Episode 10: Mirror Cracked.

Talon awoke with a start, uncertain of his surroundings.

Instinctively, he clutched for Tooth and Claw, only to find his dagger sheathes not only empty, but absent.

Scanning the darkened room like a jungle he made some quick observations. Indoors, dressed, unbound, this was a start, prison or worse was unlikely. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realised he was in a fairly lavish inn appartment. The silk sheet on the down mattress he sat on spoke of the luxury.

This was not his style, Talon knew he did not come here by his own will.

Having some familiarity with dark rooms, Talon quickly armed himself with a letter opener from a nearby writing desk and lit a few candles around the room.

Moving stealthily, he looked out the window, so as to avoid being visible from the street or audible from the hallway. Still in Athkatla, looks like the Dock district. Simple elimination, this has to be the Sea's Bounty. Probably the only inn in town Talon had never spent much time.

Gathering the few items he saw around him that looked like they didn't come with the room, Talon looked himself over in the full length mirror.

"Vengeance!" Talon swore, as he beheld the noble fop who looked back at him from the ornate mirror.

***

Descending the stairs like a wraith, Talon was in the common room of the Sea's Bounty Tavern before any of it's patrons and staff heard the first step creak.

"Mr Rencour, sir!" Exclaimed the rotund, hookhanded, innkeep. "How's about I rack up a round, old Thumb is ne'er too bsuy to share a drink with 'es guests."

Talon kept his head down as he approached the bar, he didn't remember this man, either in his life as Talon or from the scattered memories he reatined from the life of August Rencour. He wasn't sure what was going on, but by the tip of his letter opener, if not by Tooth and Claw, he was going to find out.

As he took the stool that provided the best cover, exposing his back to neither the door nor the remainder of the room, Talon gestured the Thumb to come closer.

"What's the matter then August, me old mate? Too deep in the cups last night eh?" he asked, seeming genuinely concerned.

"I'm not who you think I am." he said coldly, his voice torn and scratchy like chains on stone.

"'Ere now! What's wrong with your voice, you sounded fine last nigh..." his voice dropped off as Talon lifted his head and gazed into the fat man's eyes. "... And were'd you get that wicked scar on your throat then? T'weren't there last night."

Thumb stared dumbfounded at the scar, certain for all the world that he'd never seen it before.

"I'm a little confused." Talon said quietly.
"Aren't we all mate." Thumb conceeded. Then his face lit up as he remembered something. "Here, maybe this'll clear things up." Thumb produced a small, burlap bound, bundle from under the counter, "Around closing last night you told me to give this to you this morning, but only if you woke up confused, so here you are then." Talon took the bundle, noding his thanks. "Hope it helps."

Talon slunk wordlessly to a corner table, drowned in shadow. Before he even touched the thread of the binding, before he even judged the weight and balance of the package, he somehow knew Tooth and Claw were inside. He quickly unwrapped the bundle as he sit down, standing up again prompty to buckle his dagger sheathes back into their customary positions. The other items in the bundle were documents, a scroll and several smaller pieces of parchment.

The pieces of parchment, it turned out, were a variety of receipts and invoices for a diverse range of goods and service. All signed in August Rencour's ornate script, and all dated yesterday. According to the papertrail these documents laid, the large sum of gold generated by all this commerce found it's way into the coffers of the local Temple of Sune. Something defiantely didn't add up.

Realising the only way to proceed, Talon cracked the wax seal, the Rencour Mercantile wax seal, on the scroll.

"Morning Talon, Right now I imagine you're very confused, don't feel bad about it, you and I are in the middle of a very dark and confusing puzzle."
"As you've no doubt realised from the strict accounting I provided, I've been busy while you were out. I imagine the local Sunites would be very pleased to see us should we pay them a visit."
"Speaking of Sunites, You really shouldn't kill Maddy, I spent the day with her today, and she doesn't deserve the end you have in mind. I say that knowing you will anyway, since I can't yet stop you, that's why I left you're precious knives where you could find them."
"Don't get too comfortable though Dark One, I'm coming back, and as you can see I'm getting stronger."

"Fondest regards,"
"August Rencour esq."

Talon, in a completely unfamiliar moment, was shocked.

"PS." he read on, "Keep an eye out for Aegisfield, I think he knows more than you do about what's going on."