Allevent, Realm of Caith » Places

         "No! If anyone is going to fight him, it should be me.He dishonored the value of knowledge with his actions and could've endangered us all with his ridiculous need to show off."

An eye brow lifted as Raruna watched the girl step forward and promptly spit at the man before them. The sky pirate thought for sure that the man was going to lose it right there. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how one looked at the situation, Zhyernnia turned on her heel and stomped down the plank.

Runa grinned at Jedas and turned around as well to follow the girl, her treasure. Best to keep the 'map' in her sights. She didn't want anything happening to her precious cargo. The sky pirate caught up to the woman fairly easily as she made her way into the city.

"You said something about dishonoring the value of knowledge. What a peculiar thing to say. It was just a ship really... Oh," Raruna stopped herself, "Wait. You're a bookeater... which means..." the pirate's face screwed up into a strange facial expression as she thought about it, "You eat books as your diet??"

Zherynnia was surprised to find that the sky pirate had caught up to her so quickly. Judging from her words before, she had thought the woman quick to fight. She blinked, crossing her arms in front of her chest lightly as she contemplated the question. "It is not so much eating books," The girl said with a wrinkle of her nose. "I absorb the knowledge imprinted on that object."

She remembered vaguely, very very vaguely, that despite the fact that most people knew book eaters existed, few were in number that had actually come into contact with them. Maybe the pirate's questions were natural? "Do you find this odd?" She asked politely, unsure if the other would take offense.

"Absorb the knowledge..." Raruna tapped her finger against her lower lip, "I see. So... what you're saying is that rickety ship that had been rigged to start with had a lot of knowledge on it. And that you wanted to... err... 'eat' it," the sky pirates eyebrow rose as she tried to figure out how that would work.

Hmm, maybe it wasn't so much eating in the sense that Runa was thinking. Perhaps it was something else. Well, whatever. A meal's a meal and apparently Jedas had interfered with it. Anyone would be angry about losing their dinner. She shrugged as they moved through the city.

"Naw, I don't find it odd... just different really. I'm sure I'll figure it out completely later on," Raruna continued. Her eyes spied a shop with random pieces of metal her inner mechanic kicked in. With a gasp she lunged over to the shop and began filtering through the thousands of random bolts, nuts, screws and scraps of metal. If her eyes could have turned to sparkling stars just then, they would have.

"Never can have too much of this stuff," she exclaimed as she began picking up random pieces.

Whatever the girl had been about to say was cut off as the pirate suddenly sidetracked, darting off to a nearby vendor and looking through all the different parts. Zherynnia watched her silently through bright, curious orbs. A few random letters scrambled in front of her eyes, numbers trailing after them as they danced around the inside of her pupils. Just what was she looking for anyway? Those bits and pieces were all junk. She glanced over the supply of them, frowning to herself.

The man who was selling them knew precisely what he had done. That wasn't even iron at all--it was copper that had been painted over. "That's not..." The girl trailed off, discontent. The man didn't seem to notice that she was suspicious of him and leered at the pirate.

"If ya wan' m're missus, I g'ts som' in the back'see." Zherynnia wrinkled her nose. Surely Runa wasn't contemplating going back there.

"Hmm," Runa put on her best face as she contemplated the idea of letting him show her more stuff. It wasn't like she needed anything, but she did enjoy looking through things that could pertain to her ship. The soft whisper behind her only alerted her to the fact that Zherynnia was still with her. Good, at least the girl hadn't decided to wander off on her own.

"More in the back, hu? Why not, it's not like I need to be anywhere anytime soon," Raruna said and sent a wink back towards the bookeater behind her. The sky pirate followed the merchant to the back of his dark shop, out of the sunlight and heat. It was a bit gloomy and hard to see, but Runa was pretty aware of her surroundings.

"So, mister random ship parts seller. Anything good you got for a class 'C' style ship? Very small vessel she is," Runa asked as she bent over and began rummaging through a crate of stuff.

Zherynnia groaned to herself, falling into step behind the pirate. She couldn't walk away knowing that this man planned to rip them off big time. Runa seemed to be enjoying the sights of the shop, peering into a nearby crate and sticking her hand inside of it. The shopkeeper grinned again, gesturing to another large crate.

"Cert'nly! Thar's lotsa st'ff to be 'ad. I gots'me som' new b'lts over 'ere that'll really 'elp wif yer wheels and clogs." He offered the woman what appeared to be a miniature drill and a few bolts to go along with it. The book eater's frown deepened. This entire shop smelled terrible and it made her feel sick to her stomach again. There was nothing to be learnt here at all.

"Can we go?" She whispered furtively to the pirate, tugging at the woman's coat tails impatiently.

"In a second, I promise," Runa whispered back as she stood up to face the merchant. From her fingers she let all of the bolts and nuts drop from her fingers, a cruel grin twisting on her lips.

