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!
“Fek, where is it?“ Devin who was in his Biqaj totem at the moment wondered and started to frantically root through his vanity table, throwing brushes, combs, fake mustaches, makeup and similar things on the floor.
“I thought that I had put it in here!” he proclaimed before he knelt down on the floor, in front of the large chest that held the treasures that he had collected over the arcs. Glowing rocks, weapons and other things landed on the somewhat gaudy carpet in quick succession before he just grabbed the chest with both hands, upended it and shook it.
Nothing else tumbled out though.
“What exactly are you looking for?” his roommate Aidan asked him as he walked into Devin’s room and looked at the young Mortalborn with a mixture of unease and utter confusion.
“My self-totem!” Devin told him and turned to face him, a look of utter panic on his face, his eyes momentarily shimmering bright green. “I don’t know where I put it! If I can’t find it, I’ll never be able to change back again!”
He looked absolutely frightened as he said that.
In fact, Aidan had never seen him that frightened before.
“Calm down”, the student said and came closer. “I’m sure that it is somewhere around here. You changed into your Biqaj totem yesterday evening and you haven’t left the house since then, have you?” he asked and looked at the younger man questioningly.
Devin murmured something and avoided Aidan’s gaze.
“What did you just say?” Aidan asked and narrowed his eyes.
“I might have gone to the tavern when you were already asleep”, Devin admitted.
Aidan sighed.
“I’m pretty sure that I didn’t take it with me when I left though”, Devin quickly continued. “I’m just not sure where I put. Maybe …” he said, and his eyes widened in horror as something occurred to him. “Do you think that Heidi or the flunny have accidentally eaten it? Heidi eats everything! She even tried to eat the stuff in the trashcan once!”
Heidi was Devin’s pet goat that he had acquired during a trip to Desnind.
She was stupid, and she had an insatiable appetite.
Last edited by Devin on Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:47 am, edited 1 time in total. word count: 379
Appearance
Due to an encounter with a magical tree Devin has bright violet eyes.
Devin has fancy black claw-like nails. The Grafter Rakvald made them from the spines that grow on the dubaebo's back and attached them to Devin's hands.
Items
Devin owns a Ring of Reversal. He's always wearing it, unless stated otherwise.
“You know”, Aidan said as he knelt down in front of Devin’s bed in order to take a look under it. “I really like you, but sometimes I can’t help but doubt your sanity. What exactly did you do before you went to the tavern?” he asked as he extended a hand and felt the floor before he pulled a bag that was filled with what looked like dried beans out from under the bed and held it at arm’s length as if he didn’t trust it entirely.
“My Bug Beans!” Devin exclaimed, and his eyes lit up. “I knew that I had another bag of them somewhere!”
“No totem though?” he asked.
Aidan simply shook his head, and the two young men continued to search Devin’s room. While Aidan walked over to the shelf that didn’t only contain books, but also a lot of random knick-knacks, Devin opened his wardrobe and looked through his considerable clothing collection in order to check if he had accidentally put his totem into a pocket.
There was no totem though.
He had already begun to wonder if he should try to find the crazy Grafter Rakvald and ask him if he could restore his face with magic or just be a Biqaj from now on because color-changing eyes and pointed ears were kind of fun, and his totem did look rather nice (and silver blood was better than red blood) when Aidan suddenly let out a triumphant sound.
“Ha! Here it is!” he informed Devin and held out …
“What the fek is my totem doing in the cookie jar?” Devin asked and stared at the pendant that had been his left pinky toe once in confusion. “Why the fek did I put it in here? Aidan … can you get dementia when you are only in your twenties?” he asked.
“I don’t know”, the student replied and handed the totem to Devin. “You are the doctor!”
Last edited by Devin on Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:32 am, edited 1 time in total. word count: 331
Appearance
Due to an encounter with a magical tree Devin has bright violet eyes.
Devin has fancy black claw-like nails. The Grafter Rakvald made them from the spines that grow on the dubaebo's back and attached them to Devin's hands.
Items
Devin owns a Ring of Reversal. He's always wearing it, unless stated otherwise.
“Aren’t you going to change back?” Aidan asked a few bits later, when the two young men were sitting on the couch in Devin’s living room, two glasses that were filled with some sort of alcoholic beverage on the table in front of them because the return of Devin’s totem needed to be celebrated. “You were pretty desperate before”, he remarked.
“Nah”, Devin replied, grabbed his glass, casually draped an arm across the back of the couch and took a sip. “Now that I know that I can change back any time that I want to, it’s not that urgent anymore. Besides, I’m not in the mood for pain at the moment”, he asked, his voice momentarily a bit softer.
