Open Chronicles Atlia Calls for Aid [Noct Yaegir]

[Emmeline Hildebrandt]

It only took him a short while to gather up a map, and within moments he was following after Emmeline down the keep's steps. As he approached her, however, it appeared he had something else tucked under his arm as well. He came near and looked her over with the same sort of look he'd given her earlier, and then reached under his arm. From there, the item he grabbed was a sword and scabbard, wrapped in a belt. It was quite short, easily hung from the hip, and admittedly not a lot to look at.

"See what you think of this," he said as he handed it to her, and then looked to the stable, "my horse is just inside."

He departed again, not indicating whether she should stay or follow. In either case it didn't matter, as he was only a few moments retrieving his horse and another from the stable hand, both saddled and ready.

"Let's get moving, unless there is anything else?" he asked as he fixed his belongings, and prepared to hoist himself up.

Emmeline turned halfway to face Eren'thiel and by the time he reached her to offer the blade her gaze was lowered to it instead. It was far smaller than her own choice of weapon, but she knew it was necessary to master a new weapon. A faster weapon. Her sword remained across her back, held carefully in place even as she reached for the proffered weapon. It was lighter, too.

Withdrawing the blade from its scabbard, she tilted it in the sunlight back and forth. It was well worn, that was certain. She shifted it, running a finger tip along the edge of the blade for sharpness. It would work, though she'd have to adjust to it. She swung it around her hip, quickly hooking it into place with a dip of her head toward the elf.

A moment later, she followed him into the stable as he sought his steed. Emmeline's gaze failed to meet his as she softly admitted, "I have never touched a horse, let alone rode one."

As if over hearing her words and acknowledging the woman was horseless, one of the stable hands supplied one to her with a shrug. "You'll have to learn," the man said simply before moving back to assist with another pair of departing hunters. When she looked back at Eren'thiel, there was a reddish hue to her cheeks and whatever smile touched her mouth was sheepish at best.

 

[Castro Keane]

As Castro walked towards the stable, he reflected on his current situation.

This was set to be quite the adventure. Off to track two adult wyverns, he was more than cognizant that such quarry was of greater size and danger than any task he had faced before. It wasn’t as though he was alone or anything, but that limping Yaegir had made things rather clear: They had almost no chance fighting by themselves if they should be caught. He had incredulously chuckled at such an idea, in fact.

Shaking such thoughts out of his mind, Castro rationalized ignoring it all due to the fact that tomorrow was never guaranteed anyway, as cliche as such a thought was. He finally approached the stables and picked a horse that had no visual indicator of ownership, with the ease of mounting the animal an indicator of it’s personality.

“I think we shall do well together, Rune.” he said with a grin upon noticing a tag naming the horse, dismounting and leading both himself and his steed out of the stables.

---

Now upon the road, Castro chose not to turn to Uhtred upon hearing him speak. He was not a great rider even at the best of times, but with sufficient focus he sure could fake it. “Darkstride, you say? That’s a handsome name. Very glad to work with the both of you, for all the others seem…a bit intense?” he said with a shrug.

“I don’t hail from any keep in particular as far as the quest is concerned. I made my way to Atlia a day or so ago to look for new work, though,” he said after thinking for a second.

“Now I have a question. This sort of partnership you have is neat. How did you two begin working together?” he said, glancing momentarily over to Darkstride as if to invite her to contribute as well.

Sigrith

 

[Eren'thiel Xyrdithas]

Erën's eyes fell away for a moment, and his grip on his own horse loosened. He was hardly irritated, but found that he needed to take a moment to recall just how to explain the basics again. Long lived as Aerai were, he hadn't had to teach someone in quite a while.

"Yes, well," he started, giving the stable hand a look for a moment as his comment, and saying, "I guess now is no better time."

---

To someone looking on he imagined it seemed somewhat silly. He did not exactly look the part of a riding instructor, and despite him not being one at all, he found that Emmeline had taken to his instruction quite well.

For the most part.

As they trotted down the roadway, quite leisurely, Erën called back over his shoulder, "how are you finding things?"

