Description

In Rivers Of Astrum: Daughter Of Darkness, Kimberly Ashmoore has survived by staying unseen in a city that never wanted her. Left on the streets of the pirate-run island town of Cliffperch at just three years old, she has never learned why her parents abandoned her or what became of them. Growing up among dark alleys and hidden corners, she mastered stealth, sleight of hand, and pickpocketing to keep herself fed. Now a young woman, she faces a new threat: troubling dark visions have begun to haunt her, and the only home she has ever known no longer feels safe. Kimberly’s talent for theft has earned her a permanent bounty from the town guard, yet no victim has ever caught her in the act. Without a face to put on their wanted posters, the people of Cliffperch know her only as “The Umbral Hand,” a mysterious thief worth seven thousand Kartisian Crowns. Her skills have helped her do more than survive, but her promise to quit once she had “enough” has proved difficult to keep. To Kim, a lifetime spent earning something the proper way makes little sense when she could steal it in a single night. Only a truly enormous fortune could make an ordinary life seem worthwhile—and give her the means to leave. Always listening for her next big score, Kim turns to the Well of Whispers, an information network stretching across the city that sells its secrets to anyone who can pay. Its latest lead promises a potential motherlode: a treasure of immeasurable value, lost aboard a ship that sank just off the coast during a vicious storm. If the rumors are true, the wreck holds enough wealth to secure a fortune for generations. With a long walk ahead to the beaches of the Queen’s Coast, where the ship reportedly went down, Kimberly wakes to prepare for her journey. What begins as a search for escape will draw her into an unforeseen tide of destiny, changing her forever—though whether for better or worse remains to be seen.