Sinfar

*there was a genuine air of unrest felt by those intuitive enough to recognize it in the floating Isle of Esus. Others though went about their business smiling and nodding, flirting and fucking, completely unaware their intuition had been... dulled?
.. a curse perhaps?

In the shadows otherworldly beings laughed and mocked while they plotted. She, they whispered, was finally the one worthy enough to lead them. She didnt know it yet, but her wishes would be their command. They trailed after her watching and calculating observing and marking for later.

She, whom they watched was now wandering the Esus Crystal Caverns. She seemed unchallenged as she worked at coercing the renowned Shale family to do her bidding.

She, she declared to each family member, would own the Crystal Cavern. She, they declared to anyone who would listen, left them chilled and plagued with confusion and chaos. Fear, they said, was felt like never before

*murmurings and mutterings interrupted by the occasional oath but more so the cheers began to break the solitude of the place. The inhabitants of Esus far above the Wyrmtooth Island were coming out of their doors, milling in the roadways and congregating in Tymora's Kiss. That seemed to be the most logical place; a place that gave tribute to Lady Luck herself. For it was luck it seemed that they needed on their side. What was happening to their land once peaceful and rarely woken by rumours let alone actual happenings? Over ale and whiskey they continued voicing concerns. The drunker they got, the more adamant they got.. the more they questioned.. and the more angrier they got.

The desert once just miles of sand dunes now seemed to be overrun with bandits. Najib's ship had been plundered several times of its shipment of whiskey to the Flying Hope. Witnesses spoke of bandit camps full of unruly men and their mage consorts. Would the bandits find their way into town?

Shadow dragon wyrmlings milled around a cave opening that was known to be the lair of a monstrous shadow dragon. A rift was spotted that looked like a transition between something to something. One could assume at this point that it likely was a conduit for the shadow dragons. Were the mages involved? The Esus Mage Academy members were becoming more and more active but even more secretive than ever before... Why?

The murmurings rose to a larger voice of complaints. What were the governing houses doing? They were so silent and invisible. No one ever heard from them! Nor did the lands witness any improvements to show where their tax dollars and rent money was going. SOMETHING HAD TO BE DONE! BUT WHAT? a revolution? an overthrow of the current Houses such as the Dells and the Merkeids.. where were the Shales? Fists were slammed on tables.. weapons were being brought out of storage. We, the people! have to do something!

Tia along with a few of her companions, watched and listened from a table in the corner. They exchanged glances. It was starting... Finally!

Cyfer continues on with his day, settling into a fairly common routine with himself in Esus. Every day he's see to the common folk, helping them the best he can with what little resources he had. Providing food if needed, healing the sick or injured or simply just being there for friendly conversation and to make their concerns known. Sure somedays he might learn good information things to directly help in his investigations though that never was his real goal. Esus is a city ripe with opportunity which those whom are quick enough and wise enough will find wealth, prestige, and power and Cyfer intended to get all three.

The others in the city keep fighting different squabbles, bandits with some unknown agenda other people trying to unlock the secrets of the last regime, all the while they completely ignore a large source of power which those in the past positions as well. The 'little people'. Cyfer knew, much as he learned back on his home plane that there is much power in being a hero. To be someone the masses looked up to, someone who can sway the people to do as he wanted. Cyfer always found them fairly easy to manipulate, even if he truly did desire to help. The other thing he learned, people don't know what they need and they want and it is up to him to show them. It'd be easier for him to weasel his way into the hearts and minds of people then he ever had in his years of trying back home. In Esus there is an absent government, people without work, and people with absolutely no hope. The common folk leaving in droves to find wealth and a better life else where on the isles and by this point the city was half-dead. At home, he had to deal with a bunch of barbarians happy to just rape and pillage never willing to build something more, never looking to build an empire. Here though, in Esus. The people are looking for a change and Cyfer would unite them for that change.

So he continued, day in and day out. Trying to be seen as a friendly face, happy to smile and help take on the burdens of those forgotten. He'd be the hero they needed, a person to rally behind the one and only person on their side. He'd show them kindness as in the end, he truly did desire to help them. That makes Cyfer a good person right? Cyfer couldn't remember any longer remember where his codes of honor and wish to help others began and where his desires for power and his ambition ended. In the end, were they ever all that different? Who cares if he figured out by helping others he can help himself, in the end he was truly helping where no one else would and in the end in his own mind he'd benefit the most from it. Power in Esus was his, each person he helped had the chance to support him in his eventual claims. Each person another soldier in some future revolution he would command. Tia may have recognized just as he did the city was ripe for a revolution, but she never had the intelligence to truly understand how to seize on that. How to make sure she controlled the revolution and it would put her in the position of power she desired. Cyfer certainly wouldn't make that mistake.

They congregated in the central market. They congregated in the taverns.. at the cliff sides.. at sunrise and sunset in groups of three and maybe four. Shod in sandals and silks and leathers, the sun bronzed and wind polished Esusians didn't take too kindly to strangers and so they murmured and muttered but they still only ...watched.

While they understood why trusted friends had been leaving in droves to the lands of Saban and Sinifer since there was a lot that could not be explained happening lately that put most on edge; what they couldn't understand was what was causing these strangers they were seeing on occasion to want to come to this windswept floating isle that had almost every ounce of moisture sucked out of the baked and sand strewn lands. What did Esus have to offer them anyway?

They had watched that one who called herself Tia, who seemed friendly one minute and chilling the next.. unpredictable most definitely parade a few other strangers through tunnels poking at the hallex crystals...overheard her and her companions discuss the motives of those bloody bandits and even witnessed her lurking around the Mage emporium chatting up whoever would come by. She and that other one who called himself Cyfer seemed of one mind in their search for who and what ran that emporium. It was a curious thing and the Esusians weren't sure they liked it. That Cyfer was another to be watched they thought and debated. He seemed kind enough to their plight but anyone that kind and helpful had to have other motives.

Finally the consensus had to be that neither could be trusted. They swore and growled; "Where were those damnable Dells.. or the Merkieds or those simpleton Shales when a townsperson needed them? Weren't they suppose to be governing this town. Damnation what was the Port Authority doing about these .. dare they think it. Unsavories!?