• PM To Join • The Crossroads

Get stalking, Volker

Once an isolated and dying township, an influx of academics, adventurers and thrill seekers have made Scalvoris Town their home. From scholars' tea shops to a new satellite campus for Viden Academy, this is an exciting place to visit or make your home!

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Rynata
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The Crossroads

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Arc 718, 13th of Ashan

Rynata reached over and dropped a silver nel into the till. The single coin jingled as it fell against others and the clerk gave an approving nod before resuming his loud hawking of the merchandise. Taking a copy of one of the newspapers on display she noted the large bold letters across the top designating the piece as published by The Cabin Boy. Unfolding it as she took her first few aimless steps away from the stand, she scanned the various headings, working her way through the maze of a format and trying to find any information about recent crimes as well as catch up on new information. Eyes turned down to the paper as she walked, her eye was caught on a particularly loud title. Academy responsible for multiple kidnappings?!

Stopping in her tracks, Rynata held up the paper in order to scrutinize it more closely. If that were true, that was a huge scandal. What with the incidents back in Cylus it was no wonder common folk felt they couldn't trust anyone to protect them. However, as she read on, she realized there were no concrete facts on the matter. The only things included were various anonymous comments voicing their suspicions about the establishment. Moreover, as she flipped on to the next few pages, other columns made it obvious that the writer had it out for the Viden Academy in general. In fact, most of the headings reeked the air of gossip and scandalous rumors. She was pretty sure that even in Almund there hadn't been that many drunken stabbings ending with mob justice. The Cabin Boy it seemed, was just an excitable gossip article written by an excitable author. She'd like to call it a waste of coin but she was still determined to at least get some of her money's worth. After all, though the articles were full of wild speculations it would never be called a boring read.

By now, Rynata had resumed her amble and had ended up emerging in a large open street. A lively market lined the corners and there was a fountain burbling in the center. Approaching the rim of the pool, she seated herself on the edge where she had a nice view of the square. Across from her was a small cafe and flower shop, selling early Ashan blooms. Wincing in sympathy at a particularly enthusiastic article about a council member's wife Rynata continued reading on her perch not quite ready to give up the trash article even though it had been utterly useless in her ultimate goal of finding out more about the smugglers.

-1SN
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Volker
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The Crossroads

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Cylus was fading and Volker couldn't be happier about that. The snow was melting and the sun was getting more of a hearing each day. He was well fed and somewhat pleased with his accommodations, as sleeping in the cart was always rough in the wintertime. When the weather truly became warm he could pull the tent away from it entirely and sleep peacefully under the stars without fear of rain or sleet. Even better, the thaw always coincided with an increase in prey. Children were old enough to go outside, people were more likely to stay out late at night, and the local stray cat and dog population had recovered. Volker's season of lean times was over.

He was settled near a fountain, washing his face in the icy water and shaking the last vestiges of sleep from his morning. He snorted and lifted his head. He would have a good season here...the cafes and flower shops didn't interest him but the citizens wandering about definitely did. He saw a few he'd keep in mind for later. Even if he wasn't hungry his Harvester was. The one thing Oor didn't like about Ashan was that he had to stay hidden more often. In the driving snow and wind the Harvester could appear as he was, walk alongside Volker, and speak to him openly without much interference. Or at least people would be more likely to question what they'd seen. Now that it was warm and people were out and about he had to hide...and he was in a foul mood.

The Harvester being in a bad mood was the worst. He was outrageously juvenile even when he was in a good mood. In a bad mood that just turned malicious. Oor waited for the girl reading the paper on the other end of the fountain to glance up. Just for a second. Then he appeared to her. A gray corpse with no eyes or lips, a dull red light shining through his ribcage where his heart should have been. In the split second he chose to appear, he made a false lunge at her. Hopefully enough to tip her into the fountain. His appearance was quick; a blink would have missed it.
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Rynata
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Someone in the square had called out a greeting to another, and Rynata had raised her head in mild curiosity. That was when she was faced with a sight so dreadfully out of place among the cheerful collection of shops. She swallowed her next breath as what could only be described as a disfigured corpse jumped into her vision. She thought it might have cracked a smiled at her, but it had no lips and frankly, she didn’t care, because next second it was lunging forward, gnarled limbs reaching.

