A Tale Woven Grey
8th of Rova 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
"You wish me to keep a secret from my companions? Why?" Even as you ask the question a part of you is wondering how you might overcome this strange unbidden visitor, or more likely call for help. Trying to be
loud with magic has not been something you had given much thought to until this very moment.
"Companions?" Sirim seems to taste the word. "You trust them to speak and to be silent? Then no, perhaps the secret of my being can be shared with them. A risk, yes, but they are not of the same ilk as the others on this ship."
"You dislike Captain Caulker?" You wrack your brain for the names of the other members of the crew, they had introduced themselves you are quite certain, but besides the expansive presence of their commander they seemed to fade into insignificance.
"I
distrust fanatics, of which the Eagle Knights are some of the worst for cloaking their zeal in the supposed wishes of the 'people', as though the mob can have wishes that were not insinuated into their mind by their betters. I do not like my secrets being shared, shadow seer, and at this time and place my very form is one such."
"Why do you need the medallion then?"
Why is it worth revealing yourself to me? The second question is implied, but no less obvious despite that. By his own account Sirim had managed to slither his way onto the ship and coil into your room unseen, and that certainly was not among the easiest places to do so.
The answer does not come readily, it does not come all that
willingly, but an answer you eventually receive: "To confirm my identity."
Wisdom: 1d20 = 10 (Failure)
Far from allaying your suspicions this only fans them. An identity confirmed might just as easily be false as true: "To whom? Why? Can't you just speak to them as you are now?"
A hint of anger enters the soft whisper, the smoke of his body growing more agitated as though moved by an unseen wind. "Do you think there are many Smokeshades entering the Lodge in Augustana unaccompanied? I have contacts, resources, means to escape this form, but all of them are locked behind me being recognized for who and what I am, not for what my final escape from the devil made of me."
Spellcraft: 1d20+7 = 8 (Critical Failure)
"Made of you?" You ask, more confused than ever. Assassin devils are not known for powers of transformation, according to Mina who knows more of such things, mostly they just transform the targets into corpses.
"Not the devil, the
escape." For a long moment it looked like he was not going to elaborate further. "May you never pass through the trial I did, shadow seer, but know that I was born among the kayal, the shade-touched, not so different from your own kin. I made a study of wizardry, and with time and experimentation I grew in mastery of magic enough to gain the company of a smoke shade, a familiar of the plane that is named
Nyclaxis, the Guarding Dark. It is the form of that very familiar, Iskal, that I now wear, for it escaped the eye of the Vengeance Devil and the noses of the hounds, and through it I escaped the flaying of mind and body which the devils had meant for me. "
Knowledge (History): 1d20+5 = 18 (Success)
Kayal, you know that name. Not to any more depth than the fisherman knows the caldera in which he casts his line every day, but you have heard of them. Traders and travelers out of Nyclaxis, bright-haired and smooth talking, sometimes trouble, sometimes of help. It does not help that the longest poem that includes one of them is the Dragon Trick Tale, the humorous account of Da'am the Dancer and his dealings with an increasingly irate
Umbral Dragon who seeks his soul, only to finally be tricked into surrendering his own hide, supposedly the origin of the
Bile Dragons of Orv. The kayal in that tale eventually betrays his draconic master when Da'am gives him a better deal, but then a few verses earlier said dragon is stymied by getting a block of dwarfish flint-cheese stuck in its throat, so probably not the best place to be getting your information from.
"Will more devils come then, for the medallion or for you?" you ask instead a more practical question.
"I know many things, but the mind of devils is not among them," Sirim answers quickly and, you think, honestly.
What do you do?
[] Give him the medallion, it is uncommon enough to find even distant kin in these bright lands
[] Hold onto it until you reach land, it's not like Sirim has any use for the thing until them and then these contacts of his can pay you for holding on to it and dealing with the devil
[] Refuse, you don't trust him enough to keep secrets from Captain Caulker on his own ship
[] Write in
OOC: Enjoy. 
www.d20pfsrd.com
