Open Chronicles The Essence of Being

A roleplay open for anyone to join
Seretha ibnat Rezhe
Theodore Aleson
Larewen Dragana

Vaezhasar's gaze, insofar as anyone could determine where the gaze of a man wearing an ornate helmet was actually going, came to rest upon Larewen. He performed the sort of rapid mental cataloguing that experienced travelers develop after years of needing to know, very quickly, which strangers in a room were likely to stab them and which were merely thinking about it.

Short? Noted. Incredibly pale? Also noted. Probably... nay, definitely not a normal elf? One hundred percent noted, underlined twice, and annotated in the margins.

Although slight of stature, Larewen radiated the sort of cool necromantic energy that made Vaezhasar's metaphysical sensibilities sit up and take notice in much the same way a dog's ears prick at the distant sound of a cat being smug. She also smelled like damp grave dirt, not the freshly-turned sort that spoke of honest agricultural work, but the settled, patient variety that had been getting on with the business of being a grave for quite some time and had no intention of stopping.

In fact, from where he stood, being in her proximity felt rather like standing next to a talking, walking tombstone. Vaezhasar had encountered tombstones before, of course. He had even, on one particularly memorable occasion, encountered a talking one. But this was something else entirely.

He jabbed Seretha in the ribs with one armored finger to secure her attention, then pointed at Larewen.

"That one," he said, in the tone of a man reporting the weather, "is most assuredly a necromancer. And not the wholesome sort, like yourself. I would advise watching your back around her. Possibly both eyes on it, if you can manage."

He redirected the point toward Theodore, who by Vaezhasar's humble estimation wasn't much older than the students he'd been teaching at Elbion.

"That one, however, seems good-natured enough. I very much doubt you'll need to worry about him making off with the artefact."
 
A decision on exactly what to do was stripped right out of Theo's hands when his table companion and likely greatest source of his soon to come untimely death scampered off at the mention of adventure. His escape route also taken along with it as just leaving was not an option. He needed to gain something given what he had to pay to get to this place. That not food substance he had been handed would be in vain otherwise.

With a sigh Theo gathered up Sammy into his arms and stood to follow this new mystery person outside. At the least he could try and gauge if they had something worth pursuing based on their judgements and behaviors.

Once outside and enough time had been deemed appropriate by the potential employer, client, or partner the sand elf woman stood up and began to speak about herself. A necromancer and illusionist. A combination certainly fitting of this place. It made him nervous that he had come into contact with two dealing in such arcane arts in the same day....

But then she revealed a dagger.

His curiosity was instantly peaked. Something about it tugged at a thread of memory making an echo of familiarity. He knew something about it but couldn't place what exactly at the moment. He needed another look at it close up. So he shifted Sammy to climb onto his shoulder and approached without putting enough thought into what his feet were doing.

As he approached Seretha, Theo pointed to her sheathe. "Pardon but can I get a closer look at that dagger? You may keep it in your hands and on your person the entire time if it would be more comfortable for you."

Then he just waited to see what she would do. The presence of her partner who was clearly marking who they should and shouldn't take as well as the highest of threats to one's life and limbs went unnoticed. His focus entirely on this new object of interest.

Seretha ibnat Rezhe Larewen Dragana Vaezhasar Drakspae
 
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Seretha waved Vaezhasar's comments away with a sweep of her hand. Her smile disarmed the dismissive nature of the gesture, though. "Well, I suppose that's what I have you for. I'm also not so bad at taking care of myself. I haven't died yet, after all."

The young human, though, presented no risk in Vaezhasar's estimation and while she was willing to trust in that, she knew that Theo's appearance was no guarantee of anything. He asked to see the knife and she narrowed her eyes, appraising him silently. She then raised her palms and pressed them together in front of her chest. Her eyes turned a milky blue color just before she closed them and she carefully constructed in her mind the exact image of the dagger.

Separating her palms slowly revealed a perfect image of the blade, at least in her own estimation, including the broken handle. She hadn't, after all, seen a full version before and her illusion talent was average at best so sticking to actual memory always produced a better outcome.

"Is this sufficient?" she asked as the image of the dagger slowly rotated between her hands. "I would much prefer to leave the real thing where it is while we're standing around here. Besides, I can magnify any part of this that you want."

Theodore Aleson Vaezhasar Drakspae Larewen Dragana
 
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