Guts: Dara's family performed in his village frequently before its destruction.  It was destroyed before Dara was born, but her father and Gut's father were adventurers together in their youth before returning to their own villages.<br/><br/>Zame: The Thieves' Guild of Amn had a pact with the Carnival of Shadows two years ago.  Dara was unwittingly aiding in the assassination of a Mithril-Tiered guild leader and his family; they had box-seats at a carnival performance.  Zame's father was at that performance, and saw Dara perform; in fact, he would have even been able to stop the assassination if not for Dara's interference-- Eol would not strike her, for she was but a girl, an acrobat who insistently hounded him with her distracting performance, displaying wiles and intentions far beyond what her years should have known.  Eol, in fact, attempted to help her, for he was fully aware of the Carnival of Shadows' true purposes, and warned her that her masters dabbled in demonology and were rumored to hold pacts with true evil... he even planted the seed of dissent in her mind that would eventually turn her against the carnival and lead her to betray them to the Raven Queen's enforcers.<br/><br/>Valorie: As a young girl, Dara had strange dreams of a woman warrior's death-- it was subtly different each of the twenty times she had it... it was a dream punctuated by tears and cold sweats at some times, by comfort at others, by sleepwalking others and intertwined at still more with childhood fascinations-- colorful birds, comets and falling stars, the talk of the elders, the laughs of her sisters, the music of the firelight circles they hosted for every celebration.  Those dreams passed when, two weeks before she was kidnapped, she awoke before dawn to find herself standing, naked, in her father's wagon-- a trunk was open, filled with piecemeal armor-- studded gauntlets, helms, visors, facets-- and at the bottom, a single gauntlet that, though dusty and in dire need of polishing, was somehow different than the others.  She slept with that gauntlet as girls her age might clutch a doll for three nights, then-- when the gypsy folk passed through a rural village, she felt compelled to place it into the hands of a traveling merchant.  It felt dear to her, and parting with it hurt her deeply somehow, but she knew it must be and she passed it along for a handful of copper coins.  The dream returns to her infrequently now, but still varies slightly each time.<br/><br/>Varis: During her travels to this village, Dara met Alana by chance; still a cleric of the church, Alana was assigned among the unit dispatched to escort the Raven Queen emissaries through the outskirts of Neverwinter-- and, of course, assigned to ensure that the Death Queen's followers did not outstay their welcome.  Dara had a converation with Alana, and Alana observed that the dark young girl was unlike her fellow travelers-- not just from the lack of armory, but in her demeanor and the look of her eyes.  They discussed the philosophies of their gods' teachings, parted ways under good circumstance, but Dara made one observation before they parted ways: "You, too, are lost," she said softly as they rode nearby.  Dara held the young woman's hand for just a moment, whispered a blessing in the old tongue she heard from the elders of her youth.  "<i>May the old spirits find you always and lead you to your rest,</i>she said.<br/><br/>