---

Emmeline Hildebrandt ​

 

[Emmeline Hildebrandt]

"With the horse, the wyverns, or stepping outside my comfort zone?" Emmeline remarked, the words rather cheeky in comparison to her demeanor thus far. It was fleeting though, the mirth and amusement marked by the upward lilt of her words once more lost to the stoic demeanor she'd adopted long ago. It was easier to leave her walls up and limit any attachment she might form with others. They never stuck around, and it was that search for her brother that brought her here altogether.

The further from the Keep they traveled, the more comfortable the warrior seemed upon her steed. Yes, she was surprisingly a natural at it--but Emmeline was always quick to adapt. It was the ability to make decisions under great duress that led to her survival and that of her brother's when their parents were slaughtered.

Between the time she'd expressed her inability to ride and now, the woman found a safe place to store her great sword and the sudden difference in weight upon her body made it harder for her to balance.

"How far away is it?" she asked after some time had passed. Her pale green eyes focused ahead of them, scanning the horizon for any sign of the creature they sought.

Eren'thiel Xyrdithas​

 

[Wren]

"I won't kill it to get what we need so that shouldn't be a problem," Aderyn said.

She shrugged off her pack and hoisted it into the cart before climbing up onto the seat herself with a grimace. Her trip had been long and she had never been a fan of so much sitting. She could feel the color of her aura change sickly and hoped that Wren had no ability to perceive such things. Few people did.

"My name is Aderyn," she responded. "I'm a healer, apothecary, and musician in Alliria. Here, I feel more like a tradesman stocking a warehouse. But yes, I am said to be the keep's apothecary for however long I'm in the area."

She looked at Wren, studying her profile briefly. Wren certainly had a memorable look to her with her disfigurement on one side and near immaculate features on the other. Wren must have been doing this kind of work for quite some time, and without access to a reliable healer. A shame, really, but she was still alive so things could have been worse, Aderyn supposed. "Can I ask where you're from?"

Yes, compared to Stillwater, Atlia Keep certainly left... something to be desired. Wren gave the ruins another short look as they held around a bend, "No wonder they called for aid..."

Had to start somewhere, though, didn't they? She was certain not every Keep was maintained at a ten ... hell, even Crobhear Keep was sitting somewhere around a six. She'd spent enough time there in its drafty interior to know that without a strong foundation of sponsorship, the regional Keeps needed all the help they could get.

"I'm out of Stillwater Keep," Wren replied, "over on the Cortosi Coast. You could throw a rock and damn near hit the Vel Anirian Dreadlord Academy." An exaggeration, of course, it took a good week to make that trek, but it might as well be that close what with the stranglehold of influence Vel Anir had on that area of the world.

"The Warden there stands as his own Alchemist Apothecary ... though I think he keeps an Apprentice. Fairly certain I saw some squirrelly little fellow skulking about the labs. Might've been one of Beocca's experiments." The smirk she affected wasn't a pleasant thing. Beocca was a strange man on his good days and downright unnerving on any other.

 

[Sigrith]

“Darkstride, you say? That’s a handsome name. Very glad to work with the both of you, for all the others seem…a bit intense?”

Handsome, huh? Well, she supposed the name didn't exactly define her gender, though the lack of balls swinging under her tail should have suggested otherwise. The wolf licked her maw and wet her nose and continued on in silence.

Uhtred gave a breathless sort of laugh and reached up with a hand to itch at his scalp, "Yeah, I guess that's kind of the nature of Yaegir. We've a lot of those sorts at Crobhear as well. Most of them don't want anything to do with a young Hunter like me - beyond having to put in any extra effort on our account, they don't care to split the bounty reward either."

“Now I have a question. This sort of partnership you have is neat. How did you two begin working together?”

"It was sort of ... serendipitous-" (the wolf snorted at the word) "-either she has more patience than most give her credit for, or I'm more stupid than I thought. Most normal folk take one look at her and assume she's the monster. Warden Sionoma thought it would be a good idea for Darkstride to work with a partner, and since she has no need to take coin for reward..."

At that mention, Darkstride flicked an ear back and glanced back at the young Yaegir.

"So having me around keeps folks at ease. They just assume she's my pet when really..." Uhtred gave a nervous laugh at the short growl he'd earned from that line, "it's more like the other way around... ahehehe."

 

[Aderyn Verchtegid]

Yes, compared to Stillwater, Atlia Keep certainly left... something to be desired. Wren gave the ruins another short look as they held around a bend, "No wonder they called for aid..."

