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Post by Shark a' Pult on Sept 11, 2013 1:58:03 GMT -5
A bleak, dreary day as any other. Did the clouds want to rain or not? It wasn't clear, though as much was certain in this late Summer of the Northern Reach; they would not yield to the sun. It was just a little past midday, although what light there was to be had came from the horizon to where clouds were not. Above this area they may stop the sun, but they couldn't stop its light from finding a way through in some other region of Fiore and creeping the rest of the way. Long shadows cast, because of this, where lights made by men were not.
It was safe to assume that the village in the associated picture, was not Dunwald.
The road leading to this northern border town was cobbled for sure, though it was not maintained. At least, not until one approached within a mile or two of the town itself. Along it some distance of the way a low stone wall begun, split by a crossroads or two and sign posts pointing out which ways led to where. On the other sides of the walls though was little but low rolling farmland. In the distance far to the west was nothing but forest and in the distance far to the east was nothing but high mountains, but between there, was just farmland.
On the approach to the town were the occasional farmer working the fields, animals grazing, and children playing at various games. Upon the mile mark however, there patrolled what looked to be soldiers of the Fiore military, only they were not as heavily armed and their equipment not as well taken care of. The Border Guard, active in these parts, it would be hard to miss... and they in turn would not so easily miss travelers along the road. Strangers, making their way to the town. "You there! Halt, what is your business, coming this way?", they would stop to ask.--- "Oh I'd wager she'll make a fine living in Oak Town! She always had her head on her shoulders for sure, that girl!""I don't doubt her, I'm just not sure what to think of her... husband, it would be now?"At the Lost Fox inn, there sat an odd collection of individuals, spread about the windowed booths. A man in a smart business suit and another in a suit of armor in one booth, a pilgrim type and a gladiator in another, and lastly a young woman in typical commoner clothes to a booth on her own. The fellow in armor seemed to be expressing doubts about the departure of a friend, while the one in the business suit meant to quiet any such doubts. The other two men, the pilgrim and the gladiator had different concerns altogether. "Oh I'd say it would have to be the time she took down that bandit leader, the one with the armored up horse. The last thing he expected, I tell you! Lot of good that did him, you'd think he'd have gone that step further to armor himself while he was at it!""That was impressive, yes. Though if I may counter, did you ever see her counterattack to that crazed... well it must have been a bird of some sort, but I do not believe anyone ever learned what it truly was?"While they compared memories of their friend and what had been her best display of a magical attack, the girl on her own leaned back against her booth, content to just stare out the window to the low trafficked streets outside. There was no one else in the place at that time yet, so the tavern owner busied herself with the five assorted individuals. "Are you sure you won't have anything? Not even a cider maybe, to stave off the chill later? Not long now before Fall, you know.""No thank you, Melly. I'm fine for now.""Well if you need anything, you just let me know, Maven."It was a cozy place, helpful for fighting off the harsh weather and climate of the Northern reach. Mostly wood and stone in construction, with big windows along the length of the wall running along the street side, big booths in each window. A native would know this lot to be the local magic guild, Legend. The entire, local magic guild. They had gathered in town to see off their friend and now former member, Tolida, and wish her the best. About a year prior she had met a young man traveling from southern Fiore, and before long found themselves quite in love. They had been married this past weekend, and today were returning to his home town to begin their new life together. Tolida herself had been a member of Legend for several years now, a good member, but there was no bitterness in her leaving. There would always be a place in Dunwald for her if she needed it, just as there would always be a place for her in their hearts. All the guild accepted and supported her decision, as lord knew Dunwald was not the best place to start a family. And so they had seen her off with a small little ceremony, to let her go from the guild. Afterward they had come here to the Lost Fox as they so often did, to celebrate and remember their departed friend. It was to be expected, this place was like a second home to the guild, so much so that their mission board was here rather than in their official building a ways up the mountain nearby. There was merriment to be had all around, both the sweet and sour feeling of seeing a friend go, but knowing that she would be going on to a new life. Hopefully a better life. It was only Maven who wasn't really celebrating, though the others were used to such things; she had filled her celebratory quota at the goodbye ceremony, and she earned the right to want to be alone. It was after all, her guild that was losing another member. Only, Maven wasn't celebrated out, she merely felt guilty. Guilty for feeling envious of Tolida and her chance to leave this place, leave the guild. Tolida had a new life waiting for her, that was her reason to leave. Maven on the other hand, she wanted a new life and a reason to leave. If she knew that her departure would be as well-received as Tolida's, then she would have left years ago. All she needed, was that reason, just as good as a new life.