Releasing a sarcastic styled sigh, she put a hand on her hip and directed her sharp gaze to the man who was trying to sell his wares to her, "Unfortunately I don't think you have what I'm looking for. Not to mention that a lot of your stuff is... how should I put it... crap."

Runa reached into a pouch of hers that was on her hip and produced a shiny, yet unique steel bolt. Even she did not have a tool to fit it having picked it up on one of her random stops in a city a long while back, "You see, as the infamous Sky Pirate in all of Caith, it's hard to fool a woman who knows her ship. What you've got here isn't anything that a ship captain in their right mind would ever buy.

"How distasteful..." Raruna continued and leaned over to peer once again at one of the tools in a crate next to her, "Pitiful really. Anyway, I'm done here," she said flippantly and turned on her heel. The pirate took Zherynnia's hand in hers and lead the girl outside. With a grin down to the bookeater she continued on her way down the wooden walkway.

"What? Did you honestly think I'd buy something from that ugly, fat man?"

Zherynnia blushed, the dark reddish hue covering her cheeks with embarrassment. Of course she had, she had been genuinely worried that the woman was going to make a purchase she'd regret. "I wasn't sure..." She admitted. She fidgeted, still noting the fact that the two of them were holding hands. Runa seemed to like to lead but the confidence was a bit overwhelming at times. It made the pirate hard to predict.

She drew her hand out of the other's, letting it fall to her side as she casually brushed it on the side of her sash. "Did..." She trailed off, admittedly, she couldn't remember the man's name. "You know, the man with the scientist woman. Did they mention where they would be or are we just wandering around?" She didn't want to be dragged around for no good reason. Now that she was finally getting some fresh air, her appetite had returned.

The last meal she had had was some several hours ago and she was absolutely ravenous. There didn't seem to be any good information to pick up here, however... Maybe the pirate would let her eat one of her treasure maps... hopefully.

Runa tapped her lip gently as the girl's hand slipped out of hers, "Hmm, nope. They didn't mention anything. I think we're just stopping to get some fresh air and restock on some things. I could use another strannum crystal... You never know when one of those might crack from being used all the time."

The sky pirate kept an eye out for a good shop to buy one from as they moved farther down the street. She kept herself well aware of her surroundings, an old habit picked up from being in the slums of the lower city where she grew up. One could never be too careful, even in the nicest of towns.

"I don't want to be here for too much longer. I'd rather see this job done and over with. But," Runa sighed, "I guess we'll see how that goes."

         

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The elf sat on a couch, waiting for the return of the elderly human who had promised to return with news of this Ambrosia character. Surely it would not have taken this long for her to come back out and inform her that they were not looking for someone like her--an elf too far away from her home and with no business doing anything in Adelost at all. She observed a few passersby take a few glances in her direction, doing their best not to gawk for too long at the blonde with the bow protruding from behind her back.

After a terse minute of waiting and twiddling her thumbs, the elf saw the woman from behind the desk return. "If you'd come with me, ma'am, I'll take you back to Mister Ambrosia's office--he wanted to speak with you, sort of an interview."

The elf, with no other options at this point but beginning to regret her decision to come to the city at all, smiled weakly and followed the woman to the back of the archives to a small secluded office with a label marked in golden letters: Ambrosia.

"Oh, don't look so nervous, dear--he's rather friendly, especially to the ladies." The woman from behind the desk gave a smile before opening the door and allowing the elf into his office.

The first thing she noticed were the papers strewn about every which way around the room. There were small ink stains on the floor that she managed to catch glimpses of in the right light, but the elf felt it best to not make any mention of them lest the man sitting behind the desk would mark that against her. The figure--Ambrosia, from what the door suggested--offered the elf an open seat across from his desk, which she gingerly sat in after stepping around some papers that had been left on the floor.

It was at this moment that the elf noticed the antlers protruding from the sides of his head. Her heart began to race as she thought back to the Xioban girl and her familiar--was this man selde taure as well? And if he was, did he have a familiar as mischievous as Xerxes? Another horrifying thought flashed across her mind--what if Xioban had found out about her arm through her familiar, and then told this Ambrosia character? The elf's skin began to crawl with goosebumps, although a chill in the air could have easily been to blame for the outbreak if he asked.

"So you're here about the flier? You came just at the proper time, we've been a bit, shall we say, overloaded with paperwork as of late. As you can no doubt tell from the state of my desk, I'm sure." Ambrosia was attempting to lighten the mood before breaking the news, wasn't he? The elf forced a weak smile at his joke, not sure whether she should relax or continue to stay on her guard. If he knew something about her, anything at all, it would have been better to get it out in the open...

