• Solo • Beula? Beula? Beula?

Oram goes to Darbyton to make certain inquiries.

Darbyton is a well established little village, most of the inhabitants are quick to point out that they were the first proper settlement in Scalvoris history. Although primarily focused on logging, enough hunting and trapping goes on to largely fulfil their own food needs and almost every home regularly grows bean sprouts to help make sure nutritional needs are met. Between that and spruce tips and the like, very little is imported, which fits in with the nature of the people who live here.

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Oram Mednix
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Beula? Beula? Beula?

26 Ymiden 721
26 Ymiden 721

continued from here

The break was late afternoon, and the sun was well down in the western sky, so that Oram had to keep his hat low and his eyes on the road to avoid being dazzled. As a result, he was nearly upon Darbyton before he finally noted its first buildings. The traveler had seldom come here, notwithstanding its closeness to Scalvoris, and that he had been with the Rangers a good two seasons. This would, in fact, be only his second visit to the Ranger Headquarters since joining, and he was anxious as to whether he would even remember the way.

He need not have worried; it was one of the most prominent places in the settlement, near the water not far off the Felltree Run. Still, he felt relief when he beheld its rough-hewn timbers, and he allowed himself a sigh as he dismounted Mule to lead him to a hitching post well within the shade of the building’s ground level. That shade, afforded by the bulk of the structure overhead, was cool, a welcome relief from the long, hot road. Thanks to his connection with Faldrass, Oram was not strongly affected by the heat, yet he had still experienced a feeling of stifling monotony beneath the unbroken Ymiden glare.

A couple Rangers lounged there, leaning against the building's huge support timbers, and they nodded to the traveler neutrally as he clove-hitched Mule to a beam. Perhaps they recognized him or perhaps not; he did not immediately recognize any of them. When he asked them if Elliott was in, they shrugged. ”He’s around,” one of them responded, ”but I couldn’t say what he was up to, or if he’ll see visitors.” Nodding his acknowledgment, Oram continued up the stairs that led to the veranda surrounding the first storey.

He removed his hat and fanned himself with it once he reached the top, taking a second to look out over the railing at Darbyton before ducking into the even more deeply-shaded interior. The Ranger Headquarters still bore signs of the organization's past associations with the Logging Consortium, one of which was the skill of its construction and woodwork. It managed to be airy and cool in the summer, without being too drafty and cold in the winter.

Oram did not wait once inside to be shown to the Chief Ranger, nor did anybody hinder him on his errand once he had identified himself. He found Elliott quickly enough, sitting at a desk reading reports. The man frowned upon seeing Oram Not because he was upset that the traveler had barged in without having an appointment -such formalities did not interest the Chief Ranger much, and the reports he had been reading had been dull. No, he frowned because he could tell that Oram had not come with pleasant news.

”Oram,” he greeted laconically. ”This is a surprise. What brings you to Darbyton?”

The hunter gestured towards the door, mutely asking if he should close it. Elliott’s frown deepened, but he nodded. After Oram shut the door, he turned and approached Elliott’s desk. Leaning forward as close as respect allowed, he quietly announced: ”It’s Pattis.”
Last edited by Oram Mednix on Sun Aug 29, 2021 1:45 am, edited 4 times in total. word count: 544
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Re: Beula? Beula? Beula?

Pattis snake, Pattis snake, traitor man.

Elliott looked blankly at his visitor for a few trills, and Oram realized he hadn’t provided any sort of context for his announcement. He opened his mouth to do so, but by then, the Chief Ranger seemed to have pieced it together. He gestured the hunter to have a seat, while he sat back down himself, looking suddenly pensive.

The silence dragged on for a few more breaths before Elliott quietly intoned: ”Pattis, eh?” He frowned and scratched his chin. ”I know that he tried to invite himself on your scouting trip along those northern dunes a while ago.”

”I gave him the slip at a crossing,” Oram answered.

Elliott, who already knew that part of the story, gestured impatiently. ”Right, right. Yes. So…what else is he up to? How did you work out that ‘it’ is Pattis? Come to think of it, what exactly is ‘it’?”

