Tal Vashoth: The Horned Walker
Asara- daughter of Tal Vashoth exile Kurmas, raised in non-qunari lands by her father and taught to be a warrior
Kurmas- once a warrior of the Qunari Kurmas abandoned the Qunari after spending time in human lands observing the nature of life outside the Qun he also stole away his child Asara taking her to Rivain.
Pasala- A warrior of the Antaam sent to observe the Human lands, dedicated to the Qun.
Snitch- a cowardly elven rogue and long time friend of Asara.
Asara is something a an oddity, at face value she is Qunari but nothing could be further from the truth, stolen away by her Tal Vashoth father when he fled to rivain Asara has been raised and trained as a warrior and now wanders the lands of the human kingdoms seeking adventure. accompanied by her loyal (if somewhat terrified) friend Snitch and a warrior of the Qun determine to convince her of the wrongs she has committed Asara will face many challenges as she journeys the land.
Chapter 1: Unwanted Talent
It's raining as we leave the ale house, it does that a great deal in the south, already the ground is becoming muddy and I wondered briefly if there would be thunder, then snitch begins to complain.
"Oh maker it's raining! I'm getting soaked!" the elderly rogue mutters pulling up his tattered hood
"Your talent for stating the obvious grows with each passing day" I reply with a chuckle
Snitch, an old and roguish elf who still enjoys the occasional theft, at first glance he would seem to be the last person with whom my father would have desired friendship but the old mercenary used to refer to snitch as "Kadan" and the two were inseparable. He has been my closest friend since my father died, even if he grumbles incessantly and his thievery gets us into heinous amounts of trouble.
"We should have stayed at the ale house! These old country roads will be crawling with trouble tonight" he mutters as we stride down the mud splattered path
We have been in the free marches barely a month and trouble is already beginning to rear its head, first snitch managed to enrage every tavern owner in the region by cheating at dice and then word began to spread that he was accompanied by a freakish creature that looked female but who had strange eyes and of all things horns, it never ceases to amaze me how humans obsess over the most obvious of features.
"We should head for Antiva, lots of opportunity there for talented folk" Snitch says fondly as he rubs his hands together for warmth
"And since our talent seems to be attracting unwanted trouble and attention I suspect those opportunities will be for early graves" I reply as we reach the village gate
As it turns out our talents have found us such an opportunity far sooner than Antiva, a small and armed posse is standing around the village entrance with a familiar albeit broken face staring us down, sometimes I wonder if it would not simply be better to let snitch suffer the consequences of his actions. The leader of the group is a small and bloated man with a bandaged nose, a money lender that nearly had Snitch castrated before I intervened, and something tells me he isn't just here to collect sovereigns.
"Well well if it isn't the knife ears and his giant, you made a big mistake taking all that money and you made an even bigger one when you got your friend to break my nose! When my boys are through with you you're going to wish I'd just taken my pound of flesh" he says in a voice that is pure poison
Snitch begins to panic and shake as the money lender clicks his fingers and a dozen men armed with cudgels and knives advanced towards us; I guess snitch did not expect his lender to chase him to another village to collect.
"We are dead!" snitch whimpers
"Maybe you should save your talent for obviousness for later snitch" I yell drawing my blade from its scabbard
Atashi, the name means Dragon in the tongue of the Qunari and father brought this fearsome blade with him the day he fled Seheron with me under arm. It is a beautiful two handed blade forged from white steel and inlaid with lyrium runes depicting a fearsome beast rampant along the blades edge, I've often wondered if the figure on the blade moves because in the darkness that glowing blue lyrium seems to writhe as if living. Father carried this blade into battle whenever he fought, enemies of every land have stained its surface with their blood and now as it slides effortlessly from scabbard I know it will soon taste blood again.
The first thug rushes towards us with his cudgel raised to strike, he tries to bring it smashing down on Snitch's head but the old elf leaps away leaving him vulnerable to my blade which tears through the air at a wide at before slicing into his chest and sending him tumbling backwards into the mud, the others pause briefly shocked by the site of their wounded friend before advancing again this time as a group.
I thrust the blade forward at one attacker and drive the point straight through his neck, as I tear the sword free his throat sprays a fountain of crimson across the muddy ground. Another man tries to slash at me with a large cleaver only to scream out in agony as I slice his left leg clean off, as he crashes to the ground I take a step back panting from exertion, I won't be able to kill them all.
Something flies through air making a dull screech as it arcs towards me, a throwing knife, I look just in time to see the business end of a blade swooping towards me, it narrowly misses leaving a long and jagged cut as it flies past my arm. The thugs see blood and charge as one mob, I smash the hilt of my blade into the first attacker sending him sprawling back on the ground with a broken jaw but it's too late and the others crowd around me raining down blows.
"that's it lads kill that tall bitc..." the lender does not get to finish his sentence which stops mid speech, his men turn to see a tall shadowy figure drive a blade through the back of his head with its point poking out of his mouth on the other side. The stranger tears his blade free and the lender falls forward gurgling as he dies.
"Go" he says motioning for the thugs to flee
Leaving their dead they run, dropping their weapons as they go, clearly not willing to face two giants. The figure moves forward and reveals himself, a qunari man with trimmed white beard and stern red eyes.
"So, the rumours were true, interesting" he says simply
Lying on the ground bruised and battered but alive I can only stare upwards at this stranger.