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Post by A. Joe on Aug 6, 2013 22:06:40 GMT
That was a rather quick process. Hal was sure that earning citizenship in the city of trade will took longer than that. Still, it will be quite some time before he can really get to work on his craft. It seems the new Warden request for all able folks to be prepared for something, exploration perhaps? The young half-elf steps out of the city hall. He decide to go to the local tavern, perhaps he will hear more rumors or news there while waiting for further development.
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Aegoth
Calidorian
"Just trying to make an honest living"-Aegoth
Posts: 44
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Post by Aegoth on Aug 7, 2013 5:00:21 GMT
A traveler with neck-length black hair and a neatly trimmed black beard, sat at a table in the tavern. He wore an ordinary traveler's outfit and attracted no suspicion or attention from the locals whatsoever. However, trim the beard and one would see a face with features that had a hint of both elvish grace and human ruggedness. Cut the hair and one would see the trademark pointed ears that indicated one half of his true heritage. A heritage that Aegoth, half-elf thief, had despised for all intents and purposes. From his table he monitored the window, the door and the rest of the tavern, with a caution that could only be attributed to past experience with being a wanted man. However, he primarily paid attention to the local gossip.
For an hour Aegoth listened with intent to a farmer whining about the frail nature of his crops, a merchant discussing with his peers the virtues of owning and selling animal skins, and young men talking about ways to woo their female companions. He listened very carefully despite the quite ordinary nature of the banter. Experience in the thief's trade had however taught him to be patient. Soon something would be heard, or even better someone might arrive that would peak his interest. He was looking for people or information that would lead to future opportunities and endeavors.
As the merchant went on another long speech about the seven virtues of animal skin harvesting, a small smirk appeared on his face."This is gonna be one long day," he thought and took a large gulp from his mug of ale.
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Post by A. Joe on Aug 7, 2013 5:54:38 GMT
Hal entered the tavern, walks right to the bar for a mug of ale. The bartender brought his ale and, as per the tradition of a drink for a news in the tavern, drop the young half-elf an information he might have missed. Apparently, there has been some changes in the leadership of the city of trade, the previous Warden disappeared, left his position for the city wizard to take up. Hal wondered whether the wizard is that same nice old wizard who fought the assassins earlier this morning. The bartender continues on his talk, it seems the previous expedition done by the city almost claim one member of the city. Hal gulp down his ale and lean on the bar. "Expedition huh? Wonder if I can sign up for it, sounds quite dangerous" The bartender shrugs and cleans up Hal's empty mug. He merely told the young half-elf to wait for it, the new acting Warden will surely announce it when the time has come. The topic continues on with the bartender offering rooms for rent and the young half-elf asking the local events and whatnot.
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Aegoth
Calidorian
"Just trying to make an honest living"-Aegoth
Posts: 44
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Post by Aegoth on Aug 7, 2013 8:32:16 GMT
Aegoth continued to observe the local banter, specifically the rising voice of the merchant, with a growing annoyance. Suddenly he noticed a new figure enter the tavern. It was the same young half-elf that he saw in the fiasco at the city market earlier. His eyebrows lifted with interest as he turned his attention away from the ever-more annoying merchant’s rambling to this new fresh new figure.
He initially saw a young half-elf dressed in a typical adventurer’s garment wearing a bagpack. He walked immediately towards the bar and asked for a fresh mug of ale. “Interesting…,” Aegoth thought “He was a part of the commotion earlier…”
With that thought Aegoth immediately emptied his mug and proceeded towards the bar, where the half elf talked with the bartender.
Aegoth took a seat and eavesdropped. “Apparently, there has been some changes in the leadership of the city of trade, the previous Warden disappeared, left his position for the city wizard to take up,” he heard. “Interesting, so the court wizard has taken over as leader of the city, possibly a conspiracy?” Aegoth thought.
The conversation continued towards the topic of city ventures to claim areas of the surrounding wilderness. Apparently such ventures were dangerous as a member of the city nearly lost his life while conducting one. The half-elf took a gulp of his ale and pondered whether he could sign up for one of these ventures.
“Heh, an adventurer just as I thought,” Aegoth smirked. Despite the condescension Aegoth couldn’t help but sympathize with the half-elf’s desire for adventure. It reminded him of a younger, brighter time. Such thoughts also reminded him of something else. A painful memory he immediately pushed into the furthest corner of his mind.
At that point the bartender began to clean the half-elf’s mug, and consoled him that the wizard warden was bound to set another venture soon. Aegoth decided to enter the conversation, with a fake persona of course.