Rynata’s instincts kicked her from disbelief and she dodged in the only direction she could at the moment. Backward. Still, even with the restricting nature of her surroundings and her own panic, luckily, she had the wherewithal to aim sideways. After all, a few steps backward was only another few steps forward for the creature as well. Breaking her fall into the fountain with her arms, she scrambled away from the fixture. Loud splashes followed her movements until she freed herself from the awkward position.

“U’frek’s holy pants! What was that?!” She hadn’t even had the time to scream but now her alarm found its voice. Catching sight of an older man still standing by the fountain, Rynata made frantic beckoning motions. “Quick, quick! Get away from the fountain! You saw that, yes? Bogs, I don’t know where it went.”

However, other than her outburst, the rest of the square was still going about its way. A few took the time to give her disparaging looks before turning away, uninterested. Things seemed so normal in fact, that a group of children had trotted up to the fountain and were now mimicking her flailing backwards dive into the water. More worried for them than upset, Rynata was still balanced on the balls of her feet, expecting another attack. However, no one else suddenly turned pale, and nobody else tripped backwards from some unseen horror. Realizing she was still clutching the drenched newspaper like a shield, she slowly lowered her arms. Apparently, for all anyone else knew, she was just some poor madwoman.

“Sorry,” she said a little wearily to the man. “I must have...hm. Anyway, I think it’s fine now. I don’t usually demonstrate fine diving in public.”

She would have dismissed it as imagination, but it had all felt very real. Those close to her would be the first to claim that she had an imagination, but she’d never hallucinate anything like that. If it had to be imagination, why couldn’t it have been a more pleasant one? The hollow face from before swam around in her mind, and Rynata frowned, tugging at her soaked sleeves to try and wring them out.

“Yes, yes. Very funny,” she relented as she attempted to shoo the children away from the fountain. It might have been nothing, but she’d feel better if the small ones played somewhere else for a while.
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Volker
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Volker was startled out of his face bath by a woman launching herself sideways into the fountain. He snorted and narrowly avoided getting splished himself, glaring at her. Though it really wasn't her he was irritated with. Oor was misbehaving. Volker knew exactly what she'd seen. Oor used to scare him like that as a child when he'd refused to do something the spirit wanted.

"Do not fear it." he told the woman. "He does not like the warm weather. He is used to being out and about more. Hiding displeases him." He told her. Talk about an overreaction. Or perhaps he had been living with the Harvester too long. He was so used to Oor's ghastly appearance that such things amounted to making silly faces to him. "You were not hallucinating." he added, going back to washing his face and neck.

'I need to get you a sense of humor. That was hilarious. You didn't see her arms pinwheeling did you? That was pure gold.' Oor told him grumpily. The Harvester really wasn't liking not being able to get reactions out of people. He liked appearing next to Volker just to intimidate people. Here he couldn't do that, not in such a crowded street. He could pop in and out of visibility, but he couldn't interact as much as he liked. Volker likened it to cabin fever. Oor was a strangely social animal, and being constrained to Volker's often-silent, never-laughing self was a bit torturous.

"You have amused him. Perhaps he will be silent for a little while." Volker told the woman wringing out her sleeves.
'Well excuse me, wouldn't want to interrupt the beauty routine.' Oor sneered.
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Rynata
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“He?” Rynata repeated incredulously. She didn’t know which was stranger. That the man seemed to know of the horrifying apparition she had just faced, or that he spoke of it so casually and familiarly. From what she could gather, however, she had been caught in some prank. Since the man busy washing up in the fountain didn’t appear to be invested in such a thing, it must have been the doing of the creature he described as having a sentience of its own.

“Glad to, uh, have been the entertainment,” she said uncertainly, looking around for the disappeared phantom. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be described as benevolent. However, now that she could somewhat believe there had been no danger, Rynata could see the humor in its actions. She might have found it funnier had the prankster not appeared in a state of death and decay.

Regardless, the spirit, or the spirit creature, was quite interesting to run across. Now that she was close to running out of leads in the search of the nefarious group, Rynata couldn’t help but wonder if the creature had any insight on the matter. After all, many stories told of how mysterious creatures sometimes doled out useful information to those in need. She would not have wished to confront the undead looking thing alone, but oddly enough, the older man’s unworried demeanor gave her a little reassurance. Besides, he seemed to know his “companion” well enough.

