(Collaboration with @JBRam2002)

Returned with a whine, the shadow hound was ousted by another magical force. So rudely cast out after being detected by a rather lengthy ritual which had allowed his dark self to follow their stopped trail. The target had not left this plane, but neither had she moved for quite sometime as the mystic bond between man and shadow relayed back direction and distance. They had either stopped at their destination, or else found themselves preoccupied with something else. To which the umbral one stalked his quarry well. They had made quite the performance before leaving, a dance, a song, a flute.And it would not be difficult to track a monstrosity like a beholder down in the city of a thousand recluses, information about them would have already trickled down into the underbelly of even these depths. And then it was a matter of talking to the right people for the right price. Captain… Of what? And what did that make her to him?

Nevertheless, with patient strides, or rather strokes for the water made it easier to swim rather than to walk. The dark figure tailed them blending in with the rest of the denizens and becloaked travellers here and there. What may be seen to a the keen eye, a feat of observation, would be the lack of shadow cast by the fallen aasimar as the dog dwelled with the shadow of his presumed counterpart. Though now the effect dispelled, his burning eyes could see his faithful hound returning to his side. It took the form and nature of the canine, ears dropped and tail low, whelp whipped by a spell with it’s sorry return. They must have found it, and dispelled it, as the warlock stopped to reason, just paces away from a tunnel to the surface. So they were not without skill in the arcane arts, keen enough to sense his hound’s jugular bite against her own shadow. And yet, perhaps he should send the poor dog back out to try another quarry?

A hand to affectionately rub the massless crown of the dog’s head. Made of shadows there was nothing but wispy blackness to its body, and yet even as the ink-like darkness steeped and twisted in the waters, there was a certain satisfaction the shadow had feeling its owner’s touch. A sentience of its own perhaps? Or a shared mind? Somewhere in between for his shadow was both his, but also born of the realm of shadows. Thus maybe it was the only company he kept for so long was this creature that the shadowmancer treated it as something that needed love to grow rather than darkness. Thus was it quaint that, the pair enter the tunnel together, attempting to pass as another traveller headed towards the surface. Hood kept down as his blood-orange eyes quickly glazed over the group. Where was she?

Jill had doubled back to scout those who were watching their performance. The majority of the underwater townsfolk had returned to their daily business, milling about on their various chores or occupations. A handful remained at the tavern, several of whom wore the manta ray cloak that much of her party had donned. Useful as the cloak was, it did make picking out faces rather difficult. And so, the Aasimar captain waited to see if her patience would be rewarded.

Sure enough, a few moments passed and one of the crowd began to stir, his fingers caressing... something. Jill couldn't quite make it out, but there was something off about the figure. She swam up next to him, drawing her pistol as she moved, and whispered in his ear. "Looking for someone?" she asked, her voice playful, almost seductive as she moved to the other side. "Perhaps you would like to introduce yourself. My Beholder friend thinks you are out to harm us, and it would be a shame--" the sound of a safety releasing could be heard-- "if he were right."

A whisper in the ear. Oh such a act had oh so much meaning. Was it the voice of the gods? A herald of angelic truth, uttering prophecy as the gods will, cryptic and mystic in all the ways of mortal minds. A divine diamon that guides and compels the soul to do what is asked of them? Such a sign of zealotry, devotion tested by the words of fanaticism, incited into producing an action. Or was it the voice in the shadows? The unseen ones hidden in the treacherous gloam, tempting and ever tempting mortals to step into darkness. Each sly call beckoning oneself to the edge of the abyss until, lo the abyss could swallow you whole! And yet, there was at least one more dangerous whisper to be accounted for that influenced a man's actions. While the gods may command, and the shadows tempt, it was this last whisper that was the sweetest of all. The seductive whisper of a lover. Yes, coy and playful, bashful but bold. An offer of oral pleasures in intercourse, of listening to that voice so alluring spark the discourse as their fates became entwined. Yes, of course such ears perked an interest as a presence in the water made its way about him even before her voice came to serenade him with her threat.

"Invisibility." The reply came with a calm smile beneath the hood, visible to the other aasimar certainly if she cared to see the warlock's face. "Clever girl." A compliment, although one perhaps too patronizing for a stranger. "If you do not know me, then you are not one of her Agents." Though still there was no introduction yet, which perhaps pressed the patience of female willing and able to shoot at pointblank. Though how exactly would a flintlock, or presumably a flintlock which worked on blackpowder and combustion, function underwater. But in a world of magic, things need not make the most sensible logic, though there was a limit of what silliness the powers that be would accept. "Sauron, and I was merely curious as to what another Aasimar is doing here, so I followed."

And if needed, if she shot that firearm, the warlock had his spells up his sleeve. And there was no need to be so subtle, no need to save spells so early when life was on the line. Was this a test? Would one of them have to die? Could there only be one? What did it take to earn his untarnished wings, and cleanse his soul of the shadows? "My guide may have brought me here to you, and yours to me?"

"Sauron... I see." Despite Jill's best efforts, she couldn't pierce the intents of the cloaked man. Whether he was who he said he was or not did not truly matter, and the name Sauron did not ring a bell with her. More intriguing to Jill was this "her" and the "Agents" he spoke of. "If you believe our allies in heaven joined us together, why did you threaten me with that spell of yours?" Jill asked, her voice calm and matter-of-fact. "It does not seem the friendly thing to do."

