I wasn't really much of anybody. I wasn't part of the guild, I wasn't a clerk for one of the merchants, and I didn't know nearly enough maths to work for any of the bankers or lenders. I did odd jobs around the docks: hauling cargo, which I wasn't especially good at; cleaning and repairing ships in dry-dock, where I wasn't good but I was persistent; painting and lacquering and carrying messages, which were all things at which I did fine -- but none of them paid well.
To put it simply, I was eking out a living, and there was a girl... a woman, really. Gods, she was beautiful: smart, quick, and sharp. I could barely keep up with her, and I liked that.
She wasn't... she wasn't unkind. She let me down gently. By then she was working as a clerk for one of the merchants, so she could afford to take me out to eat. She told me that, well, she admired my willingness to work, but she needed a partner with better prospects than I had to offer. I mean, what could I say? She was right. She deserved better than me. Or... No, that's not quite right. But to get where she meant to go, she needed someone who could get her there, and I couldn't do that.
The corpse-pits aren't the only way into the tunnels. You can ask around, or search around, and find others. I didn't see my prospects changing any time soon, so that was what I did. I took a lamp, and some food, and I went down. No, I wasn't dead... but I might as well have been, for all the good I was doing in the world.
They found me, of course. Offered to guide me back up, at first. I didn't yet know it, but this was the Liverscar pack. Told them no, I didn't want to go back. So they gave me two more options: they could leave me to starve, and then devour my corpse; or they could make me one of them.
I guess you know which one I chose.
We aren't entirely like other ghouls. I was bitten, and several times to make sure. Then... No, I can't tell you that part. Not yet. But I became part of the clan, and after a while some of the others started asking me about what I might like to do to contribute, beyond simply consuming the dead and the remnants of their deaths. I asked if I could go back to the surface -- I was always better at being quiet and clever than strong or magical or whatever else.
So they set me to a particular diet, one designed to adjust me to what I am now: a Stalker, capable of returning to a mortal appearance, assisting the clan with subtlety and stealth. We're the only ones who regularly venture up from the tunnels, the only ones who can take on a living form, and the by far the best at ambush and surprise. We keep an eye on the surfacers, like I am with you.
The woman? Nathalia? She married up. He was a fellow clerk, but he's been good to her and risen to a manager. Their oldest child is expecting her first child at this point, and they're well settled. Mostly, I'm happy for her. I only get jealous every once in a while. It would have been nice to have that life...
...But I have more important things to do.
