  known  for  being  a  Zhentarim  “troubleshooter”. Which  I  paid  no  mind  to,  since  I was  determined  to  prove  myself. Since  I knew my brother  would  not  let  me  go  alone,  I made sure  to  leave  when  he  was  out  training  with  Zevarn  so  he  wouldn’t  stop  me.

The  journey  itself  was  uneventful  which  I was  happy for. And  when  I arrived  at  her  shop,  I acted like  I was  interested  in  buying. But  I could  tell  she  was  watching  me  closely like  she  knew I  was going  to  do  something. I  tried to  make  it  look  convincing. It  was  easy since  my dad  forged weapons  for  a  living. After  about  5  or  so  minutes,  she  walked  in  the  back  and  I  took my chance. I picked  a  small  dagger. I  knew it  had  to  be  something  I could  easily  hide  so  I wouldn’t  get caught. And  as  I  headed  out  the  door  I felt  some  excitement  that  I  finally  had  done  something right. “So  who  sent  you?”  Davra  asked  as  I  made  it  just  outside  the  door.

“Damn it.”  I whispered. I  turned  to  her  and  said,  “If  you  knew I  was  going  to  take  something, why let  me?”

“You know what,  I see  myself  in  you. You  got  talent  kid. It  just  needs  a  bit  of  some  refinement.” Davra  paused  and  thought  for  a  moment. “You  know what,  I’m  going  to  make  it  make  it  official. I’m  going  to  train  you  to  join  the  Black  Network. Welcome  to  the  club,  kid.”

I was  confused  at  first. Davra  noticed  this  and  invited  me  in  so  we  could  talk.

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“Ok  you  tell  your  side  of  the  story  for  this  part.”  I  said  to  Sin. “Ugh  so  much  work.”  He  said  to  me

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So  as  sis was saying,  she  left  for  the  job  given  to  her  and  I was  actually  trying  to  talk  to  her  when she  left. Knowing  her,  she  wasn’t  going  to  tell  me  so  what  else  could  I do  but  follow  her  like  the annoyed  dutiful  brother  I was. Since  I followed  her  all  the  way there,  which  I was  unsurprised that  she  never  noticed  me,  I stayed  at  a  distance  and  just  watched  her  do  her  thing. I overheard  what  Davra  said  to  her  and  saw  them  go  back  inside  to  talk. “So  what  do  you  think  kid? Want  to  join?”  Davra  said.

“Well  I  don’t  know. This  a  big  decision  to  make. I  have  to  think  about  it?”  Vixen  said

“I  hate  to  break  it  to  you  kid  but  sadly  I can’t  let  you  leave  now that  I  know  that  you  know about me.”  Davra  said  to  her.

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“See  this  is  what  happens  when  you  don’t  tell  me  stuff  you  stupid  hell  hussy!”  I say. “You always  do  things  that  get yourself  and  I  in  trouble  and  I  always  have  to  go  save  you.” I give  myself  a  face  palm,  “You’re  going  to  be  the  death  of  me.”

As  he  says  this  all  Vixen  thinks  about  it  for  a  moment. She  then  thinks,  ‘he  doesn’t  realize  is  that what’s worried  me  the  most. It  was  why I  had  to  prove  I could  do  it. I  didn’t  want  to  be  the cause  of  anymore  death  in  my  family. And  I  even  worry about  it  to  this  day.’

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It  was  at  that  moment  that  I  decided  to  intervene,  “So  of  course  I  find  my sister,  again,  in  a situation she  can’t  get  out  of.”  I  said  with  an  annoyed  tone. “Who  the  hell  are  you?”  Davra  yelled.

“I am  this  idiot’s brother. And  since  she  seemed  to  fail  her  objective,  unsurprisingly,  I  am  here to  retrieve  her.”  I glared  daggers  at  her  and  all  she  did  was  pout.

“Well  I  hate  to  say  this  again  but  I can’t  let  you  leave  alive  since  you  know  as  well. But  good news  is  that  if  you  join  us, all  the  death  can  be  moderately  avoided.”  Davra  said.

“Well  I  don’t  know if  Myrkul  would  like  that,  but  since  I once  again  have  my  choices  made  for me,”

I still  glare  at  sis  then  I look at  Davra  and  said,  “That  depends  on  what  this  entails. I  don’t think  our  employer  would  let  us  continue  without  him  knowing.”

Davra  pauses  and  thinks  for  a  moment,  “Alright  lets  go  talk  to  your  boss.”