"In any event, let me give you a short run-down of what will be required of you if you do acquire the job. This particular archive is the largest of them all in Adelost and is home to tens of thousands of books. I'll not bore you with the specifics of departments and sub-departments of literature here but needless to say, there is a book for everyone here." Ambrosia stopped to look the elf over once again. What was he looking at? What was he looking for? Was he searching for something on her arm? Did he know? What would happen to her if he did know something?

"The job is more of a personal request of mine. Lately, it's just been difficult to manage the books here, primarily because I haven't had a lot of time to devote to the archives as I normally would. That being said, you would be responsible for sorting, categorizing, and marking off literature, starting with a section on the first floor." The job itself did not seem too difficult for anyone with a working mind, which was good news in case somehow everything went according to plan and nothing went horribly wrong...

"Before I get into too much detail, why don't you tell me about yourself? Primarily, what brings you here, to the archives?"

The elf froze, not quite knowing how to answer this question. She had come in the hope that she could find some work in the city... or perhaps the answers to questions about her arm--but she couldn't tell him that! Even if he did know something about what she was experiencing, what if he only wanted to exploit her? Use her for experiments? Surely a man of science could win some sort of award for discovering this... this abnormality that grew on her arm...

"...truth be told, Mister Ambrosia..." the elf began, clearing her throat and coughing into her left sleeve. "...I... I'm in a bit of debt... I owe an acquaintance a bit of money, and I need a job that does not require a lot of manual labor and strength... As you can see, I'm not quite suited for that kind of work..." her voice trailed off, not quite sure whether she meant that as a joke or not.

"...in any case, I would have come here anyway... to do a bit of research on my own time..."

You know he's going to pry and ask, right?

Just be as vague as possible; don't go into any more detail than you have to...

Dismissing the thoughts with a shiver, the elf forced herself to look up at Ambrosia for a second before looking back down at the papers atop his desk. Why was she so afraid to look up at this man? Was it because he potentially knew something that he should not have? Was it because he had the authority to refuse her offer of help? Was it because she was an elf and he was... a humanoid figure with antlers? No matter the case, she knew that she looked absolutely terrified in front of him and that if she wanted any sort of opportunity to get past all of this nonsense with Xioban and her familiar, this was the only way without having to resort to begging on the street...

         

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The golem had seen the creature run into the back alley some time ago, although since that time it had not seen any sign of Xerxes. Still, it thought that it could try and grab it out of the alley if it reached in far enough. To its surprise, it found that it was still rather stuck between the buildings. Without much else to do and nowhere else to go, it merely started feeling around on the ground, hoping that it could find something amidst the darkness--or perhaps it could not see the furry creature because it was obstructed by something else in the alleyway? Curious, indeed...

"Xerxes. Aaaaaaaah. Xerxes. Fffffffffnyah." It repeated the phrase several times, knowing full well that if the creature was back there, it would understand that all it wanted to do was return it to the creature it had run away from. Hopefully its minimal attempts at communicating with the creature would pay off in the end, but for now, it was reduced to merely trying to feel its way through the alleyway that it could not possibly squeeze through without causing more unnecessary damage to the buildings that surrounded it.

Even through the commanding voice echoing through the alley and ringing across the immmediate area, the golem could hear the sounds of nervous murmuring coming from behind it. It paused momentarily, trying to listen to what they could be so concerned with. Although it was wondering why so many voices could sound so worried at once and why they would concentrate themselves behind it, it paid little heed to the murmuring, continuing obliviously on in its search for Xerxes.

Clanking close behind it now was a familiar sound--the sound of metal clanking against metal. Again, without much to go off of, it merely continued its search through the alley, audiating "Xerxes. Aaaaaaaah. Xerxes. Fffffffffnyah." the entire time, much to the worry of the people that stood behind it. There was another voice, though, something that seemed to take control of the situation, and after a few brief seconds of quiet conversation, the voice piped up.

“Shut up! Do you hear me? Be quiet for a few minutes and listen to me, Golem!” The voice sounded quite agitated, but it was the word 'golem' that snapped the construct's attention away from the alley. It turned to find the creature bedecked in blue, the same one that had been there as it chased Xerxes through the tall green area. There was something slightly different about this newcomer, though--there were a few cuts across the topmost part of its figure, although they were rather slight and not too glaringly obvious. Still, the tone of voice it used against the golem was rather harsh and completely unnecessary...

“Repair my house? Xerxes? What in the world are you even saying? What’s a 'Xerxes'? If it’s that thing that had jumped me, it’s not even here anymore! Must’ve run off into the forest again while you were stuck here by this alleyway!” This creature sounded rather agitated, much like that other one that commanded the golem to "repair my house". Although... was Xerxes in this... forest? What was it, exactly? Could it follow a trail that it had left behind and find it there? Perhaps then the creature with the pointed ears would feel better... although it did not know where that other creature had escaped to, either...

