Role

Chapter 3

Charrooth rested quietly in her favorite branch, watching rain splash into a
lake/pond tucked away far in the north and distort the placid surface with
their impact. As the raindrops became ripples propagating themselves outward
in innumerable circles, she meditated on the wisdom of Lord Einoh and the path
his teachings had revealed. Atop his teachings and honed by years of prayer in
his holy silence, Charrooth had become a true Maran. She was a weapon of the
Light and a bulwark against the darkness, just as she had intended to become.
But she knew she couldn't rest, there was ever more work to be done.
Preoccupied by focus on her duty to the Fortress, she still had not uncovered
the truth of what had befallen her father, Bubo Bubo.

After a tragic accident while investigating in Ayr'Trinil, Charrooth had
briefly considered dropping her quest to discover his fate. The merciful Lady
Azorinne and Elder Prophet Grysaor, her dearest mentor, had convinced her of
the folly of this, however. After a time of prayer and penitence she had
refocused her efforts on the city in the sky and, ironically, the city's
underworld. It was controlled with a tight claw by the Lhiltrill family, the
same clan Charrooth believed to be responsible for her father's untimely
disappearance.

Although she had found the citizenry of Ayr'Trinil to be unwilling (either due
to fear or complicity) to discuss the Lhiltrills with a strange bird, an
opportunity to advance her investigation had arisen while she was caring for
her Uncle Daldrit after he had taken ill. Blessedly he had recovered, but in
the depths of his sickness, while addled by fever and strong healing
tinctures, Daldrit had been uncharacteristically loose-beaked and willing to
talk about family history. Consequently, Charrooth had gotten her first break
in the mystery.

Daldrit explained that Bubo Bubo, his brother in law, had been exceedingly
bright and capable at many different things - a polymath of sorts with a touch
of the foresight. Charrooth had never even heard a whisper of this before and
was perplexed by this revelation. He had done well in Ayr'Trinil with a
business that shipped goods up and down the mountain and was a supplier to
most of the merchants in the city. He was also a big personality, well known
and well liked throughout the city. Daldrit chirped on through slurred speech
about how Bubo had quite the penchant for gambling! As he rarely lost big,
though, it had not been problematic. In fact, the old man had laughed tiredly,
Bubo had been so good at gambling he had started to dip a talon into
oddsmaking himself. Charrooth did not laugh with him, though, for she was
already thinking about who would have been in control of running all of the
numbers in Ayr'Trinil's gambling halls: the Lhiltrills.