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Post by Mise™ on Sept 11, 2013 4:22:23 GMT -5
"We are about to dock at Dunwald!" An announcement rang through a large wooden ship that was just a few minutes away from docking to the Dunwald harbor. There were quite a few passengers on the ship, but only a small handful seemed to have any interest in Dunwald, four to be exact. Everyone else of the passengers mostly ignored the announcement and just went on with whatever they were doing before. Those few that actually were going to set foot on Dunwald headed to the deck. And eight minutes later they were there, in the very uninteresting town of Dunwald. Out of the people that had now set foot in the town only one person really stood out, a woman dressed in an oversized green cloak, covering her whole body, with only her head visible. She clearly wasn't from around here, not only did she look quite foreign, with bright blue eyes, light blonde hair and light and fair skin, but she also looked very confused and maybe even anxious of her surroundings. As she walked through the harbor she constantly looked around and walked forward quite slowly. The other three passengers fit right in to the crowd, they were probably locals returning home, none of them stood out at all, unlike the cloaked woman who drew attention from some of the people present.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Sept 12, 2013 2:25:08 GMT -5
"You there, in the green coat! I saw you get off the ship, not helping with the mooring, or unloading... let me see your papers, what ship do you belong to?"
At some point the stranger would be stopped in her trek through the docks by one of the port authority officers. Dressed in a manner similar to a shipwright but with an authoritative armband and helmet, he approached the strange asking questions, though his manner was more of someone trying to record information rather than someone trying to get the stranger in trouble. He had a lot of things to take note of, as this was the specific dock he was in charge of monitoring, a clipboard in hand.
"Oh, and I'll need your name, if you please?"
With all the hustle and bustle about with the arrival of new ships, he just wanted to process this traveler like the others, and send her on her way.
That is, assuming she was a worker like the others.
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Post by Mise™ on Sept 12, 2013 8:31:37 GMT -5
"Kiro? Êtt hiru rêjys hi irâ?" The cloaked woman seemed quite flustered when the man asked for her papers and why she wasn't helping with unloading the ship. Of course answering these questions wouldn't have been too hard, if only she could understand what the man had said. All she really got was that he was talking to her. "Me, no understand. Sorry." The woman responded. Not only didn't she speak common very well she spoke with a very strong accent that might have made her words a bit harder to understand. "Tesso yêr er mîdid khe ve kyûds..." "Name?" This time the cloaked woman seemed to understand what was asked from her and after a short pause she said. "Me, Zêl Zhauvre." "Kiro sijitr ve djida? Ah esus." It seemed like Zêl got an idea as to what to do as she reached for something hidden inside her cloak and gave it to the man. It was a paper and on it had a lot of information about her, along with her name it stated that she was 27 years old, from the country of Yerwa and that her occupation was a soldier, among other things. The paper clearly wasn't any sort of an official ID, instead it looked like someone had help Zêl write some information about herself on the paper just for situations like this. Calling the paper shady would have been an understatement; needlessly to say it looked very fake.
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Post by Kuro on Sept 12, 2013 20:18:55 GMT -5
The wanderer was an odd sight to see, even in such strange times.
To any citizens who happened to look in its direction, it would look perhaps like a mass of tattered clothing with a golden crown and staff that shined in the light. It moved very slowly across the land, barely any better than a snail. With each step, it used the staff as a walking stick, and what a stick it was. Not only was it made out of gleaming gold, there was obviously something magical about its design. Spikes of some sort jutted out of the curved of the staff's top, a small orb levitating in the center. It and the golden crown atop the thing's head were a sharp contrast to the torn, white robes. They were covered in dirt and were not the vibrant white of nobility but a grayed-out and average white, almost colorless in its plainness.
It went down the road quietly, the only sound the slight tap the stick made with each step. Whatever was beneath the robes was trembling, and making a few, unintelligible mutters and murmurs under its breath. It wasn't until it was told to halt and looked at the guards that anyone would have seen just what was walking under the odd assortment of clothing.