"...shut up. Listen to me, golem. Off into the Xerxes. Forest. Repair my house. Alleyway. Xerxes. Fffffffffnyah." The golem sputtered out the words, possibly in an attempt to mimic the actions of the creatures it had observed in the marketplace. It seemed as though it only managed to raise the intensity of the blue creature's voice--which was already rather hostile, it figured--and it seemed to growl at the golem much as the Xerxes creature had earlier.... although this was much more hostile...

“Don’t. Even… Think. About. Moving from here.” The blue creature took a few steps back from the golem, almost as if it was trying to stay away and avoid it... much like Xerxes. Did it run away from the other creature with pointed ears too? It could not calculate that the blue thing would do that, though--it had not seen the blue creature attempt to accompany Xerxes or the pointed-ear creature from before, so the likelihood was slim.

Still... was Xerxes no longer in the dark place? Had it run away from where it had thought the furry creature had hidden?

"Ah, there it is!" a familiar voice sounded. A short, stout man with a rather extravagant handlebar mustache and somewhat flustered look across his face. "This golem is a menace and must be taken care of! It goes around and destroys propery--my property, to be more specific--and it has no quarry!"

A collective murmur rose from the crowd as a dozen guards made their way through the people. What sort of golem did not have a quarry!? This was unheard of!

The golem, however, did not seem to mind either way, as it turned away from the oncoming crowd and began to lumber off back toward the edge of Barberry from where it had come. The guards, at the urging of the mustachioed man, followed along, although they kept their distance after hearing about how the last few guards that had attempted to intervene were easily brushed aside by the mechanical monstrosity. The golem did nothing to intervene with the oncoming guardsmen, but it continued on its path, swinging its arms to and fro along the way and accidentally knocking over a bit more of the house it had partially destroyed earlier.

"...My... My house...!" The man with the mustache fell to his knees with outstretched arms. "...It... It destroyed my...!"

"Shut up. Xerxes. Forest. Ffffffffnyah." The golem continued its trek through the city, reaching the outskirts once again and lumbering toward the massive circle pounded into the ground. It walked around the shape, analyzing for anything that might give any sort of trace--

Of course! Xerxes had been moving along the ground as well--perhaps it had left some sort of track to follow... Of course, the footprints were much smaller and harder to follow than the giant ones of the golem, but they were there nonetheless... along with slightly larger ones heading in the same direction. Could this lead to the "forest" that the blue creature spoke of before?

It continued to lumber off in the direction of the faint footprints that it assumeed Xerxes left behind in its escape. However, the second set was a mystery to the golem--what other creature followed it away? Perhaps it would find out in time... For now, though, it was attempting to process the tall objects off in the distance, things that were not nearly made of stone like the buildings in the city but were just as tall if not taller than them. They were also rather slender... The footprints continued toward these... things, for lack of a better term, and the golem, with nowhere else to go, continued to follow them toward the unknown...

         The hulking northlander, hands on his hips with unconscious satisfaction, surveyed the land about them. The sun wreathed the features of the hillside in tones of rose and honey, giving the landscape the appearance of an impressionist's painting. Maybe it was just homesickness that made him see it so -- no doubt the others saw just dust and shrubbery. "We're just south of Sweetmary," he answered. "A small mining town, Sweetmary. Mostly humans, although a few of the forest races make their homes here." True, though their numbers were low, the elves' interest in caith crystals and artificing extended to an interest in metals, ores and minerals, making a mining camp a fitting home for the more rugged elves. "They mine some alumen crystals from the mountains farther north, but it's cheaper and safer to get elsewhere, so they don't supply it much farther than Barberry. Rich nickel deposits are where the real marks are," he continued, obviously enjoying the edification even if the others had lost interest. "But those are well into huldrefolk territory." He gestured with a nod toward the mountain passes, beyond which the realm of man ended.

"All set?" he inquired of the doctor, who had two fellow Applicators -- initiates, most likely -- carry her caith artifice in its wooden crate, offloading it from the airship. "Yes, shall we press on?" With a nod, Grim turned to the north and set a moderate pace forward. Still south of Sweetmary, the last encampment in this area, they weren't in much danger from passing huldrefolk unless a raiding party came south of the mountains, but that didn't mean the party was safe entirely. Living was hard in the hills south of the huldrefolk mountains, and alongside the caithness that were randomly spawned throughout the land, the mining money to be made here attracted bandits and brigands like flies to honey.

There was no road as such, at least until they reached the mining town proper, but even then the road was little more than two ruts for wagon wheels, with grass growing around and between. The hills saw flash floods in the spring as the winter ice thawed from the mountains, which meant that the buildings -- if these ramshackle structures could be called that -- were all erected on a walkway of logs that rose a good pace above the dried mud floor. Men and women walked among the haphazard walkways as though born to it, and when Grim climbed up the ramp, his frame moved with obvious ease over the creaking, groaning timber.