Oram had spent the last trial or so of his ride to Darbyton composing his summary. He took a breath and launched into it, starting at the beginning, with the rumors of mysterious disappearances and happenings at the Ranger compound, and with the flier from the Egilrun Workshop for Women’s Worries. Elliott nodded and muttered, ”Good job, Jim.”

He looked up at Oram and said more loudly: ”You did well to take that seriously, and to offer to meet with these…good ladies of Egilrun. And greater outreach and transparency *is* needed. We are newcomers in Egilrun, a novel presence, an ‘x’ factor.”

He smirked and caught himself, waving off the rest of that train of thought dismissively. ”…and any number of other synonyms, I’m sure. I would also suggest that you have some meetings with the Harbor Master, maybe even have some meetings with him and the Elements, or the Order or something.”

”Jim is already working extensively with the harbor master,” Oram pointed out. Elliott seemed to anticipate that response.

”Yes,” the Chief Ranger countered. ”But I meant that *you* should meet more with the harbor master. Publicly. Jim’s doing good work, but to a jaundiced outsider, I suspect it all looks secretive and possibly suspicious. You’re doing well with the Elements and the Order, by all accounts; that’s a ‘sustain’. Your interaction with customs is more of a ‘needs improvement’, at least when it comes to transparency and public perception.”

Oram thought a bit, then shrugged. He could figure out *how* he was supposed to do what Elliott was suggesting later. The Chief Ranger indicated for him to continue.

Next, the traveler told about his meeting with EWWW (the unofficial acronym got a snort out of Elliott). He seemed impressed by Oram’s decision to scout the place out early, and bent forward with intent interest when he got to the bit about seeing Pattis leave the Dustin house. ”Did you see where he went from there?” Elliott asked. Oram shook his head.

”Only a general direction. He headed deeper into town rather than along the most obvious route back to the headquarters. He might’ve just been going for a drink for all I know.”

Elliott thought a bit, then decided to let it go. ”Continue,” he prompted.

Oram took another deep breath and went into his description of the meeting. When he started to detail the women who were present, Elliot held up a hand. ”This isn’t a debriefing,” he said. ”You did that already with Jim, right?”

Oram nodded in agreement. ”And Hop. That night.”

”Well done. Anyway, just give me the summary.”

Oram did just that. Told that way, the story was appallingly short, and a bit grim-sounding. Elliott pursed his lips.

”You probably handled that as well as could be expected, though one might wish for a better outcome. Going forward, you’ll need to hone your political and people skills a bit.”

The hunter nodded once more, this time in concession.
word count: 662
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Re: Beula? Beula? Beula?

…and stay out!!

A long silence followed. Neither man was quite sure where the information Oram had justs shared left things. After a bit (it may or may not literally have been a bit), Elliott said: ”So, what else are you planning to do while you’re here in Darbyton? And what do you plan to do next after that?”

The traveler, after musing a bit, looked up at the Chief Ranger: ”Well, I was going to inquire more about Pattis while I was here, his background and such, since he came from here…”

Elliott was shaking his head -quite emphatically, in fact. ”You don’t have cover to do that,” he stated. ”I do. Let me take care of that end.”

He had a point, but Oram pressed. ”Is there at least something you can tell me about him?”

Elliott shrugged. ”Not a lot, though that little might be useful. He came to us from the Logging Consortium. A friend of the Sherapos, I think, kinda like Beula Donalee.”

Oram’s ears picked up. ”Could Beula have been mixed up with this somehow? I know she disappeared lately. The Egilrun ladies asked me about her.”

Elliott looked at the hunter sharply. ”Perhaps. And that bit about her name coming up at that meeting is quite suggestive. I assume Pattis made a point of mentioning her to our EWWW ladies. But again, let me handle that.”

The Chief Ranger scowled up at the ceiling of his office for a moment, then said: ”One other thing I remember about Pattis is that he was actually quite keen to take part in the Egilrun project once it became known. Beula even lobbied for me to assign him there.”

Oram’s ears pricked up. ”Did you?”

Elliott shook his head. ”He’s an unremarkable Ranger, always was. And the lobbying made me suspicious. I assigned him to help Beula with all the paperwork she was generating.” He grinned wickedly. ”Neither of them liked that much.” He turned serious once more before continuing: ”I found out later that he had wangled his way onto one of Refed’s crews. Said he had an inside line on some cheap lumber supply we could use. I suspect it conveniently fell off a Logging Consortium cart that Beula told him about, but I didn’t look too deeply into it at the time.”

