A Grim Sacrifice and an Apology

[Umbralheart]

A note lay on a table in the Gallows End Tavern. The parchment and ink are unremarkable, and the handwriting of the author seems difficult to read, inconsistent, even rushed in some places. At times the pen has been forced through the page leaving an occasional rip. Tiny blood dropplets litter the surface of the parchment in no particular arrangement.

Grim,
Last night, after several sound and deserved beatings at the hands of Syreena, after I drank myself stupid and numb, after I was certain there were enough witnesses… I requested that Qabian procure my heart so that I may offer it as a sacrifice to fulfill my trial for The Grim. I’d never formally sacrificed anything in my life.

A little background for those of you not familiar with me. I awoke 3 months ago with a massive hole in my memory. I was informed that I’d been asleep in an infirmary in Silvermoon for nine years. When I was released from care I was without family, and the name they had given me was reportedly engraved in a magical rune on my foot before I was recovered from the rubble of a tower in the Ghostlands. I knew the tower belonged to my Master… former master… It was where we performed many foul disections of life, but I was not even able to recall his name. I went out on my own, barely able to hold a sword with my own two hands. I found the tower from my memory, now a ruin. On the ground floor of the ruin I found a chair, with a heart on it. The heart had been removed by the hands of an expert. It stank a little bit, but it seemed so out of place that it must have been placed there for a reason, so I took it. Eventually I found the Grim. Qabian thought that I’d just run off as soon as I found my Master, so I offered him the only thing in my possession that had any value to me… the heart. Then I was introduced to Malkaris. Malkaris’ magic deduced that the heart was mine. The heart in my chest belonged to my Master, if Malkaris’ magic and Fel incantations are to be believed.

Last night I sacrificed the very heart that has been in the safe keeping of the Grim. The heart I was presumably born with. The heart that represented my last attachments to my old life, what little I remembered of it. I bit into the heart. To my surprise it was quite juicy. Filled with however many months of rotten blood and decay that had somehow not made its way out of the slowly rotting heart. I got several bites in before Syreena suggested it’s not really a sacrifice if I eat it, so I pitched it into the fire pit of the Wyvern's Tail Tavern. The foul smell of decay attracted Gwarg, who tried to finish what I started. He picked up a hunk of it and ate it himself… apparently Gwarg has a worse sense of taste and smell than my own. In his drunken antics he missed a piece of the heart, the fire was not hot enough to destroy it completely on account of its moistness, so I fished it out of the fire, chopped it up into small pieces, and Qabian ignited it.

The ashes of my heart now lay on the floor waiting to be swept up with the rest of the trash. With the heart gone I’m no longer tempted to put it back in my chest which would have been the ultimate test of my masters lessons, and my own grit and considerable skill.

I can only hope my own personal sacrifice is enough to satisfy the traditions of The Grim.

I also must make amends. A bear may drop thunder craps in the woods but it doesn’t make a mess where it lives. I often enjoy pulling the heart strings to watch people unravel, but my verbal abuse of Syreena apparently struck a nerve and crossed the line. I’m unable to feel remorse… I’m a heartless monster of an elf after all but I’d like to make amends. To think that the words of an ‘underwear model’ could cut so deep seems unlikely but leave it to me to find a way to cut in an unconventional manner. Syreena, while I have no remorse, I do recognize you as an important member of The Grim and a vital puzzle piece that connects the grim to other organizations in the Horde. I’ve neither the guile nor subtlety required for clandestine activities but I’m always available should you think up some way I can pay you back.

- Umbra Longheart

[Syreenna]

The Shadowblade paused on her way through the tavern when she saw the note. A scowl twisted her patchwork stitched face as she began reading and realized who it was from. When she finished, she tossed the parchment back onto the table and continued on her way.

"Oh, trust me," she muttered. "I'll find some way for you to pay."

(( :thumbs up: ))

[Greebo]

Good. It has burnt its luggage. Finally.

[Malkaris]

Malkaris meanders through the hall, burrito in hand as he passes by the note. Normally he'd ignore the note, but he recognizes the name. He casually chews on his delicious food item, eyebrow raised as he gets through the script.

"Weeeird. Not what I would have done, but if she wants to hamstring herself..." he muses before cackling out loud while swinging his burrito around like the lead of an orchestra, leaving a smidge of sauce on the letter and various other items as he walks off.