I had spent a good year back home in Ulvenguard working on the docks and ships of the south bay. Made a trip to the North bay and I fell in love with one of the local sorceresses there. She was beautiful, with dark skin, dark brown curly hair, a nice figure. It would have lasted longer if she didn't try to curse me. Besides all that I've kept up pretty well when it came to paying off the debt but to be honest, it's rarely enough, and I need a few extra weeks to pay it off. One day, while walking towards the docks to begin a regular day's work, A notice board had a wanted poster on it. The poster said, WANTED: For the crimes of Murder, Robbery, Terrorism, and Arson *Honoa Blackleaf* Dead Or Alive Reward from the Ulvenguard National Guardsmen, 3,000 gold. On the poster was an image of the half-elf woman with the burn scar on her cheek from a year ago that tried to rob me and the other people coming to Ulvenguard. I took the poster and walked over to my superior, a white scaled Dragonborn, tougher than steel nails, and fearless of anyone and anything. "Nornick! I need to speak with you." "What is it now Crowfeather?" He said crossing his bulging mountains of arms, "I found this poster on the notice board just outside the docks, I know who she is! I can bring her in." Looking down he shook his head, "You are not your father, you're not a mercenary. Besides, 3,000 gold won't last you a week with the condition your home is in." "Well, it's a start, isn't it? Come on Nornick. You know I'm capable of finding her. Hell, you've seen my father in action and he's the one who taught me everything!" "Yes I know, but I told you, you are needed here. Give this up and be a normal Ulfguardian like the rest of us, you don't need to be special." I let out a frustrated groan, "Nornick! It's not about being special. I just want my home back man." Nornick, for what seemed to be like the first time, had a look of sympathy on his face.
He sighed, "Fine, Fine! Go talk to the UNG, there's an office about two buildings around the corner. Come right back here and I'll give you a ride home to get your supplies. Maybe get you a ship if necessary." I nodded excitedly. "Got it. See you soon." I ran off towards the office and met with one of the heads of the UNG. A human woman. Blonde hair tied into a tight bun, a scar going over her lips and barely touching the tip of her chin, she had steel grey eyes and a face as if she's never smiled, not even as a child. "Mr.Crowfeather. Shouldn't you be working today?" "I would but...I wanted to ask you about this." I said as I handed her the poster.
She looked right at me, "So. Like father like son huh?" I opened my mouth to say something but was interrupted. "You see, my father and your father were both very good at their jobs, but it seems that no matter how many criminals and terrorists my father put down or put away, your father seemed to get more credit, more admiration." "Where is this going?" I asked, "You come in here with your notion and fame from your father thinking that you can take credit for my hard work-" I interrupted her mid-sentence, "Let me stop you right there. Yes, I believe I was aware of the competition our fathers had, it was a strange obsession. However, I am not here to restart that. I'm here because you and I can help each other. You have plenty of information that can help me get to her and bring her in, hopefully alive. The more we help each other, the more credit both of us receive equally. Sound good?" She still had her mouth agape as if she wanted to say something. "So...you don't want to rekindle that old flame?" I simply shook my head. "Well then. Let me go get the map," she said as I now sat patiently for her to go get the map.
She came back with a full map of the continent. "So, Ms.Blackleaf was last seen here." She points to the area of the map where the gates of Ulvenguard are located, that was when you first came back to us." I nodded as she kept explaining the situation. "Our sources say that she has made her past the valley of midnight and stayed in The Thunder Coast for the past three weeks. I looked up to meet her gaze, "The Thunder Coast? The land cursed with a thousand thunderstorms?" She nodded. "The very same, although I hear it's not as bad during the summer, just a drizzle compared to the pouring rain of autumn and winter." I nodded, My father had a job once, he said it was bad but not too bad, he said they exaggerate it a tad bit.
They do occasionally get to see the sun, but it's mostly just cold and wet a lot of the time. "In any case, recent news from our spies that have been tailing her say that in about a few days she'll be going to Jimena's Tragedy." Jimena's Tragedy, now that's a scary place. Legend has it, the land got its name due to a cursed river. A young and beautiful noblewoman named Jimena de Leon was treated poorly by her father and was supposed to marry an equally abusive husband. One day, a man named Joaquin de la Rosa, a horse farmer came to her home to sell her father some horses, they instantly fell in love, they would come together in the dead of night and spend hours on end with each other, one night they decided to secretly get married and sail off to their happily ever after, never to return to such an abusive life, however, Jimena's father and the picked out suitor caught wind of their plan. They attacked and killed Joaquin as he made his way to the agreed location. Unknown to them, however, a young boy had been watching the events that transpired and delivered the unfortunate news to Jimena. Heartbroken she cried and let out heartbreaking sobs. It is said that she cried so much that her tears created a river, a river so deep that she eventually drowned.
Though this is one of many iterations of the story, one has Joaquin be a prince, and that the very river that Jimena created drowns only men forever searching for her prince, and that should a woman ever drown in the river, it would dry up and leave the land as if it were never there.
Besides the legend, Jimena's Tragedy has had a history of not being too friendly with outsiders or tourists straying too far from the usual spots, for her to go that far willingly, there has to be something up that no one knows about. Not even the other Sons of Midnight. "So, you know everything we know. I suggest taking a ship the Jimena's Tragedy ahead of time just in case she does make her way there anyway. I nodded and began to make my way out of the office when I remembered something important. "So, if I bring her in alive, I get the full 3,000 gold, what if I bring her in dead? Or she dies on the way back?" "If she dies, bring back something of hers, not the whole body. A ring, a headdress, an earring, anything that was hers but not the body, I don't need that stench stinking up my cells." "Got it. I'll see you soon." I ran back to the docks where Nornick had prepared a cart, "So what'd they tell ya?" I hopped in the open seat next to him and told him everything, "So, you need a ship after all. Well, I'll get that all worked out and you can be on your way back by yourself. I'll see if can't get you a nice fast one, get you back home nice and quick." It was a silent trip after that as he left me back home to get what I needed.
Though I wanted to do this, there was a feeling in my stomach that made me feel some sort of strange. It wasn't fear, there's another word for it, but my mind cannot for the life of me remember. I shook off this feeling and walked into the master bedroom, it once belonged to my mother and father, now it belongs to me. I opened the closet doors and standing there still as a statue, was my father's old armor. He never took it to the black islands, mostly because it didn't fit him, and because it was much too old for him to have anymore. Still. It looked just as good as when I saw him wear it all those years ago. It surprises me to this day that I as one so young could remember such an event. I was maybe two or three, my father was still that young rogue everyone loved, a man who would become a legend. His hair, black as a crow's feather, skin like bronze, a nice thin beard, a single braid that was tied to two crow's feathers, and a teal bead. He wore that armor proudly, and as I looked in the mirror, I couldn't tell if my father was standing in front of me, or not. I snapped out of my trance, grabbed a couple of daggers and a few throwing knives, and left to begin my work as a rogue.