It's face was deathly pale and more wrinkled than most old men's. White beads of light shone from its deep, dark eye sockets, looking in the nearest guard's direction but seeming as if it was looking straight through him. Only a few strings of hair laid limp upon the thing's withered head and its mouth seemed to be constantly shifting, constantly whispering something to itself as it stared at the guard.
One could hear the skin stretch and the bones click as his skeletal grip on the staff tightened, pulling the gold closer to its side with a long exhale of breath. It smelled like ash and one could see dust come out of its mouth when it coughed. With another long breath, it shuddered and spoke in what sounded like the faded voice of a ghost; it was raspy and and shuddered with each syllable, not out of fear but of age.
"I...only wish to seek solace in the nearest town...I wish to sleep in an inn and feed these decrepit bones of mine. I ask for food and water and am willing to pay for both. Is there a town not far away from here? Speak quickly, please. I do not know how much longer I can stand."
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Sept 13, 2013 3:06:12 GMT -5
"You're well foreign then, lets see here..."
The officer was used to dealing with people he couldn't understand, though I always had something of an expectation that for whatever reason, they should be able to understand him. When the stranger produced a form of identification though, he took it with earnest, either not seeming to notice or care about the clearly fake nature of it.
"Huh, Yerwa? I think I've seen someone else from there, awhile back. No matter, I have everything I need. If you aren't assisting with the unloading though, try to stay out of the way if you please. Good day!"
With an earnest salute, the officer went on his merry way, having gotten all the information he was obliged to get from the paper he was given. Unfortunately he had attached it to his clipboard when he was writing, and still had them when he wandered off in a hurry. Crisis was averted though when not a minute later, after trying to get someone else's information, he came running back in a hurry to return the paper to the foreigner.
"Sorry, sorry! Almost forgot to give this back! Also, forgot to mention, but don't wander into town while you're here. Unless you have a permit, foreigners aren't allowed beyond the port."
Once more he darted off to get what he needed from the other new arrivals. As for his warning though, even if Zel couldn't understand it, she probably didn't have to heed it. It would not be hard to find the way out of the port, through a big gateway which led to Dunwald proper. There were other port authority workers wandering around in a hurry, but assuming Zel didn't just start attacking people, she could probably just go by unnoticed.
There was of course some possible risk with going through the gate, as the main watch tower was right adjacent to it, not to mention the two posted guards by the gate itself. Again though, she didn't look so radically out of place that it would be impossible for her to simply mingle past, under the arch of the gateway to the stony cobble streets and low rows of buildings of the town beyond.
That is assuming, she could get past the closed gate.
---
The appearance of the stranger was out of the ordinary, though the border patrol was trained for all sorts of situations and threats. Still, the ancient being caused some of the guards to look at one another, confused.
"If you don't know how much longer you can stand, chances are you won't make it... it's a mile still, nearest town is Dunwald. Cross the bridge and you're there, though there's an inn before it, the..."
The guard who decided to speak up didn't appear very sympathetic to the strangers situation, but he wasn't above being helpful. His words trailed off though when he got towards the end of the directions.
"Rounding Run."
"Right, that's it. Little three-story building on the bridge, on this side of the river." He gestured to his left. "Closest inn you'll find without heading into town proper. Still though, close to a mile on."
Scratching his head, one of the other patrolmen hefted his spear, and stepped forward. The others noticed, and understood his intent, for they were thinking it as well.
"What, wanna help him?"
"I could guide him the way, if he wants. I can just meet you guys out past the outer edge of the Resolan farmstead later... so, need any assistance, stranger?"
---
With or without the help of the patrolman, the way to the town was fairly straightforward from there on. More of the same rolling fields, only the closer to the town, there started to show up some buildings here and there. Houses or stables, granaries and such. Eventually they stopped being spread out, and became side by side to form the beginning of a street. Not much further and there was the bridge, with a big sign over it on the other side, clear to see Dunwald in print. It was a very large river though, and the bridge was long, with more than one support along the length. It also had a sort of drawbridge mechanism, though instead of raising up, the middle portion of the bridge between the two supports actually lowered down to meet the riverbed so that ships could sail over.
That wasn't important though, what was, was that on either side of the bridge on each of the supports was a building in a narrow three storied design. One on each side was for the drawbridge mechanism, but the other two were commercial buildings. One was either a mill or a blacksmith, complete with a water wheel down in the water. True to his word though, on the left side was what appeared to be an inn by the name of the Rounding Run. It was a cozy place, due in part to the limited space it had as a building, despite being tall. Constructed of mostly stone and wood, immediately inside was the reception room, a small warmly lit place with a couple of chairs by the window and a carpet, in front of a desk which at that moment was vacant. Visible through a doorway behind said desk was what looked to be a small kitchen, serviced by a roaring fireplace doubling as a stove.