Had to start somewhere, though, didn't they? She was certain not every Keep was maintained at a ten ... hell, even Crobhear Keep was sitting somewhere around a six. She'd spent enough time there in its drafty interior to know that without a strong foundation of sponsorship, the regional Keeps needed all the help they could get.

"I'm out of Stillwater Keep," Wren replied, "over on the Cortosi Coast. You could throw a rock and damn near hit the Vel Anirian Dreadlord Academy." An exaggeration, of course, it took a good week to make that trek, but it might as well be that close what with the stranglehold of influence Vel Anir had on that area of the world.

"The Warden there stands as his own Alchemist Apothecary ... though I think he keeps an Apprentice. Fairly certain I saw some squirrelly little fellow skulking about the labs. Might've been one of Beocca's experiments." The smirk she affected wasn't a pleasant thing. Beocca was a strange man on his good days and downright unnerving on any other.

"I can't say I've ever been. Falwood, yes, but...."

Aderyn trailed off. She had only ever heard a few things about Vel Anir, none of them particularly good. But then, in most of Alliria one might only hear the worst about the Shallows and yet she could never see any other place as home.

"Well, it's a bit far from its Stone." She put some cheer into her voice to keep things light. She had never really considered herself all that worldly so truthfully new little. So many people had traveled through the world, but she was far more comfortable nearer Alliria. Her adventures away from home never strayed far from a Stone.

"I've been hoping to train an assistant here since I can't be here consistently, but so far no one's taken to it. Certainly not to my expectations, anyway."

 

[Eren'thiel Xyrdithas]

Erën didn't need long to survey the map, and have little more use for it afterward. The terrain, general area, it was all familiar to him. This little place had simply managed to sneak under his notice. It either hadn't existed very long, or he'd never ventured near enough to see sign of them. As his time through these parts was often short, it wasn't much surprise.

"At this pace...?" he asked under his breath, giving it a little thought, and then said over his shoulder, "if we pick it up a little, we'll be there before nightfall!"

Then, there came an undoubtedly elven phrase uttered from him. His horse kicked up, neighing excitedly, and then with its front hooves driven back down it bolted forward, sending its mane, its tail and his hair into a fray behind them. A trail of dust followed after.

He of course wouldn't leave her alone if she could not keep up... for long.

---

Emmeline Hildebrandt ​

 

[Castro Keane]

"I get that, friend. I am relatively new to Yaegirhood myself, so I try to avoid that type of thing. Y’know, only taking missions I can handle alone,” he said with a nod, grinning at Uhtred. He hadn’t quite expected to get along so quickly with any ally he was made to work with, so this (seeming) friendship was pleasantly surprising. Darkstride didn’t seem as chatty, but Castro guessed that she could easily be relied upon.

"It was sort of ... serendipitous-" (the wolf snorted at the word) "-either she has more patience than most give her credit for, or I'm more stupid than I thought…”

“I see, so she’s like…your mentor? If a Warden trusts her, that’s certainly something.” he replied, looking a bit thoughtful. Darkstride seemed monstrous only in build, so it made sense if she truly had taken Uhtred under her wing. He had been brought into the Yaegir corps by a similarly unexpected senior hunter or two and thus related to his comrade.

At the last comment, Castro only laughed for a minute. “Your honesty is commendable,” he noted teasingly. “I’m sorry if my questions are dumb. This is the first time I’ve volunteered for such a large-scale effort, so this idle chatter is…appreciated.”

Sigrith

 

[Sigrith]

"Yeah, my reluctant Mentor - sure," Uhtred chuckled, "I don't think they're dumb questions. I'm sure I've asked plenty of dumb ones myself. Hah."

The idle chatter continued on through the day and into the night. Camp made, Darkstride hunted down a young doe for dinner and slept just beyond the light of the campfire that night. They moved on in much the same manner the next day; a silent wolf leading two young Yaegir through the wilderness with a few pit stops along the way to check the map and gather fresh water.

THE MOUNTAIN SLOPES

Upon reaching the rise of green slopes, Darkstride came to a halt. Thus far, there had been no signs of adult wyvern in the area, but that didn't mean much since there was a whole other side to the mountains they could have been hunting and occupying. It was also entirely possible that with the nest empty, they'd moved on.