“Hey, weren’t you in the center of that commotion earlier by the city market? I believe I saw you with the wizard! A young man like you consorting with wizards must mean you are a person of special importance,” Aegoth quickly asked.
Before the young half-elf could respond. Aegoth blurted out,”Oh where are my manners! My name is Eratus and I am but a humble traveler. In kind, what is your name friend?”
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Post by A. Joe on Aug 7, 2013 12:50:53 GMT
The man approached while Hal was talking to the bartender. He introduced himself as Eratus, a humble traveler he said. Everything about him is indeed ordinary. An ordinary traveler's cloak, an ordinary trimmed beard and hair, an ordinary gesture, nothing pronounced, nothing seems to make him different among masses. All of these ordinaries however, makes his eyes somehow, somewhat, much more pronounced. Those eyes seem a little familiar, like staring into the eyes of one of his now gone predecessors. Could he be a...? These thoughts came to Hal's mind in a fraction of seconds, just before he finally greet the man back. "Hello sir, people call me Hal. And I don't really know who that wizard was actually, he might be an authoritative figure of the city"
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Aegoth
Calidorian
"Just trying to make an honest living"-Aegoth
Posts: 44
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Post by Aegoth on Aug 7, 2013 23:34:20 GMT
The half-elf looked once at Aegoth and the resulting expression on his face seemed like recognition, which slightly bothered Aegoth. He wondered whether there was something lacking in his disguise when the half-elf replied, "Hello sir, people call me Hal. And I don't really know who that wizard was actually, he might be an authoritative figure of the city".
“Hmmm, so he isn’t an important figure,” Aegoth thought. “But he was still in the center of that commotion earlier…”
“Well, weren’t you at the center of the commotion earlier? I was in the mob and I couldn’t see what was going on, Aegoth spoke and took a sip from a fresh mug of ale.
“At the time I was so struck with fear that I couldn’t think of anything but to get out of the way. Now however, I'm curious as to what was the cause. Do you know what happened?” he asked.
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constantine
Volken
Constantine Ilfrey, Wizard Extraordinaire. For a sum i can make you feel as good as it gets.
Posts: 242
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Post by constantine on Aug 7, 2013 23:47:01 GMT
Constantine entered the inn sweeping the room before making his way towards the bar. He took a seat not far from the two half-elves.
"Otto, i want some water." The innkeeper looked at him funny.
"Water? You must be joking, My.." he stopped, remembering what the Holder had told him earlier.
"Yes, water. And quickly before I change my mind and go to a different inn." he gave a hearty laugh that attracted some glances from the other patrons. Otto moved quickly and set a glass of water before him.
"Here you are." He then started moving towards the other guests, fulfilling their orders.
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Post by Effigy on Aug 8, 2013 0:58:36 GMT
Effigy stormed through the inn doors and startled almost everyone. He quickly spotted Constantine and pushed his way through to get to him. With the panic of his situation he did not even try to mask his voice as he spoke. "The man is possessed. He speak infernal. Please not make me go back. I hate demons."
Constantine thought to himself how rare of an occasion this must be, he looked out at a Orc that was terrified.
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constantine
Volken
Constantine Ilfrey, Wizard Extraordinaire. For a sum i can make you feel as good as it gets.
Posts: 242
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Post by constantine on Aug 8, 2013 1:04:55 GMT
Constantine took the shaken orc and guided him to a seat.
"Otto! Bring my friend here a mug of ale."
Otto hurried towards them with a big mug of ale and planted it in front of the barbarian. He then left for other customers. After taking a few gulps of ale the orc calmed and seemed reasonable.
"Did the man give you anything? Can you show it to me?"
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Post by Effigy on Aug 8, 2013 1:13:04 GMT
Effigy quickly regained his composure. He remembered the letter that the sergeant provided him. He took it out and handed it to Constantine. On the paper it said:
Name: Sergeant Kork, James P. Action: Interrogation of one Captain Hunnas, Fannow R. for conspiracy to commit murder. Notes: The Captain was unwilling to voluntarily provide information. A substitute motive had to be applied. He remained unwilling to voluntarily provide information. At one point he shouted out in a language identified as infernal. In my own attempts to record what was said "Drah vinak I'm rick sa e".
During the interrogation the informant accidentally fell onto a few nails on the table and scraped his right ear off.
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constantine
Volken
Constantine Ilfrey, Wizard Extraordinaire. For a sum i can make you feel as good as it gets.
Posts: 242
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Post by constantine on Aug 8, 2013 1:48:19 GMT
Constantine took the letter from the orc and gave it a quick glance.