“Fine. Be  warned. He  might  talk  to  you  about  his  stupid  goldfish  and  how  he  breeds  asexually. Just  go  with  it  or  ignore  it. Mind  your  manners  and  don’t  stare  to  long.”  I  told  her  this  with  a straight  face  while  sis was trying  not  to  laugh.

“What?!”  Davra  looks  so  confused  and  looks  to  sis  for  answers.

“Don’t  worry you’ll  understand  when  you  get  there.”  Sis  says  to  Davra As  Sis  walks  towards,  Davra  is  dumbstruck  but  follows  us  out  the  door  anyway. And  do  we started  the  trek home.

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“Hey Sin,  do  you  want  me  to  finish  the  story?”  I asked  him.

“I  don’t  care. This  is  just  getting  crazy  now. Do  whatever.”  He  says  back

“Ok  then.”  I said.

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So  a  few days  go  by  and  we  finally  make  it  home.

“Hey Xan,  we  have  someone  here  who  wants  to  hire  us  and  she  wants  to  negotiate  terms.”  I  say while  trying  not  to  laugh. About  a  minute  goes  by  and  Xan  floats  in. Davra  freezes  and  draws  her  weapon. “What  the  hell  guys  are  you  trying  to  kill  us.”  She  yelled.

I turned  to  her  and  started  laughing  louder  not  being  to  contain  it  anymore,  “Chill  out  Davra. This  is  our  boss. I  doubt  you’ve  not seen  weirder.”

“The  fuck  guys. You work  for  a  beholder?!”  Davra  shouts

“Don’t  take  it  personal. Sis  has  been  doing  this  to  me  my whole  life. That’s  actually something  I should  warn  you  about  before  you  hire  us.”  Sin  said.

“Hey I  am  not that  bad.”  I paused  and  Sin  looked  at  me. “Ok  I am  that  bad.”

Xan  rolls  his  main  eye  as  he  is  used  to  our  bickering  by now. “Now what  is  these  terms  you wanted  to  talk  about?”  he  asked  when  he  looked  at  Davra.

“Um. Yea. So  I told  them  I recruit  for  the  Black  Network  and  since  they  know  about  it  they  have to  join.”  Davra  said  with  an  attitude  and  when  she  remembered  what  she  was  talking  to,  she paused,  swallows  loudly,  and  then  adds,  “If  you’ll  let  them,  that  is.”

“Well  I  don’t  see  why  not. The  Black  Network  is  something  I  have  been  wanted  to  investigate for  my  journals  to  expand  my knowledge  even  further.”  Xan  said  to  her. “Just  make  sure  that they  return  to  me  in  one  piece  and  alive  or  I  take  your  life  in  their  place”

He  gives  her  a  deadly look. “Right  ill  make  sure  they  are  returned  to  you  alive  and  in  one  piece.”  Davra  said  nervously. “But so  you  know, their  training  must  come  first  so  they  have  to  stay with  me  for  a  while.”

“Very well.”  Xan  says.

And  with  that,  Sin  and  I left  to  go  train,  again. The  training  took me  about  2  years. But  for  Sin  it only  took  1. He  went  home  to  finish  his  Grave  Cleric  training  and  I stayed  to  finish  mine. When the  second  year  was  up,  I felt I  was  no  longer  going  to  be  problem  for  Sin  anymore. I  was  happy to  be  going  home  again. With  Davra’s  training  Sin  and  I, had  decided  to  open  our  own  weapons business.

As  the  years  continued  on,  our  business  became  popular. And  when  we  realized  how much money  we  were  making,  Sin  and  I  decided  to  take  a  portion  of  our  earnings  and  our  valuable family  possessions  and  bury them  where  only  we  could  find  it. Then,  we  had  asked  if  we  could sell  in  the  Underdark. Xan  agreed  wanting  to  have  some  knowledge  from  there  as  well  and  told us  to  keep  in  touch  and  to  send  him  letters  with  all  that  we  learned. When we  arrived  there,  we  had  sent  a  letter  back  before  we  went  down. As  about  a  week  went by, we  had  managed  to  start  a  small  store. I was  asked  about  making  a  weapons  trade  and  I told Sin  about  it. It  was  good  money  so  he  didn’t  question it. Long  story short,  that  meeting  was  the  shittiest  thing  that  has  ever  happened  to  us. And  this  is where  the  real  fun  begins.