Fate - First Reply The Fate of Us All

[Edric]

Orin nodded his head. ”Sure do.”

There was a terseness to his voice, but Edric tried to play it off as though he had simply been enraptured by the Bishops speech. In a way, he had been. The words were still rolling around in his head, revolving as he considered the meaning and impact of them.

It had been a strange speech, one marked with a stand against near everything that Vel Anir had ever stood for. The Houses, the King, even the Dreadlords. All of it had simply been fuel for the verbal fire. Nothing had been scared, save for Anirius of course.

Briefly Edric wondered if that was the point.

“Well come along then, he’ll want to meet you in his office.”​

A nod tipped Edric’s head, and he quickly offered a glance to Ral before the two of them were lead through the crowd. People parted away from the guard, moving without ever a word being said. Before long they climbed a small staircase, passing through a strangely ornate door.

The hallway beyond was similarly decorated. Statues and busts lined their way, small mosaics worked into the tiles on the floor beneath them. It was a true work of art, a wonder that had been built in the span of months.

Edric wondered how they had done it.

“Here we are.”​

The Guard said as he opened a door, leading to what appeared to be a starkly contrasting office. There was only a simple desk, one large painting of Anirius standing clutching the sun, and a few shelves filled with books.

 

[Samantha Black]

The strange dichotomy of the temple hall decor and the office was something to note while the same train of thought passed through her mind as well. All this elaborate work ... in mere months? How? Why?

"Thanks," she said to the Guard as she stepped inside. The old man was toward the back of the office, carefully tending to ... was that a teapot?

"These are the two new ones I told you about, Archbishop," said the Guard from just inside the door, "finally got ourselves a fairer."

"Wasn't expecting to meet you face to face, M'lord," Ralene offered quietly but not meekly, "we'd have tried to clean ourselves up a bit more."

 

[Edric]

"Oh please. I'm no Lord."​

The old man said as he turned, his voice surprisingly calm. Edric had expected...more. He wasn't sure what, perhaps a tinge of harshness, anger, but instead he sounded like any other old man. Looked like one too, save for the the brand of that odd Symbol on the back of both of his hands.

It was the first time that Edric noticed it, and he had to drag his eyes away from them. Though he couldn't help but think there was something...off about those symbols in particular.

"There are no Lords here. We are all equals under the banners of Anirius."​

He said with a smile, picking up a tray and carrying it over to the desk.

"Tea?"​

The Archbishop offered, glancing first to Ralene and then to Edric. For a moment the Initiate hesitated, and then he slowly nodded. "Please, My Lo-Bishop."

An incline of the head came as the old man began to pour the tea.

"I'm told you're a blacksmith?"​

He asked, obviously speaking to Ralene.

 

[Samantha Black]

Ralene shared that glance with Edric - something they seemed to be doing a lot of lately - and silently noted the twinge of ... discomfort? Confusion? Curiosity? Hard to say, Edric wasn't especially emotive and she hadn't spent quite enough time with him personally to understand the minutiae that was his stone-faced visage.

"I'm afraid I'm not much for tea," Ralene made a slight shrug, "never grew a taste for it, but thank you." And Edric had? She didn't think so, but maybe he was just playing the part. Either way, it was probably better that at least one of them did.

"Yes, I am," she replied to the Bishop with a nod, "armor, weapons, tools, horseshoes ... your Guards mentioned that several times, so I expect I'll be busy at the stable once we get the smithy patched up."

 

[Edric]

"Oh yes. I'll expect you'll be very busy indeed."

The Archbishop said as he finished filling the two cups. His hands shaking as he placed the pot down onto the tray and lifted Edric's share. He carried it over towards the Initiate, offering only a warm smile a she handed him the tiny mug.

"Our enemies are many, and I'm sure those Godless scoundrels will be sending their lot sooner rather than later."​

Edric gripped the small cup in his hands, teeth sinking into his tongue in order to silence himself.

He remembered Ralene's words about his accent. Trying to calm himself to not respond to the Archbishop. The man seemed perfectly reasonable. Even logical, but Edric knew that just beneath the surface rested something else. Something far more sinister.