A little bell on the counter with an appropriately little hammer next to it, was likely for the purpose of getting attention, even though there didn't seem to be anyone else in there at the moment.
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Post by Mise™ on Sept 13, 2013 15:07:10 GMT -5
"Yêy êtt ude?" This was easy, surprisingly so. From how things were handled back home in Yerwa Zêl expected to not make it pass this checking at all, but apparently here in Fiore one shoddy piece of paper was enough.
"Thank you." Zêl said as the man apparently let him through. Sure she didn't fully understand what he had said, but from how he didn't seem to be trying to stop her so the Yerwan figured out it was all fine and she could move forward. Or so she thought but the very same man ran after Zêl just a moment later.
"What?"
Zêl figured that now she was in trouble. It had been way too easy anyway, there was something wrong about this. But apparently she was wrong as the man only came to give her back her identification paper.
"Oh... Thank you." Zêl said, with a very confused, but also relieved look on her face as she took back the paper from the man and then continued forward. She ignored what the man had said about not being allowed in to the town proper, not because she didn't want to obey the rules, but because she just couldn't understand what the man had said to her.
While walking through the streets of the Dunwald harbor she looked a bit more natural than before, though if someone were to really pay attention to her it would still be quite clear that she was in a place unfamiliar to her.
"Kiro te ve kirjionûd hi djida ôys?" Zêl wondered as she gazed upon the closed gate that now stood right in front of her. If only she could speak common well enough to ask someone for help. She knew that violence wasn't the answer and trying to climb over the wall didn't sound too smart either so instead the Yerwan turned left and started walking; trying to see if she would find an alternative way forward, or something else.
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Post by Kuro on Sept 13, 2013 16:59:31 GMT -5
The old stranger allowed the guard to guide him, mainly to use the young man as something to lean on. He said nothing on the way and smelled like a rotting carcass to the man now that he was so close to him. When it was all said and done, he gave no thanks for the guard's time, choosing to walk straight towards the Rounded Run instead as he spoke with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Your deed is done. Begone."
With a creak of the door, he entered the inn with a few taps of his staff against the ground. Slowly closing the door behind him, he looked around. Homely, plain, and all around unworthy of his presence. He sighed, the sound resembling a whistle of the wind as it left his hollow body. It would have to do. He slowly walked up to the counter, his miniscule footsteps unheard as he went across the soft carpet. When he finally reached the counter, he began to lower his staff to tap the button but stopped. Something had been caught in the corner of his eye. A stove. A kitchen. Food.
The light from his eye sockets stared in the kitchen's direction, his jaw agape. If anyone had been there, they would be able to smell the horrid stench of his breath. He took a step towards the kitchen, but stopped there. No. That was stupid. Do not let your hunger control you. You have the money, or at least, some of it. Wait for the keeper. Wait.
With a shiver, he wrapped his robes around him tighter and went over to one of the chairs. He sank in it, his robes flowing around him and almost hiding his face in all of the worn out cloth. He held his staff proudly, the crown still shining on his head. He looked like a king of sorts; a king of rags, maybe.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Sept 14, 2013 2:17:12 GMT -5
"Ah, this way, with me!"
While wandering her way through the docks, a fellow carrying some boxes nearly crashed into Zel. Narrowly avoiding this though, he stopped for a moment, to free up a hand so that he could tug at her to follow along with him. At least by gestures it was pretty clear to tell what his intent was.
"Aye fellas, she help!"
"Ok, just hurry up with those, no way Nelson would lend help to a job like that and not want it done quick."
A young, handsome man but clearly a foreigner as well, the box carrier simply walked right up to the gate and the guards opened it for him though he gestured behind him to Zel. Whether she followed him or not was her own decision, but he seemed content to get her into town without trouble.
The guards meanwhile, had no second thoughts of it.
---
After some time eventually, a rather fat fellow more or less rolled down the stairs, and proceeded towards the counter. Looking back to the kitchen behind, he nodded his head, before busying himself with the ledger and completing the entry for some guests whom had checked out earlier that day. It wasn't until awhile later that he happened to look up when the drawbridge was being lowered outside, that he noticed the raggedy old man.
