Centermost Caliginous Heart III

Stronghold of education and learning, this fortress is in one of the coldest areas of Idalos and home to many knowledge seekers in a variety of disciplines. However, unknown to most, below the city are those who suffer for the sake of science. While all are welcome, not everyone will be treated as they expect.

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Sybil Malach
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Re: Centermost Caliginous Heart III

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Saun 08th, 719

"Then the bear wasn't where they were, or they didn't have this sort of creature in their ranks. ... But it doesn't make sense, from what I read, for no experiments in that field to be done." Their shoulders roll, as they slowly begin to move, hands folded over their torso, simply pacing about the room, in a light amount of thought that brought a constant haze across their system, "But we can't just make a decision like that based on one animal that was dealt with seasons ago, either. ... For all we knew, they could've moved in that time. Or, once they get this information, start to move now."

Their eyes went sidelong, as Wald started puking up his food into the chamberpot. Taking a deep, but measured breath, the exorcist manages to suppress their disgust at the sight before them, and simply close their eyes, shaking their head. It wasn't clear what it was that they were thinking, but it was something that bordered on repeating the same set of phrases just to not repeat what they had seen. Though to be fair, after burning a man alive, and talking about parasites and illness, it wouldn't be too far from reality to imagine him getting sick from that.

Allowing their arms to fall to their sides, Sybil's mind slowly began to return to the root of thought, continuing to path a way through this dizzying spiral that was becoming more and more like a conspiracy, rather than simply a group of miscreants, "That's something I won't be able to help with. But, at the end of the day, that gives us something to start off with. I could start pulling strings with my contacts, trying to learn of any sort of client buying slaves... And given their trade, it'd likely be cheap slaves, wouldn't it?"
word count: 321
"No mass graves."

-Vri 720, scolding Sybil for disposing of necromancers.

NPCs: Karlsson, Margaret
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Wald Lowca
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Re: Centermost Caliginous Heart III


Wald wiped his mouth, and looks around slowly shaking his head. "I am fine." Wald reassured the student, though it seemed they were busy not doing the same as Wald.

Wald fell back taking slow breaths. "Yes, cheap slaves, like the one you bought right?" Wald looked towards the student. "Do you remember the other people who wanted to buy Zemos?" Wald slowly sat back up, kicking the pot slowly to push it under the bed. "Zemos was the perfect buy for such a group. It is doubtful he would even question the dead that surrounded him with his mental state." Wald made his way back to where he was going to sleep. "Do you remember who wanted to buy him? They could be a led to the group, though it is uncertain to say the least." Wald sat back down, his legs crossed as he looked towards the closed window. "You may of saved him from being a walking cadaver Sybil, and I am sorry for being angry at you for that, I know you had your reasons." Wald apologized once again to Sybil.

Wald slowly thought over things, if he did not go out that night when he did. Would they have another place to search? Was it right for him to destroy that camp the way he did? Wald shook his head.

Looking back to Sybil, Wald spoke softly. "We will continue forward with the assumption that they have the creature that spreads diseases." Wald slowly tapped on the ground, and sighed softly. "So I will have to whole sale slaughter the animals in the area, if the creature is found as well." This motion did set a pit in Wald's stomach, as killing and animal was fine when it came to food. But doing it on this scale only to keep them from spreading a disease. It made him feel like a monster, just for even thinking of that option, but it was the only way to keep the forest healthy as well.
word count: 338
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Sybil Malach
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Re: Centermost Caliginous Heart III

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Saun 08th, 719

What was being considered...

There would be an innate issue of the native wildlife having to be culled. Bodies would have to be burned, decomposers likely having to be culled as well. What Wald was suggesting was an undertaking that the exorcist hadn't considered. While they were sure of the human loss associated with this, there was always the issue of nature, lying just beneath. The secondary causes of pain and suffering. Sybil was uncertain of the properties that the creatures themselves held, and what sort of sickness they possessed. All they really knew... Was that disease could be spread.

"When I bought Zemos... There was a single woman. Very few seemed interested in him, most of them annoyed by the concept of having to train a slave to do very basic tasks. Yet, she put the starting bid on him, since he was being sold for so cheap." They finally folded their arms over their torso. Now this... This was making them sick to their stomach. Certain dots were starting to be put together. Eyes glancing to the side, towards the man, as they slowly blink, unseen cogs turning, "She surrendered the bidding war the moment that I put a bid higher than her. Stepped back and vanished."

An upnod is given, though, as Wald makes it clear that he's fine, "... That's good to hear. I figure that at this point if something is wrong, that you'd tell me. ... And I know that you enjoy your privacy, so I try not to ask about your health, too much..."