"I'll send someone over tonight, help get that forge up and running."​

His hand stroked over his beard as he turned away, placing the pot upon the tray.

"And you, you're a soldier?"​

"Yes sir, something of the sort anyway." He said with a quick nod. "I've received some training from the Guard."

There was a pause, longer than Edric would have wished.

"Well, for now it might be best if you...see to your wife. Ensure she has all that she needs in her craft,yes?"​

Edric nodded quickly. "Of Course, My Lo-Bishop."

He offered, cutting himself off.

 

[Samantha Black]

"Thank you... Sir," not a Lord, but the Guard had addressed him as Sir and he'd not shrugged that off. Ral glanced to the tiny cup in Edric's hand, finding it a curious sight. In different company, she would have smirked, but Ral was well-schooled on maintaining faces.

"The smithy building is ... I don't mean to offend, Sir, but it's in bad shape," her gaze shifted back to the Bishop and she wondered why it was he felt the need to turn his back to them while they spoke.

"We'll need some materials to tidy it up. Who can I speak to about that?"

 

[Edric]

Edric slowly sipped the thimble of tea.

It was an inoffensive brew, though he was more than sure that those who had a taste for tea would have found it rather bitter. Lips thinned for a brief moment and he glanced towards Ralene, but kept his tongue tightly tied.

"You'll have everything you need."​

The Bishop spoke before Edric could offer a single word. His Voice a strong pillar. He turned back towards the two Initiates.

"We will need every weapon we have against the invaders."​

His head shook ruefully. "Of course. Ser. We shall see to it."

The words slipped from Edric's tongue without much thought, and were met with an immediate nod from the Archbishop. The man seemed half trapped in his own thoughts, his gaze sweeping over Ralene and Edric before he spoke again.

"Good...Good. They'll come for us soon. Armies...soon...they'll be here. Wipe us out..."​

He seemed to quietly ramble, a strange urgency to his tone. The paranoia sowing a seed.

 

[Samantha Black]

Ralene couldn't help but be mildly put-off by the old man's degenerative mental state. This is who was leading this piteous revolution? He was either mad or senile ... perhaps a little bit of both.

"Thank you Sir," she nodded, "we'll be to it, then. More work than daylight. Maybe you'll come visit when it's all fixed up?" Ral offered him her best estimation of a kindly smile and looked up at Edric with an idle touch to his near arm, "Let's be off. I'm sure the Archbishop has plenty to do."

Without any words from the Bishop to stay their leave, she turned and made her way out of his office. The Guard wasn't there anymore, which seemed strange to her. Shouldn't there be Guards posted to protect the Bishop?

 

[Edric]

Edric didn’t linger, deciding thatif Ralene was leaving it would probably be for the best if he left as well. A frown touched his face for a brief moment as they stepped out into the hall, his gaze flickering around for a moment as he clearly noticed the same thing Ralene did.

Where were the Guard?.

None of this made any sense. There were things happening that he just didn’t understand. Something was wrong with this place, and it was more than just the bodies. His head shook for a brief moment as he looked at his companion. ”Let’s get home.”

Edric said loudly, but gesturing down the hall in the other direction.

It was clear, now more than ever, that something was happening beyond just a small revolt. Something foul had taken root in this city, something more than just the hands of men. Edric intended on finding out what.

Slowly he cut down the hall, moving deeper into the church.

 

[Samantha Black]

She'd waited for him to join, expecting him not to linger on his own with the clearly unwell old man, but she hadn't expected Edric to head off in the wrong direction. Ral wasn't about to chastise him - it wasn't a bad idea to scope things out more while they could still pass it off as newcomer ignorance. Following just off his side, her gaze took in the details of doorways and decor. This area didn't seem to be quite as lavish as the cathedral and atrium, but why so many rooms?

Waiting until she caught his attention, she paused by one doorway and stooped to peer in through the keyhole lock. It was dark inside and she couldn't see much, but it appeared to be filled with - "Pots," she hushed as she looked back at Edric, "there's a ton of huge pots in there the size of wine barrels."

