Dreadlords A Dead Man's Lies

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Southern Savannah - Just Beyond the Anirian Border


Thunk. Thunk.

"Fucking finally." Edric said as the tip of his shovel struck against the top of the ancient sarcophagus. The sound of wood striking stone echoing in the seven foot deep pit that he now found himself standing in. Two comically high mounds of dirt lay on either side of the pit, his pack besides the left and a lantern on a pole on the right.

He had been digging for what felt like hours now, and he'd half started to think the gravemarker had been wrong. It seemed his lung was still in place though, and the grave of Ser Tondrin Ectiel was still very much where the Anirian Guard had left it two hundred years ago. Frowning for a moment, bent down and began to scrape off the last of the dirt from the stone tomb.

After a few moments, it was clear, and sweat beading from his brow Edric hopped to reach the top of the grave and pluck free his sledge-hammer.

A brief pulse of magic rushed through his limbs, and then he sent the heavy iron head directly into the thick grey rock. A loud crack echoing through the long forgotten graveyard. Plucking away the broken and smashed pieces, Edric dug away what still stood in his way. Finally revealing the skeletal corpse of the once Anirian General.

Smile on his face immediately turning to a frown as instead of finding the ring he should have held, Ed saw that Ser Ectiel clutched only a simple piece of parchment. A long, pained sigh echoed from the young mans lips as he ripped the parchment free, eyes scanning over the faded ink and puzzling out the strange curves of the letters.

The silence of the graveyard breaking as he swore in frustration. "Who the fuck is Vesk?"

Taldani - Cortosi Coast

Turned out; Vesk was a man, or rather, the family name of one.

The apparent one time close confidant, aid-decomp, and lover of Ser Ectiel. After comitting only slightly more desecration of a war heroes grave, Edric had managed to find the old General's journal. The pages had been even more deteriorated than the parchment clutched in his desecated hands, but with some time the Rogue Dreadlord had managed to decipher most of the document.

As luck would have it, the journal told the story of Tondrin's first meeting with Vesk. A meeting that took place in the Coastal village of Taldani.

Ed had never heard of the town before, though it sat on the Cortosi Coast just beyond the outter reaches of Anirian territory. Though technically classifised as a free City, Taldani was in truth far too small for anyone to really care about. Though both Dreadlords and Guardsmen often made their way to and from it, the town was not Anirian.

One of the reasons that Edric felt at least okay walking into it. Not that he anticipated any trouble. All he was here for was Ser Ectiel's Ring, and if the journal was to believed The Vesk family would still be in posession of it. A few questions to the outer farmers had revealed the brood still made their residence here in the city, though no one had been able to tell him which manor was there.

Which was why he now found himself in the Tipsy Turtle. A tavern shaped more like a shell than a real hom, but with a warm enough hearth and ale that didn't quite taste as rank as elsewhere. "Yeah. Just looking to stay a night."

Edric said to the Innkeep, gently nudging over his coin with a smile. Hoping none of the posters with his face on them had passed through recently.
 
Rhidian grimaced as the table cheered, and loudly at that. They had been drinking the place dry, only that the Turtle never seemed to be depleted in their wares. He had thought that the Dreadlords were a boisterous crowd, but the Guard seemed to carry on without much else thought about waking up early the next day to continue their way back to Vel Castere.

None of them were dressed in their uniform. In fact, word had spread through their unit to put their best clothes on to celebrate Mad Matty's birthday.

Dressed in a shirt he deemed passable for such an occasion, he sipped at his ale quietly. Rhid had done all he could to win over the Guards, make them see he was truly one of them and not a Third Rank Dreadlord that just scraped by graduating. But they were a good group, kept an eye on him and appreciated his eagerness to help and assist where he could see it. He smiled, chuckled, and sand some songs he knew, happy to be part of this moment of reprieve before duty called them back to travel on home.

At least there were good days to remember.
 
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Felix tried to dismiss the third round of ale that was being shoved into his hand. He did not consider himself an avid drinker, unfortunately, the other guards knew that and were determined to get Felix wasted. They said it was always fun to watch drunk Felix remove his inhibitions and start flirting with the tavern girls. Nothing sounded more horrific to the medic.

Still, he could not help but smile at the joy of all the rest of their party. He had donned his best civilian clothes, as it was nice to not have to bare the weight of the armor on his shoulders.

Felix spotted Rhidian and shot him a smile before sliding over another mug of ale to the Dreadlord. The young medic still was not the biggest fan of the magical warrior class, but he would at least admit that Rhidian had been one of the better ones he had had the pleasure of meeting. In fact, he might be at the top of that small list.