Sitting back on the chair, pinching their nose, their eyes close. It's like, in that moment, that they realized something was wrong, "I don't remember anything about her. She was wearing a cloak, and... ... I don't know. I'd probably remember her better, if she was just... I don't know. If I heard her voice again. But it was so long ago..."
word count: 332
"No mass graves."

-Vri 720, scolding Sybil for disposing of necromancers.

NPCs: Karlsson, Margaret
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Wald Lowca
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Re: Centermost Caliginous Heart III


Wald shook his head, and stretched his arms out. "It is not your fault, it is mine Sybil." Wald began to pop each of his fingers, as he took things slow. "You were raised not to look for danger, or features wherever things could be. You did not have the instinct to memorize small details of things." Wald looked to the student. "You have been a student, you were not meant to worry about small details." Wald's life on the other hand, he had learned to watch every detail. A broken stick on the ground could mean death was ahead. A slight change in humidity, freezing in a blizzard. A single dropping on the ground, food for another day. Wald kept details in mind, not letting things slip from him. But the student was not like that, they only worried over few things.

Taking a short breath, Wald closed his eyes imagining his animals next to him. This would help him relax just a little more. "Hok should have a Slave market, correct?" Wald said softly. "We can search for information there, if not question the people who buy the cheaper slaves." Wald laughed. "Well more of following them, then questioning. If that is a proper trail, then we have our source of bodies." Wald got up quickly to a stand. "Sybil!" Wald walked right to the student, feeling their sides and checking their arms. "It could work..." Wald thought over his idea, but his thoughts pushed back on the plan. "No, it is to dangerous for you, never mind."
word count: 261
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Sybil Malach
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Re: Centermost Caliginous Heart III

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Saun 08th, 719

In that moment, once Wald grasped at them, Sybil knew what he was trying to get at, before suppressing himself.

"... While the thought might be a decent one, Wald... That wouldn't be something that would even slightly be able to be considered, in my case." The exorcist's head cants to the side, the man's hands were far warmer than their own body. Mostly in part due to a lack of proper nutrition. Yet, they allow him to check their body like cattle. To Sybil, it was a practical suggestion, but one that they couldn't deliver on in any meaningful sense, "If I were to do that, I would have to renounce my education in the Academy. Even cheap slaves need legal identification."

Knitting their lips to the side, Sybil could only manage a weak grimace, at what that entailed in its entirety. Their eyes slowly blinked, before closing, "Regardless... I'm a piss poor liar. The minute they start asking questions, if they even started asking questions, the ruse would be up. ... And if they were hesitant to use my body for their intentions, they would most certainly not hang onto me for long." They say, with somewhat ease, when dealing with the subject of a slow death at the hands of those that would sooner defile corpses than help people.

"... But yes. Any decent center of population should have them." They consider their words for a moment, before returning their head from the cant, into something more comfortable, "At least, in more civilized lands. Some places, I've heard, have started to become far more lax... And simply allowing their people to walk over their governments."
word count: 284
"No mass graves."

-Vri 720, scolding Sybil for disposing of necromancers.

NPCs: Karlsson, Margaret
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Wald Lowca
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Re: Centermost Caliginous Heart III


Wald sat down once again, taking in for a moment. "Right, and we can not use myself. As I look as though I can do work in fields or other places." The only reason Wald considered using Sybil like that was because Wald could track Sybil no mater where they went. Wald's body may look as though it is scared and beaten, but that was not something to decrease a worth of a man. "The fact I can track you across a very large distance, that and Ylfa can follow the very same scent. Though, you are right."

Laying back down, Wald gave a soft sigh. "So it seems we are going to Hok. Do you have any friends there?" Wald asked this only half into the conversation at this point, as his thoughts were on how he just suggested to use Sybil as bait again. The logic was sound, but the emotional toll still hit the hunter. Wald slowly placed the sheets on himself. "The case being, we have a long travel ahead of us, but at least we know where to start looking." Wald laid across the cold hard floor, it was close to what he was use to. Though it did not have the slight give dirt would have. There was no digging into a flooring. "We will be traveling with Ari as well, so I will have to make sure he is alright as he is not fully socialized with multiple people." Wald said this as he stared into the wall.
word count: 256
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Sybil Malach
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Re: Centermost Caliginous Heart III

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Saun 08th, 719

Shifting their way towards one of the beds that they had claimed, their eyes simply half lid, as their mind squirms in thought. The way forward was paving itself very clearly, but the simple fact of the matter was that this was all still in the air. Sybil simply leans back, their mind trying to ease itself, as their gaze shifts to the ceiling. There was no positive conclusion to this: either people were being bribed in positions in which were entrusted with a ton of power, or slaves were being sold for outwardly illegal means, due to their ineptitude.

