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Black Lark's Song

by Moxiane

"'E's bloody expensive, just opinionated and basic'lly a complete arse'ole, but 'e knows 'is shit."

- Aleko Ausengrim, after an exorcism

"Maryam! Hold the trilaptic prism steady while I complete the ritual. Steady, I said, dammit!"

- Black Lark's Song, conducting a dangerous warding

Greying slightly at the temples and with a long scar that bisects his handsome features, Black Lark's Song has been practicing the arts and sciences of thaumaturgy in the districts of Nexus for almost ninety years. Doing everything from exorcising ghosts to enchanting certain items of intimate apparel for a party at the estate of Anvil Desther, he has accrued a fair amount of personal wealth and property, including a distinguished house in the Plaza of Rising Stars and a small estate outside of Nexus proper.

The last twenty years have not been kind to Lark (as his few friends call him), as he lost his last apprentice to a rampaging demon that had escaped from the control of some insane Yozi cultists to wreak havoc in the city. It was this same demon that gave him the scar before he could banish it back to Malfeas. His vengeance on the remaining cult members gave those mercenaries from the Tower of Nine that accompanied him nightmares for months afterwards.

Of late his fortunes have picked up. The recent apprenticing of the seventeen-year-old Maroshe Maryam, daughter of some notable local bakers, and several new contracts for large-scale warding in the wake of the Emmisary-led action that was a direct result of the Rivergate Scandal have brought him an influx of new wealth and new contacts. Despite approaching his twilight years, the future is looking bright for Black Lark's Song.

Rumours

• Black Lark's Song's apprentice and protege, Maroshe Maryam, has been missing for several weeks now. The thaumaturge has been using illusions and trickery while frantically searching for her.
• Black Lark's Song is engaged in an underground war using the occult and thaumaturgy to affect the destiny of Nexus - but which side is he on, and what are the sides?

Secret

• In a walled-up section of his cellar in the old home that he has refused to sell is a demon that Black Lark's Song summoned in his youth, binding it in an occult circle of a power that he has been unable to duplicate since. Unfortunately, he has also been unable to banish it, and has thus been in irregular breach of Nexus' on-again-off-again decree against such acts for almost 70 years.

Comments

I'd kind of like to call dibs on the Rivergate Scandal, but I'm a little confused by the context. What exactly followed the Emissary-led action? - EJGRgunner

The scandal is up to you to decide - we've left terms vague. Check the Nexus Scuttlebutt entry, as River Lobster broke the scandal. It's, honestly, a thinly-veiled Watergate Scandal reference. - MelWong

Well, I'm really just having trouble working out the antecedents, etc. in that sentence. Is it essentially "and several new contracts... in the wake of the Emissary-led action (which was a direct result of the Rivergate Scandal), have brought him an influx of new wealth." ? EJGRgunner

It's my shockingly bad English that seems to have caused the confusion. ^_^ I have rewritten the offending paragraph in an attempt to make it clearer than Nexus riverwater. - Moxiane