In the chaos of their celebration, Felix took his chance to grab his drink and sneak off to the bar to avoid the next round of whatever drinking game or other chaos that the guards wanted to perform.
 
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"Just one? Easy enough. Got a special for three, though, comes with dinner and a meal." The Innkeeper smiled wide. "Wife's idea."

Edric frowned for a moment, thinking and realizing that it might take him more than a night to hunt down the Vesk family. "Sure, three will do."

The Rogue Dreadlord said as he fished out a few coins and threw them onto the counter. The man quickly counting, and perking an eyebrow as he noticed each of the silver pieces was not from where; but the Steppe.

"Don't see much of that sort of coin here. Thought you were a local, 'some reason you look familiar." Goosebumps trailed up the back of Edric's neck, but he managed to keep his face straight. A shrug rolling over his shoulder.

"Nah, first time in town. Just got one of those faces." The Innkeeper chuckled, taking the rest of the coin and fishing out a key from behind the counter. After a few directions, Ed turned...only to see the corkboard hanging on the other end of the tavern.

The one with his face on it.

His face kept itself a marble mask, and quietly he thanked Chasmine for encouraging him to grow a beard, and Maui for keeping him in this damned armor. Slowly Edric made his way across the room, heading towards an empty table...and tearing down the poster as he went.
 
The mug in front of Silas Artesto hadn't been so much as touched by the Dreadlord. He'd thought about taking a swig, a couple of times. Hell, the only way Rhidian had managed to convince him to come along was the promise of a stiff drink to wash away some of the pain that had been bothering him for the last month. That he suddenly didn't have the stomach for it made him feel like a right bell-end.

Not that he wasn't happy for his friend; On the contrary, he was thrilled to see how well liked Rhid was amongst the guard, even if he wasn't very surprised. Where Silas had his talent with the ladies, his friend held the gift of being able to fit in almost anywhere, a friend to all.

So while he did sit beside Vaughn with arms crossed and mug full, he at least managed to crack a smile as he watched his friend wince at the latest of many chorusing cheers.

"I could have told you there's such a thing as being too popular." Silas chuckled lowly, finally daring to sip from his ale. "You'd better hope they don't foot you with the bill." Of course, it was just as likely they'd peg Silas with the tab, as they didn't know him as anything beyond Rhid's plus one, and the son of old Sylvian, a hero from an era past.

At least his outsider status allowed him to blend into the background a bit better than he would in, say, an ice cream social with the lovely ladies of his graduating class. That would probably end with him skewered on a pike. No, several of them.

"Nice place, though, isn't it? Can't say I've been in a tavern shaped like it's namesake, unless I got drunk in a dive called 'The Shithole' and don't remember it."
 
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Rhid laughed.

"Nah, these guys still don't trust that I am paid enough to foot any bill." Being a newly minted Dreadlord would not help his case. The fact he informed them he only graduated by an inch made them see him to be incompetent, but Rhid wasn't going to correct them on that. Not until they got to see his power would their views of him change completely.

"Ahhh! Rhiddy! You're fucking shit, hey!" Called out Mad Matty, and everyone jeered and laughed at the Dreadlord's expense.

Rhidian laughed along with them before turning away and grimaced, looking to Silas and Felix. "Why are they picking on me though? Why not... them?" He lowered his voice, jerking his head in the direction of someone sitting on their own. Was that not a sad sight?
 
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"I don't think guards should make a practice of picking on random people sitting by themselves. Just seems rude."

Felix offered, thankful that the guards seemed more inclined to mess with the Dreadlords rather than him. He also did not know how to tell the Dreadlords that none of them got paid well sot that argument would not work against them.

As for the stranger, he was one of the few people in the tavern who wasn't a guard, most of the others had already been running off by Mad Matty's ruckus.

Making a snap decision, Felix scooped up one of the full mugs and walked over placing the drink in front of the man.

"Sorry about all the noise, just celebrating a birthday. Here is a drink on us."

Did this guy look familiar?
 
Was every fucking person in this bar Anirian?

Edric had hoped that being a border town he'd at least be able to hide among the locals. But from the voices hurling themselves into the air it became obvious he'd picked the wrong bar. Every voice and accent was Anirian, and it was only made worse when one of them came to apologize.

Quietly he cursed himself, or rather, the Academy once again. The Proctors had never thought he'd needed any of the...subtle stuff. Disguising himself, his voice, any of the crap that some of the others might have excelled in.