"Oh! A... cust-o-mer? I believe, can I help you... sir? We have spare rooms and the sort, if you're here to stay."
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Post by Mise™ on Sept 14, 2013 13:14:42 GMT -5
"Sorry." Zêl apologized as a man, carrying some boxes, almost crashed in to her. It really wasn't her fault, but she seemed to be quite reluctant to annoy anyone. Zêl did understand that the stranger wanted her to follow him and as she had no other ideas on what to do, she decided to go along and followed the man through the gates. "Me help." As she thought what the man had wanted Zêl to do was to carry some of the boxes. And so she did unless the man would stop her. The Yerwan was actually quite strong, surprisingly so, as she wouldn't struggle at all carrying a few, or more than a few of these, boxes. Once through the gates Zêl would just keep following the man that had helped her.
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Post by Kuro on Sept 15, 2013 14:44:34 GMT -5
A wheeze came from the old man as he shakily stood up, his voice lined with irritation. "Took you long enough, innkeeper." He stepped towards the counter, staff in hand. When he was close enough, he reached a hand into his flowing mess of robes and coughed, the musty stench of his breath spreading across the innkeeper's face. "Yes, I require to stay here for some time." He took his hand out of the robes, a small bag of gold hanging from his clenched and trembling fist. "I can pay for any expenses. But first, nourishment." Still holding the bag of gold in his hand, he went towards the kitchen significantly faster than before. As he looked around at the table and the stove, he whispered something under his breath before talking to the innkeeper again. "Prepare your servant, set the table, prepare the food. How long will it take? I must have food and drink. Is it not ready? Must I eat somewhere else?"
He sat at the table and drummed his bony fingers on the table. "While you're at it, you can tell me what there is to know of this town. Just what there is to do..."
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Sept 17, 2013 1:05:11 GMT -5
Once they had made it out of sight of the gate, the fellow opted to take the boxes from Zel, as there was no further need for a disguise or whatever you'd call it.
"Thanks you much! My name Akir, nice to meets!"
Stacking them back up again, he held the crates in his arms and gave a little bow, impressive how stable he managed to hold them despite their precarious stacked and wobbling nature. With that he began to take his leave, calling back as he went.
"I takes from here, has to deliver. See around town maybes?"
It seemed he really did just want to help Zel get through the gate and into the town proper, and after that not much else. He went off on his own, but she could follow him if she wanted, though he was quite fast even with all those boxes.
Where he took his leave though, was a pretty standard street like most of the others in Dunwald. Cobbled road with a gutter and sidewalk either side, lined with houses, shops and alleyways. This close to the docks, there were a few carpenters and a furniture store, as well as a fishing supply store assumedly for those who had boats and did some offshore fishing. The big attractor though, was a rather large two-story building not unlike a warehouse. Only, its main doors were open to show the expansive space inside, and it looked like the entire ground floor was a huge indoor market. The top floor was probably offices or something similar, but lots of people were bustling around in said market, with many people filing in and out. Large lettering above the main open main doors read "EXOTIC IMPORTS".
That was of course the immediate area; were Zel to look farther down the current street, she'd see what looked to be an open circle where several of the streets converged up ahead, further into town.
---
"Servant? No servants here mister...? Not after they fell in the river and drowned ahahaha! That's a... joke, not a really good one, sorry. That's the kind of humor we have here, you see, I take it you're from out of town?"
The fat innkeeper waddled over to the kitchen after the stranger, answering at least one of his questions. The innkeeper himself was fairly young himself, but it was clear that having a kitchen next to the reception desk where he sat all day was not good for his figure. The kitchen itself was small, and a mess, probably not much bigger than a large closet. But it had room for a small table in the center, yes, and two chairs. After stoking the fire a little bit the innkeeper immediately set about whipping up quite the dish, and for as fat as he was and in this small space, it was impressive how nimble and dextrous he was at maneuvering about the kitchen with what little space he had to move. Having to squeeze past the stranger more than once, he took all sorts of things off the shelves about and from the larder, all which to add to the pot set to cook over the fire.
"While you're at it, you can tell me what there is to know of this town. Just what there is to do...