The safety clicked back into place. "I have no intentions of harming someone who is not a threat to our safety. If I did, my gun would be the least of your worries. No, I wish to live unchained, either by my forebears or by those whose paths I cross. I am sure you understand, Sauron." The aasimar's proximity was so close that she could almost be felt, if not seen, her face nearly adjacent to the other's. "Perhaps you would like to join us, and perform your observations in a closer setting, preferably without the threat of violence."

The venom of the serpent had worked its magic. Fangs dripping of toxins in that practiced smile. Disarming charming, despite the quiet intensity of those ember eyes. Like a beacon in the black shadow cast across his brow, a gaze that concealed his intent, hidden by a ring that guarded his thoughts well from prying spells. Twas a ring he bore upon the ring finger of his left hand, a golden band forged and etched with intricate engravings to shield him from efforts to divine his true nature, shielding his mind from all magical means of detection. Yet curiously the ring was, like the girl, invisible to sight though its presence was suggested by the form it bore, the physical presence found just as her form parted the waters around it. What use was invisibility when the water transmitted so much more information? But his hound held no mass, being a creature made of pure shadow like his armor that clung to him like black pyre. More treasured however than this ring's ability to conceal his thoughts and conceal itself, was the ability for it to store his soul. Until it was made pure the warlock could reside within the ring, his body destroyed by his immortal soul sealed within. And the whispers he could give, just like her, a shove into the mind, a suggestion, and a deception just like the one he wove now around her. Sauron... There was no Sauron.

"Forgive me for my methods, but just as you hide from me now, I hid from you." The quick-witted reply, "A need to track you through this labyrinthine city should our paths need crossing." But her words slew him, even as the click of the safety no longer placed 'Sauron' in the path of a woman's wrath. The irony of it all too amusing to not bring a genuine smile, curling itself on the corner of those lips. Unchained? To live free and untangled in the mess of fate and orders directed in the Heavens? Perhaps he saw a bit of his younger self in her, the rebellion in her unseen eyes, the feist she carried against the forces that would see her fulfill her role in the machine. Perhaps she would be able to see it in his eyes, that raging inferno of resentment dimming to a flickering candle of hope. And then in a moment later, it was replaced with a knowing glance as he felt her presence now so close, almost too close.

"Yes, I was once like you... But freedom has a price." A touch of melancholy in the fading trail-off. "And perhaps by following you, I can gain what I have lost." 

Jill giggled, a sound that could melt the heart of a beholder. She knew, as she had done so previously. "Welcome to the crew, then," she said as her face faded into view, upside-down and inches from that of the other Aasimar with a mischievous smirk on her face. "Rule number one: don't cast that spell on me, or anyone else you want to be your friend. Rule number two: don't piss off Dyn." She reached for his hand, caressing it with her fingers as they intertwined. "And rule number three: trust me."

A spell was cast, a subtle pulling at the arvane threads that bound the world together, and the world collapsed around them. For a moment, naught existed but the two of them, Jill's fingers still grasping the other's and that mischievous smile beaming from her face. Almost as soon as the spell began, it ended, and the duo were now several paces behind Dyn and Cynthia in the tunnel. "Hey guys!" Jill called out. "I found a new friend. Don't worry, he's just a little shy." Her hand subtly released his, and she swam over to the others, tossing a wink over her shoulder at "Sauron."

Three rules? Automatrons had just as many. The innocent childishness to her persona caught the warlock off-guard. The fallen aasimar had expected a more rigid path, one devout and pious, strict with all the disciple his mentor had expected of him. Perhaps her was far more lax, but alas, what did he know of her? And her of him? His facade as 'Sauron' a name invented and a moniker adopted for his trade as a nom-de-arte. But he looked like a 'Sauron' did he not? A name hissed softly and stretched before ending in a definitive note? The venom injected at the very end as the masqueraded drops? She told him to trust her, and yet never gave her name, but stated another's. Dyn, whoever that was supposed to be. Introductions would be needed to infiltrate this group. But of the first rule, as much as his hound panted and sauntered its way over to her shadow cast below as the girl floated in the waters curiously and intertwined her fingers into the umbramancer's. A touch he nearly drew back from, with a wince but something told him a girl like her meant not to harm him. Not one so... Innocently naive? Or was such an act merely an intricate ploy?

Bubbles.

The rush of water from one end, and the displacement of it from the other. A group before them in the darkness of the tunnel, though the shadows were his friend. A beholder, a kobold, a scaled feline, a drowish mystery, and a native it seemed numbered amongst her troupe. Ones seen from before with casual glances thrown about from his card game. An interesting lot, intriguing indeed as the more radiant of the pair introduced her 'new friend' to the lot. Would they be as easy to fool as her? 

"I am Sauron, but I do not believe I was introduced to your name, friend." A closed-lipped smile curled the corners, a move practiced to deceive by disarming charm. And by the feel of things, he was not the only one who knew how to use his dark charisma. How strange that his new friend had such an effect on him. Was he losing himself to the quarry? Or was it just his solitude that made his hound jealous as it slunk about him pacing to see if the master would find new friends and abandon his own shadow and the promises he must keep to the realm of shadows. "I am here to accompany your aasimar on her journey." 

[hider=mechanics]
Noriam's Deception Roll to assume a false identity: 1d20 + 13 = 11 + 13 = 24
Jill's Insight Roll to catch Noriam's lie: 1d20 + 9 = 11 + 9 = 20
Noriam's Arcana Roll to determine what spell is being cast by Jill: 1d20 + 4 = 11 + 4 = 15

(Chances three 11's were rolled in repetition: 0.0125%. I conclude these dice are probably rigged)
[/hider]