 

[Edric]

Edric frowned for a moment.

He tried to run through the reason for such things in his head. "Dwarven Fire?"

It was a wild guess, at the very least. This was...this was all so strange to him. The people in this city seemed to be all over the place. One moment the situation was utterly normal, and the next they seemed to shift on a dime.

"We're missing something." Edric said quietly. "Like..."

He frowned. "Like that bishop is hiding something, or..."

Edric thought of how the man had acted in front of them. How he had seemed distant, unrepresented. It was odd, strange to a degree that he couldn't quite place.

"Like he wasn't even in charge." Was this something else? Something more? Edric just couldn't place it.

 

[Samantha Black]

"I thought the recipe for dwarven fire was lost..." Ral mused mostly to herself. That was the last she'd read of it in their texts at the Academy. Pushing to a stand again, she moved to the next door to look through that lock as well. More pots.

The next room - more pots.

The next room - ...not pots, but stacks and stacks of large shipping crates.

Furrowing her brow in thought, Ral turned back to Edric, "They're preparing for something big and we need to find out what."

"Ey you lot," a Guard rounded a corner towards the opposite end, "what are you doin' down here? This area is off limits to citizens."

"Sorry Sir," Ral replied, "we got a bit turned around finding our way out. Can you show us where to go?"

 

[Edric]

"I ag-" Before Edric could finish he found himself cut off by the sound of a guard loudly breaking into their conversation.

He turned almost immediately, fingers flicking behind his back. They hovered over the short knife that he had hidden there, lingering just long enough to see where the conversation was going.

"Aye. I can show you to the door."​

The Guard said, glancing over at Edric for a moment before turning his attention back to Ralene. A hand rested on his sword, but not tense enough that the Initiate thought he was about to draw it.

"Who are you then?"​

"She's the new blacksmith." Edric explained, letting his palm relax slightly. "I'm just her husband, she's the talent."

He flickered an innocent, and what he thought was a charming smile.

"Oh! I've heard of you lot. Supposed to be coming down with my wife tomorrow to help you with that Forge. We sure are glad you came. Wissburg's in desperate need of a smith. Come this way, I'll show ye out."​

Edric let his hand fall back to his side, glancing at Ralene for a moment.

There was something else going on here, something more than just a city in revolt. Suddenly finding the Sirl girl didn't seem all that important.

 

[Samantha Black]

Ralene caught Edric's glance, having looked to ensure he wasn't about to do something completely stupid - like kill the guard. They were too fresh into town to blow their cover now.

"That's what we keep hearing, I'll be glad for you and your wife's help so I can get that forge fired up again," Ral offered the man a faint smile of gratitude before turning it over to Edric, "solid night's sleep would be good too. Hardly slept a wink last night, kept thinking the house was gonna fall in on us."

"We'll get that all fixed up," said the Guard as he lead the back up the hallway from the direction they came, "our people work might fast, they do."

"Did your people make this church?" Ral asked as they stepped past the old man's office door and back into the opulent hallway, "we've never seen anything like it before."

"Aye, we did. What the Bishop needs, the Bishop gets. That man has done a great deal for this place and we were proud to give him the place of worship he deserved. Course the folks that disagreed ... well, you saw 'em on your way in I expect."

"Is ... that what happened to the old blacksmith?" Ral chanced, trying to pass it off as concerned curiosity.

"Oh, Nevin," the Guard rolled his shoulders a bit, "he just was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Casualty of change, they calls it, but no need to worry yourself miss. You two are just the sort of folk that'll fit right in. We got big plans for Wissburg, we do, and we're eager to see what you can do with that forge."

"Well, I'll do my very best and then some. We don't want to let anyone down, and certainly not the Bishop. He seems a nice man."

"He's a great man," the Guard corrected with a smile, "there you are," and gestured to the main entrance doors as he head them out into the front foyer, "why don't you two grab a bite at the tavern. Me and the missus will meet you at the smithy in two hours time to see what sort of supplies you'll be needin."