"Ah well that is no problemo at all, you see! Though, out of all the places, if you picked Dunwald to visit-"
He was cut short by a ringing of the bell at the reception desk. The door to the place had also opened and closed before that, but the innkeeper himself hadn't heard it over the fire.
"Hello? Darryl are you..."
A voice came from the other room, and soon a young woman leaned into the doorway to match it. She looked dressed for a long journey with rough and tumble outdoor wear, though her tied back red hair probably stood out the most.
"Ah, Tolida! Nice to see you, I thought you were leaving yesterday? Or tomorrow?"
"Today actually! Though Lert is just checking with the patrols to see if there's anything on the roads we should look out for, before we leave so I thought I'd stop in and say goodbye while I waited for him."
"That's good of you, but if you have some time, maybe you'd care to join us? My newest customer to be, he wanted to know about town, I figure you could answer him better than I could."
The innkeeper, Darryl his name seemed to be, didn't take his eyes off the cooking pot as he spoke though he did point back behind his shoulder with a dripping ladle to where he assumed the stranger to be sitting. Tolida hadn't seen him yet, not all the way in the kitchen yet, but when prompted she entered.
"Oh, an out-of-towner is he? Everybody is coming and going these days! Well, Dunwald... what's there to say really? A gloomy place, we're out here on our own really, but sometimes we do get a glimpse of the rest of the world when it comes to us... and it's never dull! We might be a quaint coastal town, but here on the border there's always something going on!"
In speaking, she sat down in the chair opposite to the stranger, clearing away some of the clutter to rest her arms, since she had to lean forward onto the table or otherwise she'd be back to back with Darryl who was toiling away at the fire behind her. Not yet had she really taken in the unpleasant nature of the stranger, so she acted as normally as she had before.
"You keep saying 'we'."
"Oh right, well you probably heard but I'm leaving today, heading south with my husband so I guess I'm not really a citizen anymore. Still though, I've been here my fair share of years, and like I was saying, there's never a shortage of things going on. Though, if danger isn't your taste, don't worry! The border patrol handles all those sorts of things, as well as... the local magic guild."
"Aye, Dunwald t'aint the safest place around no siree, but we've got a means or two for sure to make it safe enough."
At the last part she hesitated, as if something she said hit rather close to home, and she lowered her eyes with a small frown. Thankfully to take her mind off it, Darryl slapped down a pair of wooden bowls and spoons, filled with a hearty meat and vegetable stew. He himself went out of the kitchen for a moment before he came back with his reception desk chair, planting it in the doorway to the kitchen as there was no more room inside. Plonking down, he set the cooking pot on his apron between his legs and simply ate out of that.
"So what brings you a this ways stranger? Hopefully not the sightseeing, no?"
"Is there anything in particular you wanted to know about the town? I probably don't have all day to map it out for you, but I grew up here, and my time wasn't spent wasted."
Both Tolida and Darryl gave their attention to the stranger now, one hoping to help him while the other hoping to learn about him before he gave the old man a room.
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Post by Mise™ on Sept 18, 2013 6:13:54 GMT -5
"Me name Zêl. Hello." Zêl responded to Akir when he had introduced himself. After that she gave packages back to him so that he could continue on his way. After thinking and looking at the market nearby Zêl decided to follow Akir and ask him something and Akir had already helped her even without her talking to him so she thought that he was a good person to ask. "Um... Akir. Can you help me?" She asked and then stopped for a moment to think how to say this. "Where me find work. Me soldier and mag... magic?"
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Sept 19, 2013 23:49:29 GMT -5
"Magic? Ah, to follow! A ways!"
Akir was busy dropping off one of the boxes at what appeared to be a blacksmith, when he noticed Zel still following him. He didn't hear or even understand that well what she'd said, but he heard at least a part of it. Hefting up his deliveries once more, he nodded in a direction down a different street for Zel to follow him.
---
"...and is how I coming to work in place. Is good work, and given place to stay, too!"
Along the way Akir related to Zel in his own broken manner of speaking, something of a short summary of how he ended up here in Dunwald, with the profession he had. Before he could get into much further detail though, he stopped in front of an odd-looking shop, giving a quick glance upward at the sign to see if this was indeed the right place. It read Mayweather Magic.
"Ah, to here we are! Inside, inside!"