It was the first time that he had actually talked about the fact that the transformation was unpleasant. Aidan opened his mouth in order to ask a question as there were still a lot of things that he didn’t know about Becoming when Devin quickly continued as he really didn’t want to go into details about what was the only thing about Becoming that he didn’t like,
“I do wonder if I should try to eventually give my self-totem the eyes that this one has though. I already gave it pointed ears because pointed ears are better than round ears.”
When he heard that, Aidan simply looked at him, shaking his head slightly as he did so. Over the course of the previous couple of trials, the student had gotten somewhat used to seeing Devin in his new totem, but he still found it strange how casual that the thief was about magic most of the time and that he didn’t freak out every time he took a look at himself.
Did he really not mind that he was in a different body?
word count: 313
Appearance
Due to an encounter with a magical tree Devin has bright violet eyes.
Devin has fancy black claw-like nails. The Grafter Rakvald made them from the spines that grow on the dubaebo's back and attached them to Devin's hands.
Items
Devin owns a Ring of Reversal. He's always wearing it, unless stated otherwise.
“So, do you have any plans for to-trial?” Devin wanted to know a few moments later, changing the topic as there were some things that he didn’t even want to think about, drained his glass and looked at his roommate questioningly, raising an eyebrow slightly.
“Actually”, Aidan replied, smiling slightly. “I’m going to a meeting this evening. If you want to, you can come. It will be very interesting!” he said in such an enthusiastic tone that Devin couldn’t help but be curious about it.
“What kind of meeting is it?” he asked while he slipped the totem around his neck and tucked it into his shirt. Until he found a better place for it, keeping it on his body seemed to be the safest option.
He would take better care of his totems from now on!
“A meeting of the Intelligentsia”, Aidan replied, looking almost overly happy. “I met a man who was a member of that faction the other trial, and he said that I could join them next time. The Intelligentsia are a group of scholars whose goal it is to push the boundaries of science and knowledge. They conduct experiments and have debates!”
“Sounds …”, Devin began.
“… fascinating”, he finished upon seeing the hopeful look on Aidan’s face and smiled brightly.
“So, when will your meeting take place?” he wanted to know.
“At the eighteenth break”, Aidan replied. “Do you want to come? I’m sure that they won’t mind if I bring a member of the council – although said member of the council being a Biqaj all of a sudden might raise a couple of questions”, he remarked.
“Maybe I should change back then”, Devin mused.
Last edited by Devin on Sun Apr 05, 2020 10:21 am, edited 2 times in total. word count: 286
Appearance
Due to an encounter with a magical tree Devin has bright violet eyes.
Devin has fancy black claw-like nails. The Grafter Rakvald made them from the spines that grow on the dubaebo's back and attached them to Devin's hands.
Items
Devin owns a Ring of Reversal. He's always wearing it, unless stated otherwise.
A moment later, his eyes suddenly lit up. “On the other hand, there might be some things that the members of your Intelligentsia won’t talk about in the presence of the Academic. If you bring the Academic, they’ll probably act like a bunch of lickspittles.”
“If you bring your new Biqaj friend on the other hand, they might be honest and say what’s really on their mind!” he remarked, secretly congratulating himself on that great idea.
Aidan looked at him for a couple of moments, considering his words, before he nodded.
“Alright”, he finally decided, smiling slightly because it seemed like Devin was actually really starting to get excited about attending a meeting of scientists. He'd been hoping that he'd change his mind in regard to science for a while now. “Your idea actually has some merit. The council might actually benefit from it. We need a name for you though – and a story”, he remarked.
“Hmmm”, Devin murmured. “How about Karik? Or Zarik? Or Tarik? I’ll be Tarik for the time being”, he decided. “If my Biqaj name starts with a similar letter as my real name, it will be easier to remember. What shall I wear to the meeting, by the way?” he asked. “I’ve never attended a meeting of scholars and scientists before!”
“Something less gaudy than this here”, Aidan decided and looked at Devin’s outfit that was absolutely gaudy – because such outfits were mor or less in fashion at the moment.
“That nice dark blue suit that I saw when you searched your wardrobe will do”, he remarked.
word count: 270
Appearance
Due to an encounter with a magical tree Devin has bright violet eyes.
Devin has fancy black claw-like nails. The Grafter Rakvald made them from the spines that grow on the dubaebo's back and attached them to Devin's hands.
Items
Devin owns a Ring of Reversal. He's always wearing it, unless stated otherwise.
Oh my! This was an extremely fun threa even for being a Devin episode. (You should write this for TV, the popularity would be endless.) It's the first time I read about a sloppy becomer misplacing his self-totem and it feels typical that it was Deving doing it. I lauged out loud while reading about how they were turning everything upside down an inside out in their hunt for Devin's lost self (totem ... toe...) - and then he admitted that he had sneaked out to the pub the previous night! Finding it in the cookie jar ... the implications here...are hilalious!