That would have been the lucky fate for everyone so long as moving on meant moving away from lands inhabited by people. Darkstride had a hunch that their luck was not so good. Beasts like them did not tend to move home when there was little reason to.

"Seems pretty quiet around here," Uhtred remarked while he let his horse nibble on some grass, "if wyverns are anything like their dragon cousins, they prefer dens that are well hidden. My guess is they've taken up a cave somewhere up in those slopes. Won't be easy to find them."

These weren't overly large mountains. They weren't even high enough to have snow-capped peaks. At most, the tallest few had bare peaks of stone, but most of them were small enough to maintain a thick cover of trees and forest all the way up. The chain was expansive enough that it could have taken weeks, if not months to track down two lone wyvern if they never chose to show themselves.

Had the fledglings still been about, learning to fly and hunt, they would not be so cautious about remaining hidden.

"We will need to lure them out," the first words spoken by the wolf since Castro Keane had met them. The voice was deep, svelte, and rumbled over a coarse growl. She turned to look at the two young men, "And one of you must hide in the lure."

 

[Wren]

"I can't say I've ever been. Falwood, yes, but...."

Aderyn trailed off. She had only ever heard a few things about Vel Anir, none of them particularly good. But then, in most of Alliria one might only hear the worst about the Shallows and yet she could never see any other place as home.

"Well, it's a bit far from its Stone." She put some cheer into her voice to keep things light. She had never really considered herself all that worldly so truthfully new little. So many people had traveled through the world, but she was far more comfortable nearer Alliria. Her adventures away from home never strayed far from a Stone.

"I've been hoping to train an assistant here since I can't be here consistently, but so far no one's taken to it. Certainly not to my expectations, anyway."

"It's closer to its stone than this place is." Wren replied, though her journey from Stillwater to the nearest portal stone had still taken several days. At the very least she had the convenience of traveling by boat to get there. Atlia? Out in the middle of fucking nowhere.

Heart of the Allir Reach - weh.

"I'll ask around at Stillwater and see if Beocca knows anyone. Not as though he's short on warm bodies there..." and a few cold bodies, but she didn't say that part aloud. It didn't do to unveil her own truths so early in the game - too few people were willing to take the risk with her kind and she couldn't exactly blame them.



THE TOWN OF WORRIN OFF THE WESTERN TRADE ROUTE

It was nightfall by the time they reached the rolling hillsides just beyond the town but they'd already seen plumes of smoke rising from the horizon well before they'd arrived. Could have been simple campfires or chimney smoke, but Wren's gut told her it was more than that. The stacks were simply too dark, too broad to be anything like a simple fire.

As Worrin came into view she saw her gut had been correct. The town was quite small before any of this trouble came to it, and now it was even smaller for the mess of burnt buildings left over from what Wren could only assume had been the wyvern having its way with them.

Her brow set over her eyes as she snapped the reins against both horses to urge them on more quickly even if they were tired from a day of travel, "We'll need to find survivors first, tend to the wounded. The beast has likely already fled for the night."

But it would likely be back the next day to finish the rest off.

 

[Aderyn Verchtegid]

"It's closer to its stone than this place is." Wren replied, though her journey from Stillwater to the nearest portal stone had still taken several days. At the very least she had the convenience of traveling by boat to get there. Atlia? Out in the middle of fucking nowhere.

Heart of the Allir Reach - weh.

"I'll ask around at Stillwater and see if Beocca knows anyone. Not as though he's short on warm bodies there..." and a few cold bodies, but she didn't say that part aloud. It didn't do to unveil her own truths so early in the game - too few people were willing to take the risk with her kind and she couldn't exactly blame them.



THE TOWN OF WORRIN OFF THE WESTERN TRADE ROUTE

It was nightfall by the time they reached the rolling hillsides just beyond the town but they'd already seen plumes of smoke rising from the horizon well before they'd arrived. Could have been simple campfires or chimney smoke, but Wren's gut told her it was more than that. The stacks were simply too dark, too broad to be anything like a simple fire.

As Worrin came into view she saw her gut had been correct. The town was quite small before any of this trouble came to it, and now it was even smaller for the mess of burnt buildings left over from what Wren could only assume had been the wyvern having its way with them.