Shoving the door open with his foot, he held it for Zel to enter. The place itself from the outside didn't look all that different from the other buildings of Dunwald, but the big windows indicated that inside it was quite a bit different. The interior was filled with all sorts of strange objects and trinkets of strange design and unknown origin. Items hanging from the ceiling, cluttering the shelves, and piled up on the several tables about the place. Overall it was quite atmospheric, as the air was smoky, and lighting was provided by many candles floating about in the air.
"Gah! Who's there?! What do you want?"
When Akir opened the door to the place, a harmonic crystal near the door rung rather loudly for a moment, enough to startle the owner of the place. A young woman dressed in the clothing typical of a fortune teller, with a red bandana around her head to keep her dark hair back, she had been leaning back in a chair before the newcomers entered without warning. Or that is, she had ample warning but she was caught off guard, and fell out of her seat. Scrambling to her feet, she had what looked like a stick at the ready and pointed at them.
"Ah hello! Just come to help this one with magic! Zel is her name, please to help!"
"I know you... aren't you the new errand boy from the docks? Tell your boss that the latest shipment of tanglemoss was exposed to water, so it's ruined! And another thing-"
"Ah, thanks you!"
The store owner came out from behind the cashier's desk, the little half-door opening on its own apparently. She was about to complain the ears off Akir, but he had next to no idea what she was talking about and just assumed she agree to help his new friend. With that he promptly left the store, the door slamming shut behind now that no one was holding it.
"Hey wait you, I'm not finished! Arg, I swear they'll just hire anyone with a pair of legs these days... so, your name is Zel, is it? Well I'm Mary. Now, the box carrier said you're here for magic help? Ah, don't tell me, I already know!"
Stumbling through the shop and bumping into piles of clutter and tables as she went, Mary made her way towards a covered pedestal towards the middle of the room. As she went though, many of the things she bumped into or knocked to the floor seemed to be magical in nature, as they all activated to shoot some colored magical effect or started bouncing around like they were alive or any other manner of behavior unfitting of normal objects. She didn't seem to care however, and instead reached the pedestal to remove the sheet covering. Hidden beneath, upon the pedestal was a crystal ball resting on a pillow. With a quick motioning of her hands, the transparent sphere came to life with a blast of colors illuminating the small store.
"I can see it all now, you want... yes, something to charm that employer so you'll get the perfect job! No, no, you want... yes, a certain item to help you get even with a friend who betrayed you! No, that's not it either, no... you want... arg, I give up."
Clearly frustrated with the delicate, lengthy and complicated, but boring process of divining Zel's future, Mary promptly threw the cover back over the pedestal and in an annoyed fashion simply asked the stranger outright.
"What do you want?"
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Post by Kuro on Sept 20, 2013 18:46:39 GMT -5
The stranger muttered under his breath as the two peasants socialized near him. His hunger was beginning to overcome his patience as they wasted his time talking. It wasn't until the border was mentioned that he had some sort of visible reaction, bringing a hand to his chin in a thoughtful gesture. His breath stank up the small room once more, especially for the one across from him.
"The border...? So I have come this far...Coastal too, yes..."
He was thinking aloud, not caring that the others could hear his ramblings. The peasants began their meaningless discussions again, making it hard for him to hear his own thoughts. If they were not the ones providing him with a meal, he would be scolding them for being so disrespectful. Peasants were not supposed to be seen or heard, just work. Where was his meal anyway?
Wait.
A magic guild?
He barely noticed the bowl being set on the table as his attention focused on those words. Magic guild. A peculiar light was shining in his eyes, and one could see an edge of his mouth turn up in a toothless smirk. "Magic guild..."
It took him a few moments to remember the food and, despite his starvation, he ate calmly and properly. His hand constantly shook though and it seemed as if the spoon and what it held was almost too heavy for him. Still, he brought the morsels to his trembling lips and felt sweet nourishment enter his body. His wrinkled face turned into a twisted smile as he ate, his ancient face almost contorted by such a gesture. He focused his eerie gaze on Darryl first. "No, not sightseeing, no, no...I travel for I have nothing else. I travel because I must and out of the hope that one day, something will happen to remove me from this sorry state." He sneered with the last few words, disdain turning his voice raspy. His face lightened up a bit as he turned his attention to Tolida. "And now, perhaps I have. What is this magic guild, you speak of? What is its purpose and status? Is it desiring new members..? And of course, where is it?" If he had noticed her discomfort in speaking of the magic guild, he did not show it. What were the petty matters of a peasant to a being such as he?
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