"Afraid that Hok's out of my usual scope. I know someone that was from there, but not really anyone that lived their for any amount of time." Came their answer, a slow sigh escaping their chest from the reality that they were lacking contacts in that area. Nestling their back against the bed itself, "Have you been there yourself? Well, not to the actual town, but the wilderness around it? ... Because I don't think I'd fully be much help in finding where it's at, regardless... Know where it's at on a map, but not quite... Really, where it is."

Glancing up towards Wald, Sybil cants their head to the side, but it's not long before they spread their arms towards the hunter, "... Can I have a hug? ... I'm cold." They murmur out. The brief break in the conversation, perhaps, more to keep Sybil's mind from hyperfocusing without coming up with anything.
word count: 262
"No mass graves."

-Vri 720, scolding Sybil for disposing of necromancers.

NPCs: Karlsson, Margaret
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Wald Lowca
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Re: Centermost Caliginous Heart III


Wald gave a soft sigh as he started to relax again, in his small nest he made on the floor. The fact that Sybil did not have any friends in Hok could cause issue, though getting there would not be so hard. "I have been down most of the roads around Viden. I will be able to get us there without much issue." Wald stretched out and curled up on the floor.

Then something caught the hunter's ear, Sybil asked for something. A hug? Wald slowly got up, looking towards the student who had their arms stretched out. Wald had a slight amount of confusion at the sight, though he got up from his little spot. "Cold, right... Sorry." Wald moved to Sybil, his arms slowly wrapped around the student's neck. His hands softly moved down the student's hair, petting the student, the same as he would his animals. The movements were slow and gentle, similar to how a parent would for their child. Leaning his chin on top of the student's head, a soft hum came from his throat.

Wald was careful not to let his nails scratch against the student, though his fingers did moved across Sybil's head letting their hair go between the hunter's fingers. The soft humming turned into gentle words, spoken in a soft rhyme. He knew the student may have been cold, but they also knew the student was stressed out. So the hunter did the same thing he did for his horse, every time she would have a night terror. Gently Wald helped the student relax so they could fall asleep easier.
word count: 275
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Sybil Malach
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Re: Centermost Caliginous Heart III

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Saun 08th, 719

Sybil's eyes slowly close, as the man pulls them in, like some sort of ragdoll. Their body, in fact, was rather cold to the touch. Not exactly something worrying in on itself, but it was present enough that the discomfort they were likely feeling was from the cold stemming from their body. Letting out a slight breath, their arms wrap around one of Wald's hugging it down the midline of their body. Essentially, using the man's arm as though it were a pillow against their front. Letting out a soft sight of relief, Sybil's eyes slowly flutter closed, but not entirely so, as to not lull into sleep, just yet.

"... Do you think that this would all be worth it, at the end of the day?" They finally ask. It was a question that was lingering in Sybil's mind for a very long time. Nestling in against the newly offered warmth, the exorcist simply allows their eyes to close, getting comfortable, "Chances are... We're going to be reviled by some people, for what we're about to do. No amount of reasoning is going to sway them from one direction to the other. ... And I'm uncertain on how loud they're going to be, this time around." Their admission was simple: No matter what, the two would be looked on with immense scrutiny, for backing out, or continuing on.

It would be easy to run. That was the simple fact of the matter. It would be beyond simple to just walk home, and never speak of this again. There was no telling how long this had been going on, and chances are, no one would uncover it, if it was something that just continued forth at the pace it did, until it was too late. ... Though Sybil was certain that this was the right course of action...

The stupidity of man ran deep.
word count: 323
"No mass graves."

-Vri 720, scolding Sybil for disposing of necromancers.

NPCs: Karlsson, Margaret
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Wald Lowca
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Re: Centermost Caliginous Heart III


Wald softly held the student, as they spoke to him. The student was uncertain of many things about this, they seemed to be doubting their own actions. "Sybil..." Wald said softly, as his hand rubbed against the student's back. "The worth of these actions are not up to any one being." Wald tried to get slightly comfortable on the bed, though it was difficult of the man. "I can not pass judgment on your actions, though it is up to you, if you can live with allowing the innocent to continue suffering. When you could take action to stop the injustice." Wald pet the student's hair softly down their back. "I am here to protect you, my actions will be an extension of your own." Wald did not care about the people, he only cared for his family, and their safety. If Sybil did not take action against the necromancers then they would be safe, and Wald would have no reason to attack the group. It was not like the slavers from before, where they had harmed Sybil. Wald had gotten his revenge on the one who wanted to hurt his family.

Wald allowed the student to hold on for as long as they needed. "You should rest, as we are going to have a long travel ahead of us, Sybil." Wald's voice was soft, as he softly tried to sooth Sybil into a resting state. Not forcing the student to lay down, nor letting go of the student. Wald was there for Sybil, if that meant being their pillow for a while longer, then it would be the case. If that meant helping the student with their mind, he would do his best.
word count: 287
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