"Thank you Sir ... we didn't catch your name?"

"Captain Gilheed," the guard replied.

~~~~

At the tavern they sat at a table off toward the front by a window that gave them a decent view of the main throughfare from the entrance to the city. Ralene noted that there seemed to be an uptick in traffic coming into Wissburg. A caravan of villagers arrived looking battered and careworn, lead into a refugee camp within the city limits by the guard. She watched this for some time while breaking bread and waiting for their meal to arrive, "So many new people..." she narrowed her eyes, "lots of children. Where do you think they're coming from?"

 

[Edric]

Edric was idly chewing on what might have at one point been a piece of steak. The thing had been cut and flattened so much that it was hardly recognizable as meat. He wasn't entirely sure if it was meant to be this way or if the city was rationing.

He was banking towards the latter though. "Refugees."

That much was obvious to the both of them.

"Lots of people still unhappy with the Revolution." Wissburg claimed itself a safe harbor, a place for those people trying to get away from the 'oppression' of the New Republic. "Lots of chaos in some places still."

He frowned for a moment, making sure no one was close enough to hear them. "A few months ago Eleanor and I were in Vel Acetan. One of the rogue Archon's leveled the place."

Lips thinned as he remembered the broken buildings and scattered corpses.

As he finished speaking a girl walked over to them. She was dressed like most folk here, though there was something...different about her. Her hair was an odd white color, though tinged with strands of gold. A smile pulled at her lips.

"Can I get anything else for you?"

She smiled at the two of them.

 

[Samantha Black]

Rogue Archons? Seemed to be quite a few of those running around. Made her wonder what the whole point of everything was. Sure, being granted the title of Archon was what most any powerful Dreadlord initiate strived for. Even Ral could admit that to that dream, but her aspirations for after graduation meant so much more.

She'd settle for the ranking just below Archon and be perfectly content with it.

"Could you wrap a loaf of bread for us to take back home?" Ral asked the girl in a pleasant enough tone.

"Of course, Miss. Would you like some cheese and cuts of meat with that as well?"

"That sounds nice. We've got a busy day ahead, would be good to have something set for later."

"Right away, Miss."

Ral watched her go with a narrowing gaze, "We've still got some time before meeting Captain Gilheed. I want to get a better look around before we head back. Maybe see what's going on with the refugees."

 

[Edric]

He nodded his head, looking after the girl for a moment. "Sure."

There was something about her...he just couldn't place it. A frown pulled at his lips, and then he shook his head as he decided his mind was probably just playing tricks. They had a mission here, find the Sirl girl, and...well half a dozen other things that seemed more important now.

"Sounds good." Before long the girl returned to the table, and Edric plucked a few silver coins out from his belt pouch. He offered a quick thanks, taking the small package. "You remember the description of the Sirl girl?"

He asked quietly. "Call me crazy but..."

Edric glanced at the waitress for just a brief moment as she hovered near one of the other tables and took an order.

It was just a hunch really. The Sirl girl was supposed to have been blonde, and well…she was a fucking noble. Not a waitress, and from what he understood a Sirl would hardly lower themselves to such a task.

Still…her features were close to the drawing. At least enough to spark something in Edric’s head.

 

[Samantha Black]

This was one of the few moments Ral encountered in the mission thus far that she was grateful she'd been partnered up with Edric. He was quite capable of leading others when need be, but also capable of working together when the time called for it. They'd been paired for jobs before, but this was their first long-con. Sans Dreadlord overseer to boot.

Anyone else and this mission would have been a fucking disaster.

Her attention shifted to the waitress curiously. Now that he mentioned it ... there was a strange resemblance but ... Ral had the same doubts he did.

"There's no way," she narrowed her eyes in consideration and leaned in across the table toward Edric, "not a waitress. Out in open ..." hidden in plain sight? Maybe.

"She wouldn't be here willingly." That much was already a known fact. The Sirl girl had been kidnapped - so how on earth would they hide her in plain sight as a bar maid without her attempting to escape every chance she got?

The girl had turned back in their direction, glancing toward them and Ral made to act as if she'd been teasing her husband by reaching forward to tickle him under the chin with a smirk.

