You don't visit the Seeker's Lodge that often considering all of the recent training and your own downtime. But at some point during this month, it is assumed you go at least once.
One of the senior members tells you that there is a woman who has travelled some distance to see you, but will only meet you here at the Seeker's Lodge, not about town or at the Manor. You don't meet her there and then, but the senior member is able to set up a date and time. Considering the folk that hang out at the Lodge, it's as safe a place as any and would suit a new party as a good neutral environment. To that end you it's likely you would go.
One of the senior members of the lodge sits in on the meeting as witness. You don't detect evil, and as a sign of trust for all parties,
zone of truth is cast by the witness.
"Mr. Wavebreaker, my name is Dragica Ohme, and I am the legal executor for one deceased Mr. Darrius Cross, here to provide you with the only thing known of that he had left behind along with what appears to have been a suicide note."
She cuts off the likely question.
"He actually had several small holdings and a couple ships, but bad times, failed voyages, and poor business sense cost him his small fortune. It was rumored he had some side project that was the cause of his final ruin. Pity. They say he was always canny in figuring out what would happen next. The curse of the fortuneteller, I guess ... relying too heavily on the cloud of the changeable future.
"Anyway, here are the items. The note, and this."
She sets forth a wax-sealed parchment rolled in a black ribbon, but the whole looks a little worse for wear. The other item is some roughly long, not-quite cylindrical object wrapped fully in felt. She hands you the note first. The cheap wax seal is that of a simple cross super-imposed over a 'D'.
Darrius,
I have been watching you for some time, and I know you have been looking for me. I am sorry for not having responded sooner, but if I had, it would have been too late.
I am proud of what you are about to do. I knew the current Lady Vanderboren's parents, having travelled with them briefly. Fine folk, less so their son. Regardless of your talents, a noble patron is always a good thing. Breaking the Lotus Dragons guild, and then striking into Kraken's Cove to learn what will truly shape your destiny.
You have chosen your path well, keeping within Destiny's realm, keeping pure your heart, and yet enjoying what is free will as well ... fates do change. You never knew what my combat skill was based upon, and yet intuitively you will have chosen the path divergently set by Hleidson; his is the path of feral power, but yours is the realm of stealth and focus. I saw you adopt your shadow dragon heritage while remaining pure - Good's dark avenger - and that you would include study of the Sublime much as I did. I focused on Shadow Hand and Diamond much as you will have begun.
Vanthus' treachery, Kraken's Cove, your leanings towards my religious affiliation with Procan, and the voyage - even as you read at the knowledge of my passing on - you have decided to undertake with your brothers-in-arms, these are all part of a greater horror that you must undertake to learn yourself. I hid from you my powerful psychic abilities as a seer, and it has cost me dearly. By peering into the future before it has unfolded, horrors and dread multiply because I had not yet readied for it.
So, you must ready for it. When my mind suffered what was seen by my spirit, I knew that my time in this world could no longer be. I have put all of my being, my self, my knowledge, my creativity, and spirit into Nighteater. He is my final gift to you. It is a part of me. Just as your friends share in your destiny and are tied to objects of power so, too, are you and Nighteater. Do not feel that 'he' must always be used, but is always there when most you need him.
As for me, the world shall see me no longer after this letter. I shall finish myself and my body will be gone, blasted without a trace. Nothing will be left for resurrections or the like. No ability to contact my spirit will be possible. I am ready for another kind of life, and in passing on, I will have become another, as is the way with all sentients.
Don't let Shadow Hand rule you like I fought with it. Your heritage will make it tougher for you. Remember the power of Good that channels through you and seek that balance. Procan and the gods speed you on this marvelous and glorious journey.
These are the final words of Darrius Cross, his will having already been submitted to Ohme, Ohme, and Harrier, Esq.
Darrius Cross,
17 Planting 587 CY
By the way, the current year is 589 CY.
Unrolling the wrapped and folded black velvet, you see a short sword of a somewhat darker hue, but overall it appears to be a normal short sword. By normal, it doesn't even appear to be masterwork. The pommel is diamond-shaped. There are a pair of black hands, barely visible, etched on the underside of the blade at the medium (mid-blade). The maker's mark (also the underside of the blade) is the same cross-on-a-D as the wax seal.
As soon as you pick it up, you instantly recognize it for what it is .... instinctively, though the adornments on a "mundane" short sword help you. It is a
+1 Diamond Mind Shadow Hand short sword. (See, ToB, p 148-9 for a description.)