Her brow set over her eyes as she snapped the reins against both horses to urge them on more quickly even if they were tired from a day of travel, "We'll need to find survivors first, tend to the wounded. The beast has likely already fled for the night."

But it would likely be back the next day to finish the rest off.

"Ah," Aderyn said, "but Allir is home."

Far later, and upon sight of the destruction wreaked upon Worrin, Aderyn took a sudden deep breath. She held up her chrysocolla stone and whispered a quiet prayer, though not to any particular deity. She deeply wanted to imbue the horses with fresh energy but something deep down told her it would be folly to do so.

Fine, they weren't that far away anyway. She exchanged the chrysocolla for a pendant vaguely in the shape of a heart, half turquoise and half onyx, highly polished and tied together with fine silver wire. "I'll be ready, just get me there and prepare for the worst. Do you have experience to help?"

 

[Emmeline Hildebrandt]

Emmeline watched as he surveyed the map, and when he was done she took it if only to try and familiarize herself better with the area around them. Then he was gone, leaving her behind and uncomfortable upon a beast she'd never ridden upon before. She wasn't sure what he said, but the driving of her heels to the horse was enough to prod it onward. A second push, then a third had her uncomfortably catching back up to the elf.

It was a weird sensation being on the back of a horse, and at times she felt if she didn't hold on tightly enough that she might slip, leaving one hand almost always wrapped around the horn of her saddle. She tried to call out to him when she drew near, her voice barely audible among the galloping hooves and squelching mud underfoot.

"What if it isn't there? Do we track it?" she asked, her tongue flicking across her lower lip to moisten the tier. How do you track something that flies? That thought was left within the confines of her mind, for now at least. Hunting was a new thing to her, but she had a feeling her investigation skills would be put to just as good work as they would have in the city.

Eren'thiel Xyrdithas

 

[Eren'thiel Xyrdithas]

As she drew nearer to him, he lessened his pace some a took up a position alongside her. She was coming along quite nicely, and he was pleased to see his little prompt had worked out well. As for her calling to him, she'd have had to have been a greater distance with much more noise in between for him not to have heard her, sharp as his ears were.

He turned to her, and said, "we'll have little choice, but young wyvern are hardly seasoned in either killing or hiding. We will find them."

---

As he'd hoped, they arrived in Ipswitch while the sun still dwelt low, not yet upon the horizon. Orange hues painted the sky, and long shadows were cast throughout the crooked shanty of a town. Down a bit of a twisted street they strode, and Erën noted how leery the townsfolk were, hunching away some and pulling their hoods a little closer. He guessed they were spooked, and maybe a little unsure of strangers.

He could hardly blame them.

The town's square was relatively quiet. A few shops were closing up, and a few people lingered on their porches, watching them from afar. Other than that, Erën heard only the tell-tale clanging of a blacksmith hard at work.

"Come, let us get your sword looked after, and see what we can find out."

---

Emmeline Hildebrandt ​

 

[Wren]

"Aye," Wren replied, though her attention was rather honed in on the town. She'd maintained her enhanced vision from her days among the true living, though it wasn't nearly so keen as that of a full-blooded elf, it was better than a human. Her gaze narrowed as she searched the town and the sky above it for any sign of the quarry and found none.

There was some movement among the rubble and remaining buildings, which meant life.

"I was a Ranger of Loriden for... many years," it didn't matter the actual amount, but she had experience aplenty, "I'm not a medic or a healer, but I know my way around the injured well enough."

And she could lift heavy objects and put them down. That was not a talent to be undervalued in times of such devastation. She clacked the reins once more to push the horses and watched as Worrin and its dark plumes grew larger.

Upon arrival to the town they slowed to navigate through the detritus of decimated fences, wagons, buildings, and more. The center was flooded from a wrecked fountain, leaving only hand pumps to bring up water and put out the lingering fires. Wren brought the horses to a stop just outside one of the few buildings left standing and quickly disembarked from the bench to tie them to the waiting post.

"We're from Atlia Keep," she announced with a yell to a man she saw darting across the street further ahead, "where are your wounded?"

"In the church!" he shouted back to her before pressing on into the smoldering rubble of what appeared to be a barn.

"See to the wounded," Wren said to Aderyn Verchtegid, "I'll check through the buildings for any other survivors and bring them in."