"Infernal. Fires will consume you ..." He had felt the magical aura spike and then fade when Mak passed above the guardhouse. But he didn't expect this. He thought that it was a simple charm spell, but this was something more. He sent a suggestion to Mak and the bird took another sweep over the building but he didn't feel anything. He took a seat near the orc and took a gulp of water from his mug. First assassins, then orcs and now Infernal. Something dangerous was brewing around here. He hoped that his message had reached them.
"We will go and check on our friend a bit later, after I think about some things." He looked at the two young men sitting at the bar chatting. One was a half-elf, you could see that easily, the other seemed human but Constantine knew better. He realized that he wasn't a human when Mak made a sweep of the inn. He picked the faint magical aura of the half-elf he met earlier, as he already knew all half-elves had a magical aura, a bit of their elven parent, weaker than the aura of an elf but still present, and then a similar one from the human next to him. A while back he wouldn't care if there was a half-elf posing as a human but thanks to the latest events he looked at anything unusual with suspicion.
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Post by A. Joe on Aug 8, 2013 2:10:08 GMT
Hal was about answer that traveler Eratus when the wizard came, but before he can say anything, the orc from this morning came running into the inn looking terrified. Actually, Hal never seen a terrified orc before, it's hard to differentiate between their wrathful face and terrified face. The orc addressed the wizard, something about the incident from this morning it seems. With the wizard's attention focused on the orc, Hal return his attention to his initial greeter. "Well mister, if you want to know more about the incident, you could ask them directly. Although, I'm not sure if that information is for the public."
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Aegoth
Calidorian
"Just trying to make an honest living"-Aegoth
Posts: 44
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Post by Aegoth on Aug 8, 2013 2:55:22 GMT
Hal looked like he was about to the question when their attention was diverted by the sounds of someone rushing into the inn.
“Now what is this?” he thought and he looked towards the newcomer.
It was an orc. The same orc that had been at the center of the commotion earlier, although he had a look of panic on his face. At the same time Aegoth also noticed another new figure in the inn. It was the wizard who was also part of the earlier disturbance.
“Well things are getting interesting….” Aegoth thought as he watched the orc approach the wizard. He told the wizard something, and in turn the wizard calmed his friend down and offered him a seat nearby. He then passed the wizard a letter. The wizard skimmed through it with a look of concern on his face. Immediately afterwards, the wizard glanced in his direction.
Aegoth immediately looked away to avoid suspicion as the half-elf he was just talking to replied,” "Well mister, if you want to know more about the incident, you could ask them directly. Although, I'm not sure if that information is for the public."
Aegoth replied,” Ha ha, I was just curious. It isn’t every day that you see such a scene in the middle of a city market. Also I don’t think the two of them would like to be bothered.” “It is probably also a good idea not to attract that wizard’s attention just yet, who knows what he is capable of,” he thought. “And that orc, it is a rare sight for an orc to ever be in a city, let alone being a lackey for the court wizard.” He kept a mental note of the events and with a smile spoke to Hal," It also isn't every day that you see a lone half-elf wandering through the market. If it isn't too much to ask, what brings you to this city of ours?"
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Post by A. Joe on Aug 8, 2013 3:21:44 GMT
At the mention of being a half-elf, Hal rubs his ear absentmindedly before he replies. "I suppose I'm here to look for work, for now. Is it so weird for a half-elf to be in the city? I was under the impression that half-elves aren't all that rare." Hal knew this question will comes up one day, but after taking a long journey from the grove, he is somewhat certain that half-elves are not that rare. Although, most of those he has seen are almost always travelers or adventurers.
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Aegoth
Calidorian
"Just trying to make an honest living"-Aegoth
Posts: 44
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Post by Aegoth on Aug 8, 2013 4:21:45 GMT
“Oh I wasn’t trying to make a comment on your race Hal!” Aegoth laughed. “I’m not saying that it is weird for a half-elf to be in a city, I guess the recent commotion just raised my interest.” And finished off his mug of ale.
“Looks like I got all the information I’m gonna get from this one,” Aegoth thought. “I should probably get going, I don’t want to be anywhere near that wizard.”
He took another glance at the wizard and he said, “Well my friend, I think I’m going to go on a nice afternoon walk. I am still a tad flustered from the recent events, a walk around the city should ease my nerves a little.” He then called for the bartender and said, “Place, whatever expenses Hal incurs on my tab.” Afterwards Aegoth got up and said with a smile,” It was a pleasure to meet you, but I’ll be on my way now. I hope to see you again my friend”. He then began to proceed towards the door, keeping his distance from the wizard and the orc.
“Well lets see how well secured the houses in this city are, maybe one will be a good enough to justify a night job,” he thought with a grin.
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