"Here you are miss," the girl set a wrapped bundle on the table for her, "will that be all?"

"I think so," Ral scooped up the bundle and stood from her seat, "I'll wait outside while you pay up, love."

Might give Edric a chance to take a closer look or ask a few nondescript questions without seeming out of place. She stepped around the girl and out of the tavern where she walked off a few paces to get a better look at the ongoing traffic of the arriving caravan.

 

[Edric]

"Of course, Honey." Edric said as he bandied about the few silvers that he had fished free, playing with them in his palm as though he were counting.

The Waitress lingered by the table as Ralene extricated herself from the tavern, seemingly giving no mind to the parting at all. Edric waited long enough, then looked at the girl with a shake of his head. He let out a sigh.

"Sorry...I'm not sure..." His head shook. "I haven't been in town long, not sure how much things cost."

A wide smile parted the girls lips.

"Well you don't have to worry. We're all of the faithful here, we help each other."​

With a gentle hand the girl opened Edric's palm, fishing out a silver coin and two coppers. "Are you sure? That doesn't seem enough."

"I am very sure."​

"Thanks. Have you been here long?" He asked innocently.

"Since Wissburg came about. Things have been turbulent but...but the people have been better off."​

The Girls smile seemed to falter for a moment as she spoke of the last sentiment, her features flickering for a brief moment. Edric cocked his head, but before he could say anything else the Waitress excused herself, bowing her head and rushing away.

For a brief moment the Initate lingered, but not long after he followed Ralene out the door. As he reached her his head shook. "There's more to that girl."

He told his companion, voice steady and sure.

 

[Samantha Black]

Ral looked over to Edric as he joined her, a faint frown of thought shifting over her face, "There's more to this caravan, too."

She'd been watching the throngs of people as they rolled in on carts, on foot, on horseback. These people were tired, needing, and looked quite fretful. Didn't seem quite right. Shouldn't there be at least some level of relief or hope in their eyes? Why did it look like they were being forcefully marched into Wissburg, and not welcomed as freely arriving refugees?

More to the point, where was Wissburg intending to put all these people? It wasn't a sprawling city. They certainly didn't have the farmlands needed for resources to feed all these hungry mouths. At least, they shouldn't have considering what their intel on the city told them.

With a nod to her companion, Ralene stepped into the flow of traffic on the street and followed the caravan to the refugee camp. There they discovered rows upon rows of tents and a procession of checkpoints where the Wissburg Guard was collecting belongings from the refugees and replacing them with clean robes, bedrolls, and necessity items before being assigned to a tent block. It looked as though everything was being provided for them ... but it was all extremely ... clerical.

"Is that ... a Priest?" Ral squinted as she watched the final checkpoint for the refugees where they were being put through some kind of blessing and prayer. "Wait ... where did all the children go?"

The line she was watching seemed to be rather missing the large population of young children she'd seen walking through earlier.

 

[Edric]

Edric stood quietly besides Ralen, watching the refugee camp.

At first glance it all looked...good, but just as with the rest of Wissburg there was an air of wrongness to the whole thing. He couldn't place his finger on it at first, save for the lack of smiles, the joy that should have been on their faces.

It wasn't until Ralene pointed out the lack of children that Edric's frown deepened.

His gaze quickly flickered back and forth, never turning his head as to be obvious he was searching. A long breath filled his lungs as he confirmed that Ral was right. There wasn't a kid to be seen in the entire camp, not that he could spot anyway.

"Maybe they're taking them." Edric commented quietly, glancing at the Priest.

It wasn't too far-fetched. "Not like this place is a stranger to that sort of thing."

Wissburg had been an Anirian city, and like every other Anirian city had spent the last few centuries paying the tribute of the Dreadlords. A tax that both Ralene and Edric were intimately familiar with.

 

[Samantha Black]

"But this many?" she hushed back to him, "All of them?"

The ratio of mages to non in an entire population wasn't exceptionally high. With all the children that had walked in, if they were performing tests to see who could use magic it would have likely only amounted to ... maybe half a dozen or less. But this was strange. There wasn't one single child in sight. Where had they gone? What purpose could they possibly have in taking every child away from its family?