“Your, uh friend,” Rynata began, turning to the only one who had properly acknowledged the scare. “Is he some kind of spirit? You two seem...well acquainted.” Hesitating a little, unsure if she was just grasping at final straws, she went on to ask about her current concerns. The smuggling group. From the conversations she had heard, things would not end well for at least one person should the criminal group be left to their own devices. “I wondered if he would know something about a person I’m looking for.” How to put this delicately? “I have reason to believe they may be planning something unsavory.”
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Volker
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Volker raised his head to look at her. He was used to the foul looks he got as a mage in Scalvoris. The inn had turned him out, claiming they didn't serve his 'kind'. He stabled his horse there, but only as long as he kept his interactions with them brief and handed them the maximum rate. People generally disliked him staying around in one place or another and often threatened him with the Elements. He hadn't expected her to interact with him beyond your typical politeness. Hello, goodbye and the like. Then again, judging by her question she didn't recognize a mage when she saw one.

Volker wiped off his face and stood up, approaching her. He didn't want to speak about this in public, especially not after Oor's little prank. Regardless of who had actually seen it he was starting to get a reputation. He looked at her blankly. Why would she ask about such a thing so loudly or even acknowledge that Oor existed? He pursed his lips and jerked his head toward a nearby alleyway. There was no way he was openly discussing his 'friend' in the middle of the square next to a water fountain. There were far too many people and Oor liked discussions about himself too much not to show up and preen like a peacock. He liked intimidating people. "You do not speak about such things in the open, woman." he admonished her in a low tone.

He headed into the alleyway and waited silently for her. If she followed him, he was more than happy to speak about such things. If not, he was content to wait until she made up her mind whether to do so or not. Oor was a parasite. He was a companion that Volker was stuck with for life due to a poor decision made by his sire. He'd honestly had no involvement becoming an Aberrant. It had been forced on him.

"Do you know anything about smugglers?" he asked out of curiosity.

'A little bit. I've watched a lot of them. Your father had some dealings with them. They liked someone who could summon scary looking things on command. And me, as the scary looking thing, earned us a lot of nels doing it.'


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Rynata
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The man gave her a strange look before his face darkened, admonishing her for her less than discreet behavior. Still, Rynata had had very few dealings with sensitive material. She was still under the impression that everything existed under the sun. So when the man walked off, she at first thought that she might have offended him and that he would have nothing more to do with her. After all, she had demonstrated some painfully embarrassing behavior beforehand. However, the man stopped a distance away and turned back to where she stood. It seemed he was willing to carry on the conversation, but as he said, not in the open. She could see his figure partially obscured in one of the smaller alleyways connecting the square to various side streets.

‘Bad idea, Ki’Oriq’. It was almost as if a tiny voice tugged on her sleeve, digging its feet in, determined to tug her away from the obscured street. It was no use, however. Rynata wanted answers. She didn’t need to be reminded of the potential risk as she lightly stepped over to the alley. She cautiously entered, keeping her eyes trained on the man with the creature. ‘Keep light on your feet and be friendly as always’, she thought to herself. That at least, she was good at.

“So,” she started again, wearing the hint of a smile. This time she spoke more clearly. The man seemed familiar with the world in which these questions were asked. “Would you or your companion know anything of smugglers? I believe they’re based off of Egilrun. To make a long story short, I had a run-in with them a while back and now I’m rather disagreable to their activities.”
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Whisper
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The Crossroads

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Rynata


Awarded Points

15
These points can/cannot be spent in magic


Awarded Knowledge

Rhetoric: Eye catching slander
Intelligence: Identifying lack of supporting evidence
Intelligence: Collecting information from individual sources
Investigation: Interviewing potential sources of information
Acrobatics: Dodging a lunging attack
Acrobatics: Breaking a fall with one's arms
Socialization: Recovery from an awkward introduction
Tactics: Be friendly but ready for anything
Stealth: Conversing away from prying eyes and ears

Location: Scalvoris Town, The Cabin Boy
Location: The Cabin Boy, prints rubbish


Awarded Extras

Loot & Losses Injuries
None None
Renown Devotion
None None
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Volker


Awarded Points

15
These points can/cannot be spent in magic


Awarded Knowledge

None


Awarded Extras

Loot & Losses Injuries
None None
Renown Devotion
None None
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Comments

Gossip about the Academy?! Oh no! Haha! This was a well written thread, from both of you. I went through a fair few emotions, which is always a good sign, as a reader :)

Volker, when I find your review, I will add your Knowledge to them, thanks!


If you have any questions, comments or criticism about your review, feel free to send me a PM and we can discuss it.
Thank ye.
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