"You should have seen it Gastin. It was pretty damn glorious!"

The Talontar shifted her gaze to the young man before her. Once he had been a poverty stricken youth, with little to look forward to. Now under Umolka's instruction and employ, the boy was dressed in the finery of a young noble. Jewelry -- perhaps a bit too much to be considered tasteful -- hanging from his neck, dark black hair was slicked backward, curling behind his ears.

He looked up from the recent stock of salves and poisons. "Sure sounds like it, ma'am." Gastin paused then, examining a vial of green liquid curiously. "But that Tristan is back now? Boy, the Church of Bane owes you one."

The Thayan rolled her dark eyes, exhaling loudly through her nose.

"Really, you think I would ever warrant praise from those Zhents? Need to teach you more about regional politics, boy!" Umolka took a few steps toward the door, peering out into the hallway. The Plinth was dark this time of the night, lit here and there by braziers of a magical nature. Their dim light wavered across the rough stone walls, casting odd shadows. Nearly all the shrines had closed for the night. Whatever shrines had not closed were still secured, the priests within their walls busily engaging in their private rituals.

"Gastin, I would say it is closing time. I need some sleep tonight."

"Sure thing ma'am. Anythin' else you need me to do for ya?"

"Just get yourself home safely. Have a nice night, Gastin."

Umolka shooed him away from the inventory of poisons and out the door. The druid securely locked the door as the boy left, his footfalls echoing down the empty corridors. Her shrine was as dark as the hallway, the only light coming from a few small wall sconces, brimming with purple flame. In the corner lay Pox, the decaying rat's barrel chest rising with each breath.

Had anyone asked Umolka even a year ago where she'd be at this point in her life, she never would have so much as mentioned Waterdeep. Last year, when she had left Thay to seek out a single book, she barely even believed she would find it. But she had.

In order to locate the Talontar tome and achieve her goals, she had been forced to join one of her people's enemies -- the Zhentarim. While it is true the Zhentarim and Thay had never been enemies much in the open, both groups never made important moves where other could see. The looks she had received in Zhentil Keep -- sporting her Thayan hairstyle and tattoos -- had only cemented this fact in her mind. With a sigh, she lowered herself into one of the medical cots tucked away into her shrine, her deformed claw interlacing with her left, resting on her bosom as she reflected.

Umolka had not ever expected a warm welcome from anyone, and the Zhentarim troupe she was set with did not disappoint. Half seemed to be Cyric-touched -- the other half just plain unintelligent. Their encounters in the ruins proved to be harrowing enough for the druid to begin to doubt her book would ever be found. Nightly, she would slip from her room and use her Talona-granted powers to slip past the guards around the perimeter of the wreckage. She would brave the cold Moonsea winter and search areas where she had been told it may be. And one night, she was lucky enough to find it.

From that point on, her life had changed. It was not long afterward that their troupe was moved to assist in attacks being made on Zhentarim caravans on the Black Road in Anauroch. On the way to aid in this, they were attacked by the Knights of the North. The troupe had besieged their stronghold of Northkeep not long after. Umolka was especially proud of that battle, where with the help of the party's resident Gondian priest, she had used spell to enlarge a turtle shell. They had loaded the shell into the catapult the old man had created, and taken down the keep's gates. With the Skymage Eva above on her Nightmare Ritsu and Curos and Pox scaling the walls and wreaking havoc on the humans inside, the battle was quickly over.

After winning this impromptu battle, they were given a much cushier assignment, though it was one that the druid was hesitant to participate in. The troupe was split up and sent to Waterdeep. Years ago Fzoul Chembryl, the High Tyrannar of Zhentil Keep, had made a deal with the powerful mage and Chosen of Mystra Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun. In exchange for a powerful artifact, Fzoul would keep the Xvimlar from entering Waterdeep's territory for some twenty years.

It was the Zhentarim's manipulation of words the Thayan couldn't help but admire. Because of the verbal contract and it's use of the word Xvimlar, it was now technically obsolete. Despite this the Zhents still decided to honor the contract for the time being, and as such, the troupe was ushered through a portal in the Zhent controlled city of Mulmaster to the City of Splendors.

Their mission there had been amazingly simple. After what the group had accomplished in Northkeep, they were simply given the mission of gaining resources and making names for themselves. For formality's sake they were removed as members of the Zhentarim, and allied with the Xanathar thieves guild. This was preferable for Umolka. She closed her eyes and smiled, turning over in the cot.

Waterdeep is where she had really begun to feel Talona's presence with her. After studying from the tome she had acquired for a long period of time, she decided to put her knowledge into action. Under Eva's leadership the group had taken a job from a local barbarian tribe to dethrone the leader of a warring tribe, The Blue Bear. Unbeknown to the others she was tasked with, Umolka hired the Shadowthieves to assist in capturing the man. While a warrior battled the barbarian smoke filled the room, and once it had cleared, the Shadowthief dressed as his shaman had abducted the Hagspawn.

In the sewers they left him, where Umolka began to experiment. All she had learned in her texts went to creating Blue Bear anew. Unfortunately things did not work out as well as they should have. The barbarian escaped his bonds and fled into the depths of the sewer system.

Blue Bear would begin to make Umolka's life Baator made flesh, the Hagspawn bent on destroying the one who had caused him to continue his life in the tortured pain of a Blightspawned, one of Talona's holy creatures. Despite being a Talontar creation it was soon made obvious Umolka had no control over his actions. Once Umolka's deception was made known to the group, attempts were made to capture the creature, though all failed. Their last encounter with him was then they located the shrine to Myrkul.

Umolka shuddered and raised her hands to her biceps, burying her head deep into the stiff pillow. The shrine had been shining with light that had even cause her an uneasiness in the pit of her stomach. A shrine to a god long dead, yet retaining immense amounts of power. And Blue Bear stood amidst it all unmoving by the altar. The rogue had tossed a coin at the unresponsive creature's head, a wave of light spreading through the room, carrying with it a dread wave of fear.

She remembered seeing the others flee the shrine, and followed soon after herself, slamming the doors shut. Moments later she heard the noise of a large body hitting the closed gates and broke into a dead run herself, following the frantic others.

After that point, it was as if they had all refused to remember the incident. They concentrated on far more mundane tasks, and little else had caught their full interest until Tristan Darkhope had been kidnapped. The recovery of the church member had been a great success, the blood of over one hundred Cyricists on their hands.

But judging by the new Priest's actions this night, Umolka was not to be entitled to even praise.

Which was fine.