He was a hammer, not a scalpel, but now that he needed those skills Edric desperately craved them. "Ah, that's not a problem."

Edric said, doing his best to add a strange twang to his voice.

"Used to the noise, lad." Edric said, shifting the mug away. "You boys Anirian?"

That was a good question, right? Feign ignorance? Surely Edric the horrible Dreadlord criminal would never make small talk.
 
"Oh yeah." Silas grinned over at the baby faced boy. Felix, he thought his name to be. "The Anirian Guard are regaled far and wide for their manners, don't you know?" Mockingly, Artesto placed one hand gently over his heart as he leaned back in his chair, lifting the front legs off of the creaky wooden floor of the tavern. "And when I need spiritual guidance, I go and talk to an Archon." He hadn't known Felix for very long, but he seemed the type not to get bent out of shape too easily.

"Honestly though, Rhidian." Silas takes another long swing, tilting his beer in his friend's direction. "I've always said you have a smackable face, didn't I? That carries over, I think." That wasn't even including the verifiable fact that every time he'd ever hung out with Rhidian, something had gone tits up. "Felix, let me tell you about this one time in Vel Cir--" He turned around to find Felix had wandered off to serve on that single other patron like he was the barmaid.

Hold on a minute... that bearded muscle head at the table.... Artesto could've sworn he'd seen him somewhere before. Was it somebody Livia had been involved with? Maybe one of the lot from the coastal cities? No, that didn't make sense...

"Hey, Rhid..." He nudged his friend's arm with his elbow, gesturing towards the stranger with a nod. If Livia's departure had done anything to him, it had turned him suspicious; wary towards anything with a pulse and unknown intentions. Something about this guy? Made his skin crawl. "That dude's face... ringing any bells for you?"
 
The urge to kick his boot up and topple Artesto's leaning chair was almost too enticing, but all thoughts of carrying it out had left him as his friend lowered his voice and drew Rhidian's gaze to the lone patron, now in the company of Felix. He squinted, stared, made a face of uncertainty.

"The fuck would I know." He turned to his friend, staring at him with mild concern. Disbelief perhaps. "Why, he got a smackable face too?" His tone was unamaused, giving way his annoyance.
 
Where was this guy from? Surely, he could recognize some of the Anirian Guard if he were from the Cortosi Coast. What was this man's accent? He had he heard some rough twangs from compatriots like Arn, but this one might take the cake.

"Yeah, just trying to celebrate Mad Matty's birthday before they sent us back to the front lines, or worse, latrine duty."
If they kept causing a ruckus then the latter might be more likely.

Mad Matty, while a good guy to have next to you on a battlefield, had a bad habit of going a step too far and getting everyone else in trouble too.

"What about you? Besides getting your drink ruined back the loud assholes over there, where are you from? I don't think I've ever heard an accent quite like that."
 
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"Ah. Birthday. That's nice." Edric said in that same strange accent, though notably flubbed it on the last word. His lips turning to a frown as he realized that he'd never had a Birthday celebration himself.

In fact, he wasn't even quite sure when his birthday was. "Hm?"

The Dreadlord said, finding the moment once more as he looked over at Felix and tried to piece together the question he'd asked.

"Oh...errr, Eaglehead?" Edric said, suspiciously sounding as though he were asking a question. "Yeah, sorry, Eaglehead. It's been a long day."

Kress. He had to get rid of this fucking kid. He was going to give himself away. "Anyway, thanks for the drink."

Ed continued as he grabbed the mug and proceeded to down the whole thing in one long draught. "But I should be getting to bed...I'm very tired."
 
Kael had spent the day in several different shapes. A rat to escape the walls. A raven to fly across the trail, and perch along a merchant cart passing through. This helped him escape, technically across Anirian borders, but wearing the shapes of animals work on Kael. He no longer had the energy to maintain a non-humanoid shape. He now wore his human face, a bit disgusted he didn't have the courage to wear his favored color green. His caution proved advantageous as he found Taldani overwhelmingly humanoid.

Stopping for rest at the Tipsy Turtle he walked in and noticed a face he recognized. Was Rhidian a fellow initiate? He seemed to remember his face, and Kael had little other places to recognize humans. Kael sighed and went over to the table and tossed the barmaid a coin.

"It seems I'm not the only Anirian who skips out for a drink". He said to the table, establishing a cover. He figured it was his best chance. He glanced over at Edric, who seemed a bit out of place among the drinking guardsman.

"Eaglehead hunh? Can't say I'm familiar. Name's Kael. Are you reserves?"
 
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