Oram peered curiously. ”How long have you suspected him, then?” he demanded.

”As far back as Cylus, around the time I recruited you. I needed to keep an open mind, though. It’s one of the reasons I enlisted your help: I needed someone unburdened by any pre-judgments about the Rangers, or any previous loyalties to any of the internal factions. But yes, if someone had put a knife to my throat and made me list suspects, Pattis and Beula would probably both have been among the first half-dozen or so I would have named.”

He gave Oram a curious head-tilt. ”You still haven’t told me what you plan to do once you depart Darbyton.”

The traveler wrinkled his forehead. ”Before this nonsense with the flier and Pattis started, my plan had been to go back to Scalvoris for a few trials, take a break, then head to Faldrass to see how Refed and Elise are faring with their work on the outpost there. But now…”

”…now you have something else to ask Refed about when you get there,” Elliott pointed out. ”You’ve no reason to change those plans. It is quite possible he remembers something about Pattis, the sort of things that didn’t seem important at the time. Let Jim handle the inquiries in Egilrun for a while. In the meantime, I will look into things here in Darbyton. I’ll send word to Jim on anything I find, and you can catch up when you get back.”

Oram was both surprised and relieved. He was not alone in this, he realized. He did not have to do it all himself.

Elliott stood up. ”Our earlier arrangement is still in place,” he announced, as he went to open the door behind Oram. Something about his tone struck the hunter as important. No sooner had Oram stepped out in the hall that Elliott called out to him, in a voice raised well above what was needed to be heard: ”This cannot continue, Oram! I’m losing patience! It is evident to me…”

This time, Oram was much faster to catch on than he had been the last time Elliott had used the code phrase. He even managed to cut Elliott short: You’re losing patience?!” he shouted back. ”I’ve had it up to here with your second-guessing! If you got off my back for half a break, I might be able to accomplish something. Now if you’ll excuse me…” He turned to stride down the hall in feigned anger.

”Don’t you turn your back on me, Ranger!” growled Elliott, putting on a show of annoyance and outrage that put Oram’s to shame. The hunter wondered for just a trill if he hadn’t actually offended the Chief Ranger. ”We’re not done! We’ve got-”

We’ve got nothin’! I’ve got things to do. Good trial, sir!” Oram stomped down the wooden stairs with Elliott growling threats at him overhead.

When he got to the ground floor, he was met by stares from the lounging Rangers he had seen earlier. ”What!” he barked at them. ”Don’t you have someplace to be?” Oram’s act was a bit ham-fisted; a discerning dramatic eye probably would not have been impressed. It seemed to do the job on its intended audience, however. Oram could hear their hushed conversations as he walked away, resisting with difficulty the urge to stop and eavesdrop.
word count: 978
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Re: Beula? Beula? Beula?

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Review & Rewards

Name: Oram

Points awarded: 10

Knowledge:
[Deception] Feigning anger and frustration.
[Deception] Continuing a ruse after it is no longer strictly needed can help to conceal its purpose.
[Deception] Deceptions are easier to pull off when they show the target something they expect.
[Leadership] Go where you are most needed.
[Logistics] Find ways to best incorporate new tasks into your current itinerary.
[Storytelling] Adjust the level of detail to accommodate the audience.

Renown: 5 - That little dramatic scene was meant to be overheard, and was. Rumors will fly!

Skill Review: Appropriate to level.

Notes:
I always enjoy Oram threads because of the attention to detail you put into them. Noting landmarks and relationships between different areas are things a lot of people miss, but you always have a ton of little tidbits that make your settings feel very 'lived in', for lack of a better term.

This was a very good set-up piece for what came before and I presume after. You have a great way with npcs, and I enjoyed the interaction between Oram and Elliot - especially the little dramatic scene at the end. Oram had a lot of information to get across to Elliot but it never seemed like an exposition dump. The conversation was natural and flowing - always a good thing.

I look forward to seeing where this little investigation goes! Great job. :D


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