"You two aren't supposed to be here," not a Guard, but a Priest stepped over to them, "Wissburg citizens are not allowed in the refugee camps."

"Sorry ... we just thought we could help? Seemed like a lot of people coming in and we hadn't much to do at the time," Ral offered as curiously as she could.

"This area is quarantined due to illness until further notice," the Priest raised a hand to gesture them return the way they came, "please return to the city proper."

Illness? These people didn't look ill ... at least, not any worse off than a few hard days on the road. But she nodded and bid her apology to the man again before turning and heading back up the path, her bundle of food in one arm and her free hand coiling into a fist in the other.

 

[Edric]

More questions.

More mysteries.

It seemed like every place they turned in this fucking city there was something else that didn't make any sense. Edric was beginning to wonder why in the fuck Vel Anir hadn't sent an army marching on this place weeks ago.

His lips thinned, and then he glanced back towards the Refugee camp as they where ushered away by one of the guards. His lips thinned. "Maybe they don't want Dreadlords."

He said softly, his low.

"Maybe they want soldiers." That would take years of course, but he could remember how what they had done at the Academy. The educations they had received in the glory of Vel Anir. "Loyal. Raised by their hand."

Edric frowned, looking at Ralene. "Hostages."

In case any parent got any ideas of counter-revolution.

 

[Samantha Black]

Ralene didn't quite agree with the idea of taking the children to create soldiers. That was a long-term plan that didn't seem to fit with everything they'd seen so far. The word hostages got a look from her - a frown showing equal parts disturbance and anger. It wasn't necessarily that she had a soft spot for children - Ral was rather ambivalent towards the idea of them, but that these were future citizens of Vel Anir.

The Dreadlord initiate would never want for any other child to have to go through what she and Edric and countless others had, but hostages only held value for as long as demands were left unmet. What happened to them when Wissburg got what it wanted? The Dreadlords, at least, had purpose beyond their shattered and tortured youths.

She cast a wary gaze around them as they walked through a crowd of Guards on patrol and kept her mouth decidedly shut. It wasn't safe for them to talk about this out in the open.


Once they reached the smithy and stepped back inside, she moved to pull the city map from her journal. Unfolding it and smoothing it out over the floorboards, Ral stooped down and began to mark in the area of the refugee camp.

She shook her head with a strained sigh, "We need more information. Once we get this place fixed up we have to get you into the guard..." getting intel and inside information from within the Guard was going to be key to them making any headway. With a glance out the open doorway she quickly folded the map back up and stowed it back into her journal, "You need to make friends with the Captain."

 

[Edric]

Edric didn't disagree with the idea. He didn't like any of what was going on here. The tree they had passed, the children being taken, none of it. Yet something else was at the forefront of his mind."I'm not sure the Captain will know much more."

The Initiate said with a frown, though it wasn't like he rejected the idea.

The Guard here seemed more ancillary though, stooges parading around at the behest of those who stood over them; Priests.

"I don't think getting close will be the issue." He remarked, peering down at the map. "I can best anyone in Wissburg with a sword."

He was the best at the Academy, and even without using a touch of his magic he was willing to bet he could best anyone else in the Guard. "The problem is still finding the girl, I doubt anyone knows where she is. Unless they have her in a dungeon somewhere."

That was what he was thinking about.

Wissburg was a mess. There were a dozen mysteries he would have liked to solve, but ultimately their mission was to find the heir of House Sirl. Anything else? That was just a bonus. "So."

He glanced up at Ralene.

"We have to prioritize." He wasn't against finding out other things, they just had to make sure they knew what they were doing first. "I can get close to the Guard, you'll probably be busy at the forge..."

Edric said, rubbing the stubble on his cheek. "Maybe we can put out a quiet word, looking for a cousin or something that might have come here..."

That way they could tackle all their problems at once, without setting off alarm bells.