(Scars do not appear to be cause of death –shock ... - Bad Request

exotic goods) carried trays with samples of food and drink. The gentlemen
and noblewomen happily plucked the goods with delicate fingers, dropping
coin into open palms without a thought as they chatted.
One man stood out to me, snapping in a deep, sonorous voice some
anecdote or another, a staff in one hand and a goblet in the other, "Well I
had enough of that and her thrice-damned skim milk. So I cursed the
mouthy cow!"
He was tall and thin as a flagpole, dressed in heavy crimson robes, and had
sharp, pinched features. There was a perpetual crankiness about his face, as
if the creases had been kneaded in with years of sour moods. He paused,
arching his heavy eyebrows as he looked me up and down, then bowed
regally as I approached him. "I am Salabesh, oft-called Salabesh the Onyx,
future mage-tutor for the Civic Festhall. You've business with me, I take
it...?"
"No... just some questions..." Fall-From-Grace had been too busy attending
to the Brothel to keep up with the Festhall's activities as of late, so this
gentleman seemed the next best thing.
"About what, hmmm? Not the Ward and the like, I hope... plenty of more
common folk could answer such questions, and I'd just as soon direct you to
one of them."
"Why are you called 'the Onyx?'"
"A long tale, which I'll shorten to save my breath. In my youth, I was once
called Salabesh the Golden, for I was said to have a heart of gold... small,
hard and yellow. Well, I cursed the fool who started that so that he could
only speak from his arse and defecate through his mouth. The 'Onyx'
appellation - along the same lines as 'the Golden,' though admittedly
somewhat less clever - soon followed. In any case, I'm a much kinder fellow
now... far less prone to laying curses and the like. I'm not certain if I deserve
the name any longer."
"You cursed him so that what?"
"Oh, yes... you heard right." Salabesh sighed happily and chuckled to
himself. "That sort of thing is why I'm known as